I bought my '95 Saturn a year ago for $3,000. I noticed shortly thereafter that it was consuming oil at an incredible rate... approx 1 quart every 300-400 miles.
I don't know if I accidentally added too much one day or what, but I was driving home on the freeway at speeds a little faster than I normally drove (maybe 85mph), and when I got off the freeway and slowed down, the car was running very rough. Ever since then, it would die if I took my foot off the gas pedal such as when I would be stopped at a red light. I'd have to put it in neutral and keep the RPM's up or it would die.
So I decided to try and improve things by replacing the spark plugs -- when I did that, I noticed that two of the four plugs had OIL all over them. There was apparently a bunch of oil in two of the cylinders -- definitely a bad sign!!
So I took the car to the shop and they did the following:
1) Replaced engine head gasket, spark plugs, and various hoses. 2) Oil and filter change (they said it needed an oil change very badly-- I had not been having it changed because I was constantly adding new oil since it burned so much and I thought it always had new oil anyways, but apparently there was a lot of slime and gunk that needed to be gotten out).
3) Replace two tires and rims 4) Replace tie rod ends 5) 4-wheel alignment and balancing 6) Replace brake light switch and right turn signal bulb 7) Emissions testing and inspectionTotal Bill: $1,120
My main concern is, once I'm finished paying off this bill and I have my car back from the mechanic, is my engine really going to last much longer? The mechanic said there is still a problem with one of the cylinders, and who knows how much damage was caused by not changing the oil. Are replacement engines available, or is it cheaper to have an engine repaired?
I would like for this car to go another 100,000 miles. Is that unreasonable? It already has 100k on it.
Jeremy snipped-for-privacy@yahoo.com