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Trip log for: 1999 Saturn SW2
Trip log index: Car Modifications
  • Avg: 1 mpg (US)
  • Max: 1 mpg (US) 2008-02-22
Trip date Fuel economy Details
2008-02-22 1 At 152,900 miles, switched from Denso Iridium spark plugs to Pulse Plugs (http://www.pulstarplug.com/). These plugs were provided for free for me to test. I did a very simple MPG test with the car before and after installing the Pulse Plug. The car was raised off the ground and held at a steady 35 MPH in 4th gear. In both cases it read 51.2 MPG. ---- Weather(.com) during test : Van Nuys, CA (91405) / Conditions: Light Rain / Temperature : 54 degrees F / Humidity: 86% / Pressure: 29.95 in. / Dew Point: 50 degrees F ---- UPDATE : Car misfired after engine cooled off. Restored Denso Iridiums. Will check gap on pulse plugs. ... Gap was found to be different. Only one plug was gapped to 0.044 (my normal Saturn gap). May or may not be the problem.
2008-02-26 1 Full grill block.
2008-02-27 1 Removed full grill block. Lower grill ~50% open. The coolant temperatures were heating up too fast on the streets, so I had to flip my Manual Fan Radiator switch on too much. Removed after "home to work" trip for this day.
2008-03-07 1 Increased tire pressure from 45 PSI to 51 PSI. Tires are rated for 51 PSI max.
2008-03-07 1 At 153,705 miles: Side View Mirror Downsize: http://ecomodder.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1329
2008-03-08 1 At 153,807 miles, switched from Denso Iridium spark plugs to SECOND FREE SET of Pulse Plugs (http://www.pulstarplug.com/). Checked and found gap to be normal 0.044 for all spark plugs. See 2008-02-22 trip for background.
2008-03-11 1 At 153,915 miles, second set of Pulse Plugs failed with same problem. Restored trusty Denso Iridiums. Everything back to normal.
2008-03-14 1 At 154,158 miles, normal oil change (Purolator + Chevron Supreme).
2008-03-25 1 At 154,947 miles, a new radiator. The radiator was the original one that came with the car. My mechanic said there was a crack in the plastic part of the radiator. It was in the "usual place" for my car. It never boiled over, so the hotter T-Stat was not ruined. I am happy with the outcome because I save money for "used car repairs".
2008-04-13 1 Not officially a "mod" I would like to have had. A drunk driver side-swiped my car while parked. The rear driver's side quarter panel needs to be replaced. The car appears to have NO frame damage and the rear driver's tire/suspension appears to be unharmed.
2008-05-14 1 At 157,723 miles: Oil change using Formula Shell 10W/40 (old engine) clean engine formula. V241 Group 7 Oil Filter.
2008-06-06 1 At 158,329 miles: Car back from Auto Body repair shop. Looks better than when I bought it used.
2008-06-28 1 At 159,555 miles, had normal oil change to 5W30 (was 10W40, but oil analysis came out squeeky clean). Added old-school Vacuum Gauge. Gauge reads 10Hg at idle. Hope that's a good number. Normal brake service. Fixed AC for wifey.
2008-09-08 1 At 163,245 miles: Oil Change using Exxon 10w30 SuperFlo and Purolator v241 Group 7 oil filter.
2008-10-24 1 At 165,943 miles, added air to warm tires, from 47+ PSI to 51 PSI.
2008-10-31 1 At 166,388 miles, normal oil change (Purolator oil filter + Chevron Supreme 10W/30).
2008-11-05 1 At 166,575 miles, replaced struts with KYB struts. From what my mechanic showed me, the old struts were basically dead. My car was "lowered" because I was riding on my springs! I am *sure* that the car is now riding higher, pending analysis. This implies that I will get worse MPG, unless I implement a belly pan or an air dam. Tire PSI down to 40+ PSI to make my mechanic happy (wants to baby the shocks). The rear side skirts are off because I removed them for my mechanic.
2008-11-12 1 At 167078 miles, increased tire pressure from 41+ PSI to 47 PSI (with tires warm). I let my mechanic lower them after the shocks were installed, but don't like the lousy MPG implications.
2008-11-16 1 At 167200+ miles, put rear wheel skirts back on. They were taken off for the shock replacement.
2008-12-16 1 At 168500 miles, found tire pressure below 45 PSI. Bumped up over 48 PSI with tires warm. Should have been checking!!!!! I am also switching from 87 Octane to 89 Octane on the theory that it will help MPG. Gas is cheap, so I can afford to do the test.
2009-01-03 1 At 169,271 miles, oil change to Union 76 Synthetic 10W/30. Swapped out old Denso Iridium plugs to new Denso Iridium plugs. V241 oil filter. Mechanic cleaned carbon out of pistons through spark plug holes ( piston soak? used www.lastotallyawesome.com ). See MPG gain in thread : http://ecomodder.com/forum/showthread.php/new-set-denso-iridium-spark-plugs-6920.html
2009-02-20 1 At 172013 miles, added 1 quart of Mobil 1 10W30 oil. Burning oil is no fun.
2009-03-06 1 At 172,855 miles, oil change to Union 76 Super Synthetic Blend 5W/30. Wix 51516 oil filter, this is larger than OEM and is meant for Ford Focus. Testing to see if helps MPG. Topped off manual transmission fluid because of sllllllooooooowwwwww leak (Chevron ATF MD-3).
2009-03-07 1 At 172,933 miles, REMOVED rear wheel skirts for car wash and tire rotation.
2009-03-07 1 At 172,938 miles, rotated tires and did wheel alignment. Tires were rotated as follows : front driver -> rear driver; rear driver -> front driver; front passenger -> rear passenger; rear passenver -> front passenger
2009-04-15 1 At 175,085 miles, installed a new water pump. Here is a detailed thread on what I did ( http://www.saturnfans.com/forums/showthread.php?t=136877 ) . I was nursing a leak for a few weeks now, and decided to get it fixed before something really bad happened. Maybe I paid too much ($300), but I didn't have access to my normal mechanic and I am happy with the work.
2009-05-15 1 At 176,566 miles: - Oil Change to 5W30 Synthetic (Parts Masters) - Flushed coolant. - Fixed backward brake line installation - Rear drums set to "no drag".
2009-06-01 1 At 177,382 miles, Odometer/GPS correction test : Trip : Home to work Odometer reading : 29.2 GPS reading : 30.0 miles 30.0 / 29.2 = 1.02739 => 2.7% larger than OEM. Trip : Work to home Odometer reading : 44.0 GPS reading : 45.2 45.2 / 44.0 = 1.02727 => 2.7% larger than OEM. Tires are still larger, as they should be. My correction in my trip log is still valid. Trip to work was with tires at 42 PSI (lowered for tire rotation). The trip to home was at 50 PSI.
2009-07-10 1 At 179,603 miles: - Oil Change to 5W30 Synthetic (Parts Masters) - Pentius PAB7094 Air Filter - AC Schrader Valve + R34 Refrigerant (for the wife).
2009-08-26 1 At 182,414 miles: - Rotated tires. Front and rear tires have 6/32" / 7/32" tread left, respectively. Tires doing fine but lowered to 42 PSI to avoid lecturing.
2009-09-05 1 At 183,056 miles: - Oil Change to 5W30 Synthetic (Parts Masters) - Installed Magnecor spark plug wires to (hopefully) improve ignition and take a stab at my bad emissions. Front/Rear brakes are at 70% / 60% respectively. Rear brake adjusted to be less draggy (e-brake sticks up close to 45 degrees now).
2009-11-06 1 At 186,096 miles: - Oil Change to 5W30 Synthetic (Parts Masters) - Installed new EGR to help reduce NOx (appears old EGR is still good) - Installed 4-wire heated/powered 02 sensor in exhaust manifold in preparation for maintaining Closed Loop operation when engine is off. 02 sensor is not yet powered for heating, need to pick ignition-on fuse for "piggybacking".
2009-11-06 1 At 186,096 miles: Finished second rain gutter skirt : Rain Gutter Side Skirts = http://ecomodder.com/forum/showthread.php/rain-gutter-side-skirts-10749.html
2009-11-07 1 At 186,096 miles, Using heated 02 sensor in place of non-heated 02 sensor = http://ecomodder.com/forum/showthread.php/using-heated-02-sensor-place-non-heated-02-a-10921.html
2009-11-24 1 At 186,625 miles, increased PSI from 43+ to 50
2010-01-09 1 At 188,963 miles: - Oil Change to 5W30 Synthetic (Parts Masters) - Need new front brake disk pads - Error codes P0410 / P1650
2010-01-12 1 At 189,085 miles, started serving tray racing disk test : http://ecomodder.com/forum/showthread.php/serving-tray-racing-disk-11838.html
2010-01-26 1 At 189,794 miles, replaced brake pads (old/new = Hawk HPS). Existing Brembo rotors turned.
2010-03-12 1 At 192,256 miles: - Oil Change to 5W30 Synthetic (Parts Masters) - Error codes P0410 - Car is purring like a kitten.
2010-04-20 1 At 194,019 miles: - A/C Repair for commuting
2010-04-24 1 At 194,116 miles: For commuting, switched to larger motorcycle side view mirror + lowering tires to less than 45 PSI + reducing grill block.
2010-05-25 1 At 195,381 miles: - Oil Change to 5W30 Synthetic (Parts Masters) - Error codes P0410 - Differential Pin is flush so tranny is good.
2010-11-05 1 At 203,083 miles: - Oil Change to 5W30 Synthetic (Parts Masters) - Disk brake adjustment.
2011-02-25 1 At 207,847 miles: - Oil Change to 5W30 Synthetic (Parts Masters) - Disk brake check.
2011-03-24 1 (this entry subject to detailed revision) 208555 miles. New water pump and new starter to fight startup gremlin. $680 total.
2011-06-06 1 At 212,579 miles: - Oil Change to 5W30 Synthetic (Parts Masters). Sagging suspension (lots of negative camber) alignment fixed with Moog Camber bolts, so this should improve coasting : http://www.saturnfans.com/forums/showpost.php?p=1753177&postcount=30
2011-08-30 1 At 216,391 miles: - Oil Change to 5W30 Synthetic (Parts Masters). NGK Iridium IX Spark Plugs BKR6EIX # 6418. MicroGard - Air Filter Part # MGA7094. Compression test, #1=190, #2=190, #3=200, #4=200.
2011-11-08 1 At 219,712 miles: - Oil Change to 5W30 Synthetic (Parts Masters) - Disk brake check.
2012-02-14 1 At 223,700 miles: - Oil Change to 5W30 Synthetic (Parts Masters) - Disk brake check (60% front, 50% rear).
2012-05-01 1 At 228,068 miles: - Oil Change to 5W30 Synthetic (Parts Masters) - Disk brake check (40% front, 60% rear).
2012-08-07 1 At 232,769 miles: - Oil Change to 5W30 Synthetic - Disk brake check - Clean throttle body - Wheel alignment from 2.37:2.33:0.06:0.04 to 1.16:1.02:0.07:0.09 (FL:FR:RL:RR).
2012-11-23 1 At 238,221 miles: - Oil Change to 5W30 Synthetic - Disk brake check - Lucas oil treatment for white smoke in exhaust. New radiator. $341.61 total.
2013-03-30 1 At 243,722 miles: - Oil Change to 5W30 Synthetic - Lucas oil treatment for white smoke in exhaust. New air filter + disk brakes + pads. Hawk HPS pads lasted 54K miles. Brembo disks lasted at least 91K miles. $363.64 total. All aeromods back online.



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