Very likely, its the water pump. This should be verified before pulling it off. It may be difficult to get a good view of the pump housing. The pump is on the right side of the engine and driven by the serpentine belt. You may get a view from underneath. Look for evidence of fluid coming our of the pump housing. Depending on which brand of pump is installed, there may be a weep hole in the underside of the housing. On other brands, the fluid escapes out of openings facing the sheave plate. I haven't been under the hood of a Saturn for some time, so do not recall all details - You may be able to see the underside of the pump housing with an inspection mirror. If the pump has been leaking, replace it. I advise to use a replacement part that comes with a warranty, typically 1 year. It will cost $10 to $20 more but will be worth it if i fails within the warranty period.

During the early failing period, the leakage may vary depending on many factors. However it will not get better, it always worsens, and worst of all, can fail catastrophically at the worst time like driving 70 mph in rush hour traffic. Therefore, if it shows signs of leaking, replace it.

During replacement, it is recommended to replace the drive belt as well unless the belt is relatively new.

My cost data may be outdated. I'm not sure of the age of the list I consulted on-line. Expect to pay $21 to $70 for the pump, less that $5 for the gasket, and $203 to @257 for labor.

There is extra labor for gaining access to the pump. To do so, the front wheel is removed, the vehicle secured, and an inner fender splash guard removed. These parts are reassembled in reverse order of removal.

There are 6 mounting screws on the pump. The bottom 4 are relatively easy to access from below; The upper 2 are hard to access and not visible. It may be advantageous to access these two from above. A socket and universal joint drive is recommended for these upper 2 screws.

Second Thought

The liquid you see could be from the drip tube of the air conditioner. This may be located near the firewall and on the passenger side. It will be plain water - no colorant. the water pump is a couple of inches forward of the front drive axle and will have the color of the antifreeze/water mix.

The show of liquid drainage from the A/C is variable. It depends on if the A/C compressor has ran and humidity.

Thanks so much jemdandy! It is green, so it's antifreeze, plus the level is going down slowly. It's at the shop and the guy there said that it's probably the water pump but has to make sure. He could see the left over antifreeze drips and that it really was dripping where I said it was. Of course, it wasn't dripping out at the time. Is it some kind of a car conspiracy to stop acting up once they go to the shop? HAHA!

Since the radiator was recently replaced, it could be nothing more than a leak at the lower radiator hose connection.

Another hard to see leak I have encountered: Heater hose at the hot end where it connects to the engine. Often this end of the heater hose has a 90 deg bend right after the connection nipple. The hose then runs back to the fire-wall and to the heater. Along this run, there may be a bypass valve that diverts the flow back to the return hose. I have seen a slit develop (in the circumferential direction) on the underside of this bend. It leaks none to little until the hose is raised a bit and then it pours. This leak hides and leaks a bunch when the car goes over a bump in the road that causes the hose to bounce up.

A similar leak can develop on the underside of the overflow hose, usually near a connection nipple or at bends - anywhere the hose material is strained. This one is bad because it disables the function of the overflow bottle and allows air to enter the cooling system upon shut down and cooling.

Lets hope that the replacement radiator is not leaking. This isn't likely, but possible especially if the radiator was re-cored instead of a complete replacement.

Thanks for all the info! I do hope they pin point the exact location of the leak. Haven't heard from them yet...most repairs are two days at this shop, they are super busy! The leak isn't dripping below the radiator on this car. The leak is below the water pump area/belt etc. and it is also spraying on the underside of the hood on the insulation. The mechanic pointed that out to me.

To update: As we'd suspected, the water pump! NOW, it better not start leaking again....knock on wood! HAHA!

I don't know what they used when they replaced the radiator last week. I'm assuming they had to replace all the antifreeze. The manual suggests Dex Cool (I think that's the name). Is that the antifreeze you speak of, the non silicate? I buy the Prestone 50/50 that is supposed to be compatible with all antifreeze. Is that bad?

I have not memorized the various brand names that are non-silicate and that may be a fruitless exercise since one manufacturer may make both kinds, also formulations may change over time. A non-silicate statement often appears somewhere on the container of non-silicate antifreeze, but not always. My plan is simple: I buy only if the container has a non-silicate mention, or there is other indication it is non-silicate.

You asked if Prestone 50/50 was good or bad. As I understand it, Prestone is a reputable supplier of antifreeze and I have used it in the past. Do yourself a favor and look at the instructions on the container. I believe that the 50/50 designation means that the contents has already been diluted with water to a 50/50 mix of water and antifreeze, a standard mix for nominal freeze protection. It may state something like "Do not dilute". I buy the undiluted stuff and do my own dilution. So what's best? Both work; Its a matter of preference. The cost per unit of antifreeze is one difference.

I'm hoping that now that everything is fixed and no leaks that I won't need to bother with antifreeze anymore. I just buy the premixed because it's easier. On my trucks, I do have to add a little here and there. So I keep it around. I'll look and see if the "non-silicate" is mentioned on the bottle.

Electrolysis can also cause gasket failure and corrode engine components. This is when electricity begins to flow through the coolant due to poor grounding.