I concur that the "oil light will flicker when ... moderately braking" is probably the oil in the pan sloshing away from the intake. But these symptoms (loss of oil, low oil pressure when braking) in other, older cars sometimes mean a small leak in the vacuum booster for the power brakes. I'm not sure if this applies to a 1998 SL-2, I don't know the car that well...our 1995 SW2 is the only Saturn I've worked on.
Hpoe this helps, Stephen
Owner said it did this when braking more firmly or harder than gentle braking.
Also this assertion doesn't jibe. For any reason for oil loss, when oil level get low, oil pump pick up is now higher than oil level and noisily sucks in air and oil when oil sloshes away from pickup. Like a children does with drinking straw & pop when drink empties. foamy oil is very sprougy because of air is compressible than pure liquids like oil, hence the oil pressure switch get triggered and BAD NEWS for bearings, engine needs high oil pressure to keep metal to metal contact apart.
Oil loss can be any reason: lack of oil level checks or not often enough, any leaks (external or internal), oil burning (bad rings or valve seals, bad PCV). Even on normal good engine does consume oil in very tiny amount. But on Saturns and some other brands with specific engines it is poor design, abuse or unlucky failure when it suddenly consumes too much oil.
Checking oil level every few days or every week or on every gas fill if car isn't driven far enough or driven often, every n miles like
200miles for example.Cheers,
Wizard
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