94 Sl2 problem with power loss and battery goes dead

Hi,
Could someone please tell me what the problem is with my 94 Saturn Sl2? It seems to loose power going up hill. Also I have put in a new alternator and battery, because the battery would go dead after driving for a while. ABS light remains on as well. Also have pinging noise coming from below the emergency brake area, after I have driven it for a little while. Even if it sits idling at times, it will drag down the battery or something, because it will kill and go dead. Could there be a short somewhere? Thanx in advance.

If you had the alternator replaced, you shouldnt have problems with the battery going dead - so there has to be another problem involved. You might want to check that the negative battery cable is in good condition. This may require removing the air linlet duct to see the wire. If you measure the battery voltage, it should be about 12.6 on a battery just sitting in a car with the engine NOT running & no lights on. With the engine running it should jump up to maybe 13.7-14.3 volts, and slowly make its way up to as high as 15 volts or a little more - after a few minutes running. Anything much different from this (either higher or lower) means you still have something in the electrical system that isnt right.
The rattle below the handbrake lever could be a loose heat shield, between the car and the catylytic converter. Usually folks just let these rattle. If its the heat shield on the cat. conv. itself - it is needed to prevent overheating the bottom of the car.


Tell us how many miles on the car, and whether it uses a lot of motor oil. Loss of power can be a number of things, from a catylytic converter clogging up, to a mashed exhaust pipe, even a bad Engine Coolant Temperature Sensor (ECTS).
You might want to do a search on this forum using the words:
"losing power"
I dont have a car with ABS brakes, but if I did, I woudnt be driving around with the light on; and not fix it, or get it checked out.

If you had the alternator replaced, you shouldnt have problems with the battery going dead - so there has to be another problem involved. You might want to check that the negative battery cable is in good condition. This may require removing the air linlet duct to see the wire. If you measure the battery voltage, it should be about 12.6 on a battery just sitting in a car with the engine NOT running & no lights on. With the engine running it should jump up to maybe 13.7-14.3 volts, and slowly make its way up to as high as 15 volts or a little more - after a few minutes running. Anything much different from this (either higher or lower) means you still have something in the electrical system that isnt right.
The rattle below the handbrake lever could be a loose heat shield, between the car and the catylytic converter. Usually folks just let these rattle. If its the heat shield on the cat. conv. itself - it is needed to prevent overheating the bottom of the car.


Tell us how many miles on the car, and whether it uses a lot of motor oil. Loss of power can be a number of things, from a catylytic converter clogging up, to a mashed exhaust pipe, even a bad Engine Coolant Temperature Sensor (ECTS).
You might want to do a search on this forum using the words:
"losing power"
I dont have a car with ABS brakes, but if I did, I woudnt be driving around with the light on; and not fix it, or get it checked out.



Sorry for the delay in reply.
There is 150,000 miles on car and it uses about a quart to every 1000 miles. The noise under the emergency brake location sounds like a ticking noise. It will keep making the noise even though it has been shut off for hours. I replaces the ECTS a while back. I hit a deer about a month ago with it and ever since then I have been having these problems that I mentioned above. I haven't driven it very much these past few weeks because of the ABS light comes on and because the battery goes dead after driving it. Would it be a short somewhere maybe? The loosing power just has been doing it lately also. I did a search and couldn't find anything.

I guess you still have the problem of the car losing power going up hills - as well as the battery going dead.
So, two things I would do.
1. Drive it to a level parking lot, shut the motor off, but leave the key in the ignition, so you can put the car in neutral, with the handbrake off. Of course be careful the car isnt going to roll anywhere. Then see if you can push the car by hand. Unless the lot isnt level, or you have a very low tire, you should be able to push it with one hand and keep it moving. If it wont go forward, try backward - since even a parking lot that seems level usually has some slope for water drainage. If you cant move it by hand - it could be you have some brakes dragging. Having hit a deer means you probably applied the brakes very hard: Harder than you ever did before - and you might have a caliper or a rear wheel that is dragging. This would rob you of power.
As for the ticking nose below the emergency brake - does the car have some part of the ABS system down there? Or is there some electrical item associated with the handbrake adjustment? A hot exhaust system can make little clinking noises as it cools, but that should stop in about 5 minutes, max.

And a quart each 1000 miles is not too bad for 150,000 miles. Saturn S series cars are known for their oil appetite - but if you keep checking the oil, the engine will run for a long long time. Several forum members here have well over 300,000 miles on the engine. One guy has over 500,000 on his saturn engine - and its never been apart or rebuilt.

2. Check how much current draw there is from the battery when your car is shut off. You need to disconnect one side of the battery (preferrably the negative side), and put an ammeter in 'series' with the battery negative socket and the negative battery cable. I suppose your car has 'side terminals', so you might need to buy adapters, in order to be able to attach an ammeter there. If you are using a digital VOM, start with the 10 amp scale. If it shows all zeros or a small number, then switch to a scale for 500 milliamps or so. With the doors shut, the radio off, ignition off, etc. - your car should draw less than 15 milliamps (.015 amps) from the battery. My 92 SL2 drew about 3 milliamps. Half of that was probably because of the radio's memory sustaining current, the rest for the PCM memory sustain.
If you have one of those !#$%@&! radios with the 'anti-theft' feature where it wont work again after having once disconnected the battery - you would need to learn how to handle that, and put in its 'security code'.

Do your mouse belts work properly? The module for those is under the e-brake handle.

I had the same problem with the same car lol, ok so i may have drove mine in the drink but the problem remains the same. I changed the battery, alternator, and all the wiring. Still the problem existed, i tried the process of elimination and nothing, finally i got my self convinced the only other possible issue had to be coming from that battery and alternator however Ive had em both tested and there testing good, except the battery wasn't gaining enough power, i drained the oil dropped the pan resealed it put a new filter and last but certainly not least a serpentine belt....i figure although it was rotating perhaps it wasn't quick enough so a new belt my car runs like new...the oil pan was jus cuz simply im blond and had too much time on my hands the belts 30 bucks and unless its been changed recently what do you have to loose right? Good luck!

I have a 93 Saturen SL2 that did the exact thing yours did. Did you ever find out what the problem was? I would really appreciate knowing