As an early birthday present, my brother and dad got together and stole my car away....and its having it's struts and springs replaced.

I'll have to pay them back by spreading some mulch and painting projects I think.

Climate Control module arrived in the mail. Will be doing that when I get the car back. Still moving. Gotta be out of here by the end of next week.

 

So the Saturn is back in my life after being sidelined for a weekend. All four struts and springs were replaced and an alignment. However, one of the front struts was tightened too far and squealed excessively. Even though I went less than 100 miles on it with the new struts, I brought it back to the shop and they agreed to replace them free of charge.


So far, everything is working perfectly. The ride height has gone up about an inch. I'll probably have to re-aim the headlights. Ride quality is much improved. Handling is sharper. For a car made of plastic, the interior is just about squeak free.


Also, I took the opportunity to replace the Climate Control module only to find out that the replacement also has a burned out LED light, only this time on the opposite side under the temperature select dial. However, I feel as if this is a good trade-off since before I couldn't tell where I was directing the airflow. At least now I know that the dial turned all the way over to me is cold. Also, the light shining down into the front cup holder is now brighter, so I can see stuff in there now! Yay!


The shop also diagnosed the source of the surging problem I had with the EGR valve. This is apparently the third valve they have put on this car in as many years. The manager attested this to a "bad batch of valves" and he had "ordered the new one from a new parts source"...whatever that means. In any case, the valve was replaced under warranty.


Any ideas why the car would be eating EGR valves? I know S-series are known for burning oil. Is the blow-by clogging these valves?

 

yep. Carbon carbon carbon. But you must be burning gallons of oil to kill an egr every year to the point it can't be cleaned

 

It usually needs a quart between oil changes.

 

That's not enough to do it unless MAYBE there is a huge buildup in the inlet piping (so to speak) that is not getting cleaned at the same time.
To do so, remove the EGR carefully so as not to damage the gasket.

Use carb cleaner to soften up the carbon deposits on the inlet and outlet ports, paying special attention to the inlet port.

After letting it soak, pick a time of day when your neighbors are not home and start the car with the hood up. It should blow stuff out of there---and it's louder than hell. Rev and hold a few times. Then turn it off and shut the hood before someone calls the police.

A decent quality EGR can be cleaned at least once (in my personal experience) and I'm sure more than once if you figure out a mileage interval for cleaning that allows you the ability to get it clean (enough).

If it's the electronic portion of the EGR that commands it open and closed, then there's nothing you can do.

Nice to know they are a stand up shop and are "recognizing bad parts", but if they are not cleaning the passages, they are hastening the death of any EGR put on there. By your description of surging, it's hard to tell if the valve wasn't moving freely or if the commands from the PCM were not being received interpreted and carried out.

EGR part + parts markup + labor to install once every 12 mo is much greater than the labor to clean the valve and the passages when it's needed (plus carb cleaner). Just sayin'.

 

Now that I know that it's a problem and how to fix it, i think I can perform the repair in the future. I originally thought it was the throttle position sensor, and replaced that. Well it wasn't obviously, but at least I was rewarded with replacing that correctly with no check engine light.
Plus now i have a set of hollow tipped torx bits! Surely I'll need them next week for....something. Ok, maybe not.