'96 Saturn SL1 Stalling Problem

Hi: A crank sensor will not set a code!

Throwing parts at a car is a bad thing, because I do this for a living. The first thing to do is to get someone with a good scanner. That gives readouts in real time.

To me, it sounds like you've got a loose or corroded connection from the crank sensor, to the ignition module, or a loose connection on the module.

Also, it can be the fuel pump is loosing prime. You'll have to test fuel pressure and volume. I don't remember the pressure specs on a Saturn, but the volume should be 1 pint in 10 seconds or less.

I hope this helps.

Have you ever checked to see if you have spark when it's in the stall mode ? If no spark that should point toward ignition.

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Hello, I have a 2002 saturn L200 that is also stalling at highway speeds. I had it towed to the local saturn dealership. They have run diagnostic tests and say they can't get any error codes. I asked about ignition coil, crankshift and camshift sensors and they said that they can't test for that. Would I be better off taking it to an independent mechanic?

thanks

If your Saturn dealership troubleshooting ability is limited to just examining error codes I think I'd look around for an experienced independent ! ( Just my opinion. )

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Or another Saturn dealership.

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More information at I picked my Saturn L200 up the other day from the saturn dealership. Here is what they told me. That the reason for the car stalling is probably something wrong electronically. Without an error code they would just be guessing as to what the problem is. They could replace parts but they would not know if it would fix the problem or not. Their best advice is to keep driving the car until whatever the problem is breaks and leaves a hard code. (check engine light) This doesn't sound like a good option to me because I don't know how safe it would be stalling at highway speeds or in the middle of an intersection. Anyway, after leaving the dealership I stopped at a local independent car shop just to get a second opinion. The guy there pretty much told me the same thing. Sometimes I wonder what did mechanics do about stall problems before the computer diagnostic era. At this point I'm just driving the car locally, back and forth to the grocery store, etc.

hcw

Well, modern cars are tougher. For one thing because the under-hood is so crammed it's hard to get to stuff.

Having said that: Temperature is often the culpret. I once diagnosed an intermittant Taurus ignition module by removing it, putting it in the oven to get hot (car wouldn't run) and then chilling it (car would then run). But, that module was easy to get to. Coils are another item that can fail when hot but work OK cool. You might try to get them to try heat on whatever they can get to. As an ex electronics tech and later engineer I can say INTERMITTANTS ARE BUGGERS.

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I think they just threw parts at the vehicles; albeit vehicles that didn't quite so many parts.