Oil issues

Probably "sloshing" around enough to get low readings on the sensor...

Uh oh... That's an indication of water. Wipe it off and drive for another

1000 miles or so. Does it return? If not, assume you had a small amount of water in there that foamed the oil and then evaporated from the heat. If it DOES return, start looking into where the water comes from. Partially bad gaskets, bad oil, etc...

Joe - VROC #8013 - '86 VN750 - joe @ yunx .com Ask me about "The Ride" on July 31, '04:

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Moisture. When you burn gasoline you make water and some of that is getting by your piston rings. There are other causes that someone else addressed.

My old truck went 100K or more after I noticed the white stuff so unless you are adding antifreeze often I wouldn't get excited. Your car is aging.

Wes

Normal if you are not getting the engine up to operating temp. Caused by short drives. Nothing to worry about.

Do not let the level drop past the halfway mark.

Seems like everyone is addressing his water problem but he has a bigger problem with that light coming on!!

That oil light is NOT an oil level light, it is an oil PRESSURE light. If you've been seeing that on a regular basis, you will be very lucky that your engine is not hurt. You must have let the oil level get so low that the pressure dropped down too........very bad thing...........keep oil in it from now on and count your lucky stars....

I will keep a closer eye on it. Any oil additives that would help?

Also, why would the pressure be dropping as I brake? And never if I brake from 10 mph or so to a stop (as in a parking lot)?

The oil pressure drops on long decelerations because the oil moves towards the front of the pan away from the oil pump pick-up. You let your oil got so low that so much oil moved away from the oil pump pick-up that there is no oil around the pick-up. When this happened, the oil pump sucks in air and the pressure output of the pump drops to virtually nothing. This is very bad because if means that for those few moments, fresh oil is not being pumped to your bearings. If this goes on for long, severe wear or worse will occur. You do not see the problem when you are braking in parking lots because it is difficult to brake hard enough for a long enough period of time to starve the oil pick-up.

Ed

Exactly. The little bit of oil you have left sloshes away from the pickup. It doesn't have to go on for very long to have bad engine damage.....

Well, here's hoping that I didn't cause too many problems. Wish I knew where the oil was going... but from what I've seen here Saturns seem to have a habit of drinking oil. Anything strongly recommended to help with that?

Not that I am aware of. But honestly, how hard is it to pop the hood every 500 miles and check the level? Takes 30 seconds start to finish.

The time isn't the issue... I'm just interested in keeping costs down anywhere I can. If there's an oil additive that costs, say, $2/bottle that prevents me from having to add an extra however-many quarts/year then I'd be interested.

When one drives 100 to 350 miles per day, that becomes "check the oil daily". Which is a pain in winter with outside parking. But thankfully most do not have it this rough.

There are seven obvious places you could be losing oil - past the rings, past the valve guides, leaks past static gaskets, leaks past crankshaft seals, head gasket leaks, a crack in the block or head, or through the PCV system. Verify you don't have any significant external leaks from static gaskets or crankshaft seals. Make sure you don't have any oil in the coolant. Make sure your PCV valve is in good shape. If you aren't losing oil from any of these obvious places, then the oil is most likely being drawn into the cylinders and burned. You might consider having the valve guide seals checked and replaced as necessary. Beyond this, any fix is going to be very expensive. If you are looking for a miracle, go down to Pep Boys and cruise the additives aisle. There are plenty of products that claim to reduce oil consumption. Some claim to work by swelling seals - this might help with worn valve guide seals. Some claim to work by dissolving carbon deposits that are sticking oil control rings. These supposedly free the rings so that they work better and reduce the amount of oil escaping past the rings into the combustion chamber. Some claim to work by increasing the viscosity of the oil (STP). I'd stay away from these. They might slow down the rate of oil consumption but they do it by slowing down the movement of the oil and this might actually increase engine wear in the long run.

I'd suggest you make sure the PCV Valve is in good shape, and keep a check on your oil. Change the oil regularly and use a good quality oil. You might consider one of the new "older vehicle" oils (Valvoline Max Life is an example).

Ed

How about checking your oil when you buy gas? You are already outside.

Ed

There are things you can do to improve the oil consumption.

Saturns have a known issue where carbon builds up in the ring land area causing the rings to stick. Saturn has a (TSB) procedure where a strong solvent (GM top engine cleaner or GM piston and ring cleaner) is poured into each cylinder and let sit for 8 hours. Then the solvent is sucked out (whatever is left), the oil changed, and the car put back into service. This seems to cut the oil consumption in 1/2 or better in most cases. Sometimes it virtually eliminates consumption.

Another common source of oil consumption is through an aftermarket or stuck PCV valve. Try a new Saturn valve.

Also on some older Saturns the valve seals have been known to go bad. These have to be physically replaced, but isn't an enormous task (as long as the guides are still OK).

Finally if you want to save a little money, you could switch to non-synthetic oil. If it's above 20°F or -7°C run 10w30. In hotter climates you can run 10w40 without problems. The thicker the oil viscosity, the less it will burn (or leak).

As far as the deposit on the base of the oil cap - as others mentioned it is water/moisture. The more blowby an engine has and the colder the ambient temperature the more prone to moisture building up in the oil (and depositing on the cap). Short drives, where the engine doesn't fully reach operating temperatures can make even a new engine see lots of water in the oil (water by the way is a byproduct of combustion). There's not much you can do about it other than changing the oil more regularly and driving longer distances (which might not be practical). Performing the solvent soak procedure also should help as the primary source for blowby is stuck rings (with Saturns).

BTW, the GM piston and ring cleaner is part number 123785489. I don't have the TSB number handy (it's also different between Canada and US).

I drive 140 miles a day in my 1998 SW2, and I just check the oil every time I buy gas. If I do it while the gas is pumping, it takes ZERO extra time since I'd otherwise be standing there waiting for it to fill. I am aware it will read a little lower if the engine has just been running, but if it's always in the same spot then I'm not burning oil.

-DanD

Change the piston rings. Saturn used Hastings rings at the factory and they are garbage.

You can try the top end soak and see what happens, several have reported good results.

This could be done, but then I'd need to allow for different pitch on the car since not getting gas at the same place most of the time. It is just a problem I have to live with.

Have a good day.