maybe some one can help me i have a 95 saturn sl with a 1.9 engine about two to three days ago i lost a cyclinder. it's the number 1 cyclinder. i have tryed to replace the wire, plug, and coil to no help.so im lost can some one please help thank you

before i start my long list of questions, let me just say if those are platium plugs, thats the problem.

is changeing the coils, wires plug the only things you have done? how did you conclude it was the number 1 cylinder? any blow-by or SES light? are you sure you are getting fuel? i dirty and unsafe test is to disable the DIS(pull the fuse), and pull out just the one spark plug. DO THIS OUTSIDE NOT IN A GARAGE!! crank the engine a few seconds, no more, it shouldn't start, but if it does kill the engine fast. you should be able to smell the raw fuel thru the spark plug hole.

you can test the DIS coils by disconnecting the spark plug wires and have a second person crank the engine, you should be able to see the spark jump from tower to tower.

if you have spark and fuel, then thats leading more to bad valves, but thats alot harder. is that the SOHC or DOHC?, how many miles, and how much oil does it burn.

how i know is because i took the plug wire off and it didn't change a thing. no i'm not using platium plugs. if i remember right the one plug was cover in oil or blow by. thanks for your help any more help would be nice thank you

i forgot something the motor still runs

its a sohc.ut has about 200k and 1 qt about 350+ miles

heres the thing about the DIS, it called a waste-spark system. it fire two spark plugs at once(in this case 1 & 4 and 2 & 3 fire together). other systems jumps the spark from the coil thru the spark plug to ground, the waste spark system jumps the spark from the coil, to one spark plug, thru the cylinder head to the other spark plug and back to the coil. confused yet? so basicly if you pull the wire off number one it will kill number four too.

so i'm not sure if just pulling off the wire proves its number one.

anyway. first double check the coil leading to 1 and 4 like i said above by checking for a spark tower to tower. and clean that plug.

1 qt every 350 and the fouled plug lead me to beleave MASSIVE blow-by. the oil fouled plug maybe the problem. or the blowby is so bad the intake air/fuel is going past the rings, instead of compressing.

sometimes a "MMO soak" will clean up the piston rings. look over at saturnfans.com in the how-to section, it was posted my Wolfman. after that, a steam cleaning may help also, but i wouldn't steam clean with a dead cylinder

oh yeah, any SES light?

do you guys think rebuilding the cyclinder head would work? the good thing and bad think about this car is i bought the ar cheep and the bad is i dont have alot of cash now

if you mean the check engin light yes but when it happends the engine rev up and back down.thank you for your help.

are you saying the engine revs up and down by itself?is the SES ever consently on long enough so you can pull the code?

rebuilding anything is a long way away. to start, do the MMO soak. it also sounds like your intake is gunked up, so spray some intake cleaner into the throddle body. check your PCV valve(don't use any PCV valve except the one from saturn), take the EGR off and clean it to, you should get a new gasket, but if you can't, the old one may still work, decide for yourself. also, if you never have before, replace the ECT, its a $15 piece that will pay for itself in gas mileage. the old nylon ECT were crap, replace it with the new brass ECT

yes the check engine light comes on so i should have a code in the computer. what is the ect?

i think i'll try the mmo soak, i put and new throddle body on

ECT = electronic coolent temp sensor

you don't need a new throddle body, just clean it out.

i don't know if you'll be able to pull the codes or not. but heres how, do this with key on engine off.

under the dash, by the hood poper, there is a termial, 2 high, 14 or 16 wide i think. there will be only three wires hooked up to it. all on the right side, two on top one on bottom. with the engine off, put the paper clip in the two top holes, shorting it out. the SES light will blink the codes.

IE one blink, pause, two blinks, pause is 12
three blinks, pause, six blinks, pause is 36

each code is repeated three times, then it goes to the next code, once all codes are read, it goes back to the first and repeats. the first code is always 12, its "Diagnostic System Check"

the codes are:
Diagnostic Codes
11. Transaxle Codes present
12. Diagnostic System Check
13. Oxygen sensor, circuit open or not ready
14. CTS circuit, out of range high
15. CTS circuit, out of range low
17. PCM fault, pullup resistor
19. 6x signal fault, no 6x signal between reference pulses
21. TPS circuit, out of range high
22. TPS circuit, out of range low
23. ATS circuit, out range low
24. VSS circuit, no signal
25. ATS circuit, out or range high
26. Quad Driver output fault
32. EGR system fault
33. MAP sensor circuit, out of range high
34. MAP sensor circuit, out of range low
35. IAC valve, rpm out of range
41A EST circuit open
41B EST circuit shorted
42A Bypass circuit grounded
42B Bypass circuit open
42C Bypass circuit shorted
41. EST bypass, open or shorted
42. EST bypass, open or shorted
43. ECS (knock sensor) circuit open or shorted
44. Oxygen sensor indicates system lean
45. Oxygen sensor indicates system rich
46. Power steering pressure switch circuit, open
49. Idle rpm out of limit high (vacuum leak)
51. PCM memory error
55. A/D converter error in PCM
81. ABS message fault (1993 vehicles with TCS)
82 PCM internal communication fault


Diagnostic Flags
27. Quick quad driver output fault (1993 only)
48. Reference imput intermittent or noisy
52. Battery voltage out of range
53. ESC knock present
54. Five volt reference ground
58. Battery voltage unstable
61. 6x signal fault
63. Option check sum error
67. Handwheel sensor circuit fault
71. Cooling system temperature high
72. Coolinng system temeprature low
73. CTS sensor unstable
74. CTS/transaxle temperatuer sensor ratio error
76. ATS sensor unstable
83. Low coolant (1993 only)

im going to try this stuff tomarrow i'll tell you what happends

heres what i have done up to this point. i have no codes in the ecm, the new pcv doesn't work. im tring the mmo right now it will be done in the morning. so other than what you said already any other ideas? thanks again

hook a vacuum gauge to it. if it flutters it is probably a burnt valve.you may also have a hole in a piston. it will lose vacuum on the intake stroke of the damaged cylinder. my sl1 did this a long time ago. if your vacuum reading is relatively flat, then you have a fuel or ignition problem. it does not sound like an ignition problem. if it is an ignition prob, it will move if you swap your plug wires...

no dice the mmo may help but it didn't help this problem.i'll try hooking up a guage.

so far nothing has worked i'm about too give up.the good news is the temp is back to normal.so this is what i tryed to date. i put in a new pcv,the mmo,new spark plugs,wires,a vac gage,cross the towers on the coils,took a look at the vavle train.when i did that i found 5 or 6 loose rockers.if any one has any other ideas please help

i forget too add a new thermostate

have you had a lot of ticking valve noises lately?

hate to say it but it's sounding more and more like your valvetrain is crapping out.

did you mean there was to much lifter to rocker clearance? were they on the intake or exhaust side?

yes there is ticking noises but only a high rpm. both sides of the valvetrain intake and exhaust.i didnt check how much clearance

if the valve train is going i have one other question. would a dohc heads fit this block? and what eles would i have too change?

and you said the vacuum gauge read steady right?

you said its been burning oil, did you ever let it get to low?

how did those old spark plugs look? all the same or different.

ever hear of a cylinder leak down test?

the vac guage stayed steady,it never got that low i checked the oil every day,when i got this car i change the plugs first and everything looked ok,then after the problem the 1-2-3 looked good and the 4 oil fouled( the firing order is 4-1-2-3),the last thing is yes i have but i dont know how to do it?

to be completely honist, i don't remember exactly how. i've only done one a year ago. but as i recall you put the cylinder at TDC compression, take the spark plug out and put in some type of "adaptor" hooked up to a hand pump. you fill the cylinder up with air, and see how long it leaks down. but the part of it i'm interested in is that sometimes you can hear where the air is leaking out. since you said the vacuum gauge was steady that says intake valves are ok and leads to the head gasket, exhaust valve, or rings being bad.

if it was the head gasket, you would most likey be looseing coolent too. i doubt thats it.

if it the rings it goes back to the blowby, i forgot to say earlier another sign of blow by is the dipstick will pop-up a little after about 5 or 10 minutes of driving. the saturn rings are real brittle. if the MMO did nothing, they may just be so bad they need replaced.

last is the exhaust valve not closing. this may be a burn valve, but the way you described the cylinder head, i think there is your problem, hard to say where. i have a feeling that with 200k that cylinder head is on its way out, its just one valve is a little more worn then the rest.

was there any patten of witch rockers where loose?
maybe less on the timing chain side and more on the transmission side?

there was no pattern to the loose valves that i remember but i think im going to look at them again.my guess is the ring or valves.im going to start looking for a used head.any ideas?as i said before im dont have much money.

the 95s have unique cylinder heads, no other year will fit

also, something i was just reminded of on the sc forum, on some of the SOHC, the intake gasket can get sucked in to the runners. i'm still sticking with the valves or rings, but its just something to test.

i would do the leak down test before buying a new head

ok i'll try the leak down test. as you said i'm not sure how to do it but i'll try.the thing i forgot to say is also when i put in a new therm the car is running better but not perfit.

did you also put in a new ECT?

I haven't done it yet because of lack of money but when I put a new thermastat in it ran a little better.

I have one other thing I thought of.If the ECT is out wouldn't a code bt on?I do get payed this friday so thats when i'll get the ECT.

no code, the old ones crack and just read low, be sure to get the new "all-brass" design straght from the dealer

ok i think i'll try that next within 1 day

is there any way to change the idle on the motor?Because I change the hose between the intake and the pcv when the car was running and the motor went into high idle and the car ran better.The ect from starun was the wrong conector so im going to return it and try to get a new one from them.

is there any way to change the idle on the motor?Because I change the hose between the intake and the pcv when the car was running and the motor went into high idle and the car ran better.

lets do that as a last resort. change the ECT first

well i tryed the ect and it didn't do a thing.so by you i need a new heads.fun fun fun.unless you can think of something eles.

you really shouldn't do this but...

take off the air intake duct, near the spring on the throdlle body there is a screw covered by a little rubber stub. that is the idle adjusting srcew.

thanks for your help and im going to try a used head.