While doing some random reading on this forum, Im hoping my bogging issues arent due to the catalytic converter. I actually do hear a slight rattling noise from there when parked or in idle. Ill change the crankshaft sensor first and see if that resolves it. If not, I will assume the converter is getting blocked by whatever is loose in there.

 

Well, I tried it for 30 minutes and I have noticed an improvement in the shifting. It's smoother and quieter now, but still not what I'd call perfect, if there is such a thing. I may do it again in the next day or two and see how that goes. But, I'm happy that it seemed to have helped some for now. Your rattling noise may not be the cat con, Brad, but it could possibly be a loose heat shield on the exhaust. Check that first.

 

Good to hear you had some luck. I'll check the heat shield while I'm under there to be sure. Any idea how many quarts of atf my car would take?

 

Mine took four with about a 30 minute drain time. If you let it drain for a couple of hours or more, you MIGHT get another 1/2 quart or so. The doofus woman at O'Reilly Auto Parts where I got my filter told me 4.25 quarts. BUT she also asked me if it had an internal or external filter. I told her I'd never heard of a 94 model Saturn having an internal filter, as it doesn't have a pan to remove. She told me I didn't know what I was talking about because her brother has an SC1 with a removable pan and internal filter that she works on all the time. I just told her to get me the damned spin on filter and I'd be on my way. No more shopping at O'Reillys for me. Not one male employee in the store. Three women. I sure hope the other two know something about cars! Just pick up a gallon jug of Dexron at Walmart and get an additive of your choice. You should be good to go.

 

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After all that was fixed, the car seems to have no issues running hot, however the low coolant light still flashes. Does this need to be reset? Or is there something else I may need to do?
unquote

This one probably more than anything else is the sensor is full of gook from the coolant. I have had this happen a few times on my car, but then again I have owned mine since 1996. You could try just opening the tank and using a high pressure hose and blast it with water from a hose. With the engine not running the residual gunk will come out of the tank pretty much with out a problem as you over fill things.. Or remove the tank and do pretty much the same thing and then re-install it.

 

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The doofus woman at O'Reilly Auto Parts
unquote
Not all women are doofus and O'Reilly can be a good place to shop.

The local one where I live has quality counter people and I will agree quality is not nescissarily a requirement to be a parts counter person any more. Some pin head some where figured if they computerized everything they could hire people that the only requirement was that they can stand up with help.
Herme, is not only a first class counter person she knows how work the parts look up to find almost anything. And when you are looking up parts for a 30 year old out of production model, that is a good feature to know. My O'Rielly's is a good shop to go to and Herme and the others are all good counter people. And she is cute too.

 

Ruby, an 81 is an ABS fault
and I think the following are:
72 cooling system low temperature
74 coolant/transmission temperature ratio error.

The last two point at a CTS or coolant temperature sensor problem with its tracking capability

This is a trouble shooting with error codes section of the professional Mitchel's diagnostics I have.

I think now I need to find out if the Snap On OBD-1 Code reader I have will actually work with the 94 version of OBD-1 logic.

Cheers

 

Well, the hell of it is, Unc, that after doing the reverse slam procedure, the SES light is now out and everything is running fine. I took it to Nashville this morning to Pull-A-Part looking for yet another instrument cluster and it ran great. I found a few trim pieces I was hunting and scored an instrument cluster out of a 93 SW with 65,435 miles on it? The body on it was perfect and the only interior problems I saw was a ripped drivers seat and cracked dash cover. I tried to pop the hatch and grab the tail lights, but couldn't get the hatch to budge. I wonder why it was scrapped. Unfortunately for Ocean Archer, it was not a manual window set up, or I'd have grabbed the door panel he wanted. Got home and installed the instrument cluster and everything works, even the odometer. SCORE! Now I have that one and a backup. All in all not a bad trip and I averaged 31.25mpg on the 170 mile round trip. I'm a happy man.

 

Before I changed out the water pump I took the tank out and cleaned it out real good. I had put some sealant in months ago to stop the leak until I could fix the water pump so the tank was pretty gunky at the time. I assume my light issue might be the rest of the sealant floating around in places I couldnt rinse out and now on my sensor. I may have to do another flush and change sensors again to get the light to go off.

Tried to change my crankshaft sensor again with no luck, I just cant get enough room to work on it with a standard jack and jackstands. A mechanic down the street with a lift will do it really cheap so Im going to pay him to do it in the next few days, then will do the reverse slam fix. Sounds like it worked fairly well for you Rube, Im excited that I may get the same results!

 

I am not a personal big fan of a repair procedure that in itself can be described as an abusive approach to things. And a reverse slam sure comes close to that. However I have noticed over time on my 94 SC2 that if I have not driven it for a while the transmission shifts harsh if I have let it sit for an extended period of time. Driving it more often and longer sure makes a difference.
Face it after all the years the thing has been on the road a certain amount of gunk has accumulated in the transmission and it is logical that it can be sticky or cause things to be sticky so I guess there is some logic to the reverse slam even if I do not agree with it.