The 1995 Saturn SW2 is having some intermittent issues. After driving for fifteen minutes or so the engine will sometimes start stumbling and sometimes die. After it dies sometimes it will crank and not start for a few seconds, but then it will crank and start and run normally.
So Saturday morning I remove and thoroughly clean out the throttle body on the SW2. When I reinstall the throttle body the engine starts and revs to 4,000 rpm and stays there. At first I think it is just running on the throttle body cleaners fumes, but it keeps doing it. I pull the throttle body off and notice that the throttle body gasket had been bent and was worn thin in a few places. So I spend the rest of the day looking for a replacement for its throttle body gasket.
The big Napa warehouse by the airport supposedly has two new gaskets in stock, but they can’t find them when I drive over there. So, I stop at Saturn of Grand Rapids on the way home only to found out that their service and parts building is not open on weekends. Several auto parts stores can special order the gasket for me, but no one besides Napa claims to have any in stock.
I decide to just straighten the gasket out and begin pounding it flat with a hammer. I also wrap a little strip of aluminum foil over the thin section. With the repaired gasket reinstalled the car idles normally and seems to run fine—except it still has the intermittent stumbling problem.
My best guess to the source of the stumbling problem is a faulty engine coolant temperature sensor (ECT). So, I order a new AC Delco ECT sensor along with a couple of throttle body gaskets, a couple of AC Delco PCV valves, and a Fram Airhog filter online from RockAuto. The whole order comes to only $44 with shipping. The Saturn dealership wants $8 each for the gaskets and PCV valves.
The Fram air cleaner doesn’t look as well made as the drop-in K&N I have in the SC2, but it looks like it may flow slightly better and it only cost about half as much. I was actually hoping it was just a nice paper filter, as I am not sold on the filtering ability of oil soaked cotton filters, but I put it in the SW2 anyway. Hopefully, the K&N cleaning kit will work on the Fram.
I decide to replace the ECT last night. I raise the left side of the wagon as high as possible using my “SUV” floor jack and remove the old sensor. A little bit of coolant rushes out, but not much. The new sensor seems to go in fine, but the radiator fan and warning lights come on a few seconds after starting the car. I fiddle with the electrical connector thinking it may be loose, but I finally pull the new sensor and notice that the connector on the sensor itself doesn’t match the one on the old sensor. I evidently had ordered the coolant temperature sensor for the dash gauge not the one for the engine computer. So I put the old sensor back in and call it a night.