I have a 2002 SL1 with 40,000 miles with this problem: it has no power during acceleration after it has been running at operating temerature. When the engine is cold it accelerates smoothly andshifts smoothly. But after reaching operating temperature the car loses all power when accelerating from a dead stop. I press on the gas and the car barely wants to get up to speed. It's worse when on an upgrade. And when I give it more gas the car 'jerks' as if the engine is misfiring, or the tranny is slipping. Any ideas?


Thanks

 

My 2002 SL2 is experiencing the exact same problems as your
SL1... Mine is a 5 speed, and just recently started doing this
within the last couple of days. When in first from a stop, it has
some power if you're taking off slow, but you can press the gas all the
way down and it has no more power left. It's like it has a
governor or something. I'm wondering if it is a plugged cat
converter, or fuel filter.



Anyone else have any ideas to try?



Jim

 

Is your service engine soon light on after you start the engine? A defective coolant temperature sensor should make that light turn on unless it is an intermittant problem, in which case the air-fuel ratio stays very rich, even after the engine has warmed up. Like leaving the old chokes on after the engine warms up. I would suspect a clogged fuel filter or a faulty fuel pump if the SES light is not on and the temperature gauge does not fluctuate.

 

No CEL light in mine anyways. My temp guage seems to be spot on,
it does smell VERY rich on initial startup, but that goes away.
I'm guessing that Saturn uses a rich setting until the o2 sensors
become active at a certain engine temp.



I did find this: from alldata, am thinking about buying the report to see what it tells me.



Engine Controls - Engine Hesitation/Low Power/DTC P0326



I did not drive it today, didn't want to get stranded at work, I am here too much anyways...



I do have a OBD2 scanner that I'm going to hook up to it tonight, will post if I find anything strange.



Jim

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Mine also has no SES light and the temp guage is stable. I don't smell fuel, but I will check for it today. Thanks for your observations and insights.


Joe

 

Hey no prob, and like I said I'll hook it up tonight, maybe I can find
something. Hopefully anyways, cause my Jeeps don't get as good of
mileage. I'm lucky to see 12 on the wrangler and 20 on the grand
cherokee, that's why I bought the little saturn.



Jim

 

I found another symptom that sounds like our problem. This alsosuggests a possible problem with the fuel supply, suggesting that the fuel system may be gunked up, and says to add injector cleaner to a 1/2 tank of gas and cleaning the carb and throttle body. Says that this is common on Saturns. Worth a try. Troubleshoot from the easy and inexpensive hopeful fixes.


Good Luck.


http://experts.about.com/q/Saturn-Re...Car-jerks-movi ng.htm

 

I added a bottle of fuel injector cleaner to about 3/4 tank of gas and drove apprx 50 miles so far and there is a slight improvement. I still get a little jerky motion when accelerating from a stop, but it's not as bad as it was. And if I press the gas harder the acceleration is a little better. Before it just bogged down and did nothing. Now it jerks a time or two and attains speed. And I noticed at idle it runs a little smoother. I will add another bottle of injector cleaner with the next tank of gas and I'll check the plugs and plug wires--maybe got a bad one or not enough spark. I think I'll also change the fuel filter. Hopefully that will smooth it out and fix it.


Thanks for all your input and good luck.

 

Cool, glad to hear. I did hook up the OBD2 scanner yesterday and
nothing stands out... Hopefully it's just a clogged injector or
something of that nature. I'll give that a shot, maybe I'll try
running some cam 2 thru it while I'm at it.



Jim

 

hi, did the second bottle of injector cleaner do anything? and did you clean the throttle body and carb the first time?