Saturn people, advice needed

Fixing a 93 SL1 for a friend, its an automatic. It has two big issues.

1. The speedo works jittery up to 65 or so, then starts going backwards. At 55 mph the odometers are spinning like its doing 300mph. Speed sensor right? Could it be anything else?

2. It runs hot on the highway reads 3/4 instead of 1/2, coolant looks kinda icky, it will get a good flush and thermostat. Im also concerned it might not have all the air dam parts, anybody have a picture of a complete one?

Anything else to check out or deal with? It doesn't seem to be burning ludicrous amounts of oil, already did plugs, wires and a trans drain fill and filter, only has like 90k on it.

Had a light for a TPS, fixed that with the AC delco part. It also has a intermittent check engine light (26 and 32) that was traced to a burned out EGR solenoid, not worried about it.

All Saturn S series will burn oil. Mine was burning a qt every 50 miles before I rebuilt the engine. It is recommended that you check the oil every time you put gas in the car. Sort of get a feel how long it will go on a qt of oil. The oil issue is what puts a lot of Saturns in the junkyard.

Replace the engine coolant sensor if it is plastic. The correct one will be brass. All plastic coolant sensors fail.

The speedo thing is a mystery. I would try a new/used speed sensor.

The good news is there are plenty of saturns in the junk yard for parts.

My 96 SW1 has 315,000 miles and still has the original clutch and struts. These cars are cheap to own and are simple to fix. If the car is clean enough, its is worth rebuilding the engine to correct the piston ring issue... otherwise beat it like a rented mule and it will be restively trouble free.

Definitely check and see if you have the old plastic ECTS (engine coolant temp sensor) and replace it if you do. 3/4 is definitely high for the highway- my 2000 SL2's fan kicks on somewhere a bit over 1/2 on the temp gage and on the highway it's rarely much over 1/4. Either the gage is reading wrong or there's definitely something wrong with the cooling system, it shouldn't be that hot on the highway (unless they really changed the gage readings between '92 and '00...).

Mine is missing the lower air dam (spring-loaded deflector under the car)- the bumper attach for it broke when I went over an icy snowpile a few years back. It hasn't affected the temperature that I can tell, so I'd not be too worried about that.

I'm with fujioko, they're fairly easily maintained and spare parts for them are ridiculously easy to find in junkyards and are solid, efficient little econoboxes.

Garden hose flush, new ECT sensor, new German made Motorad t stat, filled up with distilled water and supertech universal coolant, better but still hot on highway with AC on. Will find used air dam or build new from coroplast.

Speed sensor was leaking ATF through the plug, installed new one, odometer better but speedo still jumps around after 65mph. Cruise works and trans works, so Im thinking cluster is bad, whatever, it works at sub highway speeds.

Checked oil change sticker to find it was last done in dec 2011, that needs to be fixed and then it should be good to drive till it rusts out with nothing but oil changes and top offs.

The 1st gen coolant gauge reads different than the 2nd/3rd gen (also it has a separate gauge coolant sensor). It was revised for the 2nd gen cars because too many owners were complaining that their car was running "hot".

The cluster is an easy swap. Any 1st gen cluster will work IIRC.

The spring loaded air damn part is meaningless. The plastic tray it is attached to (basically forms a pan parallel to the ground from the radiator->forward) is pretty important. Without that in place, air will not be forced into the radiator.

If it doesn't burn much oil now, always add 1/2qt of ATF about 500 miles before an oil change (or just top off with it instead of oil) and it'll keep the rings from getting any worse.

Its a good (although incredibly slow and boring to drive) appliance. I don't know that I'd wish an automatic 1st gen SL1 on my worst enemy.

Only thing to watch out for on an SOHC is the head cracking. Not a common problem, but its out there.

I have nothing between the rad and bumper cover right now, I figure thats the issue. It is slow but not dangerously slow, this car is going to a guy who gets 45mpg in a newish Prius, so its gonna be wound up a lot, thus the cooling system needs to work properly. I've driven "check oil at gas station" into their heads pretty hard.

look closely at the radiator itself. If a lot of the fins are gone or damaged it will run hot. Went through this on a Dakota pickup recently. There were no leaks and had good flow, but ALL the fins had rotted away. Tubes don't do a good enough job on their own. New radiator and all was well.

Rad looks great, I poked at some of the fins and they seem solid and attached, its an AC car, the condenser is in OK shape, 95% undamaged or so. Seems only the copper radiators with the really thin wavy fins rot around here. The temps are now reasonable till you turn the air on, I think a dam will fix it.

Kenny_McCormic wrote: I have nothing between the rad and bumper cover right now, I figure thats the issue. It is slow but not dangerously slow, this car is going to a guy who gets 45mpg in a newish Prius, so its gonna be wound up a lot, thus the cooling system needs to work properly. I've driven "check oil at gas station" into their heads pretty hard.

That missing piece is definitely going to be a contributor to cooling problems. Lots of turbo-guys have found that one out.

A piece of one of those big blue water barrels was found in the scrap pile and zip tied on, much better. Should be ready to run into the ground with nothing but 4 month oil changes now.