Hello. Hoping for some direction.

I was not driving, so I am relying on the info I got.

My daughter was driving on the highway and the car lost acceleration. She pulled over and was not able to start the car again.

Towed it home. I tried to start and it acted like it would turn over, but did not. Then it just cranks and never fires.

If I leave it for a few hours, it will don the same. Acts like it might start the first time. But then, nothing.

Checked out levels, and it was quite low. Worried it may have seized. I added 3 quarts to fill.

I checked spark plugs, seems ok.

Ecm codes
P0420
P0455
B2AAA
P0301

Looking for fuel pump/filter. Not sure that's something I can access.

Starter is good, replaced last year. Replaced alternator a couple weeks ago.

I think the last time I tried, and it wanted to start, I may have heard a sharp noise or bang. Hard to tell.

 

Having to add 3 quarts of oil is a bad deal.

The 2.4 liter engine holds 4 quarts.

The 3.5 L engine holds 4.5 quarts which I think you could get with the XE but I don't remember but included it just in case.

Either way you're running with 25% of the oil that should be in there which means internal engine damage is likely.

I didn't quite understand your description of what it was doing when trying to start it. You reference that it was like it was going to crank but didn't? then said it would almost fire but then just spin. If you meant you turn the key and heard a thunk sound followed by no spinning of the engine, it may be seized. Otherwise if it is spinning it is not seized.

Pull all the plugs so you are not fighting compression then put a wrench on the crank bolt and see if you can rotate the crank by hand. If you cannot it is likely seized or something else may have broken and is jamming things and will not allow the crank to spin.

If you hear a bunch of metal on metal coming from the timing chain area when cranking, let go of the key immediately. Have someone crank it while you are under the hood, but only for a second. Long enough to tell if that sound is there.

If the timing chain broke, you don't want to cause additional damage. . If the chain has broken you probably have a bunch of bent or destroyed valves from the Pistons hitting them. The chain might not have broken while she was driving it. It may have broken in the driveway afterwards. Don't know. You said the engine was spinning but not firing. It is possible that the b2aaa code has something to do with spark or fuel delivery or injectors. Again do not know.

If this doesn't seem to be the problem and the engine rotates, read on . Explanations of each code follow.

How many of these codes were present before the incident where the vehicle lost power? A p0420 I believe takes 50 miles or 25 miles worth of data to decide after clearing the codes. P0301 is a misfire code animal set immediately if the card to text it is continuous. The check engine light will flash when it is actively misfiring. I don't know how long a p0455 takes to set, but the vehicle is constantly checking the EVAP system while you drive oh, so it's probably something like three occurrences of the EVAP pressure not being what it should be on three consecutive drives.

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B2aaa indicates an incompatibility between the scanner and part of the communications Network in the vehicle. It can be read with a high-end scanner that has all of the definitions for the manufacturer specific pids. Basically the PID it is reading it cannot understand.

P0420 is the infamous catalyst efficiency below threshold which means either your cat is worn out or one or both of the oxygen sensors has been poisoned to the point it cannot read the oxygen concentration properly.

I do not know off the top of my head whether the 2010 Vue engine has a pre cat at the exhaust manifold or just a cat underneath the vehicle. My only experience is with the latter.

I have had this code on old S series Saturns without oxygen sensor codes. You need to look at the real time data for the front and back O2 sensors to see what the voltage outputs are and whether the cat is actually doing anything.

I have found by personal experience that a front oxygen sensor will last about a hundred to 125000 miles but if you are burning oil it will get poisoned sooner. Never paid attention to how long my rear O2 sensors last but given that most of the crap is removed or converted into less nasty crap by the cat, they tend to live a lot longer. I think my 97 SC2 lasted two about 180,000 miles. But anything is possible.

Po301 is a cylinder 1 misfire. Swap a plug from a different cylinder into cylinder number one and put the cylinder number one plug in cylinder number 2, assuming there is no damage to plug number one. If the misfire follows the spark plug meaning you would get a po302, then the plug is probably bad. It also tells you that the wire and coil to plug number one are okay since they work properly with a different spark plug. However, if you still get a misfire on cylinder 1, swap the coil on plug wire that leads from the plug to the ignition module from another cylinder and try it on cylinder 1. If you still get a cylinder 1 misfire, there is likely a more serious issue, like reduced or no compression. That can happen for a variety of reasons which I will not go into here. Suffice it to say it is not good.

P0455 is an EVAP system leak. Large leak. Sometimes it is as simple as the gas cap not being tight or not sealing properly. So try that first.
EVAP vent solenoid is probably not functioning correctly, possibly vent stuck open. Evap purge solenoid/valve may also be stuck open. Leaked could also be somewhere else.could be a simple case where one of the hoses in the EVAP system became disconnected. You need to get down there underneath and check.
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Do not throw parts at this vehicle. It is expensive and pointless.

Start from the simple stuff like will the engine turn and go from there. None of these codes except b2aaa should create a condition that would keep the vehicle from starting. I have read numerous other posts about 2008 Saturns throwing this code, people clearing it, it comes back, but there is no effect whatsoever on drivability. So I really don't think that's it. Just including it for the sake of completeness.

Please let us know what you find

 

Thank you for that detail.

There are no bad sounds when I crank. It just cranks but doesn't start. So yes, its spinning.

P0455 is the code that has haunted me for a while. It was the only one that was there before this happened. I have replaced the EVAP Canister Purge Valve a couple times in the past. Finally, I thought I got it right with the Vent solenoid. It cleared it for a while but it came back. However, I just pulled the Canister and found that the Vent solenoid was not seated properly. So I just fixed that.

I am using a cheap Bluetooth scanner with Torque Pro. I have used it for several years with multiple cars and have never see the B2aaa.

 

More info

When I first started to look at things, I thought the coolant tank looked a little low.

The car has been sitting for a few days and I just now pushed it into the driveway, downhill.

I looked at it again, contemplating removing the valve cover, and I see that the coolant tank is empty.

 

Can you tell if there's any coolant in the radiator? If it spins and just won't start, you need to start with the basics. Engine needs 4 things to start, Spark, Fuel, Air and Compression. I'd check the plugs first and see if there's spark. If so, check to see if it's getting fuel. Easiest way is to look for the Schrader valve on the fuel line and push it. Keep a rag around it so you don't spray fuel everywhere. Next would be Compression. Remove the plugs and check each cylinder for compression. If that's good, check the timing belt. It had to be getting air in order for it to have been running before it died. I doubt there's a blockage in the intake. If you don't have any of the first 3, you need to try to figure out why. If you have spark and fuel, then I'd suspect a failed timing belt. Compression test will tell you that.

 

Did your daughter mention overheating?

SPECULATION:
The missing coolant may be from a blown head gasket.

Check the compression on all cylinders.
You can do a loan a tool from AutoZone or similar for free

 

Thanks for all the advice.

I decided to remove the valve cover to see what I could see. Timing chain seems to be good from up there. Will remove the timing cover to check it out from there.

But I did find 2 rocker arms that were laying in there, not in place. One looks like it was crushed a bit.

 

No need to remove the bottom cover. Just take a large socket and breaker bar and see if you can rotate the engine. If so, the timing chain is probably okay. If not, then maybe a tensioner let go and jammed the chain. Finding two loose rockers is NOT a good sign. If the engine still rotates, I'd go to the junkyard and grab a few rockers and replace the damaged ones and see if the car will start. Make sure you find out what the proper torque is for them and use some blue loctite.

 

Thank you.

These rocker arms are not bolted in. Looks like they are held in place by magic...

 

I rotated the crankshaft to make sure things were really moving freely. And they are. When I came back up, the paper towels I stuck in the spark plug holes were blown out. Except one.

So I put a rod in each port to measure the movement. Well really, to make sure they were all moving and cylinder 1 is not. The piston does not move.