96 SL1 sucking in all anitfreeze and battery light coming on

I have a 1996 Saturn SL1. The car keeps sucking in all the antifreeze and
the battery light keeps coming on. I have replaced the thermostat and my
brother came over and was messing around under the hood and checking some
fuses and harnesses and fix the problem for a little while but now it has
come back. One thing I know for sure is the radiator fan doesnt work, but
when my bro did what he did(which he dont know) the fan wasnt working
still, but the anti freeze was staying normal and no lights were on. Can
anyone help???? Thanks

 

SOHC, check oil for coolant contamination. Pressure test cooling system.

Fan comes on at roughly the 3/4 mark. How have you not over heated it.

Clean battery connections, test alternator at autozone or something...

 

i drive with the heat on all the time. there is no anit freeze in the oil
tank and no leaks.

 

Check the fan itself. Disconnect it and run power directly to it using
jumper wires to ensure it does work. Some cars have a thermal switch
near the thermostat or at the bottom of the radiator that triggers the
fan relay (make sure you have the right one). Unplug the thermal switch
and jumper the two wires in the connector. If the thermal switch
connector has only one wire, then ground it to test. If the fan runs
then the switch is bad. If the fan still does not run then the fan relay
could be faulty. To troubleshoot it further you will need a wiring
schematic.

--
Gyz

07 Saturn Sky
98 Dodge Status ES
94 Mitsubishi Eclipse GST

 

Explain please exactly what "sucking in all the antifreeze" means?

If the fan does not run, then it is more likely you are overheating and the
coolant is going out the overflow tube from the reservoir. It would then
suction back the remaining coolant into the engine block while it cooled,
and yes, it could have too little left to stay at the full cold line.

Find the source of the fan not running first. The fan is turned on by the
CPU based on voltage received from the Coolant Temperature Sensor (CTS),
which is a known weak point in the Saturn engine. The CPU then activates
the fan relay which turns on the fan. A little diagnostic work should tell
you the source of this problem.

Bob