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.

But one thing I do know. The assistance manager is not professional or honest. 1. I took the car to repair on Thursday, there were a few people there waiting, he told me he did not have the part and asked me to leave the car for tomorrow. It was 4:00 pm. The Pep boys would not close at 9:00 pm. He said he could not fix due to partÂs availability. Afterwards I made appointment with him on Thursday after Labor Day. I called on Wednesday to ask the parts. The other people told me there are a few parts available. Based on this, I could not make the judgment for the honesty. But  2. Since I need to base the info to make the decision about going home or browse the stores, I asked him how long it would take, He told me a couple hours. I confirmed with him about a couple times about a couple hours waiting time, he still said a couple hours. I went to the back and ask the mechanic( no car is waiting for repair). He told me less than 45 minutes. 3. . I always have my inspection done one month before. My car inspection sticker will expire in Oct. While I drove home after I picked the inspected car , I noticed my new sticker expire in September 06. I went back to Pepboys right away, I questioned the assistance manager about my inspection expiration month . He said it is new law the sticker expire in whatever month it takes inspection. I asked him when it changed since I did my inspection one month before last year. And ask him to show me the book and confirmed whether he was sure about the expiration month. He insisted it is new law. I went back home and went to Penn Dot to search and tried to called Penn Dot. It was not office hours. I could not reach any one in the Penn Dot. I did not feel to look through all the search results on the web. I called the other Pepboys to inquire about the expiration. They all said the inspection would expire in Oct. I called back the Pepboys which fixed the car and asked for him. Some one told me he left already and then I asked for manager. Right now the assistance manager was on the phone. I told him I contacted Penn Dot. The expired month should expire in Oct. He said the Penndot closes. I emailed Penndot on Thursday and asked about the expired month. Penndot replied my email on Friday. I read the Penndot email to him. He asked me to come back Saturday. I got my new expire date on Oct on my old sticker. While the manager asked me how I am. I just wanted to ask him if he were me, how he would feel about that. The assistance manager face flushed with red and talked the law change so often Â.. The judgment I draw from my experience the assistance manager is not honest or not qualify for that job. Thanks. Frances