Guilty, Sea Foamed the Saturn..

Soutthpaw · Post by **Soutthpaw** » Sat Sep 30, 2006 5:44 pm

I have to admit I went ahead and Sea Foamed my wife's 2002 saturn... Replaced the spark plugs too which were causing an intermittant misfire at idle... Weird thing was that nothing showed up on my scan-tool. Then again i did not spend any time viewing the datastreams... I knew the plugs were the problem... Went with Bosch +2's as Advance did not have NGK's for it.
So along with everything else I decided to add a bottle of Sea-Foam to the gas tank for general cleaning of the fuel system. I admit I hate GM's but this is our second Saturn and has been basically problem free for almost 100K miles now. I like Saturns cuz GM basically abandoned everything they knew about building vehicles and started fresh with building the Saturn from am Japanese approach. at about 42K miles with almost bald tires, my wife had taken the Saturn in under warrantee several times for a clunking noise. from the suspension, it got worse and worse, Finally I went with her and insisted they check the TSB's. sure enough ther was a TSB for the suspension noise problem related to alignment, Not only did they fix the problem they installed 4 brand new tires free of charge without me even asking. I have to compliment Saturn service for that.

keith · Post by **keith** » Sun Oct 01, 2006 12:05 pm

I have an 02 Saturn too. Didn't have the suspension problem but did have the idle problem. It got worse and and worse over time until it finally set a code. The requirement to set the code that indicates the problem will not set until it idles for two minutes at 200 rpm above normal. Since I spent very little time idling, I didn't get the code until I got stuck in a parking lot and the vehicle had 102k miles. BTW, once this started, my mileage slowly dropped from 38 to about 35. The code was PO 705 (or 507) which is high idle. To find the problem, spray some WD40 or carburator cleaner around the intake manifold gasket at the forward side of the #1 cylinder. The problem is the intake manifold gasket was mangled by the robot that mounts the gasket so it looses its seal there. The hole of the gasket completely misses the bottom forward stud. Its about a $200 repair at the dealer, and they have plenty of experience doing this job.

Check cartalk.com and saturnforums.com.

Mac · Post by **Mac** » Sat Oct 07, 2006 9:46 pm

Soutthpaw wrote:Finally I went with her and insisted they check the TSB's. sure enough ther was a TSB for the suspension noise problem related to alignment

I love how dealerships would rather give you the run-around all day, than spend 10 min looking in their computer for a TSB related to your problem.

my friend has a saturn, dosn't like it too much because its not very sporty, but it seems pretty problem free.

keith · Post by **keith** » Sun Oct 08, 2006 1:31 pm

I gotta agree with your friend on this. I have a 100 mile round trip commute everyday so I like the 38 mpg and the intake manifold gasket is its only non scheduled maintenance so far. It has been the most reliable car in the family so far, including many Honda's, Nissan's, and Toyota's, though my daughters Corolla is catching up. It is not only not sporty, its uncomfortable. You would thing GM would have figured out by now that comfort is the most important thing in getting people to become repeat buyers.

Typrus · Post by **Typrus** » Sun Oct 08, 2006 6:00 pm

Interesting. All the Saturns I know of are pieces of crap. I get at least one friend a week with a Saturn dragging me out to figure out why X is grinding or Y is scraping or its spewing blue smoke everywhere all of a sudden.

Wonder if its an altitude thing or if they all got Friday/Monday lemons.

takza · Post by **takza** » Mon Oct 09, 2006 3:15 am

On the other hand...Consumer Reports says thay are fairly reliable...not as good as a Toyota though.

They are becoming a favorite of mpg enthisiasts...cause it is easier to get good mileage form them.

Not many people like them though.....

Mac · Post by **Mac** » Mon Oct 09, 2006 5:25 pm

keith wrote: You would thing GM would have figured out by now that comfort is the most important thing in getting people to become repeat buyers.

unfortunatley, toyota has forgotten this with the echo

the car is really uncomforatable to drive, the only way i can make it barable, is if i put the seat far forward, which for me, cramps my legs.

not as bad as the cavilier my brother and me rented a couple years ago for a road trip, after about 20 min my ass started hurting.

keith · Post by **keith** » Mon Oct 09, 2006 6:39 pm

Yeah, back when I used to do traveling for the company, I always got bad headaches when ever I rented either a Neon or a Cavalier.

If I drive the Saturn for more than an hour, I have to use a lumbar support. I removed that annoying panel next to my right leg, just ripped it out.

Top MPG car I ever had was a 61 Fiat Cabriolet, 50 mpg and a blast to drive, but only about 600 miles between engine teardowns.

Post by **ARCHINSTL** » Mon Oct 09, 2006 7:15 pm

keith wrote:Top MPG car I ever had was a 61 Fiat Cabriolet, 50 mpg and a blast to drive, but only about 600 miles between engine teardowns.

Was your Fiat* a 500 or 600? My Beloved Sister had a 600. Cute engine (even had a tiny full header), slick shifter, but even my Morrises were like a muscle car compared to it. I would have hated to be in any kind of a crash with it.
Tom M.
* For the younger folk - there was a popular acronym for those Fiats: "Fix It Again, Tony."

keith · Post by **keith** » Tue Oct 10, 2006 7:37 pm

The Cabriolet was a sports car, the forerunner to the Spyder. 1200 engine, 63 hp. Looked kind of like a MG midget but slightly larger. Had a Webber 2v carb that was nearly the size of the engine but it was miserly on gas.

Tercel4WD.com

Guilty, Sea Foamed the Saturn..

Guilty, Sea Foamed the Saturn..

Re: Guilty, Sea Foamed the Saturn..