2001 SL1 Help!

[MadGriz]

Help! I know little to nothing about cars & the mechanic has been no help. My husband and stepdaughter each have a 2001 SL1 and have been having the same basic problem. Both cars were bought at the same Saturn dealership in Illinois but we reside in western Montana. (I'm not sure if the terrain has anything to do with the problem.)

We were recently on a road trip in my husband's car, about 30 miles out of town, on the expressway with the cruise set at about 70 mph. All of a sudden, the power cut out. We pulled of to the side of the road, restarted it and after a few minutes (w/o the cruise on), the power cut out again. After the thrid time, we couldn't get the car to go any fater than 3 - 5 mph. We ended up having the car towed back to town where it sat at a mechanic for about 5 hours before they had a chance to look at it. When they finally got around to our car, it started right up for them, they drove it around, put it on their computer then called & tlod us that there was nothing wrong with our car.

When we returned from our trip (we ended up using our old, yet dependable Sierra), the car started right up and ran fine for my husband to go to work and back. The next morning, it started right up, he got down the road and the power cut out. When he restarted it, it wouldn't go over 3-5 mph. We ended up leaving it at a gas station until we were out of work that night. My husband put a can of heat in & filled the gas tank. It started right up but on the way home, it kept accelerating w/o my husband touching the gas. It got up to at least 45 & would have kept going faster. We checked to see if the accelerator was stuck but it wasn't. Since then, it seems to start up & run fine but we're afraid to take it out of town. I'm also afraid of what might happen with my stepdaughter's car should this happen when she is out on the road by herself.

When the car loses power, it kind of coughs briefly. If you've ever driven a motorcycle & stalled it while driving down the road, it feels the same as when the car loses power. Both my husband and my stepdaughter's Saturns are automatics. My husband has about 30,000 miles on his and my stepdaughter has about 45,000 on hers.

Any suggestions??

[sierrap615]

real hard to say, the only two things i can think of is a dirty, stuck thrddle body plate or a vacuum leak.

take off the intake tubing and spray the throddle body with sensor-safe carb and choke cleaner.

the later SOHC models liked to suck the intake manifold gasket into the head, causing a vacuum leak. with the engine running, spray the intake manifold gasket area with the same carb cleaner as above, if the engine bogs down, you found the problem.