Saturn has died! (at least for now)
 

:mad: I was on my way home from Indianapolis today and things were looking good as far as mileage goes when, all of a sudden at 55-60 mph, the engine died. The first thing I thought of was that my injector kill switch had malfunctioned so I started jiggling that but, nothing. I took the relay off that I was using for the injector-kill and jumpered the wires just in case the contacts in the relay had went bad; still nothing. I then checked to see if I was getting fuel; I was. I checked all of my fuses; they were all good. I then checked for spark by puuling a plug and putting the wire on it and holding it against the A/C bracket while the wife cranked the engine; I had spark. By the way, my wires are still in good shape because I didn't get knocked on my butt.:p I ended up calling a towing service close to my home and getting towed back to my house. The tow-truck guy was nice enough to hook his car up to the wrecker before he left his place and brought it with him so the four of us would have a ride home. The distance was 85 miles. OUCH!! I'm not going to say how much the tow bill was yet but, let's say just that any fuel savings I have ever had with this car are gone, at least once over. I will pull the valve cover in the morning after I locate a torx bit and see what's waiting for me. Luckily, if that's possible to say, I have the next two weeks off for our summer shutdown.

ouch. if your getting fuel and your getting spark and its cranking... with no prior loss in mpg... i dont know what the problem could be...

I forgot to mention that there was some valvetrain noise but it only sounded like a sticky lifter. While I was cranking the starter trying to get going today, I don't hear that noise any more. If I'm lucky-there I go again:p - it was something simple like the timing gear/chain let loose. The problem with that theroy is that I replaced the chain, tensioner, and guides when I did the head swap. GRR!
EDIT: Also, there was no noise or warning before the engine died.

Well, at least there was no clunk/"what's my rod doing on the road behind us?"

Good luck with a solution!

Yeah, and no signs of shrapnel flying around the engine compartment.

My uncle heard no clunk, his car just stalled. He got it working again but the whole car was shaking like crazy and undrivable. The mechanic found rods in the engine bay.

Saturn has died!

I hate when that happens!!! Warning Light and scan codes??

Unfortunately, no light at all. If it had I would at least have a starting point. I told the wrecker driver that I had power to my injectors and he said I should check to make sure that the ECU is making them cycle. On my car at least, the ECU switches the ground off and on to run the injectors.

testing
 

First thing I would do is compression check which tells if you have valves working, then run it on starter fluid or propane from a torch bottle with the nozzle removed into a vacuum line or the intake - this eliminates the fuel and it should idle on propane injection without flooding it and will check to see if ignition is working, last would be fuel delivery at the correct timing. Pulling the plugs to do the compression test will also show the combustion quality when it died.

^^that sounds like the right plan of action

I just got the valve cover off and didn't see anything wrong with the head/valvetrain. I did, however, find pieces of metal wedged in between the timing chain and cam gear and is preventing any valve action.

time for pics

I will have to get it into my garage and up on jack-stands before I can get pics. I tried to get one of the pieces out but it slipped down further. It looks like I will have to tear the front cover off. This involves removing the top motor mount and the belt and tensioner then, I can I get to start on the dozen or so bolts holding the front cover on. From what Icould see of the metal, it almost looks like alluminum.:confused:

hummm... chain tensioner broke or head gasket material.

i hope hypermiling hasn't ****ed up his saturn. This be a bad case agaist us.

This doesn't sound like hypermiling to me, :p

My dad's timing belt snapped, just happens sometimes.

Also, working at the shop for only a month I saw about a half dozen tensioners fail.

My preliminary examination doesn't suggest that. The head itself seems to be fine. Everything (rocker arms etc.) seems to be snug and in their proper place. I would tend to agree with JanGeo about it being a chain guide. If you saw them you would wonder how they do their job. I did replace them when I did the head swap. Until I get the front cover off I beleive this was due to a random FUBAR incident.:p

I guess you don't have any bent valves or anything then, which is good, :)

My brother says that the timing for the injectors may be screwed up also - not timed with the cam properly would result in gas injection when the valves are closed and causing gas puddles but that would not totally kill the engine - more likely timing slip on the chain/belt or a snapped keyway? I don't know the valve train to know for sure. At least it didn't lockup on you.

I'm leaning towards the timing chain guides or a snapped keyway. I'll tear into it in the morning.

Update-TOAST!
 

I got the cover off and found a real mess. The chain guides had self destructed, one of the bolts is completely missing, half of one chain guide is missing, the timing chain is broken, the chain tensioner came apart, and three teeth are gone off of the crank gear. All of the missing parts are most likely in the oil pan.:mad: It sounds like I could get a new car for what it would take to fix this one.:(

Yeowch! :eek: That sucks man. New car vs. Big repair = dilemma. :confused: :(

Time to get a Civic VX...

or a Swift Clone ;)

Seriously though, that really isn't a good thing. Last year I was driving to Las Vegas with my wife and two nieces in the car when the car just died. I blew the head gasket because my coolant hose was leaking. It ended up costing me over $800 (plus hotel room and rental car) to fix. I could have just purchased another 89 civic for that much and driven home. Then again today I could buy the parts myself and just replace it in a few hours time.

Can you get another engine for cheap and just swap them out?

I'm not sure. I have been hearing that it would cost $1500-$1800 to do that. I would have to have it done since my engine swapping skills/tools are probably not good enough to get it done in the next 2 weeks.:mad: I'm going to start cruising Ebay.

Diamondlarry: Doe's it look like the tensioner failed or does it look more like the chain got stretched or something? It sounds like something you could fix, but you would need to put in replacement guide rails, new tensioner and the chain. How much would it cost you for parts and is it something you think you might be up to? I had a Pinto Station wagon once, that had a V6. It used a nylon/plastic timing gear, which shattered. I figured I'd just replace it, but on that car they didn't make anything to be worked on in the car. I'd of been better off to have terminated it out of my existence. Good Luck!

Mehbe you should buy dan's del sol, :p

He already offered it to me. The problem is, I can't buy it for the same reason he's getting rid of it; not enough seats.:(

Yeah, the car's not good looking enough to be allowed to be a 2 seater. :D

Timing chain strikes again! Sorry about that bad news there buddy. Chain tensioners are tricky things.
I snapped a timing belt on my Morini 500 one time, bent valves.

At least I lucked out with the head/valves.:) After doing some more inspection tonight, I noticed that one of the chain guide bolts took a chunk of the block with it when it fell out.:(

Update: It looks like this may be my next car. https://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eB...tem=4653857574 My bid met the reserve and there is only an hour and 50 or so minutes left.

Sweet, I've been there!

I'm hoping I can talk a friend of mine in the Harrisburg, PA area into picking it up for me if I win. It's a little over an 11 hour trip from my house.

Wow, 2 ebay buys in 2 days for gassavers! Will your modified head fit?

I'm not sure if my head will fit or not. If it doesn't, I have heard of some very interesting things that can be done to the DOHC heads for FE improvements. There may possibly be more potential in the DOHC than the SOHC. It looks like I may find out.

Best of luck on this one. Are you going to part out your old car, or sell it as a parts car?

Funny when I looked only 1 minute left. Good luck!

EDITED to: OOPS I thought you got that one. Sorry about that.

Sorry Larry.:(

So did Larry get the saturn on e-bay or somebody else did?