New to Saturn '01 SW2

Greetings all.
I am a former Voyager owner ('89, 205K miles) and I did all the repairs on
it. When the engine blew the other day, we went out and looked at used cars.
We found a 2001 SW2 wagon with 3.0L engine and 40K miles. Looks to be in
good shape and I ran a carfax report on it with no surprises. Car just came
off a lease.

Before I close the deal, are there any points to be wary of? I intend to get
the full service manual as soon as I'm able.


Thanks in advance for any suggestions,
Oppie

 

Compared to the old Veeger, any Saturn is a creampuff. At the very
least, the pain won't peel.

 

| Oppie wrote:
| > Greetings all.
| > I am a former Voyager owner ('89, 205K miles) and I did all the repairs
on
| > it. When the engine blew the other day, we went out and looked at used
cars.
| > We found a 2001 SW2 wagon with 3.0L engine and 40K miles. Looks to be in
| > good shape and I ran a carfax report on it with no surprises. Car just
came
| > off a lease.
| >
| > Before I close the deal, are there any points to be wary of? I intend to
get
| > the full service manual as soon as I'm able.
|
| Compared to the old Veeger, any Saturn is a creampuff. At the very
| least, the pain won't peel.
|
|| Dan Hicks

Sounds like praise on the Saturn. Appreciate it.

The vOYager was actually a pretty good vehicle. I did all the mechanical
work myself. The only weakness was the fatal flaw; 2.5L motor eats cylinder
head gaskets. I had replaced them myself several times (with all the
necessary warpage tests and machining as required) Was on a highway trip at
night. Head gasket blew and temperature idiot light (no gauge - glad the SW2
has a gauge) never came on. By the time I saw the white smoke out the
tailpipe, engine was toast. May yet put a junkyard engine in it. For now, I
needed a reliable daily driver and the Saturn appeared to be it.

So will close on the SW2 tomorrow.

Also, any recommendations on a OBD2 scan tool that works with a laptop
computer? My son has something similar for the VW but the menus are all
customized for that brand. May only give generic info on a Saturn.

Best regards and hope to be active in this group in the future,
Oppie aka Robert Oppenheimer
20 mi North of New York City

 

First, if it has a 3 L engine, it's an LW2, not SW2. The V6 has had it's
share of teething troubles. The most common is a leak in the water
pump/oil cooler assembly. The factory RTV sealant was of poor quality,
and leaked after about 50k miles. Some of the sensors are of
questionable quality and need premature replacement. To find out a lot
more, go to www.saturnfans.com and do searches on their L and tech
forums.

 

Yeah, replaced the gasket on our '89 several times. Finally I let
it go too long and burned out a cylinder (rings eaten by the
antifreeze). Put a new engine in it and gave it to my BIL. He had
no end of trouble with it -- more head gasket problems, CV joints,
electrical problems, etc.

Also, never could get the AC to work for more than a year at a time
-- it would always develop leaks and need $700 worth of new parts
after 12 months or so. But the lousy paint was the most irritating
part of it all (though it seemed to be mostly the blue paint -- it
was unusual to see a blue Voyager that didn't have the measles).

Luckily we had the manual tranny -- the automatic in the '89s was
infamous.

 

My mistake on the model number. The dealer's window sticker ( I could have
sworn) showed SL2. I looked again at the carfax report I had run according
to the VIN and it show as a LW300.
Oppie
--
For valid response address, remove the '1' following oppie
_________________
| Greetings all.

| We found a 2001 SW2 wagon with 3.0L engine and 40K miles. Looks to be in
| good shape and I ran a carfax report on it with no surprises. Car just
came
| off a lease.
|
| Before I close the deal, are there any points to be wary of? I intend to
get
| the full service manual as soon as I'm able.
|
|
| Thanks in advance for any suggestions,
| Oppie
|
|