If I remember some years ago, Saturn was noted for weak piston rings. Have you done a leakdown test?
I know this is a GM newsgroup, but then again I guess Saturn is made partly from GM parts.
My son-in-law has a '94 Saturn that has 160,000 miles on it. Recently he drove it to work, when he came out it wouldn't start. I got checking into it and it has very little compression on cylinders #1 & #2 (50-60 lbs.) #3 had
100 lbs. and #4 seems normal at 150 lbs. I tore it down and found nothing wrong with the gasket or the valves (valves may have been leaking just a little). I reground the valves and the seats and lapped them it, but now I am wondering about the valve clearance. The lifters don't seem to compress like I would think hydraulic lifters ought to, so I wonder if clearance needs to be ground off of the valve stem, much like the old Briggs and Stratton engines do.Any help would be appreciated, maybe someone knows if these are hydraulic or solid lifters? If I would grind off the ends of the valves and it is hydraulic it would probably rattle pretty good, but I don't know maybe that is the way it sounded new. Some kind of help for online tune-up specs? I am not going to buy a manual to work on the car one time, as I don't ever plan on buying a Saturn myself.
Doug