1998 sl2 woes

1998 sl2 stalls when i come to a stop, but drives fine down the road.
once stalled it restarts okay in park or neutral but as soon as i put it
in drive the car shakes violently and stalls. i have to rev up the motor
and slam it into drive to get it to go, but it seems to be bogging out
until i get up to speed. my check engine light is on and the auto zone
guy said that the error codes indicate a faulty camshaft sensor and
faulty tranny temp sensor. also,when i start the car in the morning the
temp gauge on the dash indicates a hot engine temp even if the car is
cold...any help/advice would be appreciated, this is my only way to work

p.s. if i have to replace the camshaft sensor or tranny temp sensor is
it a major pain in the butt?

many thanks, cj

 

Sounds like several issues here ... If the engine temp gauge says the engine
is hot when it is cold, then either the Coolant Temperature Sensor, wiring,
or the gauge is defective. I'd put my money on the CTS and replace that.
(These are cheap and easy to fix and are known to fail quite often, but
usually fail open and show a cold engine even when hot.)

I do not believe an SL2 has a cam sensor (only a crank sensor?), so will
leave others on this news group or do a search in Saturn Fans Forum (do a
Google search) to know for sure.

On the transmission temp, could this be the CTS and maybe someone translated
the code incorrectly for you? If not, check the wiring to the transmission
temp sensor and replace it if the CTS does not fix it. I've never replaced
that sensor, but suspect once you find it it will be fairly trivial, like
most sensors.

Good luck.

Bob

 

hi bob, thanks for the response. this past weekend i took the car in and
the mechanic told me that the tranny was stuck in overdrive due to a
faulty solenoid and for about $400 he would fix it.today a coworker
suggested that i disable the solenoid...not sure how to do it....anyone
with any info or suggestions?

thanks, cj

 

I've changed a Saturn trans solenoid myself previously on my son's 1996 SL1
.. It wasn't too terribly difficult given the cover access on top. I also
posted how to diagnose an open solenoid in Saturn Fans Forum using a simple
ohm meter. (I have re-posted it below for your info):

After removing the outer cover (13 bolts) and then removing 19 more bolts
that held the internal solenoid cover in place, I was able to remove the
solenoids themselves. There were 5 in total and 4 of them measured 4.4 to
4.5 ohms each which agreed with the information that Bill Biggs had
provided (they should be 4-6 ohms when "cold"). The 5th solenoid however
measured just 0.6 ohms so appears to have an internal short. This solenoid
is the last in the string nearest the front of the vehicle and I presume the
one that modulates the fluid pressure. Since it was not working, the shifts
were getting full pressure which almost certainly would have caused a
catastrophic problem if we had continued to drive the vehicle and ignored
the "clunking" noise.

I plan to pick up a replacement solenoid tomorrow at the dealer along with a
new cover gasket and then put it all back together and have it back on the
road sometime later this week. Special thanks to Bill Biggs ( a.k.a.
webacraft on the SaturnFans Forum) for his assistance and to Blah Blah,
Steve, and Curmudgeon for their replies.

I hope that this thread may help someone else down the road if they
experience the same problem.

Bob

 

PS The CTS still sounds like it is bad too ...

Bob