saturn worth 500 bucks?

[joe77]

new guy here to this board, found it while searching for problems with saturns. anyway, i've got a freind of family that has a 1995 SL2 in real good shape (no dents, scratches, all power stuff works) and he said i could have it for 500 dollars plus an sks rifle that i am selling (200 dollars) and it has around 150,000 miles on it. it looks great, but he said that it gets hotter than normal while driving it (he owned a saturn before) and about 10-20 seconds after you start it the check engine light, water temp. light, and transaxle fluid light all come on at once. i want to know if its worth it, and what might be wrong with it that it would cause all three lights to pop on at once. i need another vehicle like i need another hole in my head but none of the three vehicles we have get over 15 mpg. sorry for the long message. any help would be great, thanks.

[sierrap615]

all the lights should come on for a few seconds for a self test at start-up, if they stay on, then you have a problem.

check the coolent level, if its full then pull the codes and replace the ECT.

this guy bought a 95 for $550

http://www.automotiveforums.com/vbul....php?p=2239118

heres how to pull the codes -
http://www.saturnfans.com/forums/sho...threadid=28570

i can help you fix all the common problems, if it is a auto see if there is any slamming into reverse or drive. see what the idle RPMs are.

[joe77]

thanks for the reply, it idles about 1,000 rpms which i thought wasn't too bad, and it doesn't clunk when you go through the gears. the lights come on for the start like you said, but then the ses light and the temp. lights come on after a few seconds of idling. i'm going to get the codes out of it and see how bad it is. with that many lights on i'm sure there's a few stored in there.

[sierrap615]

my thoughts on the lights -

i'm not familor with the 95 dash lights, but to the best knowage there is no transmission light(is this a auto or manual?), i could be worng. i think what you are seeing is just the coolent light( its two images next to each other, they are the same light, but they look like two). also on some years low coolent would throw a SES light.

check the coolent, kill two birds with one stone!

[joe77]

its an auto. the lights are right next to each other but i thought they were different, i looked the lights up in the owners manual and it listed them as a water temp. light and transaxle fluid light (either level or temp.). i'm going to try to get up there today (its about 40 min. away) and give it a more thorough look. thanks for the help, i can fix just about anything on a jeep cherokee but saturns are a whole new ballgame.

[sierrap615]

i don't have an auto so i have no tranny temp sensor, i *think* if ether the coolent or trans temp is wrong, they turn on the same light.

[joe77]

okay, i gave the car a better look today. i pulled codes 14, 15 out of the computer (coolant temp. sensor is out of range). there are two sensors on the intake, he replaced the top most sensor but he got it from the parts store. which sensor does what? and also i'm guessing there is a tranny temp. sensor somewhere (i believe i read somewhere that it was hard to get to) where might it be? and he said that he couldn't get the fan to kick on (hes not that mechanically inclined so i don't know how hot he let it get) so thats why he replaced the previously mentioned sensor. but now the fan comes on when the engine is started and stays on. any ideas on why? one more thing, how hard is it to replace the heator core, the cooling system seems to be working but there is no heat. i plan on buying a manual, but i'm short on funds from being off from work due to my lower back.

[sierrap615]

14. CTS circuit, out of range high
15. CTS circuit, out of range low

the problem is most likey the ECTS, $15 peice, the old ones failed massively, it was redesigned a few years ago. its mounted on the side of the cylinder head, easy repair. i only recomend the saturn OEM peice. it can control the fan.

the little black box on the passanger side of the intake manifold is the MAP sensor, nothing to do with the fan.

another black sensor, 3 wires, on top of the throdle body is the TPS, nothing to do with the fan

another small 2 wires sensor screwed into the intake tubing somewhere, the IAC, nothing to do with the fan.

you did check the coolent level right? since it seems that you are having multiple problems with cooling system, maybe its best we properly diagnois the problems then just replacing peices.

ether way, the heater core is deep inside the dash, at least 2 hours i bet.

pick up a hanyes manual for $20 as soon as you can.

[joe77]

the coolant level is fine, it needs a good flushing though. the two sensors i'm talking about go right into the cylinder head on the drivers side, ones about an inch or two right below the other one. 2 hours ain't too bad, i've got to pull the whole dash out of our 2000 dodge ram to get to the heater core/evaporator.

[sierrap615]

those two are ECTS, the one wire sensor(top one i think) is just for the temp gauge, nothing else. the lower, two wire sensor is the important one, it feeds the PCM.

its strange to see both 14 and 15(is it low or is it high?) it may be an electric problem. ask on the saturnfans.com forums and maybe they can solve that problem.

how bad is the coolent? is it posible bad coolent clogged the heater core?

[joe77]

the cooling system seems to be working good, it idled for about an hour and it never got above half (of course the fan stays on), and whenever i ran it about 2500 rpms for a few seconds it cooled back down to 1/4. he replaced the top sensor, i told him to go to saturn and ask them, i don't know why he's so worried about it if we're going to buy it. the coolant itself looks decent, but its got that reddish-brown crud built up in the bottle, so thats why i think it needs a new core.

[sierrap615]

Originally Posted by joe77

the coolant itself looks decent, but its got that reddish-brown crud built up in the bottle, so thats why i think it needs a new core.

that crud should be there, its another freakish saturn thing. its call "ginger root additive" or something, it helps to seal the hose connectons, i don't know much about the stuff, the dealer may be able to tell you more. i know its weird to see that stuff in your coolent.

[atc2be]

Not sure if this helps but...
I bought a 97 SL-1
140,000
A/C, auto, all in good shape, well maintained, etc for $500...so far, good purchase..