Car will not go more than 5 MPH

MICHIGANPRIDE

MEMBER
2003 SATURN ION
152,000 MILES

I was angry and I hit the gas for a faster than normal take off. Now the car won't go more than 5mph. I have had the vehicle for 4 yrs and have only had to replace coils. The engine light however has always been on. I have taken the car to several mechanics for the light and all say they couldn't find any problems. They reset it and 2 days later comes right back on. My ion was running fine with no problems before I tried my fast getaway. My former mechanic looked at it for 2 mins and instantly said Cadillac converter and just to get things started would be 650$. Needless to say, I have deleted his number!

1 Reply

KASEKENNY

MECHANIC
18,907 POSTS

Unfortunately he may be correct that this is a converter issue. Basically we need to start with knowing what codes are there because I expect that will tell us what the issue is.

Here is a guide that will help with pulling codes:

https://www.2carpros.com/articles/checking-a-service-engine-soon-or-check-engine-light-on-or-flashing

However, we can also test the converter using this guide and that will confirm if this is the issue:

https://www.2carpros.com/articles/how-to-test-a-catalytic-converter

https://www.2carpros.com/articles/catalytic-converter-replacement

Once we know what the codes are and if the converter passed this test then we can move on to the torque converter. Normally a torque converter will cause a stall when the converter clutch sticks on and it stalls the engine however, if the stator on the inside of the converter is the issue it will cause very low power.

Let us know what you find with this info and we can go from there. Thanks