Hello everyone, i have a 1996 Saturn SL2 i'm having some trouble with the vehicle stalling out only during acceleration. The car runs like a dream at highway speeds but taking off from a stop sign or pulling into traffic it will stall about 50% of the time. Sometimes it is only slightly and sometimes the engine will lose all power even with the pedal almost to the floor then it will all of a sudden kick in. Here is a list of all the things i have done to the car some to try to fix this issue some to fix others:
Replaced EGR valve
Replaced PCV valve
Replaced ECTS sensor. This seemed to have fixed the issue for some people but not for me. It was noted the aftermarket ECTS sensor i put in was noticeably longer than the one installed. The cable has been spliced as if someone had already replaced the sensor and cabling before. The car does read warmer than the other sensor did its a little below halfway on the gauge while driving but it appears to function well enough. It isnt erratic and the car runs the same before and after replacement.
Replaced Thermostat
Replaced passenger motor mount, front right motor mount under battery, and also replaced one transmission mount.
Gutted catalytic converter and deleted downstream 02 sensor. P1133 is the only CEL active from the 02 sensor and cat delete. No pending codes. I did this because i have had clogged cats in other vehicles and this one burning alot of oil i wanted to rule it out as the issue. This made no significant change to how the car runs and the code for the downstream 02 sensor was already in prior to doing this but i believe it was a different code not sure.
Replaced idler pulley and tensioner pulley and installed new belt.
Replaced starter
Replaced air filter
Cleaned up some of the engine power and ground cable connections. Negative and positive battery cables were sanded and cleaned up and the locations they fed to such as the engine ground, frame ground near fuse box, and positive cable feeding into fuse box were all removed cleaned sanded and reinstalled. This was done at the same time the ECTS was replaced and it made a very noticeable difference to the cars idle it is now much smoother and less cabin vibration although it is still not great. But it is unknown whether the sensor or cleaning the grounds actually caused the change.
Replaced spark plugs
When the engine stalled out badly the CEL would flash and throw a code for a missfire but didnt say which cylinder it was. Cylinder 1 spark plug had a little oil on it i cleaned it out and replaced all 4 spark plugs and havent had it stall out bad enough to throw a code since then but it still stalls similar to before.
Replaced both ignition coils
tested all coil packs with inline tester tested good
Any tips or advice on further troubleshooting would be greatly appreciated!

 

The p0133 is slow response for the front 02 sensor.
The front 02 sensor gives instantaneous feedback to the PCM about how much oxygen is in the exhaust stream. Based on that and the ECTS reading it adjusts the air fuel mix accordingly.

If the front 02 is responding too slowly, the feedback is no longer a real time representation of the true exhaust stream content. The PCM doesn't care. It works based on the signal received and the air fuel mix will be wrong any time there is a sudden change in throttle position.

I suspect your front 02 is oil fouled/ poisoned and cannot properly respond as it should. They last about 100K in these engines (the front ones).

I'd replace the front 02.
The OEM is Denso. I think RockAuto still stocks them
Do not use a Bosch O2 in this application.

How much oil does it burn?

 

Thank you for the response! I'm sorry i was wrong about the code number it is not p0133 it is p1133. Although the p1133 code is still for the front 02 sensor i believe. I will change it and see if this helps but i have some more information to add. After making this post i found a related forum post with a very similar issue and their problem was that the spark plug wirea were in the incorrect locations on the ignition coils.. well as it turns out my spark plug wires were also incorrectly landed on the ignition coils but after swapping them into the correct locations the car is now running even worse than before. It threw a code for camshaft position sensor that i was able to clear by lifting and re-landing the spark plug wires once more. I found a video saying these cars do not have camshaft position sensors and there is some sorcery about the resistance of the spark plug wire and timing of a cylinder firing to act as one or something but it was above me. If that is remotely true then my spark plug wires could be completely swapped as they are different lengths and therefore should have different resistances on the cables themselves. But i dont which one should go where, they aren't labeled the only difference is the lengths. The car loses about a quart a week rough estimate but its leaking some and burning some valve cover gaskets have been replaced so i'm a little concerned about the oil i found on cylinder 1 spark plug but i don't think that is what is causing the current issue at least not entirely. I will probably go ahead and replace the spark plug wires with new ones and the bank 1 sensor since i already have a spare 02 sensor and see if that helps it any. Thanks again!
*edit* i swapped the spark plug wires around some more and got the car back running the same as it was before. So now they are landed correctly and the car seems to be behaving correctly aside from the stalling. Will replace the 02 sensor and see if it improves. Thanks!

 

There is a sticker on front crossmember with the order in which the coil towers should be connected to the spark plugs. so plug wires are connected left to right across the coils this way looking at them from the front of the car.

Front of the engine and #1 is by the serpentine belt.
Shortest wire to #4, longest wire to #1. Follow the listed order for number two and number three.

You said you had a spare in front O2. If it is used, you are not necessarily helping the issue because the used sensor is already partially compromised/fouled. You need a new one.

 

P1133 is insufficient switching of 02 sensor. Basically the sensor is not responding back and forth between rich and lean to be able to adjust the fuel mix properly. Still wrong information to PCM for feedback and wrong fuel mix in real time.

 

I took your advice and ordered the Denso 02 sensor i will install it next week and see if this fixes the issue. The bank 1 O2 sensor was replaced by the previous owner sorry what i meant by spare was that he left me another one with the car along with some other parts but i didn't realize it was a bank 2 sensor it will not work anyways. I removed the aftermarket O2 sensor and it does appear to be fouled and has alot of carbon buildup on it so it is very likely the issue. I will let u know if it works soon thanks for the help!
*EDIT* I've been driving for about a week now with the new 02 sensor installed and it seems to have fixed the issue so thank you! You saved me some headache. The downstream 02 delete isnt throwing a code which i find odd but i'm not complaining. But now i can worry about other issues so thanks again man.