NHTSA Complaint #742033 — 1996 SATURN SATURN

7/14/2000 I WANTED TO CHECK THE OIL,COOLANT ETC... BEFORE WE LEFT ON OUR VACATION IS WHEN I NOTICED A LARGE AMOUNT OF OIL MIXED IN WITH THE COOLANT, THE COLOR OF LIGHT BROWN, I CALLED CROWN MOTORS, TOLD THEM. TOWED IT IN TO REDDING FROM BURNEY. THEY HAD IT UNTIL 7/28/00 NEVER TELLING US THEY DIDNT HAVE A QUALIFIED MECHANIC. YET THEY GAVE US A LIST OF REPLACED PARTS AND COOLANT AND LABOR STATING IT WAS REPAIRED. TWO HOURS DOWN THE ROAD AND THE "SERVICE ENGINE SOON" LIGHT CAME ON AS IT HAD BEEN AND THE CAR BEGAN TO SHIFT FUNNY THEN THE TEMPERATURE GAUGE STARTED TO SORE.WE PULLED OVER AND CALLED CROWN MOTORS BUT THEY WERE CLOSED.THIS HAS REPEATED IT SELF 3 OR MORE TIMES AND THE CAR STILL HAS THE SAME PROBLEM. IT TOTALLY SHUT DOWN WHILE I WAS ON THE FREEWAY,LUCKILY MY 10MONTH OLD SON WAS NOT IN THE CAR, AND NO ONE WAS BEHIND ME TO COAST TO THE SIDE OF THE ROAD.I FOUND OUT LATER THEY FORGOT TO PUT THE HEAD GASKET BACK ON AND COVER ALSO. THE OIL WAS SO THICK IN THE COOLANT IT LOOKED LIKE A LAVA LAMP.THEY SAID WE WOULD HAVE TO PAY $100 AGAIN TO FLUSH IT SINCE THEY ALREADY DID THAT THE FIRST TIME. MARK SAID THAT NOT TO WORRY THE ENGINE WILL FLUSH ITSELF CLEAN OF OIL IN THE MEANTIME THE LIGHT WILL GO ON AND OFF TILL IT IS CLEANED ITSELF OF OIL. I ASKED IF THIS WOULD DAMAGE THE ENGINE, HE SAID NO IT WILL JUST RUN HOTTER. THERE ISNT A DEALER CLOSE WITHIN 160 MILES FROM US TO REPAIR THE CAR SINCE DUANE GLOVER SERVICE MANAGER AT CROWN MOTORS WONT HELP ME. HE SAID HIS CONTRACT STATES HE DOESNT HAVE TO, EVEN THOUGH WE BOUGHT IT UNDER LIMITED WARRANTY AND THE SAME DAY THE EXTENDED WARRANTY. I COULD GO ON THE SUN ROOF LEAKS AND THE DRIVERSIDE WINDOW LEAKS, THE CAR SHAKES NOW WHEN YOU SHIFT AND BASICALLY THE CAR IS ALWAYS PARKED BECAUSE IT OVERHEATS SO FAST, AND THE "SERVICE ENGINE SOON" LIGHT STAYS ON.