cylinder 3 misfire

Hello everyone. I have come here in a desperate attempt to figure out my Saturn's problem without going to the dealership. So I will give a list of my observations of my problem and what I have done so far in order to try and fix the problem.....with no success yet!

I have a 1998 SL2 Satrun 1.9L

I am the second owner and it has 178,000 miles on it. For the past 50,000, all I have done with this car is drive it to work and back 52 miles round trip each day. I did a tune up on the car 11 months ago. Plugs, Spark Plugs.

One Friday after I got home from work, everything seemed to be working fine. I turned the car off and didn't crank it back up until Monday morning when it was time to go to work. Well it cranked up ok, but I noticed right away something wasn't right. The car sounded like it was skipping. At 60MPH, the RPM gauge would vary between 2300-2600 never staying constant. When I would stop at stop signs, the car would almost choke down and I would have to put it in neutral to keep it from choking down.

I took it to the parts store since the check engine light was on and had them put their hand held computer on the car to see what it said. It called out the O2 sensor, cylinder 3 misfire, gear 1 ratio incorrect, and one more I cant remember. So the first thing I try is changing the O2 sensor since the original was still installed. That didn't fix my problem but when I took it back to the parts store, had them clear out the computer, drove it around for a while, and took it back, the only thing on the computer now was cylinder 3 misfire. I then try replacing my plug wires with no help. So next I try changing the coil pack that lead to cylinder 3 and that didn't help. I took out each spark plug and each one had fire(what I should have done int he first place, but I still had warranty on the plugs.) So then I suspected the fuel injector. I switched cylinder 3 injector with cylinder 2 injector and cranked it up. I then removed cylinder 3 injector's pulse plug and the engine sounded exactly like it did with it plugged up; perhaps a minuet difference in the way the idle sounded. I plugged it back up. Then I unplugged cylinder 2 pulse wire and the RPM went down noticeable! But not like it was only running off 2 cylinders since cylinder 3 has a problem. So that tells me that cylinder 3 is sort of working. I haven't done a compression test yet. I don't have the milkshake oil and I have drove this car all over the place after having the problem just trying to see what exactly it is doing. Either I am blind or my Saturn doesn't have a radiator cap, but I don't think there is any bubbling in the overflow. However, around 10 months ago, I had a radiator leak. I didn't have the money to fix the radiator, so I put some stop leak in it and that made the problem go away. I am now noticing my leak returning along with my cylinder 3 problem.

Also, there is black smut where my muffler/exhaust blows toward the ground when I am working on my car. With the car running, I've noticed what looks like clear liquid with a little bit of black mixed in it coming out the exhaust.

I have taken the EGR valve of and cleaned it. The valve appeared to be working ok, but I don't know what it would have to do with cylinder 3 not working.

The morning I started my car, it got the coldest it has been where I live over the weekend and it was 25 F that morning my problem occurred. So whatever it is, it happened sitting over the weekend when the weather got cold and when I started my car Monday morning.

I believe that is about everything. My mind is swirling around bad piston ring, bad head gasket, cracked head....but my radiator leak returning has really thrown a wrench into the gears. I don't know what to think!!!!! Any ideas?

Thank you for taking the time to read this and possibly help!

Jimmy

Hello everyone. I have come here in a desperate attempt to figure out my Saturn's problem without going to the dealership. So I will give a list of my observations of my problem and what I have done so far in order to try and fix the problem.....with no success yet!

I have a 1998 SL2 Satrun 1.9L

I am the second owner and it has 178,000 miles on it. For the past 50,000, all I have done with this car is drive it to work and back 52 miles round trip each day. I did a tune up on the car 11 months ago. Plugs, Spark Plugs.

One Friday after I got home from work, everything seemed to be working fine. I turned the car off and didn't crank it back up until Monday morning when it was time to go to work. Well it cranked up ok, but I noticed right away something wasn't right. The car sounded like it was skipping. At 60MPH, the RPM gauge would vary between 2300-2600 never staying constant. When I would stop at stop signs, the car would almost choke down and I would have to put it in neutral to keep it from choking down.

I took it to the parts store since the check engine light was on and had them put their hand held computer on the car to see what it said. It called out the O2 sensor, cylinder 3 misfire, gear 1 ratio incorrect, and one more I cant remember. So the first thing I try is changing the O2 sensor since the original was still installed. That didn't fix my problem but when I took it back to the parts store, had them clear out the computer, drove it around for a while, and took it back, the only thing on the computer now was cylinder 3 misfire. I then try replacing my plug wires with no help. So next I try changing the coil pack that lead to cylinder 3 and that didn't help. I took out each spark plug and each one had fire(what I should have done int he first place, but I still had warranty on the plugs.) So then I suspected the fuel injector. I switched cylinder 3 injector with cylinder 2 injector and cranked it up. I then removed cylinder 3 injector's pulse plug and the engine sounded exactly like it did with it plugged up; perhaps a minuet difference in the way the idle sounded. I plugged it back up. Then I unplugged cylinder 2 pulse wire and the RPM went down noticeable! But not like it was only running off 2 cylinders since cylinder 3 has a problem. So that tells me that cylinder 3 is sort of working. I haven't done a compression test yet. I don't have the milkshake oil and I have drove this car all over the place after having the problem just trying to see what exactly it is doing. Either I am blind or my Saturn doesn't have a radiator cap, but I don't think there is any bubbling in the overflow. However, around 10 months ago, I had a radiator leak. I didn't have the money to fix the radiator, so I put some stop leak in it and that made the problem go away. I am now noticing my leak returning along with my cylinder 3 problem.

Also, there is black smut where my muffler/exhaust blows toward the ground when I am working on my car. With the car running, I've noticed what looks like clear liquid with a little bit of black mixed in it coming out the exhaust.

I have taken the EGR valve of and cleaned it. The valve appeared to be working ok, but I don't know what it would have to do with cylinder 3 not working.

The morning I started my car, it got the coldest it has been where I live over the weekend and it was 25 F that morning my problem occurred. So whatever it is, it happened sitting over the weekend when the weather got cold and when I started my car Monday morning.

I believe that is about everything. My mind is swirling around bad piston ring, bad head gasket, cracked head....but my radiator leak returning has really thrown a wrench into the gears. I don't know what to think!!!!! Any ideas?

Thank you for taking the time to read this and possibly help!

Jimmy

i have some ideas but im not sure about your issue exactly. ill tell you what tho. go to saturnfans.com. register and post in the S-series tech forum. the guys there will help you out better than i can. youll prolly see my sn there also :) Goodluck

Antifreeze started coming out of the spark plugs holes now. So that tells me cracked head or blown head gasket. What years did the Saturns have the head casting problems? Mine is a '98. My mechanic said I should replace the head, but I would like to know if they fixed the problem by then before I go spending mass amounts of money if I don't need to.

Antifreeze started coming out of the spark plugs holes now. So that tells me cracked head or blown head gasket. What years did the Saturns have the head casting problems? Mine is a '98. My mechanic said I should replace the head, but I would like to know if they fixed the problem by then before I go spending mass amounts of money if I don't need to.

The SOHC are the heads that usually crack. i only know of two DOHC that have cracked the head. you most likely have a blown head gasket. either way that head has to come off.