Used parts availablity for discontinued cars.

[dieseljeep]

One of my neighbors has a real nice condition Saturn four door car.
The rear driver's side door is totally trashed, but the car seems undamaged otherwise.
Is the used parts that hard to source? GM only made those cars for a few years.
A friend said GM threw Oldsmobile overboard to start a new car line.
What say, old car experts.

[Electronic M]

Probably the easiest option and likely the cheapest diy option would be to go to a junkyard that has the same model and pull the needed door. If they're lucky they'll find one the same color. If not pickup a couple cans of duplicolor that match the car, mask the things that shouldn't be painted and paint the door before mounting it. May need to swap the interior door cards between the two cars so the interior materials aren't mismatched...If you have to do that paint the metal in the sides of the door and slightly under what the door card covers to hide the repaint. If you set the outside of the door face up it will reduce chance of runs in the paint.

[SpaceAge]

I second the junkyard option. Pick-n-pull, U pull and pay, LKQ, etc... If you're patient, a door in the correct color should show up sooner or later unless it's a very uncommon model and/or color. My experience from visiting a few different yards over the last few years is domestic sedans are the least desirable category and therefore tend to have the most parts available, so Saturn parts *should* be easy to find.

Also check craigslist/facebook marketplace, someone in your area may be parting out a car with the door you need.

[bgadow]

Saturn parts aren't too hard to find & should be less expensive than other models. They don't hold their value all that well, and haven't for a long, long time which means it doesn't take much of an accident to total one (so they end up in the salvage yard). I knew one guy who used to buy them wrecked and rebuild them for resale; he said they were really easy to work on. Even the roof was easy to change. Now, these were the "original" Saturns from the 90's and I'm sure the later models were much more in line with other GM cars. Also note, GM didn't just stop providing parts. It used to be that you could buy any parts for any GM dealer (say, a Buick fender could be bought from a Chevrolet dealer) but you could only buy a Saturn part from a Saturn dealer. After they were discontinued they chose select dealers to handle parts/service. I'm not sure what the current situation is. I do know GM charged very high prices for some of those parts.

[MadMan]

Depends on the Saturn. Parts are available, in general. Automotive aftermarket parts can be had for just about any car (unless you need a water pump for a V12 Jaguar). There are some exceptions, though. One of my customers used to have a Saturn L3000, and it was a bitch to find engine parts for it. And that was BEFORE Saturn kicked the bucket! It has an Opel 3.0L v6, and it kind of sucked. They sold it, thankfully.

I miss the old Saturns. The originals. The OG's. Those cars were about the best basic econobox you could ask for. With the possible exception of the transmission, which was a butchered Honda knockoff. God knows why they chose to imitate the ONE car company with weird transmissions.

Some of the models in the middle of their life were neither Saturns nor GMs, but a bastardization of both. Those really aren't very good cars. The later ones are mostly Chevy's or Opels (European GM), so they're ok. And the early ones are... really awesome, in their own way. In the beginning, they were legitimately and entirely their OWN company, despite being sired by GM. They had their own engineers, designers, factories, engines, transmissions, and parts. It gave them the freedom to do their own things, and it worked. If you're a Chevy guy and you work on a Saturn for the first time, you'd never think it was a GM if you didn't know better. They are THAT different.

As for the door, especially if it's one of the older Saturns, the door skin is a separate plastic panel which is easily replaced... assuming the door itself is not damaged. At any rate, a junkyard is going to be your only option for a door, and that's in no way because Saturn is a dead marque. Aside from brand new cars, doors are not available new, period. For any car.

In the old days, Saturn DID sell the plastic door skins new, it was sort of their shtick. If you somehow managed to break one, you just bolted on a new one.

Why don't you get back to me with the exact year and model, and I'll let you know what to expect. Which, incidentally, is not always very easy. Nearly all of the early and middle Saturns are NOT badged with the model designation. You kinda just have to know what it is, or look at the registration, title, or look up the vin number.

PS - Oldsmobile got the ax many years after Saturn started.

[dieseljeep]

Originally Posted by MadMan

Depends on the Saturn. Parts are available, in general. Automotive aftermarket parts can be had for just about any car (unless you need a water pump for a V12 Jaguar). There are some exceptions, though. One of my customers used to have a Saturn L3000, and it was a bitch to find engine parts for it. And that was BEFORE Saturn kicked the bucket! It has an Opel 3.0L v6, and it kind of sucked. They sold it, thankfully.

I miss the old Saturns. The originals. The OG's. Those cars were about the best basic econobox you could ask for. With the possible exception of the transmission, which was a butchered Honda knockoff. God knows why they chose to imitate the ONE car company with weird transmissions.

Some of the models in the middle of their life were neither Saturns nor GMs, but a bastardization of both. Those really aren't very good cars. The later ones are mostly Chevy's or Opels (European GM), so they're ok. And the early ones are... really awesome, in their own way. In the beginning, they were legitimately and entirely their OWN company, despite being sired by GM. They had their own engineers, designers, factories, engines, transmissions, and parts. It gave them the freedom to do their own things, and it worked. If you're a Chevy guy and you work on a Saturn for the first time, you'd never think it was a GM if you didn't know better. They are THAT different.

As for the door, especially if it's one of the older Saturns, the door skin is a separate plastic panel which is easily replaced... assuming the door itself is not damaged. At any rate, a junkyard is going to be your only option for a door, and that's in no way because Saturn is a dead marque. Aside from brand new cars, doors are not available new, period. For any car.

In the old days, Saturn DID sell the plastic door skins new, it was sort of their shtick. If you somehow managed to break one, you just bolted on a new one.

Why don't you get back to me with the exact year and model, and I'll let you know what to expect. Which, incidentally, is not always very easy. Nearly all of the early and middle Saturns are NOT badged with the model designation. You kinda just have to know what it is, or look at the registration, title, or look up the vin number.

PS - Oldsmobile got the ax many years after Saturn started.

It's one of my neighbors cars. IDK if they made an attempt to find a replacement door or not.

[KentTeffeteller]

I still drive a L-200, 2002, my late Stepfather's car. Mom and I share it. Mine is a 2.2 Ecotec 4 cylinder, this car has elements of Chevy, Opel, and GM.

[mr_rye89]

When I had my Geo Prizm GSi you couldn't get anything from the (GM) dealership, plenty at the Toyota dealership though, I just told them it was a Corolla GTS. But finding window channels was impossible. Early Prizms have the JDM Corolla Sprinter body style, so the doors/windows are shaped differently from the USDM 90 series Corolla.

Now that Peugeot I have, parts don't exist, not here anyway.