Actually "I" havent assumed anything, I am simply giving you a perspective that you don't presently have, at least you didn't have when you first posted. As far as "the leak" you have not told us if it is engine coolant, or simply water. The photo appears to be the tubes for the heater core which are not normally visible so easily. Now comes the hard part. Unless the Kia dealership has a former Saturn technician on staff, then they really don't have any first hand information about your car at all. It's quite possible that one of the line technicians never even saw your car at all if it didn't present any symptoms which would have gotten anyones attention. The wetness in the photo can be condensation from the water evaporating and then condensing back to a liquid when it contacts the plenum, or the leak could be from above that area. Investigation will be required. It's quite likely this may even get sublet back to a Saturn dealership by the Kia one. You say in your last post that you want to make sure the problem is solved and communication to that extent is what is important. I agree fully. That's why the first step is to make sure you don't go in with false assumptions. Stick to the facts, and the symptoms you have found. Then let them do their job.

If you are getting oil smoke when you add throttle, likely there is excessive leakage past the rings; If you create an oil fog when you suddently let up on the throttle, it is likely oil being sucked through the valve seals. Either way signals repair time soon. If you get a momentary puff of oil smoke on puching the throttle open and it goes away, this may not be too bad. Some of GM larger, older V8s did this when relatively new, noteable Corvettes. My wife has the dual overhead cam Saturn engine in her '97 and she has 120,000 miles on it. I haven't noticed excessive oil loss with her engine, but I have my fingers crossed. Two years ago, her engine developed oil leaks at the valve cover, both in the spark plug wells and where the cover meets the head. That cover is molded and I discovered that it had shrunk. In fact, it had shrunk so much that it caused binding of the oil filler cap. A new gasket set stopped most of the leaks.

I bought my brother's 90 Maxima over six years ago for $3K and am still driving it without too many maintenance costs. Bought my brother's 96 Avalon with 225K miles for my son over a year ago for $300. Had a minor front fender bender. I just bought a new headlight assembly and so far so good. It's a bigger car that was rated pretty good in crash tests - has front air bags. I would be leary about him driving an older car without air bags and the other recent safety equipment and design. I know it's not as safe as it could be since it had a minor accident and a lot of miles, but I keep an eye on it to look for worn parts. I knew my brother treated his vehicles well and did regular maintenance. Oh yeah, and we got him a new stereo, which was definitely high priority for him. So, there are cars out ther for that price. As stated previously, consider insurance costs, as they vary with type of vehicle and 16 old boys pay a lot! I just have liability on the older cars.

The boiling point is raised by increasing the pressure of the liquid. I do not have pressure tables for ethelyene glycol-water mix, so I will use that for water to illustrate the change in boiling point with pressure. The following table was extracted from the Handbook of Chemistry. WATER Deg F Pressure, psia (absolute pressure) 212 14.696 213.8 15.228 215.6 15.776 . . 221.0 17.521 . 249.8 29.717 Water boils at 212 F at one standard atmosphere of pressure. or about 14.7 psi. If a pressure cap of a radiator adds 15 psi (or 29.7 psia), then the boiling point is raised to about 250 F. In other words, a radiator with a 15 psi cap will not boil until the water temperature raises to 250F. At 250 F, that system is dangerous. If the cap is suddently removed, most of the liquid will flash to steam and gush out of the opening scalding anything it touches. A closed, non-leaking automotive coolant system filled with water with a 15 psi cap will not boil until it gets to 250 F. A leaky system can boil as low as 212 F. However, the coolant does expand while it is heating. Here's what supposed to happen. As the coolant expands, it squirts by the pressure regulator in the radiator cap and goes to the overflow bottle. The cap should have an second seal under the very top of the cap. This gasket is supposed to seal the overflow tube from the atmosphere. When the engine cools down, liquid from the bottom of the overflow bottle is sucked back into the radiator, that is, if the radiator cap's outer seal is working. If the overflow bottle is not completely emptied, then no air gets back into the coolant system. This is critical. It is the admission of oxygen into the coolant system that causes most of the corrosion and crud. After a few heating and cooling cycles, most of the air in the coolant system should be flushed out and no more will get in until the system is opened again, for example, opening the radiator cap or allowing the overflow bottle to go dry. This system fails when there is a leak somewhere from the radiator cap to the overflow bottle. One typical cause is a wrong radiator cap. A cap from an older system without an oveflow bottle may fit but it does not have the second seal under the cap. It has only the pressure regulator. A second cause is a proper cap with a second seal that no longer works. Another cause that I have seen is a leak in the hose that goes from the radiator to the overflow bottle. I had a hose that had a slit in its underside that could not be seen from above. From what you have written, your fan may not be turning on soon enough. For example, the original equipment temperature sensor for '97 Saturns was notorious for failing after about 3 years and not turning on the fan. After replacing one twice in our Saturn, I found an after market sensor with a metal sensor nose that lasted for years. The original equipment sensor had a plastic nose that eventually dissolved in the hot coolant. The head cracked on this engine at 130,000 miles probably due to over-aging of its aluminum alloy head.