oil in the coolant liquid

hello i have a saturn sedan le 1996
i find oil in the coolant liquid i wash the radiator a few time the coolant
still dirty ???

thank's

 

Blown headgasket. Needs to be fix immediately or engine will be ruined.

 

I concur. Your headgasket is fuc%&ed...get it fixed....have it towed to
your local shop and get it done, or start shopping for a new ride.

Your choice really.

R.

 

Maybe this site has the answer to your question.
www.complaints.com/directory/2004/january/27/49.htm - 14k

 

is it a '96 Sl or SL1? if so, it may be the casting flaw that plauged that
engine. you'll need a new head.

Just replaced a friend's 2 weeks ago.

 

Is that cost effective on an 8 year old car or would the money be better
spent on a down payment on replacement vehicle? I only ask cause I could
face that decision any day on my 10 1/2 year old.

ron herfurth
94 SL-1 103,000 miles

 

I guess that would depend on the cost of the repair. It could still make
sense to do this if the work was performed by the owner themselves or if
they could locate someone other than the dealer who could do it for a
reasonable price.

Bob

 

I have heard some horror stories about Saturn's head gaskets...My brother's
04 ION has given him a pile of grief (not head gasket grief, no-start
greif)...

That being said, my 97 SW2 has 298 000 kms on it, with nothing more severe
than brakes, oil changes, tires, and one outer tie rod end....

Not all Saturns suck...but some certainly do...

just my $0.02 worth.

R.

 

Lots of cars have headgasket issues..... even some Toyota models. Mostly
the 4 cylinder engines.

 

Yea
I had a Mazda 626 in the late 80's that went thru 2 head gaskets before
20,000 miles. Mazada had to fix them. I heard it was for this reason,
and the poor design of their Wankle engine. That Ford had to bailed them
out

 

is it possible i find oil in the coolant liquid because the pcv is defect
????

 

Nope.

Not even remotely possible.

 

Bad
See: http://www.consumeraffairs.com/automotive/saturn_engine.html

You're well beyond the time that Saturn would repair it at their expense (6
years/100K miles). But if you're lucky <sic> it could just be a blown head
gasket, which would cost less than $1000 to replace.

Plan on around $2000 to repair it, but I don't think that it's worth it. You
could buy a 1996 vintage used Civic or Corolla for around $3000, or even
Camry or Accord for around $4000. Don't get a junkyard engine for the
Saturn, as it will likely have the same casting flaw.

Note that the coolant in the reservoir will always look a bit dirty due to
the Seal-Tabs that you have to put in after you change the coolant, but if
you flushed the radiator and the coolant is still oily, then it's more
serious.

 

Should you dump the car? It depends.

With over 350,000 km on my 95 SW1, I just had the head gasket and a
bunch of other stuff done yesterday, including an oil pan (got rusty).
They found that the cylinders looked like new - no scoring, no obvious
wear, no tarnishing (changing you oil every 5000km appears to have
some value). They found the leak in the gasket was minor - the head is
fine. They found that the timing chain was about 1/2 way between brand
new condition and the point of having to replace it. I chose to have
the timing chain replaced, to save 6 hours labour sometime down the
line.

The total cost for the head gasket and timing chain kit was $1100 CDN.
The cost of the timing chain kit was $230.

I say "it depends" because if I had the cash flow, this would've been
a good precipitating event for me to move into a new car (whether or
not I made the repair, I would get the same $ for the car if I sold
it). If you own the car outright and you don't want to get into car
payments, then fix what you've got. If you've got the cashflow or you
don't like the car, then dump it. $1100 would make about 2 - 2 1/2 car
payments for an equivalent new car, so I saw fixing it as good value.

Best of luck with your situation.

Tim Delaney
'95 SW1 5-speed 353,000km
'84 Mercedes 300SD 213,000km
'97 GMC Safari 171,000km