97' Saturn SL2

CG4108

MEMBER
1997 SATURN SL2
4 CYL
2WD
AUTOMATIC
62,000 MILES

I bought my Saturn, used, with almost 62,000 miles on it. After two weeks of owning the vehicle and being very satisfied with its performance, I decided to take it on a trip instead of my Dodge to save me some gas money. The way up it did fine except in the last hour the heat stopped working. The last day of my trip I added some antifreeze, checked my other fluid levels, and left. 75 miles down the road my oil pressure light comes on so I pull of at the next exit. I let the oil settle for about 15-20 minutes, checked it and found it to be low. I put in 2qts of 10w-30 oil and continued my trip home. Not even a mile from the last exit the check engine light comes on, as well as the oil light again, and it starts knocking. I pull into the emergency lane and start to loose power. I make it the last mile to the next exit and barely make it to the first gas station before it just wont go anymore. I was towed to the dealership. The car still comes on, it just knocks really bad. There was plenty of oil in the car when we got to the dealership. They are saying it is the timing belt but wouldn't that prevent the car from even starting? I need help on seeing what could be wrong with this car.

1 Reply

SATURNTECH9

MECHANIC
30,869 POSTS

That car has a timing chain not a timing belt the timing chain could be making noise. As far as the timing chain keeping the engine from starting if the timing chain jumped enough then yes the engine wouldn't start. But the timing chain doesn't usually make a knocking noise. It's usually more of a clatter or sound's kinda like a saw cutting something. Sound's like you ran the engine low on oil and damaged something the oil has to be really low for the oil light to come on almost out of oil. Usually when that happens you damage the rod bearing's not the timing chain especially since you said the noise is really loud sound's more like a rod bearing. You could let the car idle and pull one spark plug wire loose at a time and listen for the noise to stop. Then put the wire back on and go to the next one and see if the noise stop's. If the noise stop's while pulling any of the wire's or get's quieter then it's not the chain it's the rod bearing. As far as the check engine light I would deal with the knocking first. Let me know what you find.