Hey Guys, after spending quite a bit of time on the Advance Auto Parts web-site, I have discovered that many parts will interchange from 94-2000 models Saturn S series vehicles to the SC's. All of the struts, brake pads, drums, rotors and calipers along with the brake hardware are the same part #'s. I don't know if this will help anyone out, but it works for me for the next trip I make to Pull-A-Part. It's currently 105 degrees here with a heat index of 114. It looks like November or December before I venture out again. LOL

 

personally i'm not sure I'd want junkyard versions of anything you mentioned above

 

Personally I agree with Derf here as to the parts mentioned and with Ruby as to the efforts to find this out, however I must mention that as far as I know, you won't find these or many other parts from anything other than S series Saturns.
Having said that I have a complete strut assembly with steering knuckle, caliper, rotor and front wheel bearings sitting in my parts bin if I ever need something from one. I did have to change a front wheel bearing once after being told it could not be done. Wrong, but it was a bit difficult. I got this part for free, so it is there if ever needed.

 

Desperate times call for desperate measures, guys. I'd check the struts to make sure they're still in good shape before I'd swap them. The SC has 291,000 miles on it and I'm pretty sure the struts are the originals. I figure the car may last us another 3 or 4 years if we're lucky. The S series sedan I got a seat cushion out of only has 94,000 miles on it, so I'm sure those struts are better than the ones on the car I have. Believe me, if I had the money, I'd buy all new assemblies, but at $180 a pop for the quick strut assemblies, I can't touch them. And I don't want to put new struts on the old springs and bump stops.

 

your struts are dead
the springs are just fine since the car weighs next to nothing, which, when divided by 4 = (next to nothing)/4

use the kyb gr2s with new bearing packs in the front (mounting kits 33)
struts are 50 each

266 + your time

i do understand you are financially constrained ---- just laying out the options

and you will get many more years out of your saturn by watching the oil and not letting it overheat

 

Thanks, Derf. I'm definitely a DIY person. The problem now is that I took my wife to her neurologist this morning and as we were leaving, they asked if we'd like to pay the $349 outstanding bill that she has. I got kind of irritated, because we had never received a bill in the mail and told the receptionist that. So I gave her fifty bucks and told her I'd have to make payments. I guess the struts will have to wait for several months now. Wife has crappy insurance that doesn't pay much of anything. I'd be better off cancelling it and just paying the discount prices they offer for cash if you're uninsured.

 

A kind of another voice here and some what can relate to both sides of this. My wife has no insurance, I found to my dismay when I became unemployed neither did I and to many peoples surprise, I was actually born here!
A recent bought with an MRI I discovered (as I now do have insurance of a form) that the insurance company was charged $450.00 for it, however when it was paid slowely I was charged $4500.00 as a responcible party. When asked the reply was different rates for different folks.
What is wrong with that picture?
My reply? If I had $4500.00 I sure as hell would not buy an MRI and had no intention of paying it. Go fight with the insurance company end of discussion. Which brings back to fixing a car on a budget.
I see regularly questions on replacing parts that used to have back yard reliability tests that determined whether a part needed replacing or not.
Springs? Why them? And bump stops? They are rubber! Look at them. If they are still visible, they are good! Springs, a bit like an anvil. If they are round and twirly they are probably good.
Broken they are probably bad.
In 55 years of owning and taking care of and building my own cars I have had two cases of broken leaf springs that were visible and one case of them being so badly rusted they could not support the weight of the car.
Past that I take 55 year old springs and sandblast them to remove road grime and undercoating, repaint them and re-install them.
Why on earth would I replace a spring that exhibited no indication of failure?
But the tests or the obvious visible symptoms seem to no longer be an indicator some where.
Shocks and Struts?
Shocks used to go bad about every 15,000 miles or so.
You bounce the car, if it sits there bobbying like a bubble head doll, the shocks or struts are bad.
Todays technology those same parts last seemingly forever. Some things have gotten beter, but testing for the need to replacement has seeminly become a lost art.
As Derf Said, Check them out first. Replacing Struts is a dog job. Not only dirty and hard to do but with out a proper spring removing tool you can kill yourself. They can be rented in most cases.
The last time my Saturn went to the dealer for a schedualed $350.00 repair, the nice young man in the tie and the clipboard showed me how it needed $3500.00 worth of repairs. And he did it with a straight face.
I apperently looked like a bottomless money pit.
I guess they had the tools they needed to get paid for or a bunch of parts they needed to get rid of and I
apparently looked stupid.
I have changed parts on my Saturn I was told with clear authority, could not be changed.
O.K.,
I did not argue, I just changed them.
Being unemployed does not mean you are a deadbeat.
Being uninsured does not mean you are an illegal alien.
And using used parts does not mean you don't know how to determin if they are bad or not.
But buying things from the factory that is now closed? A bit iffy.
Aftermarket or Yankee ingenuity (and old school term) is going to have to applied more often.

 

Couldn't agree more with you Uncljohn. The only reason I'd just swap out the entire strut assemblies would be to avoid renting a spring compressor and going thru the pain in the butt process of compressing it and then shifting it over to another strut. There's definitely something wrong in the suspension as it clunks like hell over bumps. Now, I know the bumper stops are rubber as I've changed a lot of struts over my 54 years on this planet, but then again, a visual inspection is needed. I just don't want to go through the hassel of all of it. I figure if the 94,000 S series doesn't have any visible signs of a blown seal or broken spring, they've got to be in better shape than what's on my car right now. As for the insurance, I agree with you. My wife got kicked off the state run Medicaid a few years ago that I was paying a premium on for her. The letter she got from the state said it was going to be used for "residents of the state without legal documentation". I can't even begin to explain how that makes us as tax-paying, born here citizens feel. I won't get into the whole legal vs. illegal situation here in Tennessee, because I'm sure it's similar in all 50 states. I will say that if things don't change, there will probably be a major uprising within the next several years. And we need to start with the elected morons in DC.
\

 

Here is the concern I have with the statement that it makes no sense to replace springs on a used Strut Assembly.
If you do not remove the spring, how are you going to determine the strut assembly is any good and worth replacing with.
Yes, an educated guess can be made.
However there are multiple folks on this forum and others who for one reason or another are undergoing learning how and going through with DIY on there own first car or maybe trying to maintain the one they now have simply because life changed and they no longer can afford to pay stupid high prices. 'Specially those that now seem to prevail at dealerships.
NOT TO MENTION, THRERE ARE NO MORE SATURN DEALERSHIPS.
Along with other cars.
I destroyed my first car due to ignorance and the inability to maintain it correctly.
My second, a 1930 Model A Ford purchesed from a junk yard for $50.00 taught me a lot.
If I had to learn from scratch on my Saturn? Hoo Boy, the technology in that car would do nothing but deter me from figuring out anything.
All this from a car that when a friend of mine was running a wrecking yard one of his money making side lines was rent to own.
His statement as I remember it at the time
I love Saturns, easy to repair and will run 400,000 miles on neglect.
My back yard experiance pretty much parallels that except that I am older than you and when it came time to 2nd guess the dealer on maintainence, I started using a heavier grade oil compatible with temperature range I live in and the usage I apply to the car.
It don't use no oil. And I do not use the 5W20 the oil cap says I should.
My opinion what a freaking stupid recommendation. It is 95 degrees at 2AM not 5 degrees.
A temperature range that weight oil is designed to be used in.
I use 20W50. Period.
As to Tennessee? I have a friend there that lives in a valley about 20 miles south of I-40 and just East of the Tennessee river.
I envy him.
I have visited him about once every 2 years just for the pure pleasure.
Recommending something in a forum for a DIY repair is a bit sporty. It assumes that the person asking the question has some knowledge as to how to apply the suggested repair. Whether it be a tool usage, or a testing procedure. It also assumes to some extent that the person who makes the suggestion has some idea how to do the same things.
A premise that can be wrong in both cases.
A back yard mechanic might be a good parts changer, a lousy diagnostician or an incompenant Lid.
A suggestion or a question that leaves out information assuming everyone knows that is a fallacy and leads to horrible miss-understandings.
In part, almost all the time nobody knows that nor really understands the need to know it.
As a corporate technical instructor and national trouble shooter, most repair people do not understand complex technology and because of that the part that is least understood as is generally the first part changed. Usually with devestating results.
Most repair people are taught to replace parts and if the manuals and the support systems are any good, to follow a documented procedure religiously with out questioning what is actually taking place. And the higher the technology applied, the more religious the procedure following is demanded. Before you call for support.
If you have not done steps 1 through 10 in the exact order and as written, don't call for help as you have not done YOUR job yet.
The number of times I responded to;
I have changed the CPU (the computor) 3 times now and it still has not fixed it do you think I should change it again.
For $100.00 a pop, I could challenge Donald Trump and live like a king.
In general it would be a fuse or a broken wire.
Both questions arise on his forum and the answer is the same. The questions are serious and the circumstances repetitive. The person has no clue how to use a meter or anything else to determine if the fuse is bad or a wire is broken.
AND has not bothered to spend $25.00 buying a manual to tell them where the fuses are or what to look for.
And today, unlike my Model A Ford that I learned the basics on, you can not see the parts directly in front of you and you have no clue what they do.
Personally, I would hazard a guess that a significant number of forum members would have no clue what so ever how to start it.
Today I worked on a Kia Van, It belonged to a lady who borrowed my T&C to take my lady and another woman to the store. My Van has a mobility Scooter carrier on it, a requirement for my Lady.
The Kia had a bad battery it turned out, caused a problem or two.
The biggest one I had to deal with was, how the hell do you get the tail gate door open?
It took me 20 min. to figure that out.
The biggest problem Pat had with my Chrysler? How do you release the emergency brake.
This ain't easy some times.
As to the elected morons? We elected them.
They are our morons.
As it is said on occaisions, an elected official and diapers need to be changed frequently and both for the same reasons.
Vent over
Sleep tight.
The hobby and the life both deserve a better day.

 

I agree with you once again, uncljohn. And yes, I do realize that in order to actually find out if a used strut with less mileage is any good, that I'd still have to remove the strut nut and spring and do a compression test. I'm not in any hurry to do these things right now because it's just too danged hot. You're right about our elected morons too. I never vote for an incumbent anymore unless I check his voting record on issues that concern me and agree with his vote. On that note, I have NOT voted for an incumbent in the past 20 years. They all seem to have their own agenda nowadays and don't really care what their supporters elected them to do. Personally, I think Congressmen and Senators should have term limits, just like the President. Two words that should have never been allowed to be put together are career and politician. They need to actually have to work for a living too. Where's your friend live in Tennessee? I'm actually only about two miles from the Tennessee River on Kentucky Lake. I'm on the North side of I-40.