djbrown

I have had a problem with tapping for sometime now. When it does this it seems like my acceleration is horrible. My gas mileage is also crappy. I've been told that it could be my fuel injectors. I have had the car for about 4 years and have never had them changed. Could this actually be it? If so, I should have the problem solved soon. I recently bought a used intake manifold that came complete. I am gonna have the manifold ported. Hopefully this could be the problem. If anyone has any ideas, by all means let me know.

PurdueGuy

what maintenance have you done?

djbrown

I changed the plugs and wires. The EGR valve was replaced as was the valve cover gasket. Oil has been changed on time. What else could it be? I know how to do some general maintainance, but nothing complicated.

PurdueGuy

Seems like there's something about the lifters often make a tapping noise that is normal in some saturns as they age, but I'm not sure on that, and not sure if that's what is happening in your car. I'd check the oil level, since the s-series is known for burining some oil.

As far as the crappy gas milage, if you haven't replaced the ECTS, that might be a good investment of about $10-15. Cleaning the throttle body might be good. Might be some other tune up things that could help the economy, and maybe even help the noise while you're at it.

djbrown

What is the ECTS? As for the throttle body, I bought a high flow t-body, and a new intake manifold that I am going to have ported out. So, I will be replacing the t-body.

PurdueGuy

the ECTS is the engine coolant temperature sensor. It tells your PCM how hot the car is running. Up until like '01 they used a resin-tipped sensor, which cracks & goes bad. The new ones are brass tipped. You can get a new one either at the dealer or a parts store, but some parts stores still have the resin-tipped ones. Look before you buy.

djbrown

Thanks for the info. Appreciate the help.