1995 Saturn SL1 the quest begins...
 

Hi everyone my name is Jason. On May 11th, 2010 I purchased a 1995 Saturn SL1 5speed. It had 85,500 miles on it and it came with such ammenities as manual steering and a torquey little 1.9L 100 HP engine. At first I thought :( but now i'm like :thumbup:. My first tank mpg was 32.4 and i was like hmmmm thats the best mpg i have ever gotten in a car (past cars were 6 cylinders). After i found this site I have been going all out on trying to get better MPG with my car. My first mod was to put the tire pressure up higher to 36 and then eventually 39 psi. My next mod was an engine cut off switch that i installed on the shifter of my car. The only other modification i have done to the car is a HAI and right now its sitting at about 75-80 degrees above ambient temperatures. With these mods and driving style changes of course i went from 32.4mpg all the way to best mpg of 42.51. I never thought gas mileage like that was possible on a regular 4 cylinder car. I plan on continuing my modifications with the addition of a vacuum gauge, an MPGuino, maybe experiment with a grill block and a bellypan and i hope to get a set of smooth wheel covers soon (not just for MPG but for that :cool:BLING:cool: factor ya know?). I have found ALOT of useful information on this site and just wanted to thank all of you. The quest has just begun...

PowerHaus930 -

Welcome to EM! 85K is pretty low mileage for a 1995. I use saturnfans.com for non-MPG care and feeding of my S-Series.

CarloSW2

Your posts and info in your garage have helped me alot so thank you cfg83. I also use saturnfans.com alot of good info over there. Oh and by the way i'm from Maryland.

PowerHaus930 -

Cool beans! Like I was telling another fellow on the forum, I always perk up when I see an S#1 because I know what it can do in the right hands.

CarloSW2

What do you think this car could do? i was thinking max of 50mpg but i'm not sure. Like I said I have the tire pressures up to 39psi (44 max sidewall), a hot air intake (how much above ambient is yours? do you use the resistor in place of IAT?), and the engine cut off switch. What would be the next best upgrade you think? I was thinking vacuum gauge and/or MPGuino. What about aero mods? what are the most beneficial aero upgrades? Thanks so much for your help!

could an admin please switch this thread to introductions? thankyou

PowerHaus930 -

[thread moved as per request]

There is a fellow named diamondlarry who previously owned an SL2 :

Details: DOHCtor Green MPG - 1999 Saturn SL2 Fuel Economy - EcoModder.com

And here is the accompanying fuel log :

1999 Saturn SL2 Gas Mileage (DOHCtor Green MPG) - EcoModder.com

I would claim that this is the "top end" of what an S-Series can do.

In mid-2007 he got a Prius and has sinced move on.

CarloSW2

PowerHaus930 -

The hottest I recall seeing my HAI is maybe 160+ degrees. That is from a sensor that is inside the air intake box, below the air filter. User lovemysan said that anything above 179 degrees F caused his 2002 SL (SOHC) to bog down. I am guessing that you are pre-OBDII, so your ECU/PCM *might* behave differently to the higher intake temps.

I think that the best aero-mods are belly pans, wheel covers, and rear wheel skirts. I don't service the car, so I haven't ventured into the belly-pan arena, becauuse I remove all mods that interfere with servicing of the car before I bring it in. lovemysan did a belly-pan and this is his work :

saturn pictures by lovemysan - Photobucket

You can move the antenna into the passenger-side A-Pillar by removing the plastic cover and doing some re-routing of the antenna. You should cover the antenna with something that isolates it from the frame. Someone in saturnfans posted a thread on this.

Aero-mods are funny because in many cases they only "help a little" at lower speeds, but on the other hand, they are helping all the time that you are moving. The dark-side of aero-mods is that if you don't do them right, they can cause even more drag and hurt MPG. Also, as Frank Lee has pointed out, if you live in a high-wind area, aero-mods that increase the side area of the car (like the side skirts that I have) may work against you in cross-winds. I don't suffer from high-winds the vast majorty of the time, so I am not worried about this.

The engine cut-off switch is on my never-ending todo list (I have no excuse). Besides changing the way you drive, I think that is one of your best mods you can do.

CarloSW2

wow thanks so much for the info and your help!! I have one more question. what kind of vortex generators are on the side of your wagon?

PowerHaus930 -

Those are AirTabs (from airtab.com). I won't claim they work and I won't deny that the might make things worse, :o . They really belong on big boxy trucks. Until I have proof one way or another, I just call them aero-bling.

CarloSW2

LOL thanks for the info

So i went to fill up today and to my surprise i got 36.34 MPG. I'm quite dissapointed to say the least :-(. I guess what i need to do is splurge for some instrumentation like the MPGuino or a vacuum gauge. I have replaced plugs with regular copper core NGKs, cleaned the throttle body and EGR, seafoamed the intake and gas tank (1/2 a bottle for each) I guess i should finally get around to replacing my ECTS even though it seems to be working ok (needle almost to halfway mark). How much can the ECTS affect gas mileage?

So my latest tank i started shifting at about 2000rpm about half way through. I used the AC alot and for some reason (Girlfriend:-)) i had the windows down alot on the highway. I actually got 40.59 mpg which was a big surprise to me. I have since started to shift at about 1600-1900rpm and hope to see an increase in MPG from that. Going on a road trip to Ocean City MD on wed. Its only about 400mi round trip but id like to see what i will get on that tank. Going to up the tires to 44psi. Also changing oil tomorrow to 5w-30synthetic with oversized filter so maybe i will see a little gain from that as well. Happy miling

well the trip is getting rained out but will be rescheduled next week sometime. Also changed the oil tonight airred up to 43psi and filled the tank for 40.44mpg

Keep us updated PowerHause930. I have a new 95 SL1 5-speed myself and I'm inspired to keep up the good mileage. I did the increased air and the driving techniques and got about 39 MPG. We'll see how it goes next fill-up.

How did you do the HAI? Did you do the mods one-at-a-time so you could track how effective each one is?

Carl

For the HAI i removed the resonator from the stock airbox then removed lid to airbox and there was an intake tube in there. If you look at the box from the front of the car on the lower right is where the IAT sensor is. I took the IAT sensor out removed the intake tube and enlarged the hole on the left side of the airbox that the resonator went to. I then cut off the flared piece of the intake tube where the IAT sensor was bolted and flipped it around and stuck it inside the airbox and out through the larger opening i made from where the resonator was. I then went to Home Depot to the HVAC section where they have flexible dryer hose and that kind of stuff and i got a 3" adjustable aluminum 90 degree elbow and attached it to the intake tube coming from the airbox with a hose clamp and got it as close to the exhaust manifold as possible. I ended up having to use a piece of aluminum from a throw-away roasting pan so i could extend the pipe a little to the exhaust manifold. Its not pretty but it works and it keeps my IATs around 145*-155*. As far as the other mods the tire pressure and the engine cut-off switch i ended up doing things so fast that i wasnt able to measure the gain or loss. I have been continually been adjusting my driving style and I feel like i'm close to finding out what works best for me. Once my driving becomes consistent i will most likely do tests for each individual modification to see if it helps or hurts. But for now i'm consistently getting 40 mpg with mixed highway and city driving, windows down, and some AC. I will try to get pics of the HAI tomorrow.

pics would be great. Is the 95 similar enough to the 96 (what I own) that I could copy yours?

Im not sure actually i would imagine that they are very similar if not the same pics to come soon

Here are the pics. I wouldnt reccomend placing the IAT sensor where i did (on the upper righht side of the box) but i didnt want to have to make the wires longer

Do you have a couple of pics for me? One would be the engine shut off and how it helps you and the other would be of the warm air intake and if it needs to be monitered for temp or not. thanks so much in advance. I am looking for ways to get a few more mpgs out of my 06 Aveo 5spd

sorry jumped the gun I see the pics here of the hai...Any of the switch with a little 101 on it?

I also run my tires at 44 and I use 0w30 advanced fuel econ by mobil1. I have readelse where that if you only fill your engine oil up to midway on the dip stick that it helps you out a little.

Just to update I have since added some more modifications to the car:
Vacuum gauge
IAT resistor on switch
Grill block
That and some more driving tweaks has given me a best of 44.74MPG and has increased my lifetime average to 40.39MPG

Is this mileage youre recording in town, mixed or just highway?

SL1 Mileage
 

I am new to the forum and just want to say that I have a 1997 SL1 with 147,000 miles (5 speed manual) and I have driven this car on long trips - 900 to 1200 miles - and have been able to get as much as 52 mpg by keeping the rpm to 2000 or less and shifting at no more than 2000 RPM. The car is stock and I change the spark plugs about every 15,000 miles (also trans fluid). I also use semi synthetic trans fluid and change the motor oil every 3000 miles - using 10w30 high mileage oil. Easy to change the plugs and it helps the fuel economy. The worst mileage I ever got was 33 in town with the AC on. Average mileage from Phoenix to Denver was 46 mpg. My friends have a Prius and they say that this kind of mileage is impossible in this car?? Well - no it isn't and the 52 mpg was not just once but several times on trips of 350 miles or more between fill ups. The odometer is accurate as checked with a GPS on multiple ocassions.