My 98 Saturn SL2 (DOHC) has issues. With that being said, here are my problems:

Leaky head gasket when I first got it a few months ago. I fixed that. The car sat for a long time. It only went 5K miles in 5 years. Also, the sun roof had a leak, so there may be water damage, but it didn't look too extensive. I'm not sure if that is even relevant. This next problem didn't happen a until a month after I got it, but if it's cold when I start it, I need to give it gas or it won't even stand a chance at starting. It smokes for the first few seconds until the engine smooths out. Then it runs fine. The smoke smells like unspent fuel. If the engine is warm, it starts just fine. One thing I do notice is that when I'm stopped at a stop sign for instance, the engine hesitates when I first give it gas unless I really really ease it. Also, I'm not sure if this is relevant either, but I don't get any readings from my sensors. They all read "not ready" and have for the past 3 months.

I ran Chevron Techron cleaner in a couple tanks. Then I changed my fuel filter, plugs and fuel injectors(I got off a car that ran well before it crashed just to see if it was a bad injector).

New computer maybe? Fuel pump seems to be good. It doesn't seem to have burned through any oil in the last 1500-2000 miles. Oh and the check engine light is not on. What else could it be? I'm not much of a mechanic so any input would help. Thanks in advance!

 

Well, the smoking could be from bad valve guides/seals, or it could be from stuck oil ring on one or more pistons (remember, it did "sit-up" for several months).

Since you're not getting any engine codes, I'd probably opt for replacing the engine coolant temperature sensor (ECTS) and associated connector -- about $40 usd in parts. If that thing goes bad (and it does quite often), there's all sorts of weird responses from the engine with respect to (WRT) driveability ......

 

I'll try that. The fan doesn't come on either. I forgot to mention that. And the car starts to overheat when the need is only a quarter up the temperature gauge. I figured that's why it won't come on and I need to replace that anyway. I'll try that and see if it fixes my other issues. Thanks again! I'll report back.

 

So that fixed all of my problems. I found out that before 2001, most saturns were made with a resin tipped ects and they end up cracking a lot. That's what happened to me. I pulled it out and there was a huge split in it.

 

Thanks for the feedback on your problem

Glad you're back in circulation ...........