So, for a while, my Saturn has been burning a fairly decent amount of oil, as in like a quart every 1,000-1,500 miles. I had myself worried that I had blown a head gasket, so I bought myself a new Subaru Crosstrek. But not wanting to admit defeat to the Saturn, I kept searching for answers as to the oil consumption. I found a few forum post pointing to a know defect in the construction of the plastic intake manifold, particularly on side where the coolant circulates. There are two general options for repair: a junkyard intake manifold which may have the same defect, or a new old stock replacement. But then one of the forum posts mentioned a shop that manufactures a CNC machined metal replacement for just the end of the manifold that is commonly the problem. I figured that ~$65 was worth a shot.

Hood removed for ease of access, as recommended in the instructions:

The offending end of the intake manifold, the black plastic tube with no hose connected:

Part way through removal, cut using a vibrating multitool:

Offending part removed, with some cleanup still to do and the old mounting stud in the foreground:

Test fitting the replacement part with new mounting studs and new green gasket, before final tightening:

After final reassembly:

And last, but not least, the removed portion of the offending manifold:

So far, so good! Oil and coolant levels seems to be holding, with no unusual consumption amounts. Not bad for someone who would certainly not consider himself a mechanic, but when the pressure of working on you daily driver in no longer a factor, I really didn’t have much to loose. Either a ~$65 part, and most of a weekend day of work, was going to fix the issue, or it wasn’t. Not bad.