1999-SL-The Oil drinker !

[Anup]

The saturn SL, 1999 doing 57,000 miles is drinking engine oil like a drunkard. I am the second owner ... or atleast I have been told I am the second :-)

Every week it travels 500 miles and eats about half a quart of 5W-30 Mobil 1 - Fully Synthetic. I just buy a 5 quart size box for it so that I can save money ...

Other than that the car seems to work wonderfully ... other than the high revs the engine gets (2000rpm) when I would idle the car in the morning before the 50 mile trip to office.

Any idea on why its guzzling oil ? Or is this normal to the Saturn ...

Why did do they call it Saturn neways ?

Thanks
Anup

[Perchjerker]

Let me tell you, I am the original owner of my 99 Saturn and it has drank oil since it hit 50k. I think it is due to poor engine design. Anyway, not much you can do about it. Mine has 90k on it now and it runs great except for the oil consumption. I haven;t even changed the fuel filter or tune up yet!!

[whiteknight]

I had a 95 (95,000 miles) with the same problem. They say it caused by carbon build up between the ring & cylinder wall. What I done was add a 1/2 quart of Rislone Engine treatment @ a oil change and when it was a 1/2 quart low I put the other 1/2 quart of Rislone in. ( it come in 1 quart container). This brought my oil consumtion down to quart @ 2200 miles. Ther also a piston soak you can do. You can find this on Saturnfans.com.
Good luck.

[Anup]

Thanks will try it out .. this weekend

Does anybody have a preference of what engine oil to use in 5W-30 ?

I use Mobil 1 - 5W-30. Its fully synthentic oil.

Anup

[whiteknight]

That's the best I know & what I use

[Anup]

I went ahead and used the Risoline engine treatment. Also went to walmart and got my car serviced (lube) ... so we have new oil with the engine treatment ... lets see how it rolls ....

Thanl you whiteknight to point me to saturnfans.com ... found a posting thread with 100+ replies on the Oil problem with the saturns with 50K on the road.

So now will keep on trying these techniques one-by-one and either the car will die on me or my techniques ... lets see what happens !

Anup

[whiteknight]

Saturnfans have the most data on Saturns I know. I had a Saturn for 5 years & some of the people there has Saturns with over 200K+ From year one to present, all the models. Lots of goods techs on there. Just about anything about a Saturn they know & has posted somewhere. Good luck with your oil problem.

[BraveDave]

Originally Posted by whiteknight

I had a 95 (95,000 miles) with the same problem. They say it caused by carbon build up between the ring & cylinder wall. What I done was add a 1/2 quart of Rislone Engine treatment @ a oil change and when it was a 1/2 quart low I put the other 1/2 quart of Rislone in. ( it come in 1 quart container). This brought my oil consumtion down to quart @ 2200 miles. Ther also a piston soak you can do. You can find this on Saturnfans.com.
Good luck.

Not to bash you dude, but carbon build-up would only help seal it better. The problem, I found to be the low tension steel GM used to make the piston rings in an attempt to reduce friction are crap. The solution. Replace the rings.

As for the piston soak idea, that was probably thought up by someone trying to sell more catalytic converters.