At the oil change place, they always try to sell me a bunch of goodies. Today it was the following: 1. Flushing the oil system... $30 2. Flushing the cooling system... $30 3. Replacing the automatic transmission fluid... $30 4. Replacing the PCV valve... $10 This seemed like an awful lot of flushing -- of my money down the toilet. I declined all of this stuff. Now for the question: Which, if any of these things, are worth doing? If so, how often or under what set of symptoms? Can I do the tranny fluid myself without too much cussing? I don't do the oil because the filter is inaccessible without putting the car up on blocks.
How many miles do you have? I don't really know about number 1, number 2 I had done at 100,000 when the coolant in my 98 SL2 was due for change according to factory specs, 3 I believe is a 60,000 mile service but not sure cause I've always had manual tranny's, and 4 is whenever it gets gummed up and doesn't move freely when you shake it. Charles
Oil flush: Not really a good idea - if your engine is well-maintained, there shouldn't be any sludge in there to flush. If it's not well-maintained, sludge and debris could come loose all at once and clog oil passages. Cooling system flush: Depends if it's time yet. Be sure to use the right kind (either regular green or DEX-COOL, whichever your car came with). You can drain and refill the system easily, but to totally flush the system is a bit more involved (just draining the radiator, or even the engine as well, leaves some coolant in the system). ATF change: Again, depends on if it's time. Not an easy DIY job - you have to drop the transmission pan to drain the fluid. Some places just connect a flush machine to the cooler lines, this does a more thorough job of removing the old fluid, but leaves the old filter (unless they changed it separately). PCV valve: Should be an easy DIY job. I'd get the valve from the dealer, an inappropriate non-OEM PCV valve is reported to sometimes cause oil consumption problems on the 1.9L engines.
Not on a Saturn. At least, not on mine. It has a drain plug and a spin-on filter, just like the engine oil. I found it easier to get to the filter after removing the air filter and box. In fact, I found the transmission fluid easier to change than the oil. To the Original Poster: You can get plastic ramps with which you can change your own oil for about $20.
I've found that if you can get to a dealer with one of those 29 minute oil change lanes, the price will be cheaper by a few $$$ than the fast change franchise places. Price to change oil in my old SL-2 at Valvoline - $32 and change Price to change oil in my 2001 chevy pickup that takes 6 quarts at the dealer - $25 and change. I know it's not the same vehicle, but the concept is the same. Both were with regular dino oil, filter and the truck got greased (no place to grease the saturn). I don't know about you, but if you don't do it yourself, I feel much safer having the dealer do the changes than some monkey at a franchise place. The dealer may employ monkeys too, but I bet they're a better trained monkey.
I agree. Same with our 1996 Saturn SL. Easier to change the transmission fluid and filter than the oil and filter...
I have a set of steel ramps from when I did a CV boot job on my old Mazda. But the problem is that the saturn is so low to the ground that I can't get it up on the same ramps without scraping the fenders. Maybe the $20 pair are lower. I will take a look at the parts store. But I have a spiffy new floor jack that I got for under $20, and so I may try the old jack and blocks routine. And in doing the CV boot on the Mazda, I discovered a much better way, which was to simply crank the steering wheel all the way so the boot is exposed from the side through the wheel cutaway. Oh well.
If you are changing the oil and filter as you should (3 months, 3,000 miles) then you shouldn't need this service. Nope. If you replace the coolant at the recommended interval (don't know it off hand for your car - what year is it?) you shouldn't need to do this. This isn't too bad of a deal. Saturns require the fluid and filter changed at 30,000 mile intervals. The fluid is about $5 per quart (for the Saturn fluid) and you need four quarts. The filter is about $8. So, the parts are $28. It cost about $3 from the Saturn dealer, and takes 30 seconds to replace. Pass.
I have a set of steel ramps from when I did a CV boot job on my old Mine do that too - I just run the car up on a block of wood before the ramps. If you do the old jack and jackstands method, you can also rotate your tires while you're at it........
Replaced my PCV valve this week, and I paid $7.23 from the Saturn dealer. Still, I'd pass all the same. I've heard Jiffy Lube valves are lighter and don't function as well as the OEM ones.
