SC/SL/SW :: 1996 Saturn Just Stopped At Red Light And Won't Start Back Up
Jan 5, 2011
My sis was driving her 96 saturn SL and she was at a red light, then the car just stopped on her and it wouldn't start back up. I had came to push the car to the side of the road to see what the problem was. When I tried to start it, I could hear 1 click. All the lights came on, on the dash but it wouldn't start. I tried to give it a jump but that didnt work. I checked the oil and the oil was really low. There was no oil showing up on the dipstick. So I put in about 4 quarts of oil.
The car still wouldn't start. So I had it towed. The mechanic said that my sis would need another engine for her car. Would really low oil cause someone to need another engine for a car. My sis had just got a oil change about 2 weeks before this happened. I use to drive her car about 5 years ago and it use to burn a quart between oil changes but what would cause the engine to loose so much oil in about 2 weeks. I don't know if there was a oil leak and the oil light did come on the night before her car broke down. I had a starter put in about 4 years ago.
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My car stopped starting reliably last winter. Since my driveway is on a hill and I have a clutch, I'd roll back and pop the clutch to start it (or just make the kids push - it builds character, right?). I finally broke down and put a new battery in it about a month ago. It still occasionally won't start. It seems worse if the weather is chilly. When it fails to start, the engine will turn over a few times, slower and slower each time, and then die. If I turn the key again right away, nothing - just the "click." If I wait about 2 minutes, it roars to life like nothing ever happened. Doesn't seem like an alternator problem. It's green.
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My daughter has a 1996 Saturn SL with something over 100K miles on it. It runs generally well, although using a quart of oil every thousand miles or so. It passes the smog check required for her registration. It's had new spark plugs within the recommended period.
Recently she went on a road trip, and hit stop-and-go traffic for a couple of hours in one large city; it being January in a warm climate, the weather that day was presumably neither very hot nor cold. The Check Engine light came on. Fortunately she had the time to take it to a mechanic recommended by a friend local to the area, who pronounced the engine OK. She proceeded without incident for the rest of her thousand mile trip.
Sounds to me like the emissions crossed some threshold beyond "marginal" during the lengthy idling and running at low speed. Question: if we wanted to avoid such a condition, what kind of repair would be recommended.
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I have a 2001 saturn l200. When I have the car running for awhile, the temp gets half way and the fan comes on, but then shuts right back off and will not come on again. Recently I have replaced the radiator fan, the fan module, and the sensor. How does the car fan work? We have had to add a switch to the fan to turn it on when we have to.
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I have a 1996 Toyota corolla base model,my dome light stopped working a bout a year ago,I clean the contacts and bulb with sand paper,light would then work for about 2 weeks now When I clean contacts light will only work for a few hours. Have tryed new bulbs many times does not make any difference, don't know what to do.
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I changed my plugs a few days ago on my 96' Taurus GL 3.0LI checked under my hood to check the recommended gap size and it said .42 to .46.. I went with .46. after putting them in i started the car up just fine, but later in the day i noticed when I came to a stop at a red light my car would sputter and my check engine light would start blinking. When I'd accelerate and drive it again everything would clear up and the light would stop blinking. I didn't change the wires, just the plugs in case you were wondering but I am unsure of how much that would influence my problem. Today after work i had a little trouble starting my car. After a few tries it started and my exhaust smelt rich in gasoline. Did i gap them too much? Should i get new plugs again and regap them? should i buy new wires also?Is my ignition coil going bad?
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How do you clear the engine codes on a 1996 Saturn SL-2? I thought disconnecting the battery for more than ten seconds did this or do I need a special tool inserted into the diagnostic port under the dash?
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We got the clutch replaced on our 1996 Saturn several weeks ago and ever since we get grinding when shifting from 2nd to 3rd. The mechanic said the synch ring was shot and it wasn't their fault...this problem did not exist before the replacement. Whether this sounds plausible and what we can do to rectify i
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I have a 96 saturn sl2. It was running ok, but recently it started to idle rough and it revs up when i change gears and then when i release the clutch it drops down and remains about 1200 rpm. Pretty much while I press on the brakes to stop, and press the clutch to get on neutral,the rpm shoots up and slowly goes back down.
Also when I start the car it feels like its revving, but my foot is on the brake and the car is on neutral.Also no matter how much I've driven it, I can go into first and 2nd gear w/out having to press the accelerator and it will start to move. the rpm will remain @ about 1000 to 1200. The check engine light is not on and the car seems to be using up more gas.
I'm considering changing the plugs and wires, gas filter to see if it s. I noticed oil leaking a little around the valve cover, so I may change that too.
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I have a 1996 Saturn SW2. When I turn hard left at a bit of speed (like about 20 mph), the left read end of my car makes a BOING sound... what could be causing this??
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Basically it's a coolant leak problem for my 1996 Saturn SL1 Sedan. Here are the details of the problem....
About 6 months ago my Saturn started leaking coolant. It was very minor, I'd have to add a pint or so every 1 hour worth of driving or 40 miles (I experienced these early stages of a coolant leak before with a 1997 Buick Century). The problem very slowly increased 4 months ago and at about this time I noticed coolant residue on some of the engine parts. Using logic I determined the coolant must be leaking onto the belt which was spraying the fluid around, including the underside of the hood in a very fine line.
By 1 month ago I was adding about a quart of coolant every 15 miles. Still, very manageable with no other problems. Then 2 weeks ago it happened.... For the first time when I'd start my car it would issue that high-pitch squealing sound I'm sure we've all heard on older cars and thought, "man, that driver needs to get their car checked out." The noise would last for a few seconds, then stop. Rarely the sound would kick in also when coming out of a full stop.
Then 1 week ago, it all got worse. Now the car squeaks for around 2-5 seconds 50% of the time after a cold start. 80% of the time from a full or partial stop. About 90% of the time if my speed drops around 15mph. And now it even makes the noise for a few seconds (10% of the time) while driving +30mph. And the coolant leak is really bad. I have to fill the reservoir (add about 90%) anytime I drive more than a few blocks or +5 minutes. Also, for the first time, anytime I stop the car the coolant just drips onto the ground at a significant rate.
What sort of a problem I might be looking at based on my description?
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Was driving into town today in my 96 Ford Explorer XLT v6 4wd, when I noticed my O/D off light flashing. I thought to myself, "Another problem I have to bash at with a wrench to get going again." I figured that meant I'd be stuck with gear 1 and would burn some extra gas on the ride home, but after parking and running an errand, woe behold me but my car won't start! The starter turns, but no other noises come out of my now very-large paperweight. I've tried shifting into neutral, moving the car to get the gearbox turning, starting the car in neutral and park, yet the stubborn car remains dead. Am I drawing a connection between the light and the failure to start where one need not exist?
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My 1997 SL is not starting. This is not all the time, just when i need it the most, or when i've stopped for gas at midnight on the interstate 200 miles from home. Turn the key nothing happens. Have headlights, interior ,radio. tried jumping it, no luck. The first time it did it we had stopped for gas, pump was out so started it moved to other side turned it off then it wouldn't start. tried jumping it two times,no luck, turned key on at least 50 times...no luck, then the third guy who stopped to tried tightening the ground, tried it again it started. Started a dozen or so times over the next couple of days and it did it again.
Tried turning the negative terminal tighter again, tried it, it started so it must be the ground right? Well replaced the ground battery cable, tried it several times while it sat there started fine. Moved it 50 feet or so,tried it again wouldn't start. Kicked it...so much for the ground wire theory. Got up the next morning went out..it started. Drove it to advanced and had them hook it up to check battery/alternator/charging. Machine says everything is fine. Decided to give it another chance next morning, started, drove about 1/2 mile, forgot cell phone,ran back, turned it off ,ran back out, won't start.
Now ready to use it for target practice. Still keep thinking its something to do with the battery wires because every time it has started back up,with the exception of letting it sit overnight, i had just messed with the wires. Also am wondering if its a coincidence that all three times it's pulled this it had been started, ran for a short distance, and turned off. Also noticed that although i have interior ,radio etc, when it won't start the radio light does dim somewhat but I don't know if it does that all the time. I am laid off so a trip to the saturn garage is looking really expensive but i don't know what else to do.
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have a 2001 saturn l200. When I have the car running for awhile, the temp gets half way and the fan comes on, but then shuts right back off and will not come on again. Recently I have replaced the radiator fan, the fan module, and the sensor. How does the car fan work? We have had to add a switch to the fan to turn it on when we have to.
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11 months and 3 weeks ago a mechanic I trust replaced my a/c. Two weeks later I rear-ended another car.
There was minor cosmetic damage but it ran as before. A week after that began the record setting Texas summer heat wave and my car got so hot the mirror gauge registered 125 in a fast food line. This is the only time it got that hot. Once we got moving everything seemed fine.
A couple of days later the a/c ran for about 10 minutes then stopped. Slowly the time the unit cooled decreased until it stopped working. I took the car back to the mechanic. He stated the pressure measured up to 100 psi and the temperature was above the rating for the a/c system.
He fixed a short in the radiator/engine fan, the temperature problem never returned and the pressures were high but my a/c worked.
At first the a/c seemed to work fine but then it began to work only sometimes. When it did work it would sometimes work in "hybrid" mode which you Saturn owners recognize as cooling at the reduced level that saves gas in stop and go traffic -- or not at all as we say in TX.
I took it back. The mechanic now explained the I'd voided the warranty because the short in the radiator fan allowed the car and a/c system to get too hot. The high heat had burned some sort of internal valve in the compressor.
The valve is unreliable. The performance of the a/c is mainly temperature dependent. The hotter the day the less likely the a/c will produce enough of a pressure difference to open this valve. Warm days the system will probably cool. Hot days it will probably not.
Being a CarTalk listener and an former nerd I thought of and tried a way to magnify the pressure difference using rpm. It works but the hotter the day the higher and longer I have to rev the engine. Now I'm burning oil for the fist time ever. Did I cripple my air conditioner or does my trusted mechanic learn a little to little when he learned to repair my hybrid a/c system?
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1998 saturn SL2 idle speed changes low, high, back to low. Some times the car dies, can happen any time a few times in traffic. Once the engines dies the idle stays low for 5 minutes, then the problem goes away for a while (a week). You never know when it will happen.
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I am driving an `99 Saturn wagon with manual transmission. The car has held up pretty well, but lately it has developed a bit of a problem with starting and stopping the engine. When I start the car it struggles to not stall for a minute or two, an if I do not apply a bit of gas it stalls out pretty quickly (the is unable to restart for several minutes). If I keep the accelerator down a little for a minute or so I can ease off and it will no longer stall. It will then run just fine till it is time to shut off the engine, at which point it it behaves as if it was stalling, I get a knocking from the back and then it sputters to a stop.
The behavior is very consistent. I have learned to live with it, but it is annoying and I worry it is a sign of a more serious problem. I should also note that before the last time I brought it into the shop the behavior was around but not frequent, now it is 'all the time', which is part of why I want a better understanding rather then just taking their word for everything.
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So two or so months ago, I had the battery replaced in my 1999 Saturn SL2. About two weeks ago, something strange began happening, but only in the morning when I went to leave the house for work. I get in the car, turn the key in the ignition, and the car won't start--the clock and dash lights will come on for a split second, then go off. I'll try again, and this time the clock won't come on, the dome light won't come on--it's as if the battery is completely dead.
Here's the strange part: when I open and shut my car door, THEN the clock and dome light come back on. Same thing with my keyless entry: after I try to start the car and it won't start, keyless entry doesn't work. Then, I open and close the door and the keyless entry suddenly works again. So generally I have to go through this process of turning the key in the ignition and opening and closing the door for about 5 minutes. Then, the car will start as if nothing happened and it will be fine for the rest of the day.
No matter how many places I travel, how many times I stop somewhere and turn the car off, it always starts when I come back. It's only in the morning that it does this. Occasionally, I've been able to go 2 or 3 days without a problem (i.e., it WILL start in the morning). Today, though, it took a good 10 minutes to start, and I'm worried some day soon here it's just not going to start at all.
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This morning when I pulled into the garage after taking my daughter to school and shut the car off, I noticed a very loud hissing noise coming from the back end of my car, underneath somewhere. When I came back out an hour later to leave for work, it was still hissing. I drove to work and all was fine, but when I went out to the lot after work my car was completely dead.
I tried jumping it, but it wouldn't even take a charge. I had to find a ride home and will get it towed tomorrow. I'm sure the hissing noise is the cause, but what's going on. My car has never given me any problems--it's run perfectly for almost 150,000 miles (5 speed manual transmission). Maybe this is the end?
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since the fuel tank is under the back seat (4door) Is there access through interior or is dropping exhaust the only way to get to top of fuel tank?
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About a year ago the passenger side window stopped working. It was not a huge problem and my husband kept telling me he would look at it. Well.......... as of last week none of the windows will work and the drivers side automatic lock button stopped working. I can lock and unlock it with the remote and the passenger lock button works. I just don't know. My husband looked at the wiring in the door joint and took the panel off and everything seemes secure. Also, the cd player is running an error message and I have had problems with the switch. This car is driving me crazy!!!!!!
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