Hello, so Ive got a 2002 vue with the 3.0 in it and 164k miles I bought at auction. thought if i got it running would be great for my kids to roll. what its doing is crank and attempt to fire but ultimately it pops and sends a flame back up threw the intake manifold. ive got all dash lights and bells even the sound of the fuel pump. I know its getting gas cause does the same thing if i shoot starter fluid up its nose. and you cant have a flame with out fuel petrol or either. Im leaning towards a new timing belt thinking it may have jumped time thats kinda how its acting but wanted to get some insite on other common problems with this model that can cause this behavior. if we can get her running she wil be the nicest cheepest car any 16yo could hope for. 4bills and only the clear is going bad.

 

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I honestly don't know to much about vues. Besides that I learned how to drive in one (long before I was interested in cars)


I thought these had timing chains, derf?

 

nope the 3.0 has a timing belt.

More often than not, timing belts just break or their tensioners fail and they mangle. chains are more likely to slip and jump time without breaking.

My hypothesis

If the belt is broken, then the pistons will mangle the valves as this is an interference engine, AND the cams will no longer be driven by anything, so the valves will sit still in whatever position they are at aided by the fact that some are bent, possibly severely.

Cranking the engine makes the pistons move but the valves do not, so I'm guessing that what's happening is you're feeding air/fuel mix into at least one cyl that has the exhaust valves stuck closed and the intake valves stuck at least partially open. When the spark comes along, it ignites the air/fuel mix, but since the combustion chamber is no longer sealed, and the ehxaust valves are stuck closed, the ignited mixture takes the path of least resistance---which is right back out the intake valves and to the intake manifold. Sounds like a backfire but it's on the intake side.......

Pulling a head should tell you based on valve condition OR pulling the timing belt cover will certainly tell you if I am correct in my assumptions.

 

I was thinking the same thing as far as the path of least resistance. but didnt know that this was an interference motor. i dont hear any sounds indicating that there is anything metal to metal hitting and a guy that was looking at it and also bid on it said that it ran for a min and then when he shut it down and restarted it wouldnt fire. hopefully this wont be a top end rebuild. the sound that it does make sounds like a low compression pa-pa-pa poof then pop out the intake. is there a diagram anywhere on the crank and cam gear positions? also is there anything besides the water pump i should just go and swap new while in in there? was hoping for an easy fix but guess not.

 

the a sticky link to some online service manuals hosted at another independent site, but they don't have all saturns from all years.

A Saturn FSM (Field Service Manual) would be the most helpful especially if you plan to do the head work; they can be had on ebay -- right now in fact. People are selling partial sets and some are labeled 2002/2003 while the big fat binders are labeled 2002 and are prob the ones used in a Saturn dealership, with the other offerings being more convenient reprints of the same manuals. All up to you.