New to Saturn '01 SW2

Compared to the old Veeger, any Saturn is a creampuff. At the very least, the pain won't peel.

| > Before I close the deal, are there any points to be wary of? I intend to get | > the full service manual as soon as I'm able. | | Compared to the old Veeger, any Saturn is a creampuff. At the very | least, the pain won't peel. | || Dan Hicks

Sounds like praise on the Saturn. Appreciate it.

The vOYager was actually a pretty good vehicle. I did all the mechanical work myself. The only weakness was the fatal flaw; 2.5L motor eats cylinder head gaskets. I had replaced them myself several times (with all the necessary warpage tests and machining as required) Was on a highway trip at night. Head gasket blew and temperature idiot light (no gauge - glad the SW2 has a gauge) never came on. By the time I saw the white smoke out the tailpipe, engine was toast. May yet put a junkyard engine in it. For now, I needed a reliable daily driver and the Saturn appeared to be it.

So will close on the SW2 tomorrow.

Also, any recommendations on a OBD2 scan tool that works with a laptop computer? My son has something similar for the VW but the menus are all customized for that brand. May only give generic info on a Saturn.

Best regards and hope to be active in this group in the future, Oppie aka Robert Oppenheimer

First, if it has a 3 L engine, it's an LW2, not SW2. The V6 has had it's share of teething troubles. The most common is a leak in the water pump/oil cooler assembly. The factory RTV sealant was of poor quality, and leaked after about 50k miles. Some of the sensors are of questionable quality and need premature replacement. To find out a lot more, go to

Yeah, replaced the gasket on our '89 several times. Finally I let it go too long and burned out a cylinder (rings eaten by the antifreeze). Put a new engine in it and gave it to my BIL. He had no end of trouble with it -- more head gasket problems, CV joints, electrical problems, etc.

Also, never could get the AC to work for more than a year at a time

-- it would always develop leaks and need $700 worth of new parts after 12 months or so. But the lousy paint was the most irritating part of it all (though it seemed to be mostly the blue paint -- it was unusual to see a blue Voyager that didn't have the measles).

Luckily we had the manual tranny -- the automatic in the '89s was infamous.

My mistake on the model number. The dealer's window sticker ( I could have sworn) showed SL2. I looked again at the carfax report I had run according to the VIN and it show as a LW300. Oppie