[JKan]

I was on the way back from work today and i thought i felt my engine sputter a few times but wasnt sure. Then I pushed the gas and noticed a loss of power. Right after that I notice a lot of smoke comming from my engine. So I pull into the nearest parking lot and pop the hood. It was sweet smelling coolant smoke. I looked like something had exploded in my engine, there was coolant all along the left side (passenger side) of the engine bay. Some coolant even came out the front grill onto the bumper. My coolant resevoir was completly drained. So after the engine cooled off a little and the smoke stopped I added some more coolant and it just dripped right of the bottom of the car, nothing stayed in the resevoir.

In the forum Ive noticed that my model (1999 V6 SE) has blown a lot of radiators. Im thinking that this might be the problem with mine as well.

 

[riponfrosh]

A similar thing happened to mine 2 weeks ago. The radiator cracked about 3 inches, right below the upper radiator hose on the passanger side. The easiest thing to do is have someone fill it up with water and see where it runs out. Don't use coolant cuz you're just going to waste it.

It does seem to be somewhat common. Mine's a 99 SE as well

 

[JKan]

it seems to be comming out near the top of the radiator on passerger side. its pretty far up i cant really see, im not sure if its from the hose or from the radiator itself. im going to take it to the dealer and have it looked at after the weekend.

ugh....my saab has perfect timing, its like "oh your going away for the weeekend? have fun worrying about your car!"

 

[bringer]

Any time you overheat this engines to the point of power loss you risk a blown head gasget due to warping of head. I would re-torque the head bolts to avoid this on an older engine and replace the head gasket (accompanied by a head re-surface) on an engien that has less than 75k miles. Coolant in the oil can mess your motor up bad.