I have a low mileage Saturn SL1 with manual transmission and took it on the freeway after 5 months of last time being on the freeway ( but I been occasionally city driving in the meantime it with no problem) and the car cannot get past 50mph in trying to accelerate to freeway speeds.

Air filter is clean and it starts up nice and runs good in city traffic. Gas in the tank may be a bit old but that never bothered it before in occasional driving these last 18 years when the gas in the tank was old .

Any suggestions as what the culprit is?

 

Is the service engine soon light on? If so does it flash when you are driving at any speed especially the higher speeds? Exactly how many miles on the car?

 

Restricted fuel filter might behave like you describe.

 

There is no "service engine soon" light on at all and the car has 27,000 original miles and I bought it new in February 2001 and it is a 2001 model.

 

Yes , I thought about that, and the fuel filter is hard to get at to replace...on the rear left bottom of the car.

 

Yes that is true and with such low miles it is probably original. I would start there.

 

You MIGHT want to check the exhaust and make sure no critters have built a nest in the muffler or cat con. I've seen it happen.

 

Good idea, anything is possible.

Put in some fuel stabiliser and some fresh gasoline in the gas tank and the car seems to run better but I have not tried taking it out on the freeway yet...so it could be that the problem is still there.

 

How old was the gas in the tank?

 

It was about 40 days old.

Since then I put in fresh gasoline and changed the fuel filter.

It ran at highway speeds OK for a short distance, albeit kind of gutless and with no pep and a bit labored.

Today I replaced the spark plugs and the ignition wires as I noticed a hesitation after 15 minutes of driving and taking off at 1st gear at a stoplight and the service engine light came on momentarily.

I will see if this improves anything.

I was reading a cam position sensor could be the culprit but then there are others who claim the 1.9 single cam engine does not have one, others claim it does have one and it is located by the starter motor.