Spent the weekend elbow deep in a Saturn

Arg.

Why do non car people always have the cars that i want?

Car in question: 1997 SC2 5spd.

This is my girlfriend's brother's car. It's in beautiful shape (does have the rings issue that saturns get). Other than the fact that it quit running on him. In talking to him over the phone last week, i tentatively diagnosed it as a bad alternator, draining the battery. (No overheating, no bad noises, just died when he hit the brakes, and wouldn't restart.)

It was cranking really slow, or not at all. So i told him to throw it on a charger and i'd be down Saturday to fix it.

Got down there, and the charge didn't do anything. Still cranking slow. So i jumped it. Still cranking slow. Yanked the battery out, drove 30 minutes to the nearest Pep Boys and had them test the battery/buy a new one. It tested as "weak," but not bad. They threw it on their charger, and it came up strong, so i brought it back. Bought an alternator and serpentine belt while i was there.

Slapped the battery in, tried to start it. Same thing. Swapped in an 800CCA battery from his dad's Oldsmobile. Same thing, slow crank.

Bad starter? And this is where i decided that i never want a Saturn. HOLY clusterberkeley engine bay in back. Starter is on the back of the block, accessible from under the car. (I use the term "accessible" loosely.) The top bolt was HORRIBLE to get out. 45 minutes later, i've got it out, and before i go back on another 30 minute trip to town, i check where the alternator is. ARRRGGGGGG... THAT'S UGLY. It's under the power steering pump, on the back of the motor. Looks like i'll have to take it out the passenger wheelwell. Yuck.

Get the starter tested. Passes with flying colors 3 times in a row. SIGH. Drive back.

When i get there, i ask him: "Did you check your oil when it died? When was the last time you checked your oil?"

"I checked it when it died, it was a little low, so i added some."

"How much did you add?"

"A quart."

"SONOFABITCH. That wasn't "a little low." That was DRY. That car is STILL a quart and a half low after you added the quart."

"Oh."

"Yeah. That motor is partially locked up. Too much friction for the starter to turn it fast enough. You need a block. I'm not doing that for free. Next time, check your oil more often."

Why do people like this get the cool cars?

What a waste of a weekend.

A quart low isn't dry on a 4+ quart oil system...

Arithmetic tells us that the car was at the very least, 2.5 quarts low when it died.

Probably very close to 3 quarts low.

I had a friend who ran his 99' cougar into the ground by not checking the oil level enough. The car shut off while we was waiting at a traffic light on a downhill slope. He tried to restart it and it was making horrible noises so he pushed it to the nearest open spot. I checked the oil and found none. Best part is the 2.5L duratec takes 6 QUARTS of oil. How long does it take to lose over four quarts and never know?!

93celicaGT2 wrote: Spent the weekend elbow deep in a Saturn

Better than elbow deep in Uranus!

Most people just aren't mechanically sympathetic. This is why we don't have flying cars yet.

The alternator is a PITA on a Saturn. I remember fiddling with #34 ITA (James Walker Jr's old car), removed all the bolts OK but couldn't figure out how to Tetris the loose alternator just right to actually maneuver it out of the car!

And yeah, you HAVE to keep up with the oil in that car. As you'd think my friend who bought my 95 SC2 would've learned. I told her to check it frequently, like, weekly at minimum. She didn't. Fragged the motor. Got it replaced. A couple years later, fragged it AGAIN, also by running it out of oil! I ended up arranging a sale of that car to another friend, the current owner of #34 ITA, as a parts car...