My wife's '94 Saturn SL2 went into the shop on Friday after more people
than me told her it sounds like it has rocks in the engine. The dealer
said the timing chain was disintegrating. The car has just 25,000 miles
on it, and the oil has been changed fairly regularly, but the dealer is
saying it wasn't changed enough, and thats what they're blaming the failure
on. I think thats bull, but I need some other opinions.
They're charging about $600 to fix it, including pulling the oil pan to clean
out the bits of the chain and whatnot.
I'm wondering if this isn't just a bit unusual, since the chain was hawked
by Saturn as a durability advantage. Also, what effect might the chain
fragments have on the rest of the engine? In other words, is she paying
big bucks to repair an engine that really needs an overhaul, or is it
going to be fine? Should Saturn pay part of the bill, since this has
been going on for quite a while, but I couldn't get her to take it in?
I think its been going on long enough that the dealer should have noticed
whenever it was serviced last.
I only know about belts, which are outside the oil system...
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Jeffrey D. Blankenship Senior Technical Consultant
jblanken@itds.com ITDS - TRIS
neon enthusiast #478 Champaign, IL, USA
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