Will not start

DAN CARTER2

MEMBER
2005 SATURN VUE
2.2L
4 CYL
2WD
AUTOMATIC
189,000 MILES

The other morning I came out and started the car just fine before taking my girlfriend to work. I let it heat up for about 10 minutes. When I was ready to leave I got in the car and noticed my heater blower was really quiet and I had it on the highest setting. I gave the car some gas and the rpm's went up and c e back down but stuck on 1000. When I gave it gas again the rpm's wouldn’t move. So I turned the car off and tried starting it again but the car would only make a clicking noise. I replaced the crankshaft sensor and the starter but still have no luck starting it. There is now white smoke coming out of the intake. Battery is fully charged. The timing belt moves just fine along with other belts.

3 Replies

SCGRANTURISMO

MECHANIC
4,897 POSTS

Hello,

This sounds like you might have a blown head gasket. Usually white smoke indicates that coolant is being burnt in the combustion chamber of your vehicle. There are a couple of tests to confirm the condition of the head gasket and I have included links to both of them below:

https://www.2carpros.com/articles/how-to-test-engine-compression
https://www.2carpros.com/articles/head-gasket-blown-test

Please go through these guides and get back to us with what you are able to find out, and we can go from there.

Thanks,
Alex
2CarPros

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Tuesday, February 9th, 2021 AT 8:27 AM

DAN CARTER2

MEMBER
2 POSTS

So how would I go about fixing the issue first? I'm really relying on this car and have very little money after buying the starter and the crankshaft sensor. What is the easiest route? I heard that my coil packet might be bad and have read up that it is a common problem with the 2.2 liter ecotec 4 cylinder. It was running just fine until all this happened. Would your answer be the cause of why the blower seemed weak and the rpm gauge got stuck? Like I said before, the car started perfectly fine until I got back in the car and when I turned it off and tried go start it again, all it did was click.

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Tuesday, February 9th, 2021 AT 8:27 AM

SCGRANTURISMO

MECHANIC
4,897 POSTS

Hello again,

Okay, my mistake. I misunderstood the question. So this sounds like it could be a short to power between the Controller Area Network wires and your vehicle's starting circuit. Also there could be a problem with the ground strap going from the engine block to the vehicle frame. This would account for the white smoke as the amperage from the battery would encounter high unwanted resistance on it's way back to the negative battery terminal. In the diagrams down below I have included the wiring diagrams for the Controller Area Network and the starting circuit for your vehicle. I have also included guides on how to find unwanted resistance in an automotive electrical circuit with voltage drop and the causes of unwanted resistance in an automotive electrical circuit for you as well. Please go through these guides and inspect the wiring harness and ground strap and get back to us with what you are able to find out. You will need to use a Digital Multi-meter [DMM] to use these guides so here is a link below explaining the use of one, if needed:

https://www.2carpros.com/articles/how-to-use-a-voltmeter

Thanks,
Alex
2CarPros

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