Good to hear you've got the fan running as designed, though I am still a bit baffled by the 3/4 tick temp reading being at seemingly such a low temp. The fan should not be turning on at 140 deg F; however, the PCM is not going to request the fan on at such a low temp, so I suspect your resistance reading while hot was not correct. At the end of the day, it works as you need it to.

Good to know AC clutch is operational.

Does fan work with AC turned on?
I ask this because if your ECTS ever does become defective, the only other means of turning the cooling fan is via kicking in the AC. In re reviewing the schematics, it does in fact look like a low pressure switch triggered will inhibit an AC request to the PCM and without the AC request I do not believe there will be a cooling fan request.

I guess emergency action is a paper clip. Thank you for unearthing the obvious.

However it's prob still best to get the HVAC module some power and likewise the blower motor for defogging the windshield and having heat....

_________

Also -- please tell me you changed the oil before starting it.

Additionally, with a car sitting that long, all the oil will likely have drained to the bottom, leaving the upper portion of the engine more or less oil starved at startup. especially the timing chain and cam gear. I would listen very carefully for timing chain noise as you begin to drive this vehicle, and do a full timing kit on it if it gets noisy.

Also, watch the oil level daily until you figure out how much if any oil it burns per unit time.

And probably most importantly -- before you sink too much $$$ into this ride --

what are the compression readings across the cyls?

 

The fan heater fan works fine. At some point, I may try and recharge the AC, to see if I can get that system working, but it's not that important to me...I have always used the 4-70 method...(4 windows down, 70 mph) hahah...I didnt change the oil yet, because I had no idea if the car was even going to run. When I got it, the engine would not even turn over, the starter would engage but no turnover. The previous owner had told me it needed a clutch,(and probably an engine) so I was hoping (correctly) that was related. The throwout bearing had exploded, taking out the p. plate, and pieces were jammed between the flywheel, and the block. Initially, I had pulled the plugs, and valve cover just to have a look see. No evidence of massive failure, it was dry as hell, so I did oil down the cylinders, and valve train. When I did finally get it running, it was only running on 3, so I ran a comp. test, which came oout at about 130 or so, they were consistent, and the somewhat low reading could just be my 40 year old compression tester. The original plugs were about burned up, and I had changed them out for some I had kicking around, and one of them was gas fouled, cleaned it, and got all 4 cyl's hitting again. The thing actually runs great, and the valve train is quiet. It looks like I'm going to have about 500 bucks into this car, the blue book is almost a grand, so all in all, pretty happy camper. And again, Derf, thank you very much for your help!!

 

You are most welcome. Helping each other is what this forum is all about. There are no trolls -- we manage the membership list quite retentively.

I thought the whole HVAC system had no power to it at all -- glad that is not the case.

Also glad to hear the head got a and cyls got a bath before takeoff.

Compression should be a min of 180ish (official service limit) but I've driven a 95 SC2 at compression as low as yours and although it lacks uumpphhh, it runs smoothly.

I would recommend you put in a set of stock NGK plugs -- these S car engines run best on good ol fashioned copper plugs

GM Saturn part number for the SOHC is 21025102 (AC Delco) for the early Saturn SOHCs but Saturn revised things along the way to specify NGK's.

NGK Stock #7755 is for the NGK BKR4ESA-11 for the SOHC plugs. Double check the .040 gap.

Cheap and better in this engine than anything else. Your ignition system will reward you with a pleasant combustion experience -- no mystery misfires and such. Exoticum tipped plugs do not play well w Saturn's lost spark ignition system.

How are you dealing with what must be a musty interior to say the least?

 

Yeah, now that I know the thing is gonna run, I'll go ahead and drop the oil, and put the proper plugs in it. I gave the interior a good cleaning yesterday, it really wasn't all that bad. Like I said I dont know how long the drivers window was down, and it was tarped when I bought it. and luickily we get 300 days of sunshine here, so it would have had chances to dry out. The mildew on the vinyl parts came clean easily. I've never done a headliner,but may try this one just for the experience. the cloth has all come loose...it's clean enough, but pretty ugly in the back where the previous owner had stapled ... yes, stapled....it up....hahah

 

make sure you read up on how to remove the dome light assy w o breaking it.
I'm dead serious. Some of them are funkily attached and the plastic will snap like a twig if torqued wrong.

I would recommend a full true shampooing of the carpet with a brush attachment of some device that has good suction. You don't want to know what's growing under there and it can't be healthy to breathe. Also a can of that stuff you spray up into the HVAC output vent will likely do wonders since there were no air cabin filters back in the day.

I find it sad it sat so long with a tarp bec someone couldn't be bothered to turn the key and pull up on the switch, or hook up a booster battery to do so. What possesses people to passively damage their own property?

 

Yeah, I know what you mean with the plastic breakage, it gets so brittle with time. The molding that goes around the seat belt track on the driver's side, is falling off, and I can see that the attachment points are busted off...guess I'll have to drill some holes and put in some screws. Unfortunately with some of this plastic trim, (or domelights etc.) , you may not have that option. I'll read up on that.

The windows are actually Manual, so it's probably a good thing that at some point, somebody didnt just reef on the thing, and bust up the regulator. After sitting out in the woods for so long, the regulators on all those windows were rusted and tight as hell. I ended up taking off the door panels, (a somewhat simple, yet time-consuming procedure) and lubed up the works, and now the windows all work as they should. The regulators on the rear windows are Bizarre! They use a nylon cogged strap, that feeds through the crank gear, up and around, attaches to the window mechanism...very strange.

 

So, now, I just need to drive the car for a while, to decide if I am going to flip it, which was my intention in the first place, or keep it and sell my CRX instead. I'm about due for a different ride. It may depend on the gas mileage...I got pretty spoiled with the 40+ mpg with that honda...we'll see...

 

well, what's the verdict?

 

Well,, here's the verdict. Yesterday, we took the POS on a short road trip. Gas mileage appears to be excellent, and the engine runs like a top. Shifts smoothly. There is a pretty bad air leak around the drivers window...the seal looks fine and all, but it whistles pretty bad. The blinker indicators and the dash lights dont work. Sometimes, the speedo gets stuck, and you have to bang the face, to unstick it. At hiway speed when I apply the brakes, it shakes like a bitch, (sometimes) and there is an intermittent vibration on acceleration, deceleration, etc. obviously a bad CV joint. The brakes pedal pulses, a warped rotor is obviously involved. The non power steering feels heavy. The trunk lid is a bit tweaked, and doesnt fit right. We found an old bill of sale in the glove box. The car was sold (given away) in 97, for a buck. The car was only 4 years at that time. This car was evidently a lemon from the get-go My tired CRX is twice the car this POS is, so I will be flipping (hopefully) this Saturn. All in all, a waste of time and effort, but I learned a few things along the way, and that is Allways worth something.

 

Well, the Saturn community thanks you for putting another one back on the road.

The air whistling can usually be stopped by gingerly bending the top of the door frame towards the car. With the window all the way down. It takes a lot less force than you think so don't go crazy on the first try. That fix is free.

Is it the idiot lights on the dash or the lights that illuminate the dash that don't work? Do any of the console lights (heater, radio) work and do they respond when you work the dimmer **** on the dash. I'm betting that needs some back and forthing to clear the corrosion like the wiper switch.

Sounds like a few rotors are in your immediate future. Almost always the front on these, but you can slowly pull the e brake at a slow coast to differentiate f fr r.

Do the turn signals click but just not light?

Trying to suggest as many low cost remedies as possible since anything you spend from here on cuts into the money you make.

Would appreciate if you could stop back in and tell us what you did fix, how much you got for it, etc.

You are of course welcome to hang around the forum......