Ok... lets get down to it... I know nothing about cars... I am 17 and a girl and my dad know about as much about cars as I do. Well here's what's happened with my '97 saturn SL1 in the past few weeks.
~My oil light comes on... I tell my dad and he tells me to check it. My boyfriend and I check it... it's bone dry. Weird I know. We run to the store and add 3 bottles of oil to it. While the hood is up, I notice a part of my car (the engine collant container) looks like brown liquid is all over it. I point it out to my b/f and he "yells" at me telling me just because my engine ins't spotless doesn't mean something is wrong with it. I decided not to push the subject and let it go.
~A couple days later. I notice my engine is over heating. Luckily, I am near home and drive it home. Open hood, and notice the engine coolant container has brown (imagine melted wendy's frosty) liquid all over, it's obvious that my coolant has over flowed
~Dad replaces thermosat himself
~Dad takes car to get flushed(I asssume radiater flush)
~Car runs fine( no oil lights, not check engins lights, no over heating)
~Today after school I notice a puddle of the same brown liquid under the car... a farely big puddle... I check under the hood and the coolant thing is coverd with it. I open it up and inside is the same liquid. I ask b/f and friend and they say coolant doesn't look like that.
~Friend's b/f (local redneck grease monkey) tells me that my coolant is that color because it has oil in it
~He think's I have a blown cylinder and that I need to get a whole new engine
~my b/f later on thinks it might be a blown gasket, he says they are the same signs...

So now that that's all finished can someone please tell me what they think?

Your car definitely has a major problem. It sounds like the oil is leaking into the coolant. This could be due to a bad gasket, or a cracked heed. Either is a big problem. The head CNN's be checked without removing it. Driving it a little ways if overheated could add a cracked head to a blown gasket.

Removing the head sounds like too big of a project for a girl, father, and boyfriend that don't know too much about cars. Just not a good starter project. Having it fixed at a good independent shop could be over $1000, $2000 at the dealer.

Maybe try to find a boyfriend that doesn't yell at you over little things. You were right that it was a problem if the normally red or green coolant suddenly turned brown and overflowed.

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Originally Posted by labman

Your car definitely has a major problem. It sounds like the oil is leaking into the coolant. This could be due to a bad gasket, or a cracked heed. Either is a big problem. the head CNN's be checked without removing it. Driving it a little ways if overheated could add a cracked head to a blown gasket.

Removing the head sounds like too big of a project for a girl, father, and boyfriend that don't know too much about cars. Just not a good starter project. Having it fixed at a good independent shop could be over $1000, $2000 at the dealer.

Maybe try to find a boyfriend that doesn't yell at you over little things. You were right that it was a problem if the normally red or green coolant suddenly turned brown and overflowed.

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My boyfriend knows enough about car... and we have a mutual friend that does this stuff all the time... I'm trying to get them to take the head of and check it... I'm just hoping it doesn't cost too much...