The person who destroyed the headliner in my 94 SW2 used the saggy pins and they seemed to work fairly well. Honestly, I wouldn’t worry about the rip. Save you money for the next time the ignition cylinder quits working, and the two times that the left front wheel bearing goes bad (not to mention the one time that the rest of them go bad), and the tie rods, and the resonator on the exhaust (don’t forget the entire rear tailpipe, the muffler, and the strap and bracket!), and the front struts, and the rusted out right rear door latch, and the rusting wheel wells, and the serpentine belt tensioner that requires major surgery just to replace, etc, etc., etc… Headliners are small potatoes in my option. YMMV, obviously.
As pathetic as this sounds, I was thinking about this while laying in bed last night and it’s my guess that if they would have poked around in your sunroof that they would have likely found more damage than just a loose wire. Especially given that it had been open and leaking. I’m just wondering what else in the sunroof apparatus has also been damaged and is now rusty/shorted due to the water leak.
Sticks and Scones,
You’re probably right about the sunroof. I had actually decided not to fix it a number of years ago. I was just thinking that, if I was going to have the headliner replaced (which I now don’t think I will) then I might as well have them at least glance at it and see if it was something simple.
As far as the rip, it’s not simply a tear in the fabric. It’s a strip of cloth, maybe an inch and a half wide and 2 or 3 inches long that is hanging down. It could easily continue to tear further over time, especially with people reaching up and playing with the visor. At a minimum I need to glue it securely back in place somehow.
The cloth comes with foam already attached. So you have the (cardboard, on my Omni) headliner shell, then a layer of contact cement, then the foam-backed cloth.
The upholstery shop stripped off my deteriorating foam-backed cloth, then sprayed the shell with contact cement and glued on new foam-backed cloth. He was able to find cloth in a color that matched fairly well–not perfect, but certainly good enough.
That sounds like an option, but I am nervous about taking apart the interior of the car to that extent. It’s a relatively small car and I’m concerned that, even if I manage to get the trim and fixtures off, I won’t be able to get the headliner out. What happens if I do (or don’t) get it out but then can’t maneuver it and all of the trim and fixtures back into place? :eek:
I think that I’ll just repair it in place as best as I can. I guess I could pay a body shop to do it but I’m honestly not sure that the car is worth it.
I’m not sure if it has much trade in value at this point anyway, considering that the sunroof was leaking (damaging god knows what else) and is now permanently sealed.
The engine and transmission are good, the traction control is good (as far as I know), the front brakes are now like new as is the ABS system, and the cruise control works. Maybe I should just keep going and drive it into the ground.
Good idea. The car sounds like it’s fine, and that’s always the cheapest form of car ownership: Buy a car, drive it forever.
The biggest problem is going to be getting service. Certified Saturn repair centers have been closing down (this was happening even when Saturns were still being manufactured) and I’ve had to take it further and further from home for repairs.
Not everything requires a Certified shop, of course. I had the brake work done at Pep Boys, but they wouldn’t (claimed they couldn’t) touch the ignition key cylinder problem or the sunroof leak.
Getting needed repairs, even finding parts, will get more and more difficult.
I imagine GM will have to keep some shops open due to the newer cars that are still under warranty, but as those warranties run out they’ll have less and less reason to keep them open.
I find this surprising. Everything that I’ve mentioned above has happened to my car, and most of it in the past 1 1/2 years. And guess how much of it has been fixed at a Certified Saturn Repair Shop? Yep, none of it. Heck, I used to work at a Saturn Dealership which, incidentally, is still open as Certified Repair Shop and rebranded as a GMC dealer now but I can’t afford their labor rate which was about $80 an hour when I left there 5 years ago.
Have you tried reputable Mom and Pop places? I’ve got two go-to places for work. One is a guy that charged me $20 to replace the ignition cylinder that I purchased on my own and the other is one of those service centers with a gas station attached. They do all of my major repairs and are much less expensive than a dealer oriented place.
I figured that Pep Boys wouldn’t turn away work if they could do it, but who knows?
I had been getting regular maintenance and repairs at a “mom and pop” shop, a friend of a family member, but the last time I went I had to go back because he screwed up the brakes. :eek: They didn’t stop working but they made an odd sound. Turns out he left something off or unhooked or something, I don’t really recall. He fixed it free of charge but, needless to say, I’m not taking it back to him.
Since then I’ve been using Pep Boys. They’re pretty good about most things. They didn’t even charge me to tow me in last week when the dashboard brake light came on because I belong to their so-called “rewards” program.
I guess I’ll deal with things as the come along and start saving up for something newer a few years down the road.
I just realized it’s probably because of the rekeying issue so you don’t end up with one key for the door locks and one for the ignition.
I never physically use the key for the door locks anyway, but obviously it needs to be an option if the remote doesn’t work for some reason.
That doesn’t explain the sunroof. The guy at Pep Boys told me that it probably could be permanently caulked but that I needed a Saturn shop to do that. I’m not sure why. 
ETA: Actually, now that I think about it I think I’m remembering it wrong. He said that I needed a GM dealership, but I figured if I was going to pay for service at a dealership I should take it specifically to a certified Saturn shop.
Many of GM’s other dealerships are Authorized Saturn Service Centers now to deal with any warranty issues that may come up. Parts are going to be harder to find for the older model Saturns now, but I’ve had very little trouble getting what I need from salvage yards with a phone call or two.
I would no longer fret about taking your car to a Saturn Certified center now since you don’t have any warranty left. As of October 16, any dealers still operating under the Saturn brand will have to take the signs off the buildings and change their name. The Saturn stores that I used to work for are now independent used car dealerships.
Got the car back on Saturday. It’s running beautifully, but damn the ceiling looks like shit. I almost think it looks worse than before. The rest of the interior for the most part looks almost brand new but the headliner is stained and sagging and ripped in spots, and part of it in the back has come loose. It’s nothing that obstructs my view (yet) but I can’t leave it like that. I think the saggy pins that Projammer suggested would at least keep it in place but damn I hate the way it looks. 
This is the last car I buy with a friggin sunroof.
So I got up this morning and it had rained all night. Good thing I got that leaked fixed!
Got in the car… it’s still leaking. :mad:
I’m taking it back to the shop tonight.
When the headliner in my truck started to sag, I went to the local auto parts store and the guy recommended “twist pins”. It’s hard to tell from the picture but it looks like they are essentially the same thing as what you are calling saggy pins.
Unfortunately, they didn’t sell them at the auto parts store. The guy at the auto parts store said they sold them at walmart, but when I checked there they didn’t sell them any more. I ended up finding them at a local sewing/craft store. I got a whole package of them for something like 2 or 3 bucks, and I didn’t have to deal with online shipping charges.
So, if your local auto parts store doesn’t have them, a local sewing or craft shop probably will.
For a truck like mine that’s an old beater with 175k+ miles, twist pins are the way to go. For a nicer car with only 76,000 miles on it, I’d pay the extra money and get the liner replaced.
Of course you have to stop the stupid sunroof from leaking first though.
Yea, I’m really leaning towards getting the headliner recovered, but only after I’m certain that it’s no longer leaking.
I know Hancock Fabrics sells headliner foam, and I think anyplace that sells upholstry fabric might sell it too, if you decide to try replace it.
I’m pretty sure that I could get the fabric. What I’m not so sure about is my ability to remove the headliner, recover it, and then put it back correctly.
If I do it I’ll probably try to find a good body shop that does headliners. Of course, I’ll have to wait until it dries out completely first, because they’ll probably just recover the existing headliner. I don’t know if it’s even possible to obtain a new headliner that will fit a Saturn with the exact features I have.
So, it’s raining and the damned sunroof is leaking again. :mad: Now they’re telling me that if the first two attempts didn’t fix it then my only alternative is to have the sunroof assembly replaced. The ballpark cost of that is around $1200.
On top of that, over the last few days I’ve started hearing a strange mechanical noise underneath the car and today I noticed what smells like hot rubber. I’m hoping that if it’s anything serious it’s the ABS since they just did that work so it’s their cost if they did it wrong.
If I do get it fixed they will have to remove the headliner to do so, so I can get it recovered while it’s off.
I’m wondering now if the car is worth it. I just put a lot of money into it so I hate to get rid of the thing. On the other hand I don’t want to keep throwing good money after bad.
Finally, after a series of bad job experiences, I have a good position and I’ve started to build up some reserves. Now it looks like one way or another I’ll be blowing them on transportation.