2000 Saturn L200 Repair Question
Mileage: 172,000 miles.
Saturn L200 Egr valve Problem
So, I say all that to say this- I will begin traveling again in about 4 days, and I would like to see what your thoughts were on this car problem. The spark plugs are new and were installed about 3000 Miles ago. Same for the fuel filter. While I am thankful the problem disappeared long enough for me to drive home, I am not convinced that the problem was the fuel injectors and I'm not assured the problem will not reappear. I use fuel injector cleaners occasionally, so I don't think the fuel injectors would be the problem. And also, the problem disappeared after turning the car off and on a few times. Another thought is, could it be possible that the problem is related to the very heavy snow I was driving through? There was icicles and ice buildup all over my car. Please let me know what you think!
Asked by jeremyb777Answer
Were the codes cleared by the first person that checked them or the second person?
I am not sure if either of them cleared the codes, or if they just eventually cleared out after restarting the car a few times.(I guess?)
A lot of the diyer scan tools won't read history codes so there could be some history codes.A egr issue could cause miss fire code's.
After doing a little research, I have seen that a clogged or dirty EGR valve can cause engine misfire. Today, I will take it off and see if it needs cleaning. If it is the EGR valve getting stuck or something like that, would it affect one cylinder only or all of them randomly? The only code I got was for cylinder two, which makes me think it could be something else.
Well, I took off the EGR valve and examined it. Admittedly, I don't know exactly what all I am looking for. I have watched a video or two on how to clean an EGR valve. However, it appeared quite clean with no carbon build-up. The "plunger" part of it opened and closed freely when pressed. I understand there may be other problems with it, but it does not seem dirty and does not seem that there is any build-up that would hinder it's ability to open or close the airflow. In fact, it was surprisingly clean.
How does it run right now? Can you feel it miss while driving?
Well, once I got out of the very thick snow and restarted my car a few times, the problem went away. I have driven about 800 miles since then, and the check engine light has not come on since then. For the most part, the car has run well. When I started the car this morning, it was a bit shaky as if there was a misfire, but it went away fairly quickly. My wife told me it also did that yesterday as well. So, while the problem seems to be in hiding, I am not convinced that it won't come back. I travel for a living, so I'm really hoping it doesn't mess up on me again. Unfortunately, I'm beginning to think I might not be able to identify it until it gives me more problems. Only problem is, I might be in the middle of nowhere when that happens. Thank you for all of your help thus far. If you have any suggestions, please let me know. Otherwise, I will keep you posted if I get more problems.
Let's try this get some good fuel injector cleaner some chervon techron cleaner the expensive stuff and fill your tank with some chevron gas. Drive the tank let me know how it runs.Dirty injectors can cause random miss fires etc.
Well, I tried some more fuel injector cleaner, but I still had to occasional shaky engine due to cylinder misfire. This happened on and off a good bit over the last week or so. Today, I had a good opportunity to take it to a mechanic shop. He hooked up the Snap-on diagnostic machine and noticed that nearly all of the misfires were located on cylinders 2, 4, and 6. There were only a few on any of the other cylinders. This really seemed to point to the Ignition coil being the cause. Today, the ignition coil was replaced, and so far so good. Time will tell if this was the problem or not.