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So 3 weeks ago, I drove home from work, and saw a big plume of steam billow out from under the hood of my 2001 Saturn SL2 (Yeah I'm cheap and hate car payments).
Inspecting the cooling system and chasing hoses lead me back around to the back of the cylinder head, where the purge line for the overflow tank attaches to the intake manifold, or at least is SUPPOSED to attach...
Yep, the brilliant engineering decision that was foisted off on the engineers that wanted to build a good car, and the car buying public, to use an injection molded plastic component with no reinforcement for the intake manifold, and then including the heater core and purge tank bypasses into this same molded piece bit me in the butt.
For years I have known this to be a problem with the 2000 - 2002 twin cam Saturn S series models, and have known about a mod / retrofit kit that literally has you hacksaw the liquid plumbing parts off of the intake manifold, and install a CNC machined aluminum piece in its place. I found the kit, and ordered it. Turn around was reasonable, I had it before Friday of that week... Sadly I am doing the work in my driveway, with a barely usable drop light. (Magnets don't hold well to plastic body panels), so Daylight Savings time hasn't been my friend, but I digress...
As you might have seen, the 2 weekends prior to this weekend just past have been shall we say dramatic with weather here in coastal Texas, so no work on the car then either. Ugh...
This past weekend though, clear weather, no rain, not too hot, not too cold. Time to get to work!
So following the kit MFGs direction I found a couple of glaring omissions in the procedure, and fixed them, and this gave me the opportunity to...
#1. Fix the cooling system weeping I never could trace down.
#2. Install a new intake manifold gasket / rubber seal.
#3. Service the K&N Air Filter.
#4. Clean the throttle body, MAF sensors etc... thus clearing a trouble code.
#5. Replace the motor mounts. The upper mount was a bit iffy, the lower mount at the transaxle was completely missing the bushing, not something you would see unless you had the air box removed for some reason. This has eliminated a vibration this car has had for years that I always thought was normal for this year Saturn as all of them I ever drove did that...
#6. Replaced old, and close to failing coolant, and vacuum lines.
Today was the first time in 3 weeks I have been able to drive the Saturn in to work. It felt pretty good. Next comes the truck. Ugh, that one is going to be murder. Cam Phasers, tensioners, timing chains, and guides, oil, and water pumps. I figure since I am in there, I might as well guarantee I have great oil pressure!
Inspecting the cooling system and chasing hoses lead me back around to the back of the cylinder head, where the purge line for the overflow tank attaches to the intake manifold, or at least is SUPPOSED to attach...
Yep, the brilliant engineering decision that was foisted off on the engineers that wanted to build a good car, and the car buying public, to use an injection molded plastic component with no reinforcement for the intake manifold, and then including the heater core and purge tank bypasses into this same molded piece bit me in the butt.
For years I have known this to be a problem with the 2000 - 2002 twin cam Saturn S series models, and have known about a mod / retrofit kit that literally has you hacksaw the liquid plumbing parts off of the intake manifold, and install a CNC machined aluminum piece in its place. I found the kit, and ordered it. Turn around was reasonable, I had it before Friday of that week... Sadly I am doing the work in my driveway, with a barely usable drop light. (Magnets don't hold well to plastic body panels), so Daylight Savings time hasn't been my friend, but I digress...
As you might have seen, the 2 weekends prior to this weekend just past have been shall we say dramatic with weather here in coastal Texas, so no work on the car then either. Ugh...
This past weekend though, clear weather, no rain, not too hot, not too cold. Time to get to work!
So following the kit MFGs direction I found a couple of glaring omissions in the procedure, and fixed them, and this gave me the opportunity to...
#1. Fix the cooling system weeping I never could trace down.
#2. Install a new intake manifold gasket / rubber seal.
#3. Service the K&N Air Filter.
#4. Clean the throttle body, MAF sensors etc... thus clearing a trouble code.
#5. Replace the motor mounts. The upper mount was a bit iffy, the lower mount at the transaxle was completely missing the bushing, not something you would see unless you had the air box removed for some reason. This has eliminated a vibration this car has had for years that I always thought was normal for this year Saturn as all of them I ever drove did that...
#6. Replaced old, and close to failing coolant, and vacuum lines.
Today was the first time in 3 weeks I have been able to drive the Saturn in to work. It felt pretty good. Next comes the truck. Ugh, that one is going to be murder. Cam Phasers, tensioners, timing chains, and guides, oil, and water pumps. I figure since I am in there, I might as well guarantee I have great oil pressure!