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i have a 2002 saturn sl. i recently got this car and i am trying to sort out a few issues with it. i have a “service ungine soon” light and codes p0340 and p0341 come up. i have cleared them many times, but they reappear. these codes are cam position sensor codes but these cars do not have a cam sensor. basically from what i could come up with looking online is that when these codes come up it basically means you need a tune up. so i put new plugs and plug wires on, cleaned all contact points (coil towers, ignition control module surfices..) but the codes keep coming back. what i have read is almost 100% of the time when you do this the codes go away. i bought a haynes service manual and looked up how to test the coils. it says to test the secondary resistance, by testing ohms between each coil tower. it says for older models 91-96, this should test between 7,000 to 10,000 ohms. and for 97 and later models it should test 8,000 to 15,000 ohms. well i tested both my coils and i got 7,460(1-4) and 7,430(2-3). so if i go by my manual this would probably mean that both coils are bad… the only thing is this doesnt set right with me. it just doesnt seem like both coils would go bad, and both have the same resistance… it just seems odd. also MANY things in this book seem incorrect. i have had issues with haynes books before. but this is the worst one i have seen. it looks like they wrote the book in 1994 and did a VERY poor job of updating it for later models. a side note to this is i also went to test the primary resistance. but according to the book i was supposed to test between a purple and a yellow wire. only thing is there was no yellow wire…
i am very confused on how to go about finding out what is wrong with this car. i want to get it on the road. but i want to get these issues sorted out first.
i also want to mention a VERY important thing here. when i first got this car home the battery would die every time i would shut the car off. and i could not restart it without giving it a jump with my booster pack. well i put my battery tester on to check the alternator while the car was running and i accidently hit the button to add a load onto the system. this killed the engine. i restarted it and everything seemed fine. but it was only a few minutes or retarts after that that the engine light came on…. i am not sure if i might have fried some things out when i did that or not… it may have been a coincidence though because this car had been setting for more than 1 year before i brought it home. so this could have been an issue before i even got the car. but could what i did have caused any damage? and if so would it maybe have burned out both of my coils, or the pcm, or the ignition control module???
i would really appreciate anyones insight into this situation. THANKS!
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i forgot. i also want to note that the car has a bit of a rough idle. and when it gets warm it has a misfire. but not so much when first started and cold. sometimes only a slight mis, and others a very pronounced constant one. also the idle can become erradic at times. sometimes it will want to stick at around 2000rpm and just stay there. other times it will drop down and almost quit, but then bounce back up again on its own… it also seems to idle lower than it really is. say like at 750-800rpm on the tach, it will sound and act more like its at 450-500 rpm… but if i hold the peddle steady at a constant higher rpm it runs very well… also this car has a manual transmission… also i did put a brand new battery in…
I have an SL-1, had the same issues. My coil pack checked good but was grounded. The test in the Haynes Manual did not test for that. The engines are noted for intake gasket failure near the left side of the engine (mine was bad). Run the water hose over the intake to see if the idle changes to test for a leak. Finally, clean the IAC and EGR. My IAC was actually OK but the inside of the intake was full of soot. Hold the throttle body open and look inside.
BTY the previous owner had replaced the CAT and it ran so bad with the dead coil pack he thought the engine was shot with 225K miles. It runs great now just consumes a little oil.
i agree with the above. a lot of your issues could be build up of carbon in the intake or blown gasket. Buy a couple cans of carb cleaner and remove your intake. hold open the throttle valve on the intake and clean the shit out of the deep insides.
Some people remove the throttle body completely and clean on the bench to make sure they get access to the deep insides of it, but there’s issues finding gaskets for the throttle bodies of these cars so i recommend trying to do it still installed first. This might help a little
might want to invest in a service manual not chiltons or haynes if you can find a factory one it would be a good purchase.
the intake gasket very well could have a leak. and that may be what is causing my erradic idle issues. but im pretty sure it wouldnt cause the p0340 code… ill check it with some carb cleaner when i mess with it again. i think the garden hose idea is very bad. i wouldnt want to get water into my engine like that if it was leaking. if anything you would want to use a spray bottle with some water it in. but i much rather use a substance that will ignite once in the engine… plus in the middle of winter where i am at, there are no such things as running outdoor hoses… although we did just have a crazy heat wave… im sure ill figure it out eventually. i think what i really need is a factory service manual. haynes books just suck. i might just try and get an ignition module coil pack set from a junk yard if its cheep enough. although who knows, it may too be bad. i think this is kind of a common problem with these saturns. i will also clean my throttle body… but i know that with those codes there is an ignition issue…. and since i already cleaned everything, put in new plugs and wires… it must be the coils, ignition module, or pcm… god i hope its not the pcm! hahaha
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