Erratic Performance Issues, 97 SL2

I have a 1997 Saturn SL2 DOHC, Automatic. This car is on the second engine
and second transmission.

Over the past few months it has given me trouble when trying to maintain a
certain speed on the highway. For example, If I try to maintain speed at
60mph it will start to slow down until I push the gas pedal more than it will
surge ahead, than fall back to a loggi performance. The engine seems to buck
and kick. Sometimes it accelerates poorly, other times fine. Sometimes when
the car is turned off and you hit the key the starter will not engage.

I have replaced the starter. The fuel injectors. The fuel filter. Air Filter.
Coils. Wires. Plugs. Last night I picked up a fuel pressure test gauge which
I'm going to try tonight to determine if the pump is malfunctioning. What
really burns my rear is that it will not throw any check engine lights so I
can't pinpoint where the problem is. The book says it could be a leaking
intake (I doubt it). Faulty fuel pump. Or the computer.

Has anyone else seen or heard of anything similar to this. I really would
hate to get rid of the car as I have a ton of new parts in it and it doesn't
look bad at all.

Thanks

Mike

 

Yes it can be a pain when it does not code. If you can get access to a
OBD2 scanner that can read real time data you may be able to see the
cause( what data is doing during problem) there is also a remote
chance that you may have a bit of water in fuel tank. At this stage it
would not hurt to put a few bottle of dry gas in tank and see if it
helps.

 

Yes it can be a pain when it does not code. If you can get access to a

Yep, I have an OBD2 scanner but I'm unclear as to whether it will work real
time. I don't believe it will but I'll check again. As for the dry gas I've
put in about 4 bottles along with 8 bottles of Injector cleaner and it's
still no difference. Same performance also on both low and high octane gas.

Mike

 

I had a problem with a Chevy truck that would run strange sometimes.
It turned out to be the crank position sensor sending irratic timing
data sometimes. It did not code but when I did a live data monitor,
the problem was apparent as timing was going nutz at times.

 

Check your battery connections, battery, alt, and grounds.

ECT sensor should also be checked.