headgasket?

Asked by GuruWNYQ5 May 11, 2018 at 10:51 AM about the 2001 Saturn S-Series 4 Dr SL1 Sedan

Question type: Maintenance & Repair

My girlfriends 2001 sl1 is running terribly. It sputters and jerks and severely lacks power. It runs better when its cold but as it warms up the sputtering gets worse and the temp gauge gets up to the middle mark. running the heater seems to help cool it down.  The r.p.m.s got up to 4000 taking off from a stop light and the car was barely moving. wont go over 55mph usually.  it goes through oil but there isn't a leak in the driveway.  She has been told the headgasket is blown.  doesn't seem to be anything unusual in the coolant tank.  Any Ideas

1 Answer

3,475

In regards to the blown head gasket if you take off the oil cap and look on the opposite side of it and you see a bunch of Milky residue like a chocolate milk shake but gooey on the inside of the cap that means you have a blown head gasket. With the erratic idle that could be your throttle position sensor that would make your idle go up and down and play games with the engine's idle. The other thing could be too is your temp thermostat is bad the thermostat is worn out and make it overheat. The oil consumption that could be normal if you drive those cars 600 miles you usually burn almost a quart as It gets older or it could be your valve cover gasket is worn out and it seeps oil over the engine. In regards to the engine not performing from a stop and taking off then it sputters it could be your catalytic converter is clogged and that's another issue too that makes a car lose power but check your spark plugs has it had a tune-up lately hope this helps? And there are additives you can put in your fuel tank and run the engine at high revs to clean the catalytic converter if not driving on the freeway for a certain amount of Miles look online for the solution on that.

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