I have had a nightmare trying to sell my '98 Saturn SL2.
6 months ago when I last used the A/C, it was working quite well. Then someone tried to use the A/C and told me----to my shock----that it was not working. The compressor did not engage. I had to pull the car off the sales lot to try to get the A/C fixed.Diagnostic work on the A/C showed a leak at some seal near the compressor. I am told that this leak cannot be repaired except to replace the compressor. I am already out $125 for the diagnostic work. The shop now tells me that to replace the compressor will be $2200 parts and labor!!! Is this believable or unbelievable???
Since the car is MAYBE worth $4000 with a working A/C, that means I'll probably be paying someone to take it off my hands since the A/C does not work.
(Please do not tell me about giving it to charity...if I made enough income to itemize deductions, I would not be owning a car, used or new, like a Saturn or any GM product in the first place.)
I have put about $7000 into a car I have driven for 16 months.
It is true that I bought it used, and the first owner was probably a rental company, but when you see the defects at 133,500 miles (some of these were even present when I bought it at 107,000 miles!), you know you don't own a Honda or Toyota given the same care/maintenance:
- regular transmission cooling failure leading to transmission failure
- rod knock which will probably require a rebuilt engine in 10,000 miles anyway
- low brake pedal after bleed of brakes (master cylinder failure?)
- now an A/C compressor failure
I have taken a major bath on this Saturn, and I am pretty sure that the risk I took on trying a GM product has not paid off. I am pretty good about taking care of cars, so I don't know if this would have happened had I been the original owner.