These problems normal for a 5-year-old Saturn?

Shouldn't be.

DexCool(tm)! Regardless of what GM says, that orange crap is NOT good for 100,000 miles. Oh sure, on paper it is - makes the EPA happy - but in real life? No way. I'm taking a stab here and guessing that you didn't maintain your cooling system - NOT your fault - you read the manual which was vague on it.

Saturns are reall hit/miss with this. It's weird, too, because some people go forever, other go through them like candy. I don't know why.

Brakes failing, or wearing out. If the latter, they are a 'wear item'. The exhaust? If it rusted out while still under the EPA warrenty, you should NOT have had to pay for it. And check - some states have a longer than standard one (NY and Mass and Cali, among others).

*shrug*

Maybe. Might be luck. I think the DexCrap in the cooling system is probbably what's killing water pmps, though.

My '93's been fine.

Well, with those changes, the motor should last forever :)

Uh oh. When I see 'personal use', I immediately think burnouts, hole shots, racing everything in sight.....

What was the replacement? Gen-u-ine Saturn, reputable OEM, Taiwanese special? The first two are good, the last is iffy at best. But still, water pump at 42k miles - something's not right.

One heck of a fix - what happened?

Ugh.

After 7 years and 150k miles on my fathers truck with the same dexcool coolant from the factory I dont think so. What you never heard of waterpumps going out repeatedly prior to Dexcool? I guess waterpumps never failed prior to dexcool... When we pulled the pump off it looked like it was cast just yesterday. No rust, no pitting, no scale. The seal just desided to give out.

Yeah, I'm not too knowledgeable about cars, so I go by what the manual says, or whatever the Saturn repair dept puts in there.

What is a good antifreeze to put in there? Oh! I just remembered this, so perhaps this might be a major reason why. Months before I had the water pump replaced, I accidentally put in some blue antifreeze (not knowing better). Well, I ended up getting a coolant flush because of that.

But perhaps the damage was already done? But even so, that should haven't had necessitated a second water pump having to be installed...

$300-400 towing charge to the nearest Bellevue dealership. But it was nice having all of that covered under warranty :)

I think it was just wearing out. According to the invoice, they replaced front brake pads and resurfaced the rotors. That there costs $226, with $158 being labor.

The invoice here said something about a resonator mid-pipe and leakage. How long is an EPA warranty? All I remember them saying is I should get it fixed, as the leakage could spill carbon monoxide in the car.

I should have kept mine. Worked great. Hope the social services that I donated it to is putting it to good use.

Yeah, I was kinda wondering about that, too :)

Good question, I'm not sure. I seem to recall Clinton's saying they had to order the part from Saturn, but I couldn't testify to that.

This was the replacing of the front disc pads and resurfacing of the rotors, plus the standard 60-mile service checkup. The 60K service was around $400, the remainder for the brakes.

Yeah, tell me about it.

I guess I'm kinda disappointed; I had such a good experience with my first Saturn, it kind of bums me with the repair experiences with my second one.

Ahh. Yeah , brakes do wear out :) BTW, I wouldn't bother getting rotors turned, they're generally cheaper to just replace.

Check your manual. I'm pretty sure yours was up by then, but depending on your state, it might not have. BTW, the EPA warrenty covers any emissions related part / system, regardless of it being a safety hazzard or not.

Well, two water pumps is kinda bad, the power window? I dunno. The exhaust is weird too. But the brakes? That's wear and tear. Better to replace your brakes than your car!

Not sure how the hell people get coolants mixed up unless their completely color blind... Any silicate phosphate free coolant is what you want. This isnt the 1950's so you want a coolant designed for this new metal they got out now, I think they call it aluminum... If you're intolerant of Texaco Havoline then try Prestone Extended Life Coolant. It is compatible with Dexcool and doesnt eat up the cooling system like conventional green coolant does. Btw once your system has a non-extended life coolant in it you cannot switch back and expect extended life coolant to last more than 2 years because of contamination. If using conventional coolant it should be changed yearly at the least and left in for NO more than 2 years tops.

Yeah, the power window and brakes are par for the course. And yeah, better to replace my brakes than not able to replace my life!

It's actually quite easy to get mixed up, if one such as myself is uninformed and unknowledgeable what type to put in there, and then attempts to make extrapolated assumptions, and thus inaccurate guesses from the manual on what kind should be put in there.

Making guesstimations? :) This should take some guess work out of it. This is just me going from my memory... The overflow bottle cap will have a Orange or Green dot in the center for Saturns. The rest of GM will have a sticker near the bottle that mentions something about Dexcool if its a dexcool system, unless its pealed off. I'm kinda thinking that "blue coolant" might of been windshield washer fluid and someone filled the wrong bottle. Just a theory.

Excellent, thanks, I'll keep a lookout on that in the future.

LOL, I'm not that bad -- at least, I hope I'm not that bad!. The blue in this case was a lot thicker than the windshield stuff; I picked up a small container of it at some gas station (Chevron or Shell or Union76).

Oh I thought they put the blue in at a shop. I read something wrong...

Be very careful here, the Ross-Magnusson Act does not cover the "Intake" only the exhaust. In my manual it was pages 25-27 for the

1999 SL1. However when confronted with the logic both at the dealership and that no use customer support line and 2 managers they said that the intake manifold was not covered and not part of the exhaust system. In my case I told them to fix the problem (An intake leak) and I would pay the invoice and then sue the hell out of them to get the money back. That caused quite a stir all around and they called back and said as a courtesy they would eat the cost of the repair if I would pay the $9 for the gasket. Seemed like a good deal and it had been fixed.

The law in New York mirrors California but it had to be a car purchased in 2004 (After January) when the law took affect. That emissions control law only affect 5 years up to that new car year purchase. The 2003 on down have a 5 years of coverage and not 8.

Elector

Interesting. The EPA considers the intake to be an emissions control componnt, as does CARB....

Yes it does. For fun read the manual for the Saturn you own and see that little exclusion. I am under the impression that the court would have felt it covered also. Saturn of Albany did not want to fight the issue so they gave the "courtesy repair". You had to be on the phone with Saturn's Customer Service when they argued it was not under the federal act, and was under their own warranty terms. I wish I taped it.

Elector

I'm sure if you reminded them the EPA likes to investigate this stuff, they'd have been even more cooperative...

Yeah, sounds like fun (not!). The trick is to get past the first and

2nd level phone answerers and get to someone real...