Why did my 98 Saturn SL1 cut off while driving?

BQT4ME

MEMBER
1998 SATURN SL1
175,000 MILES

After a couple of minutes it started up like nothing happend. This happend 2 more times so far. I noticed that if I continue to give to the car gas it wouldn't shut off. Now the car is running poorly. I feel like the belt is slipping and the transmission isn't shifting properly. Any thoughts?

Monday, February 6th, 2012 AT 9:28 PM

4 Replies

MHPAUTOS

MECHANIC
31,937 POSTS

May be an overheated sensor, I would first do a scan and see if there are any unresolved fault codes, not all codes will set a check light, start here.

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Monday, February 6th, 2012 AT 9:36 PM

SATURNTECH9

MECHANIC
30,869 POSTS

Just to add to this one it sounds like a bad coolant temp sensor really common on those cars. Also inspect the inside of the coolant temp sensor connector if the terminals are green or blue instead of silver you will have to replace the connector also. ALso check it for codes most of the time a bad coolant temp sensor will not set a code on those cars.

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Monday, February 6th, 2012 AT 11:34 PM

BQT4ME

MEMBER
2 POSTS

I have run the scan for codes and got a misfiring #3. Would this sensor create the poor shifting?

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Tuesday, February 7th, 2012 AT 4:08 PM

SATURNTECH9

MECHANIC
30,869 POSTS

A coolant temp sensor wouldnt cause just the number 3 cylinder to missifire. When its running badly pull the number 3 spark plug wire off and see if there is a good blue spark amd if the engine runs worse. Let me know what you find.

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Tuesday, February 7th, 2012 AT 6:56 PM