How many RPM's should my 94 SL2 1.9 litre idle at?

It idles at about 700-800 rpm's right now and is really rough. Everything
on my car is starting to rattle. What could possibly be making my car idle
so rough? It does this if I am sitting still, in park, and while driving. I
am also tripping the Service Enginge Soon lite after driving it for a
little bit, but if I shut the car off for a few minutes and start it back
up it will be off and it will take a bit for it to come back on. If anyone
has any Ideas on what mite be wrong or what I can do to fix my car I would
Appreciate the advice. Also, does anyone know about what it mite cost to
replace the exaust from the flex pipe back and can I now do this without a
cattlitic converter now that they are doing away with the E-check stations
in Ohio?

Best regards,
Jason

 

You might want to go to autozone and have them read what the code
number is that is turning the ses on. The idle speed is correct for our
saturns but it does sound like you might have a sticky or bad egr valve
but without the code number it is only a guess.

 

What could possibly be making my car idle so rough?

PCV valve, EGR, plug wires, or even a collapsed torque axis motor mount.
Take a close look at the mount. If you see any cracked rubber, I'll bet
it's the culprit. It may not make your engine idle rough, but would
transmit a lot more noise and vibration into the passenger compartment if it
were bad.

You shouldn't guess and replace parts. If the SES light came on, there is a
stored code. You should read it to see what's up. Luckily with 1st gen
cars, you can do it with a paperclip.

Some excellent instructions can be found here:
http://www.differentracing.com/tech_articles/index.html
Refer to Diagnostic Trouble Code Information, and Diagnostic Trouble Code
Chart for 1st Gen Saturns. Or, people posting here have said you can stop
by any Auto Zone and have them read the codes for no charge.

Any Haynes or Chilton manual will give additional info on what each code
means.

It's not worth becoming a polluter. You can get a generic converter from
your local exhaust shop for under $100.

Lane [ lane (at) evilplastic.com ]