Just bought my daughter a 2002 SL2, pretty clean inside and out, but it has lifter noise so i took it to the local shop who does a lot of Saturn work. Dealer is pretty far and I didn't want to chance it since the tags are out of date. The car has been sitting for a year, hesitates on acceleration, I figured that was the fuel filter from sitting so long. I had the shop change the oil, the belt, all fluids and reset the check engine light. He said 3 codes came up. knock sensor, o2 sensor and cam sensor. He played with it for a long time and has decided the engine is bad as the oil pressure is too low and wants $1000 for an engine plus $500 install. I already spent $500 with him. I am not sure he is fully accurate, the car starts right up, idles fine, takes right off when you give it gas, if not for the lifter noise and the hesitation I would say it runs great. I need some help from the experts.

 

Too low, huh? Just how low does he say it is ???

On a car that old, I can see a bad sensor or two, but I am a bit suspicious about the oil pressure being too low ............

 

ALL remaining Saturn dealers closed oct 31st .... call your nearest Chevy dealer to see if they are servicing Saturns. hummmm

 

In Mobile, Alabama, the Cadillac dealership is the one to call - just off I-65

 

He did not say, he did take off the valve cover and visually inspect. He saw oil coming up but not enough to get to the lifters. The lifters are really noisy, all of them. I thought maybe since it was sitting so long they were all stuck, but he changed the oil twice and put in marvel oil to try and quiet them, but no difference.

 

Things get gunked after 365 days of not flowing........

1) low oil pressure would likely trigger an oil light on the dash and cause more damage throughout

2)there is no cam sensor on an s car--this code sets for other reasons well tackle later
3)don't throw money at the knock sensor just yet.....may be tied to the cam sensor code....

4) sluggishness on accel is likely the front o2 sensor (assuming code was for the front) -- replace with the denso, not the bosch

clear codes, go through a few drive cycles and report back on any remaining codes

You also didn't mention new plugs and wires -- recommended (nothing exotic)

 

The oil sensor will normally operate when the pressure drops below 10 psi

 

great thanks, no oil light on the dash, only the engine maint light. cam senor was a guess on my part because I did not remeber the 3rd code, it was something like that. It is not sluggish on accel at all, it starts out great, then it gets hessitant, you have to padle it a bit, that's why I think the fuel filter might have a lot of shelac in it, but the CarQuest fuel filter has the fuel arrow the wrong direction stamped on the body, from single inlet to double, instead of the way it is on the car, should I ignore that and put it in anyway? They did a full tune on it with plugs but not wires, they appear in good condition, overall the car is quite clean. He did say the o2 sensor code was coming on and between the knock sensor and that, it made the car retard the timing and run badly. thanks for your help.

 

thanks, I will call them and see if they recorded what is actually was.

 

Dealer is by far the best place to buy parts for any and all S-series and L-series SATURNS. I have not, do not, and will never recomend buying Saturn parts from CheckerQuestNapaZone. Just look at the fuel filter you bought for example.