saturn sputtering

Hey guys, I have a 94 saturn SC2 with the 1.9 liter. The car is sitting in my yard right now but I want to start putting some money into it. The problem with this car is, whenever i give it gas, it sputters like crazy. It still runs, but the exhaust just sputters and coughs. Saturn dealership said it was a timing belt, but I disagreed with them when they said it would be $600. Does anyone know what this could be and how to fix it. Maybe a bad injector? Bad catilac converter? any help would be awesome.

If you have a broken belt/chain the engine is trashed, it won't run. If the belt has jumped a notch on the sprocket your engine is semi-trashed, bent valves, possible hole in piston, it won't run. That's not to say you couldn't use a new belt. Do a service code reading, it will give you a general idea what may be wrong. I hear that Auto Zone and other parts stores will do this for free. Buy a service manual, the older models can be read with a paper clip, it will give you flash codes. Check other Saturn form sites, they have instruction on how to flash and the code info sheet.

But the thing is the car drives. I drive it up and down my road all day. It just doesnt run like its supposed to. Something is either clogged or not getting enough of something cause it sputters like you wouldnt believe. But once you get over about 4000 RPM's, its smooth as a whistle and the sputtering goes away.

was the only reason you disagreed with the dealership the timing chain is at fault is because of the cost?

how often is the oil changed?

any abnormal engine noise?

jumped timing is possible, a clogged cat would not allow the RPMs anywhere near 4000K. a leaking injectior may also cause black smoke from the exhaust. a compression test may help diagonisis, but the best check is removing the front cover.

There is a constant ticking noise coming from the head. But thats the only abnormal noise its making.

I've never had a Saturn engine apart, but this might relate. I had a chain jump on a 450 sl, it bent 8 valves and dinged up a couple of pistons. The ultimate cause of the jump was the tension arm cracked and fell apart. Before the jump, I could hear it coming, valve slap/ticking at low rpm. From what I could tell, the tension arm was oil pressure adjusted. At low rpm, the low oil pressure was making zero chain tension. Once I would get the rpm up (high oil pressure) the faulty tension arm would take up the slack. I don't know about the Saturn, but one link jump on the 450 wiped out half of my heads. Right now my 95 sl1 is ticking at 600 rpm, runs fine. At 800 rpm the ticking is gone. I am attributing the ticking to low oil pressure. I know one day I'm going to have to take a look at the tension arm, but for now I'm putting it off as long as I can.

There is a constant ticking noise coming from the head. But thats the only abnormal noise its making.
valve tick, in the case of saturns it does sometimes relate to dirty oil from worn timing chain guides clogging the lifters/oil passages.(a large part of the reason my 94 is geting a new block)