head gasket leak...any suggestions?

I just took our '00 Saturn wagon in to my local mechanic, 'add coolant'
light was on,
a little antifreeze on the garage floor. He put it up on the hoist & said
looks like it's leaking
out of the head gasket. -- He put some stop-leak liquid in, for a temporary
fix.
Has anyone on this NG replaced a head gasket on one of these? The car only
has 44K
on it, so I don't want to lay out a lot of $$in labor to let someone else do
it, but
I'd never torn down the engine on one of these....

Terry

 

If it were me I would first try Saturn to see if they will pay a share for
the repair.

 

"Terry" <> typed until their fingers bled, and came
up with:

It isn't too bad of a job. takes me about 8 hours to do in my driveway.

 

Well I wish you were my neighbor, I'd have you help me do it!
I have a garage and tools, but I'm used to working on muscle cars,
I've never did engine work on a 4 cylinder--

Terry

 

I might just try that...I'm the second owner, so I have no warranty
info whatsoever...but any help that I'd get from Saturn would be great...


Terry

 

If you're anywhere near St. Louis, I'd be glad to help.

just think of it as working on 1/2 of a V-8.

 

Hint: don't use much muscle! ;-)

 

If it were me i'd first try re-torquing the head bolts and see it that
stops the leak. Pull them out one-at-a time and clean & oil them to
pull the gasket tight.

 

I might re-torque the head bolts, I did take the car to a mechanic I know,
he put in some stop-leak, said if the leak was real small that might stop
it.
They then pressure-tested it and it seems okay...I've put almost 1K on it
since, so far so good---

 

Do NOT try retorquing. IIRC these are torque to yield bolts. You WILL do
more harm than good. Bite the bullet and replace the gasket.
Larry

 

well i have a 94 saturn sl, I was told that I can just replace the gasket
seal, the seal cost about $22. anyone no any thing else different i can
do.