66dartdave

Hello, everyone. I'm new here, and have some problems with my 97 SL2. First, a little history - I've changed out the Idle Air Control Valve and the CTS. I also removed and cleaned the EGR valve. Before doing all this, my car would try and flood itself out upon start up. I had to let it warm up a couple minutes before I could drive off. It had lost the "instant" throttle response. The temp gauge would hardly get off of the "cold" mark. My car had started overheating, so I took it in to get the system flushed. A pressure test was run on the cooling system and it pegged the pressure gauge at 30psi. A blown head gasket (interior) is suspected. So, I changed all the above, and now it drives much better. However, my SES light came back on after I removed the PCM fuses. I took it to Auto Zone to get the codes pulled, and this is what it showed:

P0118 - "The PCM has determined that the input from the engine CTS is higher than expected for thie current engine operating conditions." After changing the CTS, the Temp gauge now reads straight up and down. Barely moves at all.

P0340 - "The PCM has determined that a malfunction exists in the electrical circuit for camshaft position sensor "A". (Bank 1 or single sensor) (Bank 1 identifies the location of cylinder #1, while Bank 2 identifies the cylinders on the opposite bank).

Auto Zone's computer indicated that my car does not have a "camshaft position sensor". It does have a crankshaft sensor - could this be the problem, or does it in fact have a camshaft position sensor somewhere.

If I put the connector for the CTS on wrong, could that be a problem there? Also, I didn't get the all brass CTS, but will soon. I needed to get my car running better and more reliable cause I'm having out of state company fly in tomorrow night.

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you for taking the time to read this - sorry it's so long.

dave

russello

I have recieved that camshaft code and it turned out to be my spark plug wires. I believe (from reading on this forum) that there is acutally no camshaft position sensor, and that it is actually calculated based on a number of other factors and ignition sensors. I also read that it is often caused by misfires, so i started checking sparkplugs and wires, and sure enough, one of my wires was completely nonconductive and fell apart when i tried to double check it.

66dartdave

russello, thanks for the reply. I have had problems with the spark plug wires before, but I never got any kind of SES code. But, it could happen. It sure doesn't seem like it's missing, but the performance does, at times, feel slightly off. What kind of spark plug wires would you recommend. The ones I have on there now are from AutoZone - just their brand.

Thanks very much.

dave

Ssicarman

Repalce the coolant temp sensor and the connector if it has any signs of corrosion in the two terminals.

Check the plugs wires and coils to make sure that the are ok. Bad ones especially on the 1-4 circuit can set the Cam sensor code.

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66dartdave

Ssicarman - Thanks very much. I was told to watch for you cause you were good! Thanks for the info. I will replace the Temp sensor with the new all brass one and the connector as well. I may go a head and replace the coil packs, plugs and wires. I was told that you shouldn't use platinum plugs on Saturns. Any truth to that?

dave

ian12

well depending on where you buy the cts from, it might work and might not. i bought one from advance auto and it worked at first but then 2 days later and didnt, that caused many problems and i tore my clutch up because of it(luckily i got a new clutch waiting now). but if you get one from napa or saturn itll work.

well with pratically every car for the 90's had platinum plugs stock. i got copper plugs in mine and they are ok but are really crapping out on me too much. they are the right heat range and are not even 9 months old and need to be cleaned constantly. mine are the ngk v-powers. i know there is nothing wrong with any other part, fuel pump and filter are new. so im switching to platinum plugs, do great in all other cars ive worked on. ive tried to use copper plugs a few times but they always seems to go bad in no time and drop my gas mileage and performance. throttle response drops too.

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Ssicarman

The SOHC engines tend to not like the platinums. The DOHC engines don't seem to mind them as much. For the extra cost of them and the ease of changing the plugs on the 1.9 lt engines I don't know that they are really worth it. The NGK plugs do very well in these engines and will go 30,000 miles no problem.

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66dartdave

I put platnum plugs in my car once, and started having problems with plug wires. Don't know if it was a related problem or not. I'm getting a new CTS from Saturn of Albuquerque, along with the pig tail connector for it so that I'll be as sure as I can that there is no corrosion there. Then we'll see how things go. Thanks all for your suggestions and input. It is greatly appreciated.

dave

Artificialist

Resistance from poorly performing spark plugs does tend to accelerate the deterioration of ignition wires. Sometimes if it goes on too long, it also is bad for the ignition coils.

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