Emergency Backup Saturn - '02 SC2(K) Challenge Car

I thought I had my daily driver all figured out. I kicked the tires and read the reviews and finally took the plunge - I bought my newest, most expensive car to date, a 2018 Fiat 124 Spider. Up until this moment I spent 10 years driving a Saturn Astra. Not exactly a penalty box, but I've putting off treating myself to a truly special driver's car for far too long. And what's not to love about the Fiat Spider? It's a Mazda-built ND Miata with retro Italian styling, a torquey turbo engine, incredible exhaust note, and it comes in colors other than red! But after 5 months of enjoying this saucy gorgeous European model, our love turned sour. Her Fiat-sourced heart had a few too many flaws, and she found herself spending too much time with Tony down at the dealership. You can read all about those woes in my other thread. Needless to say, we will be breaking it off soon. 

With the Fiat unable to fulfill my basic needs of getting to work, I needed something dependable, and right now. Sure, my classic El Camino and equally classic Honda CB motorcycle could fill the void, but for how long could I stand that? 50 miles of commute on I-285 in Atlanta during the summer is hard on both of those vehicles, and me. While waiting on AAA to take custody of my soon-to-be ex-car, I came across this Saturn SC2 on our own GRM Forum classifieds. 

No, that's not an Eagle Talon, or a Hyundai Veloster, or an extended-cab pickup. It's the last true Saturn - the final year of the S-series before GM muddled up the short-lived unique division. This example even has the one-year-only burnt orange paint. It's got 222k miles, but the owner's father was a 15+ year Saturn technician who cared for it very well. Just look at that interior. It's also lowered on Eibach springs and KYB shocks, wearing 17x7 Advanti Storms with BFG Rivals. Honestly it handles pretty darn well near the limit, which is admittedly not hard to reach. Along with it comes an entire basement full of spare parts, including every body panel in much better condition paint of the same color (not yet picked up), and the best part: a paint-matched period-correct tuner body kit, never installed.

All this for only $1900. You know what that means...it is destined for the GRM $2000 Challenge this October.

But for now, this Saturn will fill the void while I wait on Tony to fix my Fiat (again), then sell that car, then decide what to replace it with. That doesn't mean I can't have some fun with this summer fling.

And about that body kit...

...yeah

Of course, a sub-$2000 20-year-old model of a brand that's been dead for over a decade is not without problems. When you turn left very hard, the trunk light illuminates. That's okay, because when you turn right really hard it turns off again. There are many clunks and rattles. The clutch pedal feels a little soft...or does it simply feel a little 2002? The blower motor seems to switch speeds without you switching the speeds. And according to the seller it burns a quart every 1500 miles like every other Saturn. But the big one is the rev hang / racing idle. Sometimes it throws a bad fit of high idle. Like, really high idle of 3500 RPM. In traffic. I took the throttle body and IAC valve off, probably for the first time ever in this car's life, and cleaned off what must have been 3mm layer of EGR sludge. It was disgusting. Here's hoping this fixes the issue.

Dirty Saturn. I  it. Watch out for the coolant temp sensor. 
 

Little bro has my old 2002 SL1. He hates it. You may have inspired me in the worst way. 

That might fix the idle, but the hang will never go away as long as the stock computer is present.  You can block off the iac if that is an issue.  I made a template for doing so and published it somewhere, I'll have to look.

Edit, that was easy to find:. https://grabcad.com/library/704718

Dude, we need some kind of warning before you post pictures like that throttle body. Ewwwwwwwwww.

I hope you don't fix the trunk light lateral g telltale.

Also the 3rd gens are known for having weird clutch hydraulics.  I don't recall if you can swap directly with a second gen or if you need to swap the pressure plate as well.  They made the same basic car for 11 years with minor changes here and there, so there is lots of potential for improvement if you feel like spending your time on it.

In reply to ProDarwin :

Can you explain more about how that works? If this completely eliminates the IAC, wouldn't it stall at idle?

Also it looks like my "parts lot" comes with a 1st or 2nd gen clutch hydraulic assembly, based on pictures from Rockauto, so I could always swap that if the pedal gets worse.

There is still an idle adjustment on the throttle body, and even with it shut it will idle.  It's mostly used during startup, with a/c on, or between shifts.  It's far from a perfect solution, but the programmed rev hang drives some people insane.

I don't want to jinx it, but I think cleaning the TB and IACV fixed the random high-idle issue. The throttle response and overall drivability seem better too.

About an hour or so after driving, I noticed the HVAC blower would randomly turn itself on for a couple minutes. In my clumsy diagnosing, the cover on the bottom of the blower motor just sorta crumbled into a billion pieces for like no reason. I later found out Saturns have a "feature" called Afterblow (heh) which is a delayed cycling of the blower to prevent funny cabin smells. And here I thought this $1900 car was a POS (Possessed Old Saturn). I guess it's just a Saturn.

I would like to apologize for besmirching this on your ND2FIAT thread. For now you're right it clicks all the buttons.....except for sporting a Warren Johnson Cutlass PRO STOCK Snorkel Hood Scoop.......BWaHahahaaaa!!!!(wink)........that's way too much crumbled plastic for one soul to bear....

You're putting the body kit on, right?

In reply to Patrick (Forum Supporter) :

I feel the Challenge necessitates it. 

Patrick (Forum Supporter) said:

You're putting the body kit on, right?

I think it looks pretty good. 

maschinenbau said:

In reply to Patrick (Forum Supporter) :

I feel the RAD necessitates it. 

the sun never sets on cool

Dammit man, this thing needs more body kit!!!

And probably window tint....

Dusterbd13-michael (Forum Supporter) said:

Dammit man, this thing needs more body kit!!!

And probably window tint....

Red or yellow tint to be era-appropriate. 

Just finished Phase 2 of the mandatory spare parts removal from the seller's premises. I think I'll swap the hood, trunk, and FL fender as an improvement. Otherwise I'll attempt to answer the question "Can you sell Saturn S-series parts for actual money?" 

Incredibly, there is a Phase 3 and it will include two transmissions.

Can't remember but is this the LLO engine?

In reply to Stampie :

Yep this one's the mighty 124hp DOHC LL0. 

I've always thought these looked cool, but I've never driven one

In reply to maschinenbau :

Excellent use of available resources for transportation of the parts.  

In reply to Stampie :

Gen 2 LL0 (gm didn't differentiate as far as I know)

Thinking about a Track Night In America at Road Atlanta later this month. Any Saturn experts know if these engines are susceptible to oil starvation? Otherwise I'm just going to flush the brake fluid, check the pads/rotors, and send it.

Also by some miracle, someone is actually interested in buying the whole parts lot for a couple hundred. Which is great because my yard is a mess of orange plastic right now.