My 2002 Saturn SL1 has been very poor with acceleration and with maintaining speeds for about two years now. After every intersection stop, my car is always holding others back for 3 times as long as any other driver, because it takes so long to acellerate. Sometimes, when going up a hill, around a 90 degree turn in a rural area, for example, the RPM will climb up above 4k. When driving on the highway, if there is only a slight incline not even percievable to the eye, I will need to keep easing my foot on the pedal (to no avail), until finally it jumps from about 2k RPM to over 3k RPM. During this process, I will have lost 5 to 10 MPH of speed. I simply can't drive in the left lane anymore.
I notice that oftentimes it feels like there is much tremor/action going on under the hood, but the car is just not thrusting. It's as if the engine is running in circles around itself, and doing nothing for the rest of the car. The SES light will come on for months, but then will go off again for months, and at first it seemed to be due to colder weather, but now it does it even in the summer. I also notice that sometimes when I attempt to break, there will be a delay in breaking because little bursts of thrust occur, and I can seem to feel the engine wanting to keep acellerating RPMS. This naturally results in my needing to gently and repetively tap my breaks (though this particular issue seems to happen less often, and more so in cold weather.)
I have also noticed dark stains which appear like "steam stains" around the outer perimeter of my fuel tank door.
I have already had the fuel injected and the filter changed, new transaxel fluid, new spark plugs, new battery, and many other services, to no avail. I have changed the oil religiously since I have own the car.
I notice that oftentimes it feels like there is much tremor/action going on under the hood, but the car is just not thrusting. It's as if the engine is running in circles around itself, and doing nothing for the rest of the car. The SES light will come on for months, but then will go off again for months, and at first it seemed to be due to colder weather, but now it does it even in the summer. I also notice that sometimes when I attempt to break, there will be a delay in breaking because little bursts of thrust occur, and I can seem to feel the engine wanting to keep acellerating RPMS. This naturally results in my needing to gently and repetively tap my breaks (though this particular issue seems to happen less often, and more so in cold weather.)
I have also noticed dark stains which appear like "steam stains" around the outer perimeter of my fuel tank door.
I have already had the fuel injected and the filter changed, new transaxel fluid, new spark plugs, new battery, and many other services, to no avail. I have changed the oil religiously since I have own the car.
Aug 14, 2010 at 8:55 PM