Saturn Problem Solved

While waiting to take Sarah’s car to get checked out, she told me that the engine was making a weird noise.  When I asked what kind of noise she just said, I don’t know, a noise.  So I went out and had her start it up for me so I could listen.  It sounded like a sort of grinding sound.  I couldn’t quite make out where it was coming from but my best guess was down by the belts.  So I put it on the priority list to get in to have the mechanic have a look.

He ended up doing a couple of things.  First, he confirmed the engine codes for the oxygen sensor and the thermostat, but he went on to explain the grinding noise.  As best as he can figure it is coming from the air conditioner housing/compressor.  Parts wise, it isn’t a tough fix, at least for the A/C compressor, but it’s expensive.  Basically the compressor has to be replaced which also means there is some kind of a filter that also needs to be done at the same time.  The total cost, part + labor, just for that is almost a grand.  That just isn’t in the cards.  There in another option however; to try and take the A/C compressor out of the mix.  That would require a different belt, which would be much cheaper.  Unfortunately, because there were not all that many cars made with Sarah’s particular engine, there isn’t an “official” fix for it.  Apparently, some car companies make work arounds and provide belts so that you can take one of the components out of the system and still run the car.  The Saturn L300 is not one of them.  So in order to do it the mechanic would have to basically do a trial and error to find a belt that worked.  He said he’s done it before, he just doesn’t know how many belts he’ll have to try.  He said they would do a best guess measurement of the system without the A/C in the mix to get an idea of how long a belt is needed and start from there.  I think that will be the route to go, and Sarah is fine with that since she drives with the windows down in the summertime anyway (it wouldn’t be for me that’s for sure).

The other thing, the thermostat and the O2 sensor are not much as far as the cost of the parts, but the labor to get at them and replace them is what is going to kill us, about a 5 hour job, which is twice as much as the parts.  Boy, I wish 1) I knew what I was doing when it came to engine repair on the cars, and 2) actually had the time and resources to do it myself to try and save a few bucks!

I guess for now, the mechanic said she can keep driving it, but it’ll need to be fixed sooner than later, because if bearing on the compressor locks up, the belt will end up breaking and then that will lead to other things going wrong.  He did say though that he thinks that when the engine is running “at speed” the bearing runs much smoother and that the problem is when it is running slow or idling, so he thinks she should be OK driving it until we can get it scheduled to be fixed.  I am thinking of having it done over spring break while Sarah is gone.  So that is the plan.  Hopefully we’ll get better news once he gets in there and gets a good/better look at things.