2001 saturn sl Manual transmissuon Code P0300

Here's my issue. I have a 2001 Saturn. SL manual transmission 84000 miles I have the P. 0 300 code. That's the only code I have. It happened suddenly literally suddenly. I was driving off from a stop light and all of a sudden. I lost all power (suddenly) engine light started blinking. I was able to get it home barely but I noticed I used a lot more gas than normal to get back home. It was maybe only 8 miles. When I got
It home, it died
I tried to immediately start It ,would not start. I let it sit 24 hours tried to start. It started, but about 4 minutes later it died. If I tried to restart it right after it died, it won't start. I have to wait a while. I also smell gas really bad If you need any more information please just ask.I'll gladly give it.I just got car 6 months ago.I've only put maybe 3 or 4 thousand miles on it.... It has very little power.I've had a lot of misfires on my Saturns,But I could actually feel them misfiring, this one I don't feel a misfire.It just has very little power.... This is my first post on here.i have not replaced nothing on this saturn other than brake pads...also my 4th cylinder injector has dampness all over it and on the connector, there expensive so wanted more info before I just replace it.

 

Try replacing engine coolant temperature sensor ECTS AND the HARNESS. It is corroded by now.

When it fails, the car runs extremely rich because the PCM thinks the coolant temperature is -40. Just like an old-fashioned choke, it richens the mixture to the point that some vehicles will simply stall out and not restart.

Is the vehicle also running very hot when sitting still? Meaning is the engine running extremely hot even though the temperature gauge does not indicate as such?

The loss of power may be due to a clogged catalytic converter which is blocking the flow of exhaust through the system. It creates back pressure back through the exhaust manifold and stifles proper flow of exhaust out of the cylinders. This keeps proper intake of the air fuel charge from occurring, resulting in a misfire. I know what you mean about feeling a misfire vs not feeling it. The s cars are very sensitive as to what the pcm fems s misfire.

#4: sounds like injector is leaking. Ensure it is properly seated. It should fit snugly into the o-ring like the other three.

If it is leaking through its body it must be replaced.
Just make sure the wetness is actually gas
Dab it w a paper towel and do the sniff test.

I'd expect a P0304 for it, but since you have P0300 already it must be pretty random.

Timing may have jumped a tooth but these engines tend to self destruct pretty quickly. I don't think you would have been able to drive it home

 

Accidentally created a second user account
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Try replacing engine coolant temperature sensor ECTS AND the HARNESS. It is corroded by now.

When it fails, the car runs extremely rich because the PCM thinks the coolant temperature is -40. Just like an old-fashioned choke, it richens the mixture to the point that some vehicles will simply stall out and not restart.

Is the vehicle also running very hot when sitting still? Meaning is the engine running extremely hot even though the temperature gauge does not indicate as such?

The loss of power may be due to a clogged catalytic converter which is blocking the flow of exhaust through the system. It creates back pressure back through the exhaust manifold and stifles proper flow of exhaust out of the cylinders. This keeps proper intake of the air fuel charge from occurring, resulting in a misfire. I know what you mean about feeling a misfire vs not feeling it. The s cars are very sensitive as to what the pcm fems s misfire.

#4: sounds like injector is leaking. Ensure it is properly seated. It should fit snugly into the o-ring like the other three.

If it is leaking through its body it must be replaced.
Just make sure the wetness is actually gas
Dab it w a paper towel and do the sniff test.

I'd expect a P0304 for it, but since you have P0300 already it must be pretty random.

Timing may have jumped a tooth but these engines tend to self destruct pretty quickly. I don't think you would have been able to drive it home

 

I'm so sorry I just saw this....I fixed it ...it was the ignition control module...but since I have your attention I had to take the icm off my 02 sl1 and put it on my 01 sl so I need one for my 02 lol I went to junk yard but am curious can I take icm off dohc engine looks the same but wanna make sure? Thanks for your someone I respect I have read alot of you on here feels kinda like an honor to have the great derf respond lol..sorry for 2nd user account I've never made account on these type of forums before but I have read alot prolly all of them over the last 5 years you personally have helped me with my car several times and dident even know it lol u do a great job and just wanted to say thanks for the time you put into these forums caise your effort is noticed and appreciated oh, also what grease goes on back of icm?

 

Per parts compatibility / fitment, the ICM for 96 to 2002 SC and SL engines is the same regardless of SOHC or DOHC.

Compatibility with the SW cars is listed as 96 to 2001, but I believe 2001 was the last year for the wagon, so it would also be okay to get one out of a wagon it would seem.

Brand new is not terribly expensive depending on what you get. I wouldn't buy a cheap ass one unless you want to replace it every cheap ass year.

Just like getting a rebuilt starter at AutoZone with a lifetime warranty. You can replace it every year until you die and it doesn't cost extra.

 

All of my replies to the s car posts were made across 2 days. Nobody frequents this forum, so I thought I would try to jump it in the Google search zone by having their be tremendous activity on consecutive days.

Didn't really seem to matter. Can't say I didn't try.

Saturnforum

 

Thank you very much

 

Ok hopefully your still on here...my 2001 saturn sl manual transmission just did the same thing again after I replaced the ignition control module with a new one I got from junkyard it was original gm icm it worked for like 3 weeks but now it suddenly did it again engine light started blinking car had no acceleration it's weird cause changing the icm worked but now it dosent but something else I've noticed is sometimes the cars lighter port will charge my phone and other times it dosent so is it possible that there's something making the icm to keep going bad? Can a bad alternator do it I ask that cause sometimes at night when I'm driving the lights will blink there not dim but they will blink occasionally..I don't think it's the icm I got from junkyard cause I put that one on from my 2002 saturn sl1 that I also got from junkyard....so any advice would be helpful...so you know I have noticed nothing else unusual the radio works all lights work nothing else I can think of that would lead me to believe something wrong with alternator....if u need more info or have any questions please don't hesitate to ask I wanna solve this problem I need that second car for peace of mind.

 

Take the vehicle to AutoZone or similar and have them do a full charging system check. It's free.

When you say ICM, do you mean just the icm module or the module with the coils attached?
The bolts that hold down the coils to the transmission case serve as the ground for that part of the system. If there is severe corrosion in the bolt holes or on the bolts themselves, you would suffer from intermittent grounding issues. Your issue seems to be all or nothing, and I wouldn't expect it to only affect cylinder number four, unless that one coil pack is intermittently misbehaving. That would lead to misfires on one and four. This could explain getting a random misfire code because that set before the PCM could figure out which cylinders were involved, and it may not be consistent.

tI've driven and s car on three cylinders for 9 months so I know about reduced power. I don't even know if they can run on to cylinders. I've never tried. So that's one possibility

Normally I would say to swap the coils with each other so that the coil for two and three is used for 1 and 4, but since you don't have a cylinder specific misfire, you can't trace weather the misfire moves to a different cylinder or not.

What plugs are you using? Stock NGK plugs? I might have already asked but I'm asking again anyway. More ignition problems are caused in these engines by not using stock plugs than anything else. Some people have no issues, others have engines that will not tolerate anything besides stock NGK plugs. Pull all of the plugs and check for oil fouling or plugs that reek of gasoline and don't have the nice light brown appearance that they should?

In general I would also suggest you do a compression test dry and wet. If you do not know how, look on YouTube at 10 videos. Seven will be done properly with the gas pedal all the way down, two will almost be correct, and the last will be completely fucking wrong.

Misfires can occur due to very low compression. If you have a valve that's sticking, it may be intermittently low.

Try different devices in your lighter socket to confirm whether it goes dead or the device you're using just isn't making good contact. You can of course always use a voltmeter and touch the back center and the sidewall. Just be very careful not to short the back center to the wall. that will blow a fuse.

Having l headlights blink? Do you mean completely turn off and come back on super quickly? I used to sort of have that going on with my 97 SC2. For example if I braked really hard, the lights would stutter for a microsecond but everything still behaved normally? Are we talking about the same thing?

The only thing I could really see damaging the ICM related to the alternator is if the voltage regulator inside the alternator is not properly regulating the voltage, and something is taking it out when the voltage goes too high. But that is a total guess. The charging system test should expose a bad voltage regulator in your alternator.

Historically there have been troubles with the power distribution on a few of the pins and the instrument panel junction box behind the actual fuse holders. Depending on generation, one of the F pins would have the radio, fuel pump and chime all pulling 12 volts from it. The combination of those devices pulled too much current, heated up the pin, and would eventually melt the contact and scorch the plastic. Sometimes stuff stayed attached, sometimes it didn't. Sometimes only certain things came undone while others stayed attached. You can do a quick visual by removing the left side kick panel that is velcroed on just like the one that exposes the fuses. With a bright flashlight you can see the wires coming into the back of the fuse panel. If there is one that is scorched, you'll see it.

I think there are enough ideas above for now. The loss of power is of course consistent with an actual misfire. The PCM can misinterpret what's going on as a misfire. But if the plug itself literally is not firing, you're going to feel it.

When you pull the plugs for the compression test, ground out the ground electrode part and have someone crank the engine to ensure you are getting a strong spark on each cylinder.

I have an inkling that your issue may lie in the grounding of the coils to the transmission case. It's the only thing that has physically changed between the old module that was presumably bad and the installation of the current module which is misbehaving. I don't know that having an intermittent ground for the ignition coils would definitely cause different cylinders not to fire.

There are other things to check, but that would make this post 375 pages long, and all of it would be speculation, just like most of what's above.

Somewhere we know about what doesn't work and when, the sooner we sort this out. You've been very faithful in reporting things that others would just assume are unrelated but may actually be involved and also be the key to sorting it out.

Thank you.
I think I once played 142 questions with someone who owned an 94 SC2. So much stuff posted, so much information that was in fact totally unrelated, but buried in post 72 was one of the keys to us sorting it out. I don't mind playing 146 questions if it really takes that much. Some of it was spent bitching at the guy trying to get him to do what I recommended. Blah blah blah
.
I would do the compression test, they're charging system test, and the visual on the plugs, swap if not OEM, and make sure they are still properly gapped if they've been in there for a while.

 

I've been a moderator over at a different forum as you know.

In almost 20 years, no one has ever referred to me as great.
People refer to me as many things like asshole, dick, dumbass, fucking moron, and my favorite -- neckbeard.

I appreciate you.

 

Just wanns say first car has 85,000 miles on it ( i know sounds crazy) but thats what odometer says......I just appreciate people that are smart and care about others and try to help them....u asked what spark plugs I got the exact ones u said in multiple forums ngk copper ....also I was driving the car up to my mother's to leave it there to work on it but out of no where it started running fine so I brought it home I did multimeter test under load with car battery when air and headlights are on the volts drop down to 12.57 and stay there until I turn off air...and with my headlights they did what u were saying just a micro second blink....( sorry reading your reply then coming back down to type so I make sure to answer all your questions) so I will do a compression test and get the charging test done also and I will definitely get back to ya....ps..I don't think u realize how much u have helped people especially me you were like a legend to me I've been reading posts online and always seen your name I've been helped with the security light issue(which still goes on from time to time lol) helped with all kinds of things and have gained alot of knowledge on here and I believe you were on saturn fans also....pss lol I forgot to say that the p0300 code went away again but I'm sure it will come back...when I first got vechicle I noticed really quick that when I turned air conditioner on the car had a horrible drag I mean bad to where I would turn it on at red light then turn back off cause the drag would hold up traffic lol...also wanted to mention it's not like a bad spark plug misfire when it happens this is second time it happened and it happens suddenly and it's like car has no power but not spark plug misfire cause on my 02 sl1 I had that problem and it would jerk really bad this is like no power...oh also just one more thing if it will help I'm not sure but I told u problem went away on the way to my mom's well it went away it seemed after I stayed at a certain rpm but could just be coincidence....crap bro I forgot to say I changed the icm and the coils last time....also I have to say I'm pretty sure last icm was bad it wasent original gm and soon as I started car after replacing it fired right up and drove for 3 weeks ( when i say 3 weeks I only drive the 01 saturn sl to doordash or on weekends so I probably only put 3 maybe 400 miles on this icm) the reason I keep saying alternator is how car acts sometimes not really any big ah ha thing just a gut thing lol stupid I know.....also I'm not sure if it could be related but when I turn my heater on the radiator fan comes on and I know that's not normal my 02 sl1 dosent do so....well I'll stop gibbering .....I'll get back to you either way and will look daily for responses....thanks for your time and effort in helping me.

 

Also I wanted to make sure I clearly understand what exactly do u mean by this "When you pull the plugs for the compression test, ground out the ground electrode part"

 

Oh shit.
I didn't see this until now. apologies.

What I meant was to do a spark test with each plug from each cylinder. I don't remember us doing that. But if it is a misfire it may be from a weak spark that sometimes is fine and sometimes isn't.

With the spark plug attached out to the wire, ground out the metal loop end at the other end of the plug on something on the car at that is grounded. Have someone else crank the engine while holding the plug by the wire with a tool that is insulated so you don't get zapped. You should see a nice strong consistent spark as the engine rotates. That should be true for each cylinder. I suggested doing it then because plugs are out and handy.