10th Oct 2002, 12:41
I own a 99 Saturn SC2 and at 57K Km my engine has seized.
No signs, no oil warning light, nothing. The warranty has passed (3 year \ 60K Km) and Saturn is not willing to do a thing.
Every 5K Km I have had my oil changed with Mobil 1 synthetic oil and I have kept records.
I have battled with the dealership (417 Saturn Saab Isuzu) and Saturn Canada, but they are not willing to admit to anything.
I e-mailed Saturn Corporate and they replied to me that they sell the cars to GM Canada so I will need to relay my problem with them.
I am going to do everything in my power to make all potential cars buyers aware of Saturn's after sale service and their commitment to their products.
13th Oct 2002, 19:49
I have a 97 Saturn SL2 with 170,000 Miles, original owner, well maintained. My oil consumption became about 1 Qt to 1.5 Qt every 800 miles at about 150K. After some analysis and experimentation with different oil grades, synthetics, additives, etc., I discovered that the most oil is consumed on long highway trips. It can go down to 1/2 Qt in 800 if I drive less than 30 Miles per trip. Like everyone, Saturn put me on their "Oil watch" list, where I returned twice per week for them to record my oil consumption, what a pain and without result. My dealer told me, finally, that at my mileage, I should think about buying a new Saturn. I recently got finished paying for this one, so I'm wondering now if my money should go elsewhere. It feels oddly comforting knowing I'm not alone.
13th Oct 2002, 20:02
The Center for Auto Safety lists numerous Technical Service Bulletins that have been released on Saturns re excessive oil consumption, etc. Check their web site!
5th Nov 2002, 12:01
Friends.
I too have a Saturn that helps the oil industry stay in the profits But the biggest problem is with the transmission 63000+ miles and $1300 later it still has problems. The car rental they sent to me was a KIA, I loved it. Goodbye GM. Forever.
16th Dec 2002, 14:53
Add me to the list of the number of Saturn owners with an oil consumption problem... Or should I say former Saturn owners... I bought a previously owned 1995 Saturn SL1 with approx. 31,000 miles in August, 1998. I took my car to the Saturn dealer, like clockwork, every 3000 miles for an oil change. In December 2001, the problem began. When driving home one night, the oil pressure light came on. There was no oil in the engine. At that point, the car had approx. 62,000 miles on it. I was told to bring in the car every 500 miles to monitor the oil level. After four or five trips to the dealer in the "Exxon Valdez," I was finally informed that in order to diagnose the problem, Saturn would have to completely take apart the engine. This work would cost $2600, minimum. The sales people were very happy to assist me in test driving new vehicles, and even wanted me to buy a new car the day I received the news.
A friend who is a "car guy" suggested that I check "Saturn oil consumption problem" on an internet search engine. When I saw over 1860 hits, I decided that it was time to get rid of the car and look at other car companies. At the time of writing this post, there are over 2200 hits for the same entry.
I have "Escape"d to Ford and could not be happier.
23rd Dec 2002, 22:12
I just replaced my SL-2 1996 Saturn engine after an extended oil consumption problem stretching from 30,000 miles to 105,000 miles before she blew up! A quart of oil was being added every other fill up at the end. I was very disappointed.
My previous car was a Corsica and I had 146000 miles with it & never once added oil. I always changed oil regularly. This Saturn reminded me of my 1st car, a 1961 Ford Falcon that I bought in 1966 for $45 and it burned a quart every fill-up. I never bought a Ford since, this experience with Saturn's sorry engineering assures the next car will be a competitors model.
25th Jan 2003, 19:08
I have a 95 SC2 that I purchased used at 80k miles with the same stupid oil problem. The first warning sign was a "ticking" (lifters presumably) after driving from Daytona Beach to the VA border. There was probably less than a quart left in my engine. I put in 3 quarts and since then I've always had to maintain my oil level on long drives. City driving will suck the engine dry after after a few hundred miles if I'm not watchful. My friends report seeing a LARGE amount of tailpipe smoke under hard acceleration. There are only two ways oil could make its way into my cylinders- either past the piston rings or through the valve seals. I haven't had piston seizure yet and I'm passing 135 thousand miles now... I hope for at least a few more.
22nd Mar 2003, 09:34
Hello All.
I made a fatal mistake of buying a 1997 Saturn SL1 from Saturn in Southfield, Michigan. I got the car in February 2001, two weeks later I hear a ticking noise coming from the engine my boyfriend checked the oil and there was no oil. We added oil. I took the car back to Saturn in another March and I had to have the engine replaced. Well I got the car back and a month later the engine light came on Saturn said that I had to have an oil consumption test. They said that it was normal to make a long story short I had to have the engine replaced again in September 2001. Now it's March 2003 and I am having the same problem again losing oil and Saturn told me that there was nothing that they could do about it. So I have a car that loses oil every 300 to 400 miles and my service engine light stays on all the time.
26th Sep 2002, 13:40
I own a 1997 SC2 since new at approx. 60,000 miles it started consuming oil, at 126,000 it is using 3/4 quart per tank of gas. My first two oil changes were done at my dealer, I then took over changing my own oil using Mobil 1 because they were using Quaker State. I like everything about my car, but the Saturn Corp. Saturn Corp. is stonewalling on this quality control / engineering screw up which by now would probably bankrupt the company if they admitted they have sold a problem to their customers. I do not believe the problem to be with the engine core, but with the parts suppliers for piston / ring assembly. Saturn's quality control and engineering departments should have picked up on this even if they weren't doing their jobs from the customer feed back. There are only so many idiot customers out there.
Saturn needs to either admit to this problem or face a class-action lawsuit. They will never get another dime from me and I would like to say Saturn Corp. has lost four car purchases because of me, so you see word of mouth will either backup or destroy any reputation they hope to have through Media hype.