2000 sl oil consumption/tranny

I seem to be having 2 possible issues with it. One is that I put 4 qts of oil in the last oil change 3k miles ago and I took it in because the oil light came on and they said they had to put about 3 qts in....they checked and found no leaks and claim it goes out the tail pipe. Is it possible for this to happen without having any major issues?

Also when starting the car for the first time and going into drive it wont go but a few miles an hour, go back into park, or shutting off and re starting usually fixes issues, I took it in and they said its either the valve body and if that doesnt work I need a new tranny. Have people had this issue and would you think this would help?

High oil consumption in SL engines is an old story, but other than telling you they have seemingly feeble oil control rings, I can only say you should check your oil level each time you get gasoline, and keep a journal of the results. If the problem with your car is a bad oil control ring - there are only two 'fixes'. First is putting in a few teaspoons in Marvel Mystery Oil in each cylinder and letting it soak overnight. That may help. If not, the real fix is to pull the engine and replace the piston rings. I have had to do that to 3 of the Saturn SL cars in our family over the years.

As for the tranny problem, I think I would replace the 'range switch' on the back of the transmission. This is the switch exterior to the transmission that tells the controlling computer which gear it is in. And get the trans fluid and filter replaced. I have repaired a few transmissions on other cars (they hold up so well on Saturns that I havent had the problem yet), and I think telling you its either a "valve body or a new transmission that is needed", is equivalent to telling you that they have no idea what is wrong. That way if you take it to them for repair, they have pre-conditioned you for the expense of a rebuilt transmission.
You might also want to clean the connector on the top of the transmission - at least that is where the shifting connector is on the earlier SL Saturns, up to 98 anyway.
Good Luck....

Thank you for that information. I read around and it seems that its just an issue for the oil so we will check it more. As far as the tranny, they had it for a day and rain a bunch of tests on it and thats what came up. I have no reason to not believe him since he didnt charge me for taking up his hole day.

I am more cynical than you seem to be. If the dealer didnt charge me, I would assume that what he did took under 5 minutes, or only involved a spin around the block.

I think most any diagnosis might result in the same answer; i.e. "replace the transmission'.