my Mom has an 89 lesabre. It was running fine. She stopped at the store and when she came out it wouldn't start. I checked the valve near the engine (the one that looks like a tire valve) and gas came out. I pulled off a plug wire and could see the spark when she turned it over. I tried to start it and it turned over and over and over. Then it made a pop sound. It did this a couple of times and then smoke started coming from under the hood. The air filter in the black box on the drivers side was on fire! I took it out and stomped on it. Now when you try to start it, it seems like air is blowing out from the engine through that box. It looks to me like that should be an intake for air. Any thoughts?:runaround::banghead:

How many miles on this car, sorta sounds like the timing chain to me :dunno:

my Mom has an 89 lesabre. It was running fine. She stopped at the store and when she came out it wouldn't start. I checked the valve near the engine (the one that looks like a tire valve) and gas came out. I pulled off a plug wire and could see the spark when she turned it over. I tried to start it and it turned over and over and over. Then it made a pop sound. It did this a couple of times and then smoke started coming from under the hood. The air filter in the black box on the drivers side was on fire! I took it out and stomped on it. Now when you try to start it, it seems like air is blowing out from the engine through that box. It looks to me like that should be an intake for air. Any thoughts?:runaround::banghead: My Mom had the car towed to a firestone service center and the guy said "you have a bad motor". I said "what do you mean a bad motor"? He said that it has very low compression. 30lbs - should be 100lbs. All she did was start it up in the morning and drive a mile and a half to the store. When she ce t of the store it wouldn't start. I went to see if I could start it for her with no luck but hot air was comin out ot the air intake. Hot enough to catch the little filter on fire. This mechanic sounded like he had no idea what it is. any comments or suggestions would be appreciated.

Could be the timing chain has broken.

Let's try to keep the threads on the same sheet of music. No need to post duplicate threads on the same subject. Your cooperation is appreciated. BTW, your two threads were merged into one.

Let's try to keep the threads on the same sheet of music. No need to post duplicate threads on the same subject. Your cooperation is appreciated. BTW, your two threads were merged into one.

Yeah, kinda confused me their too cause I knew I had replied first with a broke timing chain then I saw somehow your post was above mine the next time I checked. Well, that should help him out though, two people so far suspect it might be the timing chain.

Yeah, kinda confused me their too cause I knew I had replied first with a broke timing chain then I saw somehow your post was above mine the next time I checked. Well, that should help him out though, two people so far suspect it might be the timing chain.
The guy at Firestone says it could be the timing chain also but he doesn't want to fix it. He says it needs a new motor but it was running like a clock until this happened. How big a job is replacing a timing chain? Does the engine have to be removed from the car? I guess my question is, is this something I could do myself? I am very mechanically inclined and have torn large motorcycle engines apart and put them back together but never a car engine.

Yes, this is something you can do yourself. I would suggest buying a Haynes manual for your specific vehicle, it will walk you through the process. You may need a few special tools. Puller to get the the crank pulley off, a special tool for aligning the crank sensor, not really sure of that myself but for my buick it says a special tool is required if removing and reinstalling the timing cover, and you have to get a socket to fit your crankshaft center bolt if you don't have handy in your set of tools. Maybe someone who has already done this on the same vehicle can add a little more insight. I will say I have done this on a few vehicles and it can be a job. Not much room to work around. While you have all of that stuff apart it would be a good idea to replace any seals that you can, I would even go ahead and buy a new oil pump kit, comes with gears and springs, and install. I would also go ahead and drop the oil pan and reseal as well. Might as well cause it is a job and better to do it all in one shot.

You might want to do some research on the 89 engine. If it is an interference engine, it could have destroyed parts in the heads, which about doubles the job. The 87 was an interference engine. I replaced the timing chain, but it still wouldn't run because the valves were bent.
From this web site, it appears that 89 Lesabre is an interference engine
http://www.automotix.net/autorepair/saturn-engine_repair_guide-1867.html