Tuesday, June 19, 2012

93 Saturn part 2

Not the MAP sensor, not the plug wires, no vacuum leaks, not the throttle position sensor, not the engine coolant sensor, not the EGR.  son of a bitch I went through every damn diagnostic the manual suggested.  Including testing the oxygen sensor for voltage.  It checked fine.  But apparently the SOB is bad because when I started the car with it disconnected the hesitation stopped.  I am cautiously optimistic this is the problem.  I didn't give it much thought initially because it was replaced last year to get through emissions.   Even thought I could probably run it without the sensor, I will replace it. 
Keep this one in the 'troubles' category until I see if it works with a new one. 


Thursday, June 14, 2012

93 Saturn

I still own the first new car I ever bought (one of only 2).  93 saturn SL2 sedan.  The odometer broke about 8 years ago at 147000 miles.  It's a well built car.  Never needed any major repairs, just maintenance items. 
It is hesitating while accelerating, and seem to be worst under hard accelteration.  It smoothes out going down the road.  I checked the codes and it told me the throttle position sensor had low voltage.  I took the lazy way out and instead of trying to find out why, I just replaced it.  It didn't solve the problem.  So a dug into the manual and went through the diagnostic chart and found the MAP sensor voltage was less than one volt when it should be between 2.5 and 5.  New MAP sensor going in as soon as I can get back to it.  I ran out of time tonight and I have a full day at work tomorrow. 

Monday, June 4, 2012

40 Clutch Sticking

I went to start the 40 after about 3- 4 week sitting in the garage.  I primed it as I always do, jumped in and pressed the starter button.  The car was in second and I had the clutch in.  When I hit the starter it lurched forward, not too violently because its turns over real slow normally.  I tried to get it out of gear but it wouldn't budge.   
I shut the key off and was able to rock it forward and back with my arm in the window to move the gear shift.  Got it out of gear and started it again.   so far so good. until I tried to put it in gear.  With the clutch in all it would do is grind, as if the clutch was engaged.  This has happened before so I knew the clutch plate was sticking to the flywheel.  My rented garage is damp and the weather has been hot and cold for the last month.  with all of that i guess it added up to a stuck clutch disk.
I had to go back to the house, get my floor jack and misc tools and a flashlight to get the car up on a jack stand to get under it.  No small task since there is no room to work in the garage.  Not having any electricity for a shop light doesn't help either. 
At any rate I was able to remove the clutch linkage and the flywheel cover to get at the disc.  Since I was working alone I had to use a 2x3 wedged between the clutch pedal and the bottom of the dash to keep the pedal down while I used a small screw driver to free the disk.  Gently at first until I got tired and used the mallet on it.  the SOB came free after that.  Got it back together and rolling again about and hour later.
No pictures because I could barely fit under there and I didn't have much light.