Not another oil burning thread !

I'm sure you are all sick of hearing about oil burning but I just want to see about my case. I have a 1997 Saturn SL2 with about 88K on it. I currently have to put a quart of oil in it every 800 - 900 miles. Furthermore, my gas pedal is a bit sticky and I have heard that the problems could be related. I get about 31 mpg on the highway, which i also heard is a bit low for my car.

I took the car to a local mechanic who looked at it for an afternoon. He came back and said I would be best off replacing the entire engine and that he could do it for about $2000 parts and labor.

I guess my question is two fold ...1) Is that is really my best option and 2) will that fix all the problems I mentioned before?

Thanks in advance for your help

Are you sure that you are only burning oil? Is the valve cover gasket leaking?

Well... I don't know. Is there a way I can easily check. I am pretty new to this stuff so please explain. Thanks for your help

i take it you are not much of a DIYer?

you many be in luck, are you anywhere near dupage county? i have some cleaning procedures i can do for you that may help. cost: $20, maybe $30 and about 12 hours. cheaper then a rebuild. if you are not in the dupage area, or you are more of a DIYer, read these two how-tos, they are basicly the same, but with a few minor tweaks. you may be able to convince your mechantic or your saturn dealership to do the first one, since it is a TSB(saturn approved procedure)

http://www.saturnfans.com/forums/showthread.php3?s=&threadid=38790&;

http://www.saturnfans.com/forums/showthread.php3?s=&threadid=23676&;

also be sure the PCV valve is from the saturn dealership, anything other then the OEM peice can also cause oil loss.

Well... I would have to disagree with about not being a DIYer considering I build my own speakers, cabinets, analog guitar pedals, computers and pretty much anything else I can do myself thats cost effective. I will agree that up to this point I havn't been an automotive DIYer, but that is what I am trying to change.

I have been frequenting saturnfans as well, so I did see those procedures you posted. I do know what a valve cover gasket is, but I can not visibly see any leaking coming out... so I didn't know if there was a more exact way to tell other than visually.

Thanks for your help

yes' i'm talking about wolfman's MMO soak, Lucas1's Internal engine cleaning, and cleaning the throttle body with carb cleaner, and maybe a steam clean too.

pull the sparkplug wires out of the valve cover and look in the holes, if the spark plugs are going for a swim in oil, then the valve cover gasket is bad.

Thanks man... I cleaned the throttle body with carb cleaner yesterday and poof... no more sticky gas pedal... awesome. I found the ects at auto zone yesterday so I am going to change that today too. I will do the MMO soak tonight... can't wait

thanks again

I found the ects at auto zone yesterday


don't do that, in time you will have the same problem again, you should replace it with the OEM brass tipped sensor from a saturn dealership.

don't do that, in time you will have the same problem again, you should replace it with the OEM brass tipped sensor from a saturn dealership.


oops, already did it. Think I should replace it again right away or wait? How will i know when it goes bad?
Thanks

you can leave it in there for now, expect to change it again sometime in the future, maybe 6 months maybe 5 years. a bad ECT will cause almost any problem you can think of. overheating, overcooling, power lose, poor fuel economy, hard starting, high idle, ect...