I am now driving a 2001 SL1 with 76000 miles. Before I made the purchase, I did some research on its reliability. At MSN auto, they said that an occasional problem is the failure of the cylinder head (SOHC only). I bought the car anyway and I have not run into the problem yet. However, they also said that the intake manifold gasket (also only in the SOHC) is an occasional problem. I did have to replace that gasket about 6 months ago.
So I am wondering if I am going to run into the same "occasional" problem with the cylinder head. That obviously being an expensive one. Has anybody had the problem? If so, at how many miles?
I called my local saturn dealership. They said that they have seen very few of them and the ones that they did see were driven very hard and were not serviced routinely.
I also noticed this head problem only began showing up on the MSN reliability ratings in 1997 and has continued up to 2000. The SOHC's are now aluminum which may be a partial cause of this whole problem. Does anyone know if the sohc engines were different years prior to 1997?
Lastly, I see that many saturn engines make it to 200,000 miles. What do I need to do to make this happen? What general and not so general maintenances do I need to do to make that happen?
Thanks to whoever can help.

 

Changethe oil regularly (cheap insurance), check the oil often the older these engines get the more prone they are to burn oil, and get the lead out of your foot (i know easier said than done[img]smileys/smiley1.gif[/img]). Treat the car right and it will treat you right, what you put into it, you'll get out of it in one way or another.


I don't think you'll have anything to worry about, my friend treats his SOHC like crap and he's at 160,000miles. He changes the oil every 2,000 miles but he thinks he's speed racer