My 1995 Saturn SL1, which has only 28,000 miles on it, blew its timing chain the other day. The engine damage will cost more than the blue book value to repair, so I think I'm better off just getting a new car (not a Saturn!). But, isn't it odd that the car would have such a serious problem after only
28,000 miles? I asked if the warranty would cover repairs, but Saturn said that it was 36k/3 years whichever came first and it's been nine years since I bought the car.
Any thoughts or suggestions? I'm looking for constructive suggestions, this problem came out of the blue for me, there were no warning indications of any problem.
A 95??? With 28,000 miles??? You think the fact that nothing stayed lubricated from it sitting so much might have had anything to do with it? Cold starts alone equal a good 80% of engine wear. Your starts were probably dry from all the oil draining back down and hard do to lack of oil changes I'm guessing.
LOL, yup. :-) I'm self-employed and work at home, so all I ever have to do are minor local errands.
Er...didn't occur to me, no. I did *drive* it every day, just not much. I guess that isn't enough?
Yup, I wasn't good about oil changes. I took the "every 3,000 miles" line too literally, I fear, meaning it got an oil change maybe once a year at best.
When you take short drives your engine doesnt get a chance to warm up, things dont seat correctly, your oil never burns off contaminants but rather builds up more contaminants. The next car you get you need to take longer drives in every once in a while and change the oil a little more. With your driving habits 3 month changes would of been very beneficial to your car. Most people shun the 3 month deal but it was deduced just for people like you.
Yes. Synthetics work in everything. What you need to know if you buy a new car: Dont use synthetic oil for the first 6000 miles. Put 6000 miles on it in the first year if you can. Go 500 miles, change oil and filter, go another 2500, change oil and filter, go 3000 change oil and filter, go
3000 more and switch to synthetic. For the first 3000 keep your rpms down and dont load the engine, highway miles work best. That will break your engine in nicely and prolong its life. From there on out drive like you do with some long drives added in and no more than 6 months on the same oil.
It sounds, as others pointed out, like a lubrication problem. Cars need to be driven regularly, or bad things happen - condensation gets into the oil, the oil flows away from bearings, gas goes bad, etc.
The absolute worst conditions for a car are those little short slow trips. The poor engine never spins fast enough to get hot enough to burn off all the junk that's been accumulating in it. And parts never get fully seated in place.
Not if it's that old. It's simply not being driven enough. And I know this sounds weird, but it's true of ANY car, not just a Saturn.
You can save yourself this problem in the future easily - simply take the car out on the highway and drive it for 20 or 30 miles at highway speeds at least once a week. This ensures that it stays highly oiled, plus it gets hot enough to burn off the crud in the oil, which is harmful to the engine too. And as someone else pointed out - change the oil every three months.
Driving it every day is good, but you have to get it running at sustained high speeds frequently in order to clear it out. A side advantage is that this will clean out any carbon buildup in the car's engine.
With daily driving, but low mileage, a weekend drive of 20 - 30 miles, or more, will go a long way towards helping keep your engine clean. Today's cars like running pretty hot, and they're designed for highway driving. Going 60 - 70 sounds like punishment, but virtually all cars today actually do this best. Sustained highway speed driving is by far the best for a car - the engine's running at a good speed, the transmission's locked and in overdrive, everything's gotten warm enough, and the cooling system's working to regulate. You're not touching the brakes much, and you're not shifting much. Cars love this, seriously.
I've got a '92 SC2 with over 230,000 miles on it, mostly highway. We redid the head at 210,000 miles, and precautionarily replaced the timing chain, but our old chain was still in good condition. The cylinders still had their cross hatching, the carbon buildup was light, and the bearings were all just fine (then again, ever see the mains on a Saturn motor? Huge).
Change the oil every 3 months or 3,000 miles, and drive it on the highway, and it'll last forever.
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