A question of durability

I have a 1994 SL2 with 119,000 Miles. My Penn State (PS) son is Main-Campus
bound Sep 2006 to finish the remaining two years. I live about 150 miles
away. Except for normal maintenance, the car runs fine. I anticipate his
driving to and from PS eight (8) times. Is it prudent to have him drive to
and from PS for the remaining two years? My son is not, repeat, NOT
mechanically inclined. Help!

 

This is a fairly dependable car if it was well maintained and is in good
tune. Only you can answer on the condition of the vehicle. How well
maintained is it? How does it run? When was it last tuned and were the
filters all replaced? When was the transmission fluid last changed or what
is the condition of the clutch if manual? When were the major failure items
(battery, alternator, coolant temperature sensor, EGR, etc. last replaced?

Bob

 

I've had my 92 SL1 for 14 years now. It has over twice the mileage of
your car (281,000 miles to be exact). I drive this car 80 miles a
day/200 times a year. Very little trouble with it.
In fact, I just took the car for four 300 mile trips last month - no
trouble whatsoever.

As Bob says, this is a dependable car but you must perform basic
maintenance measures to keep it from getting into any serious trouble.

As a cheap insurance, I would suggest to sign your son up with an Auto
Club. Up here in Canada, I'm a member of CAA which is equivalent of
your AAA. I've got two drivers on this plan (myself and my wife) and it
costs me about US$140 per year. One driver would be a little less.
I'm signed up for the extended plan (CAA Plus) which allows for 4 or 5
tows up to 100 miles per year. Plus you get other perks and benefits.
It actually paid off last year when my car broke down about 100 miles
from home (alternator died). The two truck driver told me that if it
wasn't for CAA, I'd pay about $400 to get the car home.

Alex

 

I have 193,000 on my 95 SW1. I have owned the car for over 3 years, bought
it with 135,000 on it. It has been one of the most dependable cars I have
ever owned.

-David

 

This seems to be a polar thing - people either have no troubles at all
or they have tons of problems. This seems to inflict lots of cars
besides Saturn, though. IMHO, 3,000 - 4,000 mile oil changes help a lot
with the motor reliability on any car.

 

I agree. I happen to be a major DIY'er, if a day goes by without the hood
up on the Saturn it is a strange day. I check the oil twice a day (it's a
Saturn, plus I am monitoring for leaks) and generally keep an eye on things.

Of all the high mileage cars I have had in the past 20 years, I have never
had an oil related problem and I aim for 3000 miles, usually get to it
around 4000 or so.

-David

 

My Saturn now has 286k miles on it. I change the oil every 6000 miles
(Castrol Syntec 5-50) and out of habit never check the dipstick in
between the oil changes. Much like yourself David, I'm also a major
DYI'er and amongst other things, I change my own oil.
About a year ago, I've decided to monitor how much oil I drain out and
it was about 2.3 to 2.5 quarts, so I was burning about 40 percent of
oil in between the changes (I never add oil between changes).
Last September I've decided to change valve seals on spec. I wanted to
see if perhaps the oil consumption was attributed to the oil sneaking
into the cylinders through those. Not too hard of a job and it took
about 1 hour to complete.
I changed the oil again two weeks ago.....drained 3.3 quarts, that's
about 1 quart less than usual at 6000 mile distance. I hope this trend
will continue. Perhaps this is something you might have to look into
David?

Alex

 

Alex,

One man's opinion: You are foolish not to check or add oil in between 6K
mile changes on a vehicle with 286K miles. I know it is hard to argue
with the results you have obtained to date, but how hard is it to check the
oil and add a half quart at 1500 - 2K mile intervals. Seems like cheap
"insurance" to me. I can't imagine running an engine that is down even 1
quart when it only holds 4 to begin with! You would not have been so lucky
with many other less forgiving engines.

Bob

 

Pilots say "Be thankful for luck but don't count on it".

IMHO there is NOTHING that is easier or cheaper, and will prevent expensive
mechanical failure, as reliably as frequently checking oil and coolant
levels.

 

Bob...

yes I know. You already scolded me on that one.
Reason for not topping up the fluid the last time was to see if the new
seals have made any difference.
Will I top the oil on a regular basis from now on? We'll see... I'm
happy as long as the dipstick shows oil on hash marks.

Alex

 

What I responded to both times was what I perceived to be boasting about not
checking the oil level between changes. Please do not get me wrong here. I
think you have every right to boast about your 286K mile engine consuming so
little oil over your 6K change intervals, but don't want others to follow
your bad example thinking they will get the same results. If the purpose is
simply to see how much oil is lost between changes, then you could just as
easily add a half quart of oil at ~2K mile intervals and still know what you
consumed by keeping track of what you get when you drain the pan/filter by
including what you added. This way the 4 quart capacity would never be
more than .5 quart (12.5%) low.

Bob