Hello! I'm very frustrated today with our car lol.

First, let me start by telling you we know VERY little about cars.

We have a 2001 Saturn sl. It runs pretty good, we have had a few issues. We bought her used.

The other day, the radiator gave out, it was steaming and sputtering, and it turns out, had a crack in it.

We have an older saturn sc1 2001, and of course a lot of, if not all the parts are interchangeable.

-Oh, they are both manual transmission, not sure if that makes a difference to any answers that anyone will give.

So, my Husband took the radiator out of the sc1, and put it in the sl. All looked good, but when he filled it up, (not too much), the stuff was coming out on the ground from the bottom of the car. It was not just from the change over, because it was too much and consistent. The "new" radiator didn't seem to have any issues, and all was fine when we still used the sc1. We stopped using it because two cylinders were misfiring.

So, are there any tips for the extreme novice mechanic on how to get this radiator to behave? Money IS an issue, so please, give advice accordingly.

 

The first thing to do is to check and make sure the drain **** is actually closed on that radiator. Then, make sure you have the hose on all the way and the clamp is tight. I know it sounds to simple, but sometimes the simple things are easily over looked. If that radiator was okay in the sc1, then there's no reason for it not to be okay now. Since both are manuals, then there's no reason to suspect that a coolant plug for an automatic was taken out, is there?

 

Thank you for the advice. My husband said that he already had checked those couple things, but do you think a new hose would help?

 

The only way I can guess a new hose would help is if the old one has a hole in it. Tell him to check the inlet and outlet connectors and make sure he didn't split one of them or crack it when he did the change. I can't understand how if it wasn't leaking in the sc1 before removal, how the heck it suddenly developed a leak. It doesn't make sense to me, but I'm not a mechanic by trade. I've only worked on my own vehicles for over 40 years and never run into a problem like this without it being something simple. Were all of the connections the same on both cars or did he miss a hose somewhere?

 

You might just replace the drain ****. Right after doing my second coolant change on my 02 SL, the water pump started leaking. For some reason, after drain the radiator to replace the water pump, the drain **** started leaking even though it was all the way in. You can find a replacement in the help section at most auto parts stores. Its a universal for GM vehicles.

 

The ONLY way to take care of this is to go out find the leak and fix it. How the hell are we going to tell you where it's leaking when you have the damn car.

 

Get it up on some jack stands and begin looking around with a flash light. If you would like, take plenty of pictures and post them up here for us to take a look. We may see something you don't.