1997 Saturn SL SL2 review from North America

The SL2 has many over heating issues, the heads crack easily, and oil leaks are frequent.

The good part is you don't really have to spend all kinds of money taking it to the dealer, if you know a little bit about cars and fixing them.

There is a reason these Saturn's start to overheat at about 80 to 100,000 miles, it is because like other cars, things start to go bad if the car is abused or not properly taken care of.

The overheating issue is mainly due to the fan not kicking in until the engine is almost in the red, this happens because the brains of the car don't do what they're suppose to do. This means basically that cars were better off from the start before they started putting all these high tech fancy gadgets into them. To fix the fan problem, all you simply have to do is get a replacement fan that is built to kick in at a lower temperature, and a good radiator. When you replace these items, you also replace the thermostat and get one also that is built to kick in at a lower temp. You do this early, you know "preventative maintenance", at about 80,000. You will save yourself the heartbreak of having to replace engines, gaskets, oil gaskets and pans, and heads that break due to the car excessively and constantly overheating.

Take my advice; my girlfriend has a Saturn that I completely fixed at 120,000 miles, no more overheating problems.