1996 Saturn SL1 - Service Engine Soon Light

A new O2 sensor at that mileage would not be a terrible idea (assuming it's fairly cheap, which is likely the case), but there's really no way to know if that's what's causing the light to come on without a scanner.

I'm told that some places, like AutoZone in the US, will scan codes for you for free..

I really have no idea, but I have that exact same car and had a Check Engine Soon light go off at around 85000km.

I had a (as Saturn put it) bare spark plug wire, resulting in a misfire. Replaced it (and another as you can only buy them in twos (again, Saturn says) and now it's all good.

Chris

All,

Thanks for responses. The wires were just changed about a month back when my son purchased the car used. As I indicated previously, the engine runs very smoothly and if one of the plugs was misfiring (plugs, wires, coil, pickup/sensors for ignition) in a 4 cylinder, I think it would be much more obvious. (This is why I am leaning toward an oxygen sensor or possibly even a restricted EGR valve.)

I called around and learned that the price for the O2 sensors (I learned there are two on this model) range from $70-$85 for the exhaust manifold one and $90-$115 for the one located near the catalytic converter.

I do not own a OBD diagnostic computer, but have considered purchasing if the cost is approximately the same as the diagnostic charge at the local Saturn Dealer (about $50 minimum). Can someone provide some advice on these and/or make a recommendation? How much do these run, where do you recommend buying from, and with what other vehicles are they compatible?

Also, on the Oxygen sensors, has anyone had bad luck with any specific brands? The reason I ask is that there is some bad-mouthing of Bosch after market sensors in another auto.maker newsgroup. Should I stick with the (presumably Delco) sensor from the dealer which are slightly more expensive? Which one is more likely to have failed if this is the cause? Any thoughts or prior experience you can share here?

If I don't get many responses by the end of the day then I will probably just end up taking it to the dealer to diagnose and then decide on a course of action once I know what is being indicted by the computer.

Bob

--Snip--

Head to an Autozone. They'll scan your car for free. At my local one they have a unit under the counter for just that purpose. If you don't have an Autozone, call the various parts stores. There's a chance one of them might do the same thing. If not, I'd pony up for a diag at the dealer. Until you know what code is being thrown, you have no idea if it's something easy or hard, major or minor.

Max

...I get a weird miss and hesitation every now and then when one of the coil towers gets enough corrosion on it on my 97SL2.

Did you pay attention that the plugwire routing is correct and that the gap is at .040" rather than the .060 that some '96s were stickered at?

Here's a link that refers to these issues.

Check

misfire.

encountered

replaced.

Thanks. One more thing to look at when I check the plug gap.

I just replaced the plug wires. Plugs are gapped at .040. Autozone did a scan here in WNC and it showed the dreaded PO 341, which is not even listed in the Haynes manual. So I read up on PO 341, which says the cam sensor is defective, although there is no such thing as a cam sensor for this engine. Whew. Would I buy another Saturn?

On top of that the radio still has spark noise. I used the dielectric paste on the contacts after cleaning them, and yes they had corrosion on 2 of the towers. The powdery corrosion came off with some rubbing with steel wool.

I will NOT take my 96 SL2 to the local dealer. The devil with them.

These vehicles use a compression-sense ignition system which replaces the function of a cam sensor, it determines which cylinder of each firing pair is on the compression stroke by measuring the firing voltage difference. Code P0341 indicates that the cam signal received from the ignition module had too few or too many pulses per crankshaft revolution. The service info states that P0341 can be set because of high resistance in the plug wire, connections, or spark plug.

Basically, P0341 is a symptom of your problem, not the cause.

That is indicative of the cylinder 1 and 4 wires not being routed correctly.

Saturn recommended plug is NGK.

Ken

encountering

Bosch plugs

electrodes).

corrosion

original

Based on

condition