charliethehouse

I'm now the proud owner of a Purplelish-red 1993 Saturn SC2 5spd. Well, I can't say I'm impressed. But, for only $300 and being pa inspected until sep 08, its not all that bad. It even runs! Which is more than I can say for my buick (why did i buy another gm?). Anyways, it rattles, makes weird noises, smells funny, then makes even weirder noises so I have a few questions.

1. What the hell is making that cycling noise in the driver side door pillar? I'm thinking maybe its the broken automatic seat belt. Can I just pull a fuse or do I have to rip apart the interior and cut the wires?

2. The exhaust (i think) makes the sound of a buzz saw cutting through metal around 2600-2700 rpms (no matter what gear). Is this normal?

3. I hear that these cars have bad temperature sensors. They seem to vary in number and locations so what am I look at for this year?

4. What exactly am I listening for when the timing everything needs replacing? There is a really light clack when starting cold that seems to go away when up to temp. I thought it was just an older engine at first but reading the horror stories I'm a little paranoid now.

5. When the back brakes need replacing, how hard would it be to just go to discs? I can't seem to find a how-to on this.

6. The upper engine mount is toast. I plan on replacing this. How hard is the other one to get to and would it even need replacing?

7. I don't know how this is possible but the gas gauge works even when the car is off (it stays in place i mean). It will go up and down only when the car is on and seems to be fairly accurate. Is this right or am I just hallucinating?

8. On a drive the other day the service engine light came on. I took it to autozone and the guy said it had codes 26 & 32. The light seemed to come on when I held the engine about 2800-3500 rpm in 4th or 5th gear (highway speeds). I looked around on a google and found hints about a bad/dirty egr valve. Is this right? How hard is it to clean the egr?

Thanks in advance for any answers. edit: oh yeah, ~184000 miles

RC1488

1. No idea.
2. Check your exhuast shield. The gromets im sure have broken. Take some screws and just screw it back up into the frame.
3. YouTube - Engine Coolant Temperature Sensor R&R Saturn S-series
Video by Richpin
4. Do a full tune up. Always do a tune up with a new car. Especially a 300 dollar saturn. Change the oil and check it EVERY WEEK.
5. Its not to horrible. A how to can be found here:
How-To Library - SaturnFans Forums Its in there somewhere
6. Replace it and im sure your vibrations will become much less.
YouTube - Saturn Top Motor Mount R&R
Video by richpin
7. As long as it works and is accurate i wouldnt worry about it. All my cars have settle at a rest position at E, but if it works, i wouldnt bother with it
8. Common codes. Clean your EGR and Throttle body

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Ssicarman

Welcome to the Board.

#1
Most likely the auto shoulder belt motor. I woud assume that the tracked shoulder belt is no longer working. If you are lucky the latch is at the rear most position to let you wear the shoulder belt properly. To stop the motor the best thign to do is to remove the bottom B pillar trim and unplug the motor.

#2
No. Time to track the noise to the source and repair from there.

#3
PCM temp sensor. THe twop temp sensors are on the back of the head, trans end. If you are replacing the PCM temp one then you want to replace the lower one with two wires. Replace the connector as well if there is any corrosion in the terminals at all.

#4
A timing chain on the way out on these engines will make the engine sound like a diesel.

#6
The front upper mount is normally the one that causes problems. The front lower and the trans upper are really only locating mounts and unless damagedor obviously worn out they wouldn't need replacing. The trans lower mount can go bad but they don't normally cause problems. If it is bad a visual inspection would show it collapsed onto the frame.

#7
If i recall correctly the early years of the S-series can rest the gas gauge at the last reading.

#8
Posibly a combination of a couple of things. EGR valve could be bad, EGR solenoid could be bad, vacuum lines may be off or bad. The code 26 could be a number of other things but with the code 32 I would concentrate more on the EGR first.

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