Saturn head gasket

My daughter's 1996 Saturn coupe SC1 SOC 150000miles uses
antifreeze. I think this is an early head gasket leak. I have read
that Saturn puts Supplement Pellets in their new cars.
p/n 21007224. This a water pump lube and sealent. Has anyone
here tried that product and does it work. The net is full of
stop leak products but do any of them work. I ran the car
for two hours today and there was a small amount of white smoke
out the tail pipe after two hours ( lot of white smoke at startup)
Thanks
Ernie

 

I would consider getting the head gasket checked/changed and the head
checked. Do this before you cause damage to the engine. The leak must
be minor at this time, but will get worse.

The reason it is not smoking much yet is because it is minor leak and
compression is keeping most of it out of the cylinder when it is
running. Once the engine is shut off, the coolant system pressure is
forcing coolant back into cylinder to fill with coolant. Then when you
start it, it is trying to burn the trapped coolant causing steam.
Sometimes this will cause a spark plug misfire until the coolant is
forced out. Even after the coolant is forced out of the cylinder, it
will keep steaming until the converter has burned it.

This is no good because some of the coolant can get past the rings and
into the crankcase and then mixing with the oil. Once the coolant is
mixed in the oil, now you are taking a chance of ruining the bearings.

Also that coolant in the cylinder is washing all the oil away causing
premature wear in the cylinder wall.

GET IT FIX before it is too late!

James

 

If it takes a while to make it "smoke", it sounds more like a common
failure on the SOHC, an intake manifold gasket leak. I would look for
coolant near cylinder 3 & 4. Almost guarantee it is leaking there..... I
see it quite frequently as a saturn tech. Hope it helps...

 

Intake manifold gaskets seems to be a common problem with GM cars these

days. I just had the gasket changed on my 2001 Buick.
I added Bar's leaks to the antifreeze same as Satun p/n 21007224 ( I
am told)
and so far that has stopped the leak. If it re-appears I will change
the intake
manifold it does not look as involved as the buick.
Thanks
Ernie