RE: Of air conditioners and my stupidity!
April 25, 2020 at 7:50 am
(This post was last modified: April 25, 2020 at 7:51 am by onlinebiker.)
I have a 99 Saturn SC2 I bought with a bad rod knock but the body was in great shape. I bought a 98 SC2 with a good engine but the body was rusted out. I swapped engines. It ran good but had a bit of a missing hesitation - but only between 40 and 55 mph in top gear. All other speeds it had good acceleration. Live data feed showed drastic ignition retardation during the problem. No check engine light showed.
A faulty knock sensor seemed most likely. I put it on the hoist and swapped the sensor.
No change.
Next I tried the crank angle sensor. Same result.
Over the next few months I changed -
Throttle body
TPS
Air bleed
MAP
ECTS
EGR
CPS
Ignition coils and ICM
IAT
and even the PCM - the car's brain.
The problem persisted.
I decide to start at square one - and do a compression check - despite the fact that it uses no oil and runs well under most conditions.
I pulled the #1 spark plug - and find that the top portion of the plug - the ceramic insulator - is broken clean in half....
The first, easiest thing - I didn't check... I guess I thought I did.
..
A faulty knock sensor seemed most likely. I put it on the hoist and swapped the sensor.
No change.
Next I tried the crank angle sensor. Same result.
Over the next few months I changed -
Throttle body
TPS
Air bleed
MAP
ECTS
EGR
CPS
Ignition coils and ICM
IAT
and even the PCM - the car's brain.
The problem persisted.
I decide to start at square one - and do a compression check - despite the fact that it uses no oil and runs well under most conditions.
I pulled the #1 spark plug - and find that the top portion of the plug - the ceramic insulator - is broken clean in half....
The first, easiest thing - I didn't check... I guess I thought I did.
..
