1997 Saturn SC SC2 from North America - Comments

Well for the people that are having a problem with oil consumption, take off the hose that comes from the valve cover and connects to the intake pipe. I did this over 3 months ago and ALL OIL CONSUMPTION HAS STOPPED. What I'm guessing is that the intake sucks oil from this valve on the cover. Try it out and see. Also, Lucas oil stabilizer helps and it makes the engine run smoother.

I posted a comment a little while ago, I forgot to mention that when you take off that hose, also clean your intake throttle body. It's probably going to be filled with gunk and oil from the throttle suction. You'd be amazed at the wonders this would do to the responsiveness of the car. It also took away this annoying check engine light I had; the gunk probably messed with the TPMS.

My daughter has had her 97 SC2 for 7000 miles since 83000.

Her car does use about half a quart ever oil change at 3000 miles.

I could just cry. My wife and I bought our first new car ever in the spring of 1997. It was a 1997 Saturn SL1. The dealership was awesome and the entire experience was incredible. The first 3 years was a dream compared to the nightmare that followed. Non stop problems with the front top motor mount breaking every 3-6 months. I go through more oil now than I do gas. It only has 150K miles, but the last 50K was the toughest.

Every time I speed up after a stop, I feel like I'm in an old spy movie because of the smoke cloud I leave at every intersection. Now the transmission is going out. The infamous "coolant low" light trick started 6 months ago. You know the one, the light comes on and you freak out, pull over and check the level and it is completely full. I will never give my money to GM ever again.

This is supposed to be the best that an American auto producer can do? I know all cars series have a few problem children, but this is down right embarrassing as an American product. I guess for a quality product I still need to buy foreign. What a sad, sad day.

I have a 96 Saturn SL1 that I bought 2 years ago. Goes through about 1/2 qts of oil every 3 fill-ups.

I did my research before buying this car. Knew being 10 years old, work would need to be done. All 4 motor mounts, front struts, tensioner, idler pulley, belt, alternator, brakes. Saturnfans.com is an awesome site to find fixes or just general questions as to what to expect. If you go into it with eyes open, your fine.

I am a woman and not overly mechanical, but my 15 yr old son and I can work on this thing. Previous owner replaced engine due to letting it burn all the oil and never checking it. So the engine is a 2000. Body has about 150k miles on it and engine has about 80k now. Still runs great and fun car to drive.

My 20 year old son has decided to snag it from me upon his return from his military station, so I went and bought a 97 SC2. You just have to know what you're getting into.

Do the mmo soaks for the oil consumption (don't be surprised if your gas mileage suffers a bit for awhile) and do seafoam to clean out the throttle body. No big deal.

After my parents bought a wonderful 2004 Saturn Ion 3, I decided to buy a Saturn for myself.

After much searching, I found a shiny red 2000 Saturn SC1 with 77000 miles on it. I bought it for what I thought was a steal!

I was so impressed by the car, especially the handling and great gas millage. Sure it was a basic commuter car, but it was my car and I was proud of it, until I realized how badly abused it had been by the previous owner.

After some better inspection, I discovered that the car had been in a slight accident that was not reported to the insurance, and a quick fix repair job to the exterior of the front bumper. No big deal right, until the paint started peeling from improper paint techniques.

Next I had discovered that my car was leaking oil. So being an 18 yo guy I fixed it myself with a new drain plug seal (A very easy fix)! However, my car also uses varying amount of oil, which can be quite annoying, considering I drive it to and from school on breaks at 300 miles each way.

While buying the car, I was told that all SC Saturns use oil, so while it is sometimes annoying, I was prepared.

All of these things being said about the negatives, Saturn customer service has been great and my car runs very well. And let me tell you I drive a lot; I have put over 10000 miles in less than six months (no exaggeration).

This Saturn is a great basic car for anyone, and I will always continue to own them, even though it has quirks.

And to those who say Saturn is not an honest company, I disagree; I have dealt with different dealers around my region, and all have been very honest and straight-forward.

Best of luck to all those who decide to make the plunge and buy one!!!

PS check your stinking oil; it's basic common sense!

We have 2 Saturns. My wife has a 97 SC1 (auto) and I have a 98 SL2 (standard) that I just purchased. The 97's been great. Purchased with 80k, now has 137k.. It doesn't use any noticeable amount of oil!!! This car has been super reliable. So much so that I purchased a 98 SL2. I've had it for a little over 1k miles and this one's a 1/2 quart down on oil. I figured that wasn't "too" bad considering 117k on the clock. Although I know its burning it, I never could "see" the smoke until today. I was in the Mount Washington region here in NH, coming down a very large hill (small mountain really). I had to use a low gear / engine braking. Jeeze!!! Got to the bottom and happened to look behind me. Wholly cow, blue smoke everywhere!!! It cleared up in a few miles and now back to normal. Does this sound more like valve guides than the rings?? The car has already done its time in traffic jams and no smoke at all as I've been looking for it. I've been carefully checking the MPG for the last 1000 miles and it's averaging just over 38 mpg.. Seems like it would have to be pretty healthy to be maintaining that kind of average!!! This one came with a freshly replaced (37k mile) manual transmission and brand new clutch so it drives and shifts like new. The car's in good shape so if it comes to rebuilding the engine in the future, I'd probably consider it, but I intend to avoid that as long as possible!!

On changing oil, just my opinion, but... On a newer engine with lower mileage and no real oil consumption / blow by, I would think that 5k to even 7k would probably be fine between oil changes. However, if you are burning oil, blow by could go both ways. Burned fuel / exhaust gas passing the rings back into the oil. Ever notice how quickly the oil becomes dirty on an engine with high consumption. It seems to me that it's a good idea to change the oil more often in a car that's burning it to keep the problem from getting worse. That's what I've always done and it seems to work for me so far.

My wife purchased her 97 SC2 new and has been totally happy with it. It has 100K miles now and it has only been in for a couple minor items plus regular maintenance.

It does use a little oil as in less than a quart every 3K miles. We keep an eye on it and never let it get low. My suspicion regarding all these people complaining about oil consumption, probably stems from neglect and improper maintenance.

I had to beg her to test drive the Saturn, because she didn’t believe in American cars back when we were newly weds. Her previous vehicles were a Honda Prelude and Toyota Corolla. Now I can’t get her to give it up. She’s had the car over 10 years, which is way more than of her other vehicles. This has been her favorite car.

She say’s lets put on a new muffler, get a tune up and she’ll drive it another year. I’ve been trying to get her into a G6 convertible for a couple years now. Maybe next year we’ll make the plunge.

Bottom line, this has been one great vehicle and the dealership experience couldn’t have been better except for maybe my Mercedes experience… they fix things that I didn’t even know were broken, and then didn’t say anything about it.

I got my 1995 Saturn SL2 for about $1,000 close to 6 months ago with 134,000. I was another one of the unfortunate people that had the shifter grommet break, and was told by Saturn that it would be $197.00 to replace the shift linkage as they don't sell the grommet separately. I thought about drilling the ball joint out, and just putting a bolt and nut to fix the problem, however consider me fortunate to have a salvage yard nearby that had that grommet, ended up paying a quarter for it.

All in all, I like my Saturn. Is it fair that Saturn wants to charge people $200 for a 30¢ piece of plastic? No, but there's nothing we can do about it.

I have a 2000 Saturn LS2. Now I know why the dealer said it was the only car they had in our price range. Wish I had left running. The experience was awful from them lying to us, GM dealer by the way, till now. We replaced 2 O2 sensors, spark plugs, and fuel filter. Still running like crap. Hesitating when you drive runs fine just sitting still. If I didn't owe on it, I would junk it. Don't buy Saturn or GM.

I've owned 13 sw2's here in MN and in IA. We run pizza deliveries out of them!

If you do the routine work they hold up. I've gotten 340K on one 1997, and will have nearly 400K on a 1995.

Never let them overheat; that will finish the 1.9 in a hurry.

Sure the seats go to pot, but they are readily available at my bone yard. 10-30 bucks each.

These SW2's...I pick 'em up at auction for between $300 - $600. Great cheesy little cars!