recommend oil for my saturn sl

[ram_man]

My 02 sl has 124,000 miles on it. Im at 3,000 miles and am going to chamge the oil. mit has used about 1/2 quart . Which is excellent in my opinion. I know ill get flack for only going 3,000 and usually I agree however with theses cars I would rather be safe than sorry. I understand any oil will work.
However I have a slight tick at startup. Last only a second or 2. Obviously not a huge deal but would like to make it stop if possible. It is worse with synthetics i am pretty certain it is a lifter. What would be a good oil for this beast? Maybe move up from 5w30 to 10w30 or a 10w40 ill entertain all ideas thanks everyone.

 

[gregk24]

I would use a 5w30 synthetic, thicker oil is not the answer if its a lifter than synthetic oil will help clean it out..oil will also get to the lifter faster. Your issue is probably with the filter no the oil.

 

[ram_man]

Ive tried different filters to no avail. The oil from syn to dino is what made a difference.
ive tried bosch purolator and wix

 

[actionstan]

I run valvoline maxlife 3-4k miles in my saturn, it seems very happy with this oil, runs smooth and quiet!

 

[Boomer]

I have an L300 2003 V-6 (different engine than yours) with over 111,000 miles on it that we bought new in 2003. All its life it has had nothing but Mobil1 5W-30. I run to 6000 miles on an oil change and the upper part of the engine (what is visible) is as clean as new. No ticks, no noise,, no oil burning.

 

[Turk]

PP, PU, M1, Amsoil OE or XL, all quality choices.

I run those in my Saturns with excellent results.

 

[eljefino]

If it's just sound to go by pick up some M1 0w40. Sounds sweet in my 95.

 

[faramir9]

Your oil consumption rate is excellent for a Saturn S, as you know. Bravo. Not sure you need to worry much about oil, apart from keeping it filled, but:

When I used M1 HM 5w-30 in my SL1 the consumption was cut to a few drops for the first 3K miles. After that it started to burn a bit more, though still not much for a Saturn. I switched to QS Defy 5w-30 last month, once the M1 started to make just a bit of noise on startup in the colder weather. (Yep, might have been my imagination and/or something other than oil....)

The Defy so far is whisper-quiet and has burned maybe an ounce or two in a month or so. Either one is recommended; on the whole the M1 was better, I think, if only due to its engine-cleaning properties, combined with its near-elimination of oil consumption until it gets old. The Defy is even quieter than M1 was at first, and if the consumption is greater, it's not by much. Plus Defy is cheaper, and for a 3K OCI a synthetic seems a waste.

And yeah: The S-series is the exception where obsessive oil-level-checking and short OCIs really are a good idea. With that said, 3K OCI in an '02 that does not burn much oil seems excessive.

Have fun.

 

[mattwithcats]

Use a Fram 3600 or Purolator 20195 oil filter, it is oversized, a third longer.

Use a full synthetic 5W-30, 0W-30 if really cold, or 10W-30 if really hot.

 

[spasm3]

I would run a conventional for 3k changes. The s series sheers oil anyway. I like the pennzoil hm and the havoline hm. I just bought a ton(11 jugs) of Valvoline nextgen high mileage for $5 a jug(5 quarts) this is what i will be running in my sons saturn.

 

[DirtyMoe21]

PP,PU, or M1.

 

[92saturnsl2]

I would run something thicker, possibly without straying into 40 and 50 weights for fuel economy and cold start reasons.

For 3K intervals, I think Synthetic would be off the table, but if you're set on spending the money, I don't think you could do better than GC 0w-30, especially for wintertime.

For a Dino, I would run a 10w-30 HDEO and not look back. Something along the lines of Rotella T5 10w-30 (readily available) or any other CJ-4/SM rated 10w-30.

Aside from HDEO's, I've always felt QS Defy is a good oil for older vehicles. I tend to shy away from HM oils unless I have leaking seals, because they can swell seals by design.

Personally, I don't think you can go wrong with any oil in this engine. It's a great engine but it has it's weak points like timing chain guides, thrust bearings, oil consumption, NVH.. but oil choice is usually not a contributor to early engine failure on these.

 

[Realtech214]

My 02 SC1 always ran smooth on PYB!

 

[bigt61]

If you insist on changing it every 3k, I'd use the cheapest SN 5W-30 dino you can find - and the cheapest filter that will fit. Your Saturn will love it and thank you daily. It may even shorten it's tick to one second or less. Break out the stopwatch.

 

[ram_man]

Didnt want tomstart a new thread but did have this question is napa oil still made by valvoline?

 

[ClutchDisc]

One of those auto parts store's oil brand is made by Peak...I'm forgetting which one though.

 

[Rickey]

ram_man, greetings.

FWIW:

I am running Supertech 15W40 and a FL400S filter in my '96 SL. (SOHC)
I had tried several combination of filters and oils and found that in my instance the 15W40 oils stayed in the 1.9 engine best.
The FL400S is oversized, fits and quite reasonable at WalMart.

It seems that my engine "destroys" ANY oil at about the 2000 mile mark. (haven't tried Amsoil)

The reason I say this is that almost any oil will run to 2000 miles with little consumption.(maybe 1/2 quart)
Then then between 2000 and 3000 miles it will consume a quart or sometimes more.

My technique is to top it off at 2000 then change when it's a quart low.

I tend to think that the 1.9 Saturn is an obvious exception to longer OCI's.
For me 3K OCI's with dino and a good filter are the way to go.

As for the valvetrain noise:

Mine has had a slight start-up rattle since It was bought by me at @72,000 miles.
Now at @98,000 its no better or worse, different filters made no detectable difference for me.

"Your mileage may vary"

Good luck Sir.

Rickey.

 

[ram_man]

I ended up with valvoline maxlife 10w30. Would have got 5w30 but they didn't have any. I got a regular purolator filter to.

 

[mkosem]

I had good luck with Delvac 1300S 15w40 in mine.

http://www.bobistheoilguy.com/forums/ubbthreads.php/ubb/showflat/Number/220521

--Matt