98 Saturn SL2 Problems

I have a 98 Saturn SL2. I have taken this car to three mechanics, and
am dumbfounded as to why no one can fix / tell me what is going on.
Now I am being told it is the transmission. My husband changed the
spark plugs and wires. When he did the that car started to do
something wierd. Whenever you would turn it on, it would rev up REAL
high, 4000 RPM or so, then slowly go back down to a normal idle 800 -
1100 RPM. While driving, you can feel the transmission jump a little
when you hit the gas. (It is worse with the Air Conditioner on) When
you come to a stop, the car dies if the air conditioner is on, hands
down, if you do not have it on (The Air Conditioner) then the car will
choke, and die, if you do not gun it. I have had various mechanics
change things, but I am at the end of my rope with this. Also, I would
like to know if it is normal for saturns when they have more than
100,000 miles on them to burn alot of oil. I had two of the three
mechanics tell me "Saturns Burn OIL" I am going through atleast 1
quart a week, but closer to 1 and 1/2 quarts and it is burning it and
not leaking it.

 

Check that the spark plug wires are routed correctly. There should be a
sticker in the engine compartment describing the correct wiring (among
other things) but in case you don't find it or it's missing, the wires on
the coils should connect to cylinders 4123, in that order from left to
right,
facing the front of the car. The wires to the left coil, connected to
cylinders 4 and 1, should cross over each other to connect in that order.

The reason is that the Saturn doesn't use a cam position sensor. It instead
senses the voltages on those two cylinders to figure out whether a cylinder
is on firing stroke or exhaust stroke. If it gets it backwards because the
wires are crossed, then the injectors will be trying to squirt gas at a
closed intake valve. The engine idles too fast on startup and stumbles on
driveaway, though it might run ok on the highway. In that case just swap the
lead at the coils for cylinders 4 and 1.

I like Rislone. I've used it for years on various cars and I started putting
it on my Saturn soon after I bought the car used. Now that I've switched to
Mobil-1, I don't bother with Rislone but I've found that Rislone really
helps clean out gunked-up engines. It might help, though by the time an
engine starts using significant oil it probably requires a rebuild.
Sometimes when you clean out the gunk you find that the gunk was the only
thing keeping the engine sealed. On my SL2 (1997, 91,000 miles) I change the
oil with Mobil-1 when it gets down a quart, though this last time I changed
it a little early at 5,000 miles, before it was down a full quart.

When treating an old engine with Rislone, I like to cut the old oil filter
open with tinsnips (I learned this trick at the airport) to examine what it
has been filtered out. If the Rislone is doing its job, the filter may be
stuffed with "coffee grounds" (bits of carbon). This filter contamination
dictates that the oil be changed more frequently during such treatment. Of
course finding bits of metal in the filter may have more a more sinister
portent, which is why they inspect the oil filter on airplanes.

RK Henry

 

Were they Saturn Dealers? Or Saturn mechanics?

There are some quirks with the Saturns that independent mechanics might not
be aware of.

For example, the first sign of a failing alternator can be the symptoms that
you describe.

As the alternator diodes fail, they cause strong noise on the electrical
system of the car. This confuses the transmission computer.

Also, the engine computer notices that the voltage is low, and tries to
increase the idle to get the Voltage up.

I would suggest that you check the alternator and battery. Make sure they're
OK.

If not, replace BOTH. You might find that this fixes the problem.

If this fails, take it to someone who is familiar with Saturns.

 

RK Henry:

Thanks for your response.

My husband went out there, and made sure they were in that order. They
were. He detached them and reattched everything. We started the car.
Turned on the Air Conditioner, and it died. Any other ideas?

 

Yes Saturns do burn oil even before 100K miles. I have a Saturn SL2
with 119K miles and it burns over 1 quart per 1,000 miles, no leaking.
I was told by a couple of reliable mechanics that if your adding a
quart for every 500 miles, then its time or a new engine. I use
engine oils made for cars with over 75,000 miles (Quaker State Higher
Mileage) and use a product called Restore, which cuts down on your
engine burning oil. I think its helping, but these are my
suggestions.

 

Sorry. It worked for me and I was hoping it might be a cheap solution for
you.

Before you changed the plugs and wires, did the car run normally? If the car
ran ok before and the only change was plugs and wires, I'd first suspect the
one thing that had been changed. If you 've checked that out then I don't
have any other suggestions.

When I was researching my problem I also ran across a note about a buildup
of deposits in the throttle body causing some of those problems. Carbon
deposits build up a little ridge behind the throttle valve and the
disruption of airflow allegedly makes it act funny at low throttle openings.
You take off the air intake and clean it with carburetor cleaner. There was
a note about avoiding cleaning products containing methyl ethyl ketone and
avoiding getting it on the TPS and IAC, which are plastic. Something else to
try if you're desperate, I guess. That could account for stumbling but it
doesn't address the A/C killing the engine or the high idle.

One other thing that I'd consider is that an engine that's using a lot of
oil may have mechanical problems that could cause performance problems. Worn
rings make any engine run badly. Since simply turning on the A/C kills the
engine, I doubt it's the transmission. Don't let the "parts changers" run up
a big bill for you. Find someone with the tools and the brains to puzzle out
the problem and figure out what's wrong before spending big bucks trying to
find a solution by process of elimination.

RK Henry

 

The reason is that the Saturn doesn't use a cam position sensor. It instead

What you said is mostly right but it doesn't use the data in order to not
squirt gas at a closed intake valve.......

 

Use an aerosol can of a good throttle body cleaner (as opposed to carburetor
cleaner) as this is what it is intended for and based on my first hand
experience does a much better job!

Bob

 

What brand of spark plugs did your husband use?

 

This is a long shot, and not to question your husband's ability to
change the spark plugs, but:

- Was the gap set properly with the proper tool?
- What about the resistance of the plug wires?

Previous threads or a Haynes/Chilton manual will tell you what the gap
and wire resistance should be. Many people have mentioned that they
have found one of the wires in a new set to be bad. Granted, this
doesn't explain the racing, but it could explain the engine misfiring.

Like others have said, unless you have strong evidence that there is
another problem, I would work with the plugs and wires since those
appear to have precipitated these issues until you're sure you've
eliminated those two things as the culprits. Did you purchase some kind
of special plugs or wires? Did the mechanic(s) you took the car to
check the plugs and wires?

-rj
98SL2

 

These are good sugestions, but the mechanic changed to a new set of
plugs and wires, and this did not fix the problem. The gap in the plug
my husband said was set by the NAPA place when he told them the type
of car. As far as the oild, it is doing a quart ever 700 miles or so.