1997 Saturn SL1 Dies when driving

First of all thank u so much for ur donation it really helps to keep this site going to answer everyones questions. When the car stalls and doesn't restart for ten mins does it crank over but not start?If it does that then try to get it to shut off at ur house when it doesn't restart unbolt two spark plug wires from ur coil pack where u have two coil posts expossed right next to each other then don't touch the car have someone crank the car over while u watch for a spark jumping between the two coil posts if it doesn't then it looses spark when it stalls let me know more about the mo start and we will go from there.
Louie

It sounds like a bad crank sensor but iam trying to narrow it down to that. By having u check for spark when it doesnt start. If u had a scanner that could read engine rpm when it didnt start it would be easy to see if it was or wasnt that can u check for spark when it happens for me so we can see if were on the right or wrong track?Do u have a volt ohm meter?
Louie

Not always the case the sensor ethier just stops working or it will get hot stop working till it cools down then start working again. The sensor is like 40 there not expensive just trying to isolate it to that without tools. Let me know about the spark though. Talk to u soon.
Louie

Did u ever check for spark when the car wouldn't start?I really don't think ur fuel filter is causing ur problem. To find ur fuel filter find the line uder ur hood that goes to ur fuel rail where ur injectors go follow that back and mounted to the body of the car is ur fuel filter. Let me know about ur spark so we can fix ur car.

First of all thanks again for the donation. So u dont get spark when it doesnt start how long does it not start for?The most likely cause for no spark then it cools down and has spark is ur crank postion sensor. Only problem is u have to check it with an ohm meter when it doesnt start a good one reads 800-1200 ohms across the two terminals a bad one usually reads open. But problem being if it only happens for a short time u wont have time to test it. Only other way to test it is when it doesnt start have a scan tool ready that reads engine rpm and if it reads 0 rpm when cranking its a bad sensor. There pretty cheap under 40 I think. So let me know what u find and we will talk about what we can do.

Wow only 10 mins lasting huh ok well that sensor is under the starter so u will have to have the front of the car on jack stands up pretty high. Then let it run till it dies and wont start. Then slide under there its the sensor under the starter I belive it has a green plug with two wires going to it. Its on the right side of the back of the engine block facing straight up. The best way to test it is to remove it. Its only held in by a 10mm bolt then test across the two terminals it should read 800-1200 ohms when they test bad they will usually read open no ohms value.U might want to pick up a crank sensor just in case urs tests bad u can always return it if u dont need it. Let me know how it goes.

The only thing I know of that suddenly smokes is the ground wire for the key minder it shorts to power thru the ignition switch if the smoke is comming from that wire u will need to replace the switch which isn't the funniest thing to do in the world. Unless u clearly know it didn't come from the wire from the ignition switch then we should check there first. Usually they still run even with the smoke unless there was alot smoke then I don't see why it shouldn't start. Let's check for spark again if there isn't spark then let's check the crank sensor the crank sensor might have finnally given out then we can atleast figure that part out. Could u tell where the smoke was comming from was there alot of it?Let me know.

Sounds like that ground wire shorted to power.U need to get a 5.5mm nut driver that is thin and remove the upper and lower column halves and u will have to remove the igniton cyclinder once u take off the top cover put the ignition in the acc postion then find the little square button on top press and remove the cyclinder then u can get the bottom cover off. Then look at the wires and see how much damage u have they may have even melted together but as long as the copper isn't touching were ok. Let me know what u find.