2000 Saturn shutting off.

MRAMIREZ80

MEMBER
2000 SATURN
194,000 MILES

My 2000 Saturn is shutting off every time I come to a stop or even slow down. In the morning the RPMS run crazy but after I leave the car off for about an hr it will run fine the rest of the day till the next morning. Or even if I have it off all day and it's in the middle of the day it will do it to. Basically every time I turn it on after it's been off overnight. I have replaced the fuel filter, starter, spark plugs, and battery, all have not fixed the problem. I also noticed some smoke coming from the hood and the engine was really hot, although the gauge says it's still cool. I got it checked at Auto Zone and the mass air flow sensor came up. I am told it is $200? So I wanted to make sure that's what it is before I buy it. I am a nursing student with very limited funds I can't afford this right now :/ Please help.

7 Replies

WRENCHTECH

MECHANIC
20,758 POSTS

You have to fix your known problems first, regardless of whether they are the issue you are looking for or not. Before changing the sensor, make sure there are no holes or leaks in the intake snorkel. Let me warn you about one thing right now. DO NOT use a reman or generic brand sensor on this. Use NEW DELCO only. I had one of these just yesterday and put 4 new sensors on it and a problem with all of them until I bought a new Delco. Even a reman Delco was bad.