Some of you on here have seen my 2000 gold SL1 that I bought 3 years ago for 1500 bucks. Well, Monday afternoon, some jackass pulled right out in front of me in a S-10 blazer. Needless to say, the car is totaled.


I went to Winchester, VA the next day and picked up the same car, just a 2001, with only 78,000 miles for 3 grand. The new car seems to have a bit more power, and doesn't use oil like my old car did.


The only issue with it is at idle, it has a dead miss. Runs fine right off idle, plenty of power, and getting 39 mpg on the highway. The only code it has thrown has been #1 cylinder misfire. I'm thinking injector. What do you guys think?


The previous owner must have traded it in because of the miss. It has a new set of plug wires, and the ETCS has been replaced, by an authentic delco part. I was going to swap the injectors from the wrecked car, but the 2001 has the thin long injectors, and the 2000 has the fat short injectors. Also, the plugs are different as well.


With regards,
Rob

 

Before you go that route, man, try a bottle of Techron through a tank or two of fuel. Sorry to hear about the idiot wasting your ride, but at least you found a replacement pretty quickly! The main thing is that you were NOT hurt! That's the most important thing about it.

 

I have ran injector cleaner through two tanks and still no change. Thanks for the sympathy, the little car did a good job of protecting us. Just seat belt bruises and minor airbag burns. Still just kills me to see a car that had absolutely nothing wrong with it, sitting mangled at my shop.

 

My condolences for your loss. I saw a Saturn parked behind the Chevy dealer today with it's front mangled and bumper hanging down like a big sad face.


As with the engine, I'm no mechanic, but if you eliminate the electrical than it can only be air or fuel. Cleaning the throttle body and checking the air filter would be easy. That would eliminate the air. Then I'd move on to the injectors. Just keep on going down the list until it's gone I guess. I think I had one of my injectors replaced not too long ago, #4 I think.


Hope you find a fix for it. Still see tons of SLs running around.

 

I'm assuming it has to be the injector because it runs fine as soon as you give it throttle. A spark plug issue would run worse with the introduction of more fuel, and a thottle body would run bad on more than one cylinder. I'll try to get a replacement next week and fix it. I'll keep you guys and gals posted.

 

Have you checked for a vacuum leak in the intake manifold gasket around the #1 cylinder yet? That is where I would start considering your symptoms. There should not be any difference in the injectors from 2000 to 2002.

 

Keith gets the internet prize for the day. Sprayed some brake clean around the #1 intake runner and the car started to smoke a little. Guess I know what I'm doing this weekend.


I know according to a parts house, the injectors should be the same, but the ones in my 2000 and my 2001 are physically different. The 2000 has metal latches on the plug to hold it on, and the 2001 has all plastic plugs with light blue locking tabs. The plugs look different as well. I didn't pull the ones out of the 2000 because they looked different right off the start. They might plug right it, I don't know. Good news is I don't need injectors anyway.


Thanks for the guidance.

 

keith has an ability to detect cyl 1 intake manifold leaks from as far away as 2,550 mi.
Among many other talents.

That's prob like the 15th SOHC he's righted via intake manifold vac leak during his time on our forum.

Personally, I thought Saturn redesigned the intake manifold bolting on the newer SOHCs but obviously not.

 

Update:


So, it took me and another skilled wrench turned about 2 hours to R^2 the intake manifold gasket. Fired up the car after the install and still had the same issue. The gasket of course came out in pieces, so I have no doubt that sooner or later that would have to have been addressed anyway. I have a feeling that this car has had this issue for a while, because it has new coils, plug wires, and a new ECTS. So, I pull number one plug just to look at it, and bingo! The gap on the plug is less than .010. Should be .040. Gap the plug correctly, install it, start the car, and nice smooth idle.


I'm thinking that the car developed idle problems with the previous owner, and they took it somewhere to get plugs changed, or they did it themselves. Must have dropped one of the plugs before install. Any how, I now have a sub 80,000 mile 5 sp S-series car that should run for another 200,000 miles. Moral of the story, mind those gaps.

 

d'OH!!

Karma, my man, Karma