oil burning on a sc2?

o.k. I'm new to this site and I'm sure you get this one allot.

my wife's 1997 sc2 was burning about 1 quart of oil when it was new when I did the first oil change at 3000 miles. the guys at the Saturn service department said it is suppose to burn some oil. now the car has 135,000 miles on it and it is burning about a quart every 500 miles and I gave up on doing oil changes just add oil and change the filter every so often. I am running 5w 30 oil and I am wondering if I should switch to a heavier oil. I live in new york and it is common to get nights in the single digits for temperatures. or do I just keep adding oil? thanks carmine

The 1.9L engines are rather known for oil consumption. One thing that seems to cause it is carbon buildup around the piston rings, causing them to become stuck. Doing a soak of the combustion chambers with something like Marvel Mystery Oil or GM Top Engine Cleaner has had some good results for some people - there's some info here:

1 quart in 2000 miles is spec for my 97 - the cheapest answer is to keep adding oil and try not to let the dipstick go lower than the halfway mark...

That's the same for my '99 SC2. If I could pull it behind the RV, I'd keep my '95 Celica with 165k miles; it only uses 1/8qt every 5,000.

Anyone try a little ATF down the spark plug holes?

I learned this little trick from owning a Mazda RX-7 with a rotary engine. In those engines, when they would sit for a long period of time, it was possible for the apex seals (somewhat equivalent to piston rings in a piston motor) to become stuck to carbon deposits on the insides of the rotor housings. When you would try to start up the car with stuck seals, the seals would break and then you would loose compression and you would have to tear your motor apart. Pouring a little ATF (automatic tranny fluid) into the spark plug holes and letting it sit overnight would help to soften up the carbon deposits and free any stuck seals. It would smoke like crazy when you did start it up!

I'm guessing the ATF trick would work with the stuck ring problem on the Saturns... the RX-7 guys suggested MMO and some of the other already mentioned fluids to get the job done with the rotary engine. Perhaps I will try it myself, as my 1992 SC burns about 2 to 3 litres of oil every 5000 km!

Tom Vaughan

2001 Yellow SC2 1992 Blue SC