electrical issues

I have a 95 Saturn sedan(I think it's an "S" model). The care runs great. I bought it about 4 years ago, and have probably only put 3000 miles on it because I'm always in my work van, and I mostly just drive my car to Church or a bit on Saturday. The car ran wonderful and everything was normal, until I got a crack in the radiator, and had a brand new one put in. The car again was doing fine for over a year. Now the car temp will start to rise, and even head towards thered area on the guage, but before that happens I always just switch on the heat, and the temp starts to fall again, I have put a new thermostat in the car, and all the hoses are fine. I even tried running it for testing purposes without a therostat, and the water level and temp light were blinking so wildly that I put the stat back in right away. I thought it must be a thermostst due to the fact that cutting on the heater brings down the temp, but I guess it's not. I don't know if this is relevant but around the same time the car has now developed electrical issues. If I let the car sit more than a day or two without starting it; the battery runs down. I even bought a brand new battery, and it eventually did the same thing. If I crank the car and let it run a short bit; it charges right back up. Can anyone offer any help. It makes me want to just get shed of the car, but as I said; it is a car that's really been taken care of, and I felt lucky to get it. Thank you, and God bless,
John Sr.

to start, all the cars for years were all s-series. sedans are sl, coupes are sc, and wagons are sw. the other part of the model name deals with the engine. a sohc model is 1, a dohc model is 2. so a sedan with a dohc motor is sl2.

now your problem could be a normal new to saturn owner problem. thinking temperature is getting too high, when in reality its fine. if temp gets above 3/4 with no fan engagement (or with fan on and doesnt go down) then theres a problem. if it gets to 3/4 and fan kicks in and temp goes down, its fine. its common for people to think that there is an issue but the real temperature of the vehicle is fine.

now the blinking of the overheat and low coolant light, usually means a bad coolant temp sensor. this can cause the fans to possibly not come on at all. but if it goes bad, then usually the connector has to be replaced. this is because the sensor tip can crack and let coolant through. you have to inspect the tip of it and make sure there are no cracks on it. but since its a 95, there are 2 sensors next to each other. the one closer to the trans and center of head (driver side) is the one. it will have 2 wires to it.

the drain is hard to figure without being there. if you cant hunt it down, its best left up to a shop.

I'd hate to see you lose a Saturn. I'm not a mechanic but saturn problems are more predictable than many other cars which is a good thing. Check out the other forums to see how little help people get with some other makes of cars. Driving with the heater on is a saturn tradition because it seems a lot of things can make it run hot. The good part - you can still drive the car even if you boil.

Catalytic converters have a 70,000 mile life span I was told and when they are clogged you overheat. I always just guessed, replaced it, and it helped. Here is my saturn sl1 list: alternator is over hot area of engine, when it goes every 70,000 or so, the trans starts getting sloppy and finally car chokes. The catalytic converter will die, just replace it. The idler pulley whines after 100K, replace it and the car ran cooler for me, and oil got cleaner. My radiator cracked too, the sides were plastic and mechanic said that is the weak spot, plus it was clogged with hard mud. Mechanic said you cant get in to brush off the mud it is covered! Finally the ignition coil corroded at 100K plus which messed up everything, great improvement to replace it.

Best part of Saturn, the guys on this forum know a heck of a lot and really help. Not every forum has inspired contributors. The idler pulley replacement made a big temp difference for my car.

Thanks alot guys for responding. I've been so busy working(and driving my work van) that I haven't addressed the problem yet. I'll keep you posted though. Thanks again.
John Sr.

My radiator cracked too, the sides were plastic and mechanic said that is the weak spot, plus it was clogged with hard mud. Mechanic said you cant get in to brush off the mud it is covered! Finally the ignition coil corroded at 100K plus which messed up everything, great improvement to replace it.

Best part of Saturn, the guys on this forum know a heck of a lot and really help. Not every forum has inspired contributors. The idler pulley replacement made a big temp difference for my car.

Yea, I hate these plastic radiator sides too. If you start having overheating troubles, they almost always crack for me.

Yes, this forum is great for saturns. Saturnspeed has been a big help for me.