Sounds like an unfortunate end to a good long string of ownership.

I fail to understand how you can snap off a bolt with a torque wrench if it is set to the proper torque.

​​​​​​We all make mistakes on our own vehicles. Some are horrendous enough that we never share them with others. This one is pretty nasty but I give you props for sharing so that others may learn from your experience, even though it is not clear what did your engine in.

 

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My feelings exactly on the torque wrench snapping off the valve cover bolt. I was just thinking, boy that seems to be spinning too much and bam the head of the bold snapped off. The torque wrench is a cheap piece of junk. Sometimes it clicks and other times it does not. This is actually the second bolt I have broken with this torque wrench. I don't understand how sometimes it works fine and other times it just doesn't let me know when the stop. As you tighten the valve covers... working through the sequence, the center bolts loosen up as the other ones are tightened. It takes a few times through the sequence to get the gasket compressed into position.

I have no proof to speak of. Something is inside the piston or a valve us hitting the piston while idling. At 3K rpms, it sounds beautiful, it only makes the noise while idling. 2 years ago, I had the timing tensioner break and the engine went out of time by 1 tooth. I replaced the timing belt and thought I got lucky and then the oil started leaking shortly after the repair. Perhaps a valve was damaged, although the engine ran smooth with plenty of power. While I had the injector intake off, I noticed a lot of carbon build up and/or blow-by build up. I tried to clean it the best I could. I used a carb cleaner, maybe the valves got damaged via this cleaning. I really don't know. I am not aware of dropping any metal inside the intake holes. However, it sounds like something is in there. Perhaps when I discovered the front gasket hanging out on the front edge and when I quickly pulled everything back off the fix the valve cover gasket, I dropped something inside the intake when I had to remove it to get the front valve cover off. The maze you have to work through working on this engine is incredible! Now that I have done it a few times, it's not that bad. The bolts holding on the engine lift brackets are the worst! It would be easier to drop the engine on the sub frame than work on it inside the car!

Hinddsight is 2020. The engine oil is leaking stronger than ever near where the oil pump is located. I had though the problem with the defective Reed Valve inside the Oil Separator PCV module and the oil was coming from the valve covers. However, my attempt to rebuild that module failed big time and oil was gushing out near the oil pump burning on the exhaust pipe beneath. Valve covers were sealed up good. I did something right!

 

If it were me I would have to take things apart again to try and find out what is wrong.
Just so I would know.
"Enquiring minds want to know”

 

It would mean I have to tear it down to the heads and then some. I have head gaskets in the kit of gaskets I purchased. I would also need to dig into the oil pump to see why it is leaking so badly. Then, I would need to check valves... all things which are beyond my abilities. Maybe I'll pull it back into the garage. I am pretty gun shy at the moment, but I couldn't hurt it more at this point.

 

If you own a piece of crap torque wrench that you know often malfunctions....
Throw it the F away and use a quality tool.

If you tighten down the valve cover and you see a huge swath of it hanging out, chances are you've compressed two creases into the gasket and it will likely never seal. Get another.

Carb cleaner will not destroy an intake manifold.

Insufficient oil pressure at the top of the engine because the gaskets are leaking so badly will likely hasten engine failure.

I'm not an L Car specialist. Ours is on hiatus right now. If your PCV equiv passage gets blocked, yes you will build up a potentially damaging internal pressure inside the crankcase and it will force oil past all kinds of seals.

Can't say I know how to clean that.

Can say if my vehicle was leaking oil from that many areas simultaneously I would have someone look at it or consult an expert. Someone familiar with Saturn L cars.

Many former Saturn techs are working at other GM dealerships. You are much better off finding one of those folks in your town or nearby that knows what they are doing. More mechanics damage more Saturns by never having worked on one than I do. My hands shake, but I know what I'm looking at.

So I guess the moral of the story is not to use crap tools for critical tasks, keep track of your tools by maintaining a clean work area, and quite frankly, do not attempt repairs if you do not feel that you fully understand the root cause of an issue.

We all tend to make exceptions for our own vehicles. That's how we learn things about them. If we break our own stuff, it's on us. If we repeatedly break our own stuff, we probably need to reconsider what is past our level of ability or comfort

I did not write this as a "kick a guy when he's down" post. I don't do that and I don't tolerate that on this site. Sometimes the price we pay for breaking our own stuff is the ultimate price. But that's the chance we take.

Informed decisions.

 

Until you learn the tool is bad, it hard to determine if it is useless. This is the second bolt I broken off. So I plan to do it old school and only use the torque wrench to finish. I know for a fact the broken bolt and one lost bolt did not end up in the engine. I found both of them under the car. The single car apartment garage is very tight, but workable.

I found your criticism useful. Hindsight is 2020 and it is easy to say things after they happen. That is the culprit. I've replaced the sub frame on this vehicle last winter and I thought that was the hardest job ever. This was after the timing belt tensioner failed and I thought that was the worst job ever. Now, I am facing certain death of the engine which I somehow killed. Do I rip it apart and rebuild? New tires, new brakes, new muffler - not even 18 miles on that new part. The a/c is compressor clutch is bad and the emergency brake cable is toast. Should I pull the engine and rebuild it? I don't know what I should do. I can't fix the Oil Separator PCV valve and I can't find a replacement. I think what I did is used too thick of viton rubber and the passage way isn't opening as easy as it should. I can sand the rubber and make it thinner so it will flap. But, then I have to repair the oil leak near the oil pump and that's under the timing belt and that is hell to fix and time properly. I don't know what to do. I wish I had an engine lift and could pull the engine out completely. It sure would make it easy to repair.

 

https://www.wholesalegmpartsonline.c.../90502186.html

Is this it? Ain't cheap....

You can rent an engine hoist.
Harbor Freight supposedly has a decent engine stand onto which you can put the motor.

Have you done a compression test?

It seems odd that it would sound and run fine at 2000 RPM or whatever RPM you said (I cannot see your post right now) yet sound nasty as all get-out at idle if you have a piston whacking into a valve..... While you have the plugs out for the compression test, shine a bright light down there and see if there is any debris sitting on top of the pistons.

Don't forget to hold the throttle wide open and to pull the fuel injector fuse.

As far as pulling and rebuilding the engine, there are a lot of finer points you need to know to do this successfully. It is something I have always wanted to do but I have never had someone to teach me the finer points and keep me from screwing it up. Could I do it from a book? Sure. Am I going to? Doubtful. Out of my comfort zone for now.

Determine what you have in terms of damage first, then decide if you are comfortable doing what is necessary. We can talk in generalities all day, but it doesn't get us any closer to making the specific decision that needs to be made.

 

I wholeheartedly agree with derf. You need to find out the scope and cause of any damage.
Then decide what course of action to take.
Otherwise you are just guessing.