2000 Saturn SL1 FINICKY WHEN STARTING

CLARITYBURKE

MEMBER
2000 SATURN SL1
4 CYL
2WD
AUTOMATIC
80,000 MILES

My saturn wants to die when I start it unless I step on the gas. After revving for a few minutes the car finally starts, and a big cloud of white smoke comes out. If I try to start it throughout the day after driving for awhile it starts up fine, but it always gives me trouble starting if the car isn't "warmed up". I live in southern Cali. So I doubt this is a weather related problem.

4 Replies

MATHIASO

MECHANIC
1,209 POSTS

Hello clarityburke

Check the coolant level and report to me.
I want to make sure coolant is not leaking pass the head gasket and causing hard starting problem.

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Friday, February 19th, 2010 AT 1:14 AM

CLARITYBURKE

MEMBER
3 POSTS

My coolant is not leaking. I recently had the water pump replaced to solve a coolant leak issue. Notably, when the coolant was leaking I never had any starting issues.

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Monday, February 22nd, 2010 AT 5:15 PM

CLARITYBURKE

MEMBER
3 POSTS

Yesterday when I put the car in reverse it died, in addition to all the initial starting problems I mentioned previously. This has never happened before, and I'm worried thing are getting worse.

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Monday, February 22nd, 2010 AT 5:19 PM

MATHIASO

MECHANIC
1,209 POSTS

Hello clarityburke

The problem may be "NO FUEL, NO SPARK or NO COMPRESSION"
Let start with the "no fuel" condition.
Remove the air inlet tube from the throttle body, push the throttle open and spray a small amount of aerosol starting fluid into the engine. Crank the engine. IF it has spark and compression but NO FUEL, it will start and run a few seconds before dying. If it does NOT start, it probably a NO SPARK problem.
Report to me what you find. Report to me if there is engine light.

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+1

Monday, February 22nd, 2010 AT 11:22 PM