SL2 in Wisconsin

Hello all,
Thought I'd provide a quick intro since I've been using this site as a resource for a while now. Bought a '94 SL2 on a Cars & Bids auction back in July of '21. 23K miles, California car, not a hint of rust anywhere. Damned near perfect car and a good excuse for a road trip. Bonus: My daughter lived close enough that they delivered the car to her. My daughter met us at the San Francisco airport with the car and we wandered California and Tahoe for a bit and drove it back to Wisconsin. No problems. Cleaned it up and detailed it and did some preventative maintenance.

To date the car has had no serious problems, though we're fighting with an ignition key cylinder problem right now. (apparently common on these) My daughter has been driving it and it's up to about 56K miles. Here's a couple vanity shots of the car arriving at the SF airport and in the redwoods.

Funny story: We got a room at the San Francisco Intercontinental up on Nob Hill. Very fancy place. When we pulled in the valets thought it was great and left it out in front of the hotel where they usually park the high end hardware. Might be the only time in my life I hit Tier 1 in the valet parking hierarchy.

 

That's a granny garage grocery getter.

That's about as nice as they come.

The ignitions on the 94 were notorious for being shall we say loose. The 94 Saturns quickly became one of the most frequently stolen cars in the US.

Take very good care of the motorized seat belt system.
They tend to eat themselves rather quickly if the motors and the tracks are not properly lubed. You may actually wish to pull the fuse for them and simply connect the seat belt to the latch by hand in order to keep from destroying the motorized seat belts. Then plug the fuse in once in awhile to keep everything moving in good order. Not 100% sure it's on its own fuse but I believe it's been done.

Here is a link to manufacturer style service manuals for your vehicle and quite a few others. Access is free.

1994 Saturn SL2 Service Manual at charm.li

 

It was in a garage in California and apparently not used. I think I bought it from the second owner, who just flipped it on Cars and Bids. My daughter has been daily driving it for a while and it has about 60K on it. No major problems, took a water pump last year. It's really unusual to work on an older car in Wisconsin that isn't a rust bucket.

@Derf, funny you should mention the ignition problems. This specific VIN had a recall on it, and I have a long thread about our woes with the key getting stuck in the off position. In a weird coincidence, I think she has bought a Kia, you know the type that gets stolen because of the lousy ignition key problem? So the Saturn will probably find a new home pretty soon.

 

Yes that is funny all the way to the bank.

I think the key cylinders were defective so you could cut the equivalent of a bump key for a lock on your house door, then Just walk up, futz with the lock till it opened, giggle the key around in the ignition until it turned, I just drive away. No alarm systems until 96 or 97 I believe.

Kia? In this decade? That's just unexcusable.

 

Oh I forgot. Don't let anyone except an older mechanic who was at least 20 when the car was built actually touch anything under the hood.

Today's young kids who are wrenching don't understand that things were done differently 30 years ago. The car is very simple to work on, but it's OBD1 and doesn't have a multitude of codes to throw to tell you what is wrong.

That means someone who actually understands how the PCM of that era controls/controlled the engine as well as all of the cabin stuff needs to work on it because very few of the young ones can troubleshoot a vehicle today without using the diag port
And anything they break or you break may be exceedingly difficult to replace. And hence this is why Saturn forums like this one exist.

 

Not real soon, but yes. Need to find time and motivation to get it cleaned up and list it for sale. Warmer weather wouldn't hurt.