1998 or so SL2. My wife's daughters car. Radiator is leaking. Pondering if I should take it in to a shop or do it myself. Winter driven so the auto trans cooling fittings might be tough. Past that is there anything else that is difficult? Hoses are newer but still old. Maybe new ones but I would see when I tried to pull them off. I would crush the inner tubes first of course.

Thanks!
Rodney

 

Easy as pie to me, I have no idea what your capable of doing or what tools you have.

 

Saturns are incredibly easy to work on. Winter corrosion is incredibly easy to damage things with. Other than that go easy with the hammer it should come out o.k. And if you have not bought a repair manual, look at it this way.
Not taking something apart correctly can easily cost more than the manual to fix it.

 

I have more tools than most. I was just wondering before I picked up parts if there was anything unusual. Did the alternator last year. That was a bit of a challenge. I guess I'll do it. Getting old and lazy. Sounds like the oil lines may be the only thing that might give me a hard time.

Thanks
Rodney

 

Soak the transmission line fittings with a good penetrating oil, like Kroil, if you can find it. If not Kroil, then PB Blaster works pretty well too.

 

How does one flush the engine? How do you put in the new antifreeze once the new radiator is in? The radiator does not have a radiator cap. Only the one on the small plastic tank off to the side. It is a SL2. How many quarts does the system hold?

Thanks
Rodney

 

Get your flair nut wrenches out and go for it.

 

On the Alternator, a comment. Not to sound like a broken record, but that alternator is an example of having the service literature or not. As I have gotten older and frankly a whole lot better than I was at fixing things I have discovered the value of spending $20.00 or what ever it takes to buy service literature on cars I have owned. Saturns in my opinion are one of the easiest cars I have ever worked on to repair things on, at least the original S models. The rest of them are assembled rather then designed and I have never worked on one.
However there is a trick to holding your tongue right to get the alternator out once it is loose and the book tells you. With out the instructions it becomes one of a Chinese puzzle. And the Ford Focus is another one. Despite the accolades that car has gotten and does indeed deserve as to reliability and performance it is one SOB to take wrench to. Even with the manual and there is no way I would touch one with out a manual. And even then they infuriate me. With today's complexity in design and assembly it is just worth it to buy one, at least that is my opinion and I have at this point in my life enough information in a book case in the garage to start a small library and service things as far back as a Graham. If needed.
The method that has been the best if not occasionally the most dangerous means to bust winter rust and corrosion free is to use a Burns-O-Matic to heat up nuts and bolts and then hit them with spray penetrating oil It makes a big cloud of smoke and 90% of the time causes things to loosen up. I have never set anything on fire (yet) but on more than one occasion wondered if I would.
That other 10% you don't want to hear about.
I would try it on those radiator to transmission line fasteners and have even though they are full of flammable transmission fluid. I even did that on brake line although that trick got a little spooky once.
I have never found a way to flush the radiator short of draining, filling with water and running the engine and draining again.
More often than not the drain fixture on the radiatgor has become immovable due to age so I un-fasten the lower radiator hose.
The original S cars had a new anti-freeze installed from the factory in it that was not compatible with the existing product sold at the time. When that changed (what year) I don't know because the formulation of anti-freeze has changed. The new material will say some where on the label that it is compatible with any color. Which was at the time the signal that different anti-freezes were being used.
I am sure the lack of compatibility over time has been not noticed and caused cooling system damage. I still have a partial gallon of the original anti-freeze in the garage from making a repair on a friends car.
However current material says it is and I have found it to be true.
But, while I know of no way to FLUSH the radiator properly in a drive way, drain, fill with water and run car with heater on full, drain and repeat a couple of time will rinse things out completely and that is what I do.
The plastic tank is the radiator cap. Or at least serves as that function. So be careful you do not break it. Plastic + time and heat = fragile.
If you do your friendly auto parts store ought to be able to order you one yet. I bought one last year from CarQuest.

 

I did have the literature on replacing the alternator. It was still a bit of a challenge. Getting the large wire on and off was one of the hard parts. Putting that shield back on. If it was a lift it would have been easier. Same thing on my 2006 S500 MB. I took out the alternator and had a new regulator put in at an automotive electrical rebuilding place. Cost me like $45.00. I did all the work. Same thing. Just enough room to get it out. Barely though. Had to take out the radiator fan housing. Saved me mucho $$. MB dealer would have ripped me maybe $700 or so to install a new one. Car only has 33,000 miles on it. Alternator was fine. Regulator failed. It was even external regulator so it was a couple screws and on the test machine and all was good again. My life as a penny pincher. These forums help a lot also. I fix all my stuff. I seldom have to send something out.

Thanks
Rodney

 

My trick on the trans lines into the radiator is to take a large quality vise grips and grab the fitting and release doing it in several different locations (rotations) several times plus penetrating spray. That distorts the fitting and nut and helps break the corrosion bond and gets the penetrating oil deeper into the fitting. Then use the vice grips to start turning the nut if need be. Many times that works very well. I can also try heat if need be.

Thanks
Rodney