Oil change!

oilboy123 · May 6, 2006

If I had a leaking head gasket it would be the first thing I repaired. You do know that coolant can tear up engine bearings if left in too long. That is unless you run propylene glycol.

With all due respect a leaking head gasket is not something to put off.

The oil is not too thin.

97saturn · May 7, 2006

I do use GM Dexcool.

97saturn · May 7, 2006

Is there a person or link who can help shed some light on this subject for me.

427Z06 · May 7, 2006

quote:

Originally posted by 97saturn:
Although i have a mildly leaking head gasket. Is this oil to thin?

Is it the head gasket or the cam cover/valve cover gasket? If coolant is actually getting into the oil, it'll ruin the bearings quickly. And it will actually thicken the oil. If it's a very small leak, you could nurse it along with VERY FREQUENT oil changes, but I'd have it fixed ASAP if you want that engine to live any length of time. 10w30 is not too thin.

97saturn · May 7, 2006

It is the head gasket leaking above my oil filter which is passengers side.My oil looks and smells fine.I guess i'm fortunate it's leaking out instead of putting antifreeze in my oil.

m2200b · May 7, 2006

You can only visually tell a massive coolant leak in the oil. Eg big leaks show milky traces. A small one looks like oil. You can do a used oil analysis for positive ID. You can put oil in a spoon and lite a match under it and get a pop from water if its in the oil.

Oil in the coolant is more common as failure worsens and again is just a trace that will stick to the plastic tube at first signs and then you should get heater noise - gurgle. Valve cover though is no big deal - new gasket or a rtv version of one for saturns. The head starts two inches lowe than the valve cover and its gaskets.

Head gaskets may progress slowly to a full leak and minor oil leaks may be the first sign. They rarely get better and IMO eventually go to oil and coolant leaks that warp the head or worse.

m2200b · May 7, 2006

Another easy test is to pull the plugs near the leak and look for coolant signs eg white on tips, coolant if its sat all night.

Hard starting is another sign of coolant leak as its shorting the intial plug firing after its sat overnight or all day. Stumbles, runs rough a few seconds a little like a weak battery or starter.

Most of the coolant will go out the tail pipe first causing wear to rings and sides of pistons, or in extreme case bend valves that can't compress water in there.

Smelling for coolant usually only works at tailpipe since the oil is usually not as heavily impacted as its going out the tail pipe and if you could smell it in oil it would be milky anyway.Also additional water drips over usually on first startup of the day.

97saturn · May 7, 2006

When i gets this fixed i should do an oil change right away.Should i add anything to my oil to clean out my engine?I've got a bottle of MMO in my garage should i use that?

JohnnyG · May 7, 2006

How do you know that its the head gasket leaking? Many GM motors are designed with a bolt on filter housing. Sometimes, the bolts will loosen from vibration or an "O" ring in the housing will go bad, causing an oil leak to the outside. Eay fix if that's the case.

97saturn · May 7, 2006

Good question,after work tomorrow i'll gunk the engine clean and run it for a while this should let me know for sure.

97saturn · May 7, 2006

I'm going to do an oil change some evening after work this week.I've bought Motormaster semi-synthetic 10w30 and a Valvoline Maxlife oil filter.Are those wise choices?I will be going back to 5w30 once the weather becomes cold.Although i have a mildly leaking head gasket.Is this oil to thin?

Quest · May 7, 2006

leaking oil? or leaking coolant?

97saturn · May 7, 2006

Leaking oil.

m2200b · May 7, 2006

Leaking oil is often the first step to head gasket failure. I'd UOA the oil to be sure you haven't got coolant in the oil so you have more feedback on how agressively you should be fixing the head gasket.

97saturn · May 7, 2006

I've been watching this for about a month now.There is nothing in the oil.I'm going to change it hopefully when me and the brother-inlaw can score a weekend off.Is it a big job?

MONKEYMAN · May 7, 2006

You may want to go here for more info:

http://www.saturnfans.com/forums/

From what I have read there, the SL1 has a casting problem on the head and it cracks. Also, Alldata has a TSB about the problem with SL1's. Fortunately, I have a 99 SL2. Good luck!

labman · May 7, 2006

A head gasket is not a weekend job. You want the head to go through an automotive machine shop to be cleaned up, valves ground, valve guides replaced, and very important, checked for cracks, Magnafluxed.

MarioT · May 8, 2006

About the oil leakage...

Is it dripping oil or just a bit wet around the leak? I had a small leak on my Saturn behind the engine, right over the alternator. I never really bothered with it since I lost less than a quart / 3kmiles.

About the cracked head:

I had the infamous 96SL1 that finally cracked its head (not related to the oil leak), and I can tell you that I can not be missed if you look at the coolant bottle. You'll get dark brown chocolate froth in it and possibily overheat if not taken care of.

Oil change!

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