Comments: 1-15, 16-30, 31-45, 46-60, 61-75, 76-90, 91-101
The Center for Auto Safety lists numerous Technical Service Bulletins that have been released on Saturns re excessive oil consumption, etc. Check their web site!
Friends.
I too have a Saturn that helps the oil industry stay in the profits But the biggest problem is with the transmission 63000+ miles and $1300 later it still has problems. The car rental they sent to me was a KIA, I loved it. Goodbye GM. Forever.
Add me to the list of the number of Saturn owners with an oil consumption problem... Or should I say former Saturn owners... I bought a previously owned 1995 Saturn SL1 with approx. 31,000 miles in August, 1998. I took my car to the Saturn dealer, like clockwork, every 3000 miles for an oil change. In December 2001, the problem began. When driving home one night, the oil pressure light came on. There was no oil in the engine. At that point, the car had approx. 62,000 miles on it. I was told to bring in the car every 500 miles to monitor the oil level. After four or five trips to the dealer in the "Exxon Valdez," I was finally informed that in order to diagnose the problem, Saturn would have to completely take apart the engine. This work would cost $2600, minimum. The sales people were very happy to assist me in test driving new vehicles, and even wanted me to buy a new car the day I received the news.
A friend who is a "car guy" suggested that I check "Saturn oil consumption problem" on an internet search engine. When I saw over 1860 hits, I decided that it was time to get rid of the car and look at other car companies. At the time of writing this post, there are over 2200 hits for the same entry.
I have "Escape"d to Ford and could not be happier.
I just replaced my SL-2 1996 Saturn engine after an extended oil consumption problem stretching from 30,000 miles to 105,000 miles before she blew up! A quart of oil was being added every other fill up at the end. I was very disappointed.
My previous car was a Corsica and I had 146000 miles with it & never once added oil. I always changed oil regularly. This Saturn reminded me of my 1st car, a 1961 Ford Falcon that I bought in 1966 for $45 and it burned a quart every fill-up. I never bought a Ford since, this experience with Saturn's sorry engineering assures the next car will be a competitors model.
I have a 95 SC2 that I purchased used at 80k miles with the same stupid oil problem. The first warning sign was a "ticking" (lifters presumably) after driving from Daytona Beach to the VA border. There was probably less than a quart left in my engine. I put in 3 quarts and since then I've always had to maintain my oil level on long drives. City driving will suck the engine dry after after a few hundred miles if I'm not watchful. My friends report seeing a LARGE amount of tailpipe smoke under hard acceleration. There are only two ways oil could make its way into my cylinders- either past the piston rings or through the valve seals. I haven't had piston seizure yet and I'm passing 135 thousand miles now... I hope for at least a few more.
Hello.
I have just experienced the oil-consuming Saturn-blues as many others have described. My SC2 engine has seized up with 70K miles with only 2 cups of oil in the engine. I've had the oil changed at 3,000 as recommended by the Saturn manual. When I phoned Saturn about this problem, they were less than shocked. I inquired as to why the oil light did not go on prior to the engine dying and their response was "it only goes on when the car has no oil remaining as is basically dead". Great warning signal!!!
In 1996 when I purchased this car, Saturn marketed itself as a friendly, trustworthy autodealer. To my regret, I fell for the marketing scam. I am appalled that this company manipulated its consumers into buying defective automobiles and now will not acknowledge the low-quality product that was sold.
Hello All.
I made a fatal mistake of buying a 1997 Saturn SL1 from Saturn in Southfield, Michigan. I got the car in February 2001, two weeks later I hear a ticking noise coming from the engine my boyfriend checked the oil and there was no oil. We added oil. I took the car back to Saturn in another March and I had to have the engine replaced. Well I got the car back and a month later the engine light came on Saturn said that I had to have an oil consumption test. They said that it was normal to make a long story short I had to have the engine replaced again in September 2001. Now it's March 2003 and I am having the same problem again losing oil and Saturn told me that there was nothing that they could do about it. So I have a car that loses oil every 300 to 400 miles and my service engine light stays on all the time.
I have a 1995 Saturn SL2 with <100,000km on it. I have had oil consumption problems for the last two years. Currently I am burning about 1L/200km. I have talked to Saturn, but they refuse to acknowledge that there is a problem.
Even our 2000 Saturn SC2 does so consume about half a liter every thousound Kilometer... I am disapointed, still love this beautiful sporty car!! Saturn, Put on your f... pants and be honest about this problem... help your Clients before it comes out real on the marquet!
Serge in Ottawa.
I bought a brand new 98 Saturn SL2 4 door sedan from the dealer in Burlingame, CA. The smartest thing I ever did was buy an extended 5-year warranty. At 30,000 miles, the engine blew a rod. The engine was fixed, but began drinking oil from that point forward. With another 9 months to go on my 5 year warranty, I took the Saturn in to a local dealership in Saginaw, MI (where I now live) and after tearing down the engine and examining it, they verified that the cylinder walls are scored and there is damage in the crankshaft. The outside warranty company is beginning to play games with me, saying that they want a technician from this dealership to say "How, Why and When" did this damage happen to the engine??? The service mgr. tells me they have know way of knowing this answer. The warranty company (CNA - Western national Warranty Company) says it won't send a technician until it learns how the engine died. This game of ping pong has been going on all week and the rental car fees are adding up! I won't know until next week if I have to proceed with legal intervention which I am fully prepared to do if necessary. Why couldn't Saturn make a better engine???
One of my brothers is a car mechanic, the other owns a Saturn.
He bought the SC2 ('99) about a year and a half ago and everything seemed to be fine with the car. Then my brother (owner) noticed how quickly his oil disappeared and we thought it has a leak.
After my other (mechanic) brother checked it out, he said it has a ring seal problem and it's from harsh driving. But after seeing all these numerous posts about its oil problem, we stopped blaming my brother and started cursing the Saturn brand. It will be re-ringed and through my brother's car problem, we are now finally decided not to buy another American made car (especially GM) unless it was made in the 1960s. Since after 1969, America just cannot produce a vehicle that lasts longer than its payment or has no major manufacturing defect. word out.
My friend also has a '99 Saturn SL2, one night without a noise or warning light the engine seized... He had paid for a three year extended warranty, but Saturn will not fix the car. Although no oil light had ever come on and he had receipts proving he changed the oil. The car only had about 60,000 miles on it and was owned by an old woman with all the maintenance done. I just figured I would add my piece to the complaining.
The engine of my 1996 Saturn seized due to lack of oil. Unfortunately, I replaced the engine prior to learning about the chronic oil consumption problems that exist with Saturn cars. Later I found out that Saturn failed to install the engine correctly. This caused the "service engine soon" light to illuminate, which began immediately after the engine was replaced. When I brought in the car, Saturn misdiagnosed the problem as a failed PCM. I wrote multiple letters and left over 10 messages for the Saturn Customer Service department, but no one called me back. Two months later, I bought a new car (Toyota) and Saturn finally called me back. They acknowledged that they failed to correctly install the engine in the first place, but refuse to provide just compensation. I am now planning to take legal action against the Saturn Corporation for their faulty product and negligent service. Saturn does not respond to anonymous reviews (I've sent these pages to them) so please share your story with me via email with your story to donotbuysaturn@hotmail.com.
Thank you,
Another Cheated Ex-Saturn Owner.
I bought a 1996 SL2 about two years ago in 2001 with 123,000 miles on it. I have nothing but praise for my particular car, but it has begun to use a lot of oil as well. At this point I have 162,000 miles on the car and it still runs great, excluding the oil consumption. I have put almost no money into repairs besides the regular stuff that you need to do on any car. I tried replacing the valve cover gaskets and the PCV valve, both of which needed changing anyway, to resolve the problem. But it is still fairly poor with the oil consumption, about a quart every tank.
My question is, do I have to get my rings replaced, or can I do this Alemite treatment that JCB -- (Ann Arbor, Michigan) on the first page speaks of. Replacing the enginge would be silly considering I live in Vermont and the rust is terrible. Then again maybe it will work and I can put another 80,000 miles on my lime. I will write back to let you know if it does work. At least if you keep feeding them oil, the cars are reliable, mine at least...he he lucky me.
James Roberts --- Woodstock VT.
I bought my Saturn new in 1993.It is a twin cam sl2.It now has 200,000 miles on it. I have had very good luck with it so far. But, as so many have said previously- It has become a real oil burner. And as many have said it started to consume oil at about 65,000 miles. Now at 200,000 miles I am having to add about one full quart per tank of gas.
It is really scary to read all these horror stories of premature engine failure. I don't do a lot of research on the web- so I was unaware of the many problems people have had with their Saturns. Prior to reading these, I was fully prepared to buy a new Saturn... Not any more. With all the negative stories about engine failure and poor customer service, I will be shopping at the other guys stores.