Sl1 Head Gasket Replacement Cost?

[johnt671]

My 48,000 Mile used motor in my 92 Sl1 has a slight leak in it. It's not leaking in the oil just leaving a small trail of coolent near the coils. Anyone got any ball park ideas of the cost to replace the head gasket? Thanks.

[SaturnTech]

About $100 in parts if you do it yourself. Have you checked the coolant overflow bottle to make sure the head isn't cracked?

[johnt671]

Checked the tank and it shows no sign of oil, and there are no bubbles or gunk on the oil filler cap or the dipstick, so I think it's just an external leak.

[Luke]

And check the top right radiator hose, which connects onto the radiator, at that location. You may simply have a connection where the clamp needs to be tightened. (((>speaking from personal experience, you understand <)))

[JS593]

i second the rad hose, dont jump to conclusions with head gaskets when they might not be needed... if you have a pkg of flour, spare time, and ready to get a little dirty, go to a car wash, was the engine (LIGHTLY) then put some flour everywhere, and watch for where the coolant comes from...

[johnt671]

I'll go out in the morning and check it, but I'm 95 per cent sure it is coming out the the corner of the head. A while back I replaced the ECTS and not wanting to over tighten it I screwed it in until I felt pressure on it and then over the couse of a few days proceded to further tighen it until it wasn't leaking. The coolent puddled in the same spot but I was also able to see it around the ECTS. It looks dry in that area now but I'll also take a closer look there.

[johnt671]

It's the head gasket. I dumped in some stop leak in and it seems to be holding the leak.

I really like this car and thought I got a good buy on it since it only had 82,000 miles on it when I got it,but I've dumped big bucks into it in a little more than a year. About 5 months after I bought it the motor siezed up and I had it replaced with one with 48,000 miles on it, but this motor seems to use more oil than the original motor, even though I did 2 MMO soaks and then started using 10w-30 weight oil. Now the head gasket is leaking and I'm not skilled enough to repair it.

At this point I may drive it until it blows up or take it back where I bought it and see if I can trade it in and stick it back on them. (I'm not to likely to do this because it's not thier fault and I believe they where honest about the car, But it seems like a good idea 'cause I'm not in the best of moods.)

[SaturnTech]

Don't worry, with that stop leak floating around your cooling system...it won't be long before it clogs the radiator and/or heater core and your car is toast. You can't put a band-aid on a broken arm.

[JS593]

haha.. that was good saturntech.... sorry to say it man, but hes right... the second a flow starts to get locked up, your entire car is going to blow up, that stuff you put in your rad, is meant for the rad... not for a head leak, get hte parts replaced, coolant flushed, or your going to look at a bigger bill then anticipated.