Possible Head Gasket?

My daughter's 93 SL1 with 166k miles overheated. There appears to be oil in
the antifreeze and the engine oil level dropped about a quart. The engine
still seems to run OK ( I ran it a couple of minutes to reposition in the
driveway). What would this repair cost and is it worth it? There are no
other issues with the car.

Thanks

 

The SL1s are known for having the heads crack. So, my GUESS is that you have
a cracked head.

 

If you are a do it yourselfer, take off the head and take a look..if it is
the gasket you will see it on the gasket itself! if it is not to bad
then go out and invest to have it checked and get a gasket set. if not
then junk it.. it does not hurt to look...

I was going to junk one of my cars but then for 90 bucks and a day later
I was on the freeway with a new head gasket!

Fred

 

Oh man, GET the Chiltons before you try this! It's NOT hard, but it's
NOT an evening job. The thing is, you have to pop the front cover off,
at least on the two hamster Saturns. I think so on the one hamster ones
too.

The single hamster model looks like there's more room under the hood,
esp if you don't have A/C. Despite the dire warnings about getting the
chain on right, it's not that hard either. Just plan and think before
you act, and you're OK.

If you've got an air ratchet that can get up into tight spots, it's a
breeze. The hardest part is getting that $%^&%$& front cover off.
honest. The rest is easy bolt off this, move that out of the way, etc.

Oh yeah, while you're in there, if you've got a good # of miles on the
car, check out the chain tensioners and chain. They're easy to replace
while the motor's opened up.

If you're lucky, the head's ok. If not, it's junk. You're call on if
it's worth replacing. But if you can DIY, it's not that much $$$ to do
the head gasket.

 

Actually, your car's engine probably has a cracked head. Yours personally is
probably fine.