My Saturn is having acceleration issues

jeepster · 08-15-2004, 04:58 AM

I have a 92 SL SOHC with manual transmission. No power steering or air. It seems to not want to accelerate. I put it into first and start letting the clutch out and sometimes it would jolt bad (like letting the clutch out too quick where it wants to stall) then would take right off. I shift into second and push the gas pedal down and the engine stays at 2000-something RPM for a second then suddenly starts to move, like "oh...maybe I should speed up now." As you accelerate it's almost as if you can feel the car slowing down in the process of speeding up (your body moves forward then goes backwards from the force of speeding up). I replaced the gasket in the air box that goes around the injector since it was mashed to pieces and that seemed to solve the first gear problem, but it's still fussy in 2nd and 3rd gear. The body has 185k, engine has 67k on it. Any thoughts on what might cause this? I replaced all spark plugs, plug wires, and air filter back towards spring (air filter looks alright). No error codes from the computer... Thanks!

Darkness · 08-15-2004, 09:02 AM

how many miles does the clutch have on it?....sounds like it's slipping

jeep45238 · 08-15-2004, 01:09 PM

Sounds like it's clutch (or related hardware) related.

Of course....85 horses isn't going to have too much pick up and go, but this isn't normal.

jeepster · 08-16-2004, 03:08 AM

According to my dad, when the engine was replaced, the clutch (or at least part of it) was replaced. That would mean that it has around 67k as well.

One thing that I forgot to mention in my explanation was that the problem seems to be worse when the car is cold. When you first start it, it's noticeable. Once the car has warmed up, it's not nearly as noticeable. I was on vacation in Arizona last week and came back and the first trip taking the car out was the worst it had been in awhile.

philS · 08-19-2004, 04:19 PM

My 98 (SW2, 100k miles) does this when it's cold. The acceleration is jerky, but only for the first mile or so.

At first I thought it was related to a similar problem with my mom's SVT Focus. It has a purposely rough idle as Ford's attempt to get it up to temp quicker.

Although now it doesn't sound so related.

As for the clutch, it's definitely not slipping. In my case it feels more like a bad air meter issue if you've ever had one of those (electronic, discrepancy between the amount of air it has and the amount it *thinks* it has) -- more of a jerk, not raised RPMs and going nowhere like a slipping clutch.

As for the acceleration, these Saturns don't exactly run like a raped ape so don't get your hopes up

Sometimes I feel like it would help if I had a hole in the floor and could help it along with my foot.