dan woodland
+1y
Last year we inherited a 2001 Saturn L200 with 11K miles. When Saturns were being built I was never impressed with how they were engineered, mainly because of being unfamiliar with them. Now that I've begun to work on it I am impressed with the engineering. They are fairly simple to maintain, for a late model vehicle, and seem to be built well.
This is the "newest" car I've had to do this sort of work on so it's a learning experience. One new thing is plastic fuel lines and the connectors that hold everything together.
This project entails replacing the fuel filler neck and fuel pump. The fuel pump is inside the gas tank. Long story short, I need to get to bed, Here is what I found as the problem.
As you can see there are two pipes, an inlet and outlet. You can also see the "wet look" on the connectors and surrounding area.
I touched the inlet line and .... I discovered to problem (this is a common problem for Saturns).
Fuel was spraying out of the cracked tube and flowing all over the top of the gas tank... the smell was very strong so this wasn't long for this world - I would have been stranded at some point when it failed. Also notice the plastic clips which hold everything together that green one is $12 bucks!!! you bet I did my best to "save it".
I'm betting the Saturn techs have a special tool allowing them to open these connections quickly. Of course I had just a 20 inch space to work in as I don't have a lift so it may have been easier if it was lifted.
More details to come...