I've got a 1998 Saturn SW2, 125K miles on original motor. As the thread
title indicates, it suffers from the oil burning problems that seem to
plague 1.9L DOHC Saturn four-bangers. I'm going to mention a few things
that I've noticed, to see if it helps anybody who is more experienced to
come up with a diagnosis, and ask a few questions about where to go from
here.

* I should start by mentioning that because of my job as an OTR truck
driver, the car sits for about three weeks at a time, then gets used for
about a week before getting parked again. I can't say I've ever noticed
oil puddles underneath the car after sitting.

* The oil consumption seems worst on long highway trips. It burned a
good half-quart just going from Michigan to Pennsylvania on a recent
long trip -- extended periods of 75 mph, 3400 rpm conditions.

* I don't notice any blue smoke or smell burned oil in the exhaust,
thankfully.

* When I replaced all four spark plugs back in June, none of them looked
to be oil-fouled. The #1 cylinder plug did have a couple of stains on
the porcelain, but no obvious heavy, oily black fouling of the electrodes.

* ISTR that when I went after said #1 cylinder plug, the socket came
back out of the hole with some oil on the end. This was *AFTER* a Saturn
dealer had installed a new cam cover gasket last winter -- maybe
something left over from previous leakage?

* I have tools and some mechanical knowledge, and I imagine I could
figure out how to get the cam cover off. Two questions about that: how
much will it tell me about why I'm losing oil, just by looking into the
head, and that's not going to screw up the cam cover gasket Saturn put
in it last winter, right? As in, you don't have to put a new one in
every time you remove the cam cover?

* Finally, if there is something obvious in looking at the head, what
kind of cost should I be expecting to get it fixed?