1998 sl2 stalls when i come to a stop, but drives fine down the road. once

stalled it restarts okay in park or neutral but as soon as i put it in

drive the car shakes violently and stalls. i have to rev up the motor and

slam it into drive to get it to go, but it seems to be bogging out until i

get up to speed. my check engine light is on and the auto zone guy said

that the error codes indicate a faulty camshaft sensor and faulty tranny

temp sensor. also,when i start the car in the morning the temp gauge on

the dash indicates a hot engine temp even if the car is cold...any

help/advice would be appreciated, this is my only way to work

p.s. if i have to replace the camshaft sensor or tranny temp sensor is it

a major pain in the butt?

many thanks, cj

Sounds like several issues here ... If the engine temp gauge says the engine

is hot when it is cold, then either the Coolant Temperature Sensor, wiring,

or the gauge is defective. I'd put my money on the CTS and replace that.

(These are cheap and easy to fix and are known to fail quite often, but

usually fail open and show a cold engine even when hot.)

I do not believe an SL2 has a cam sensor (only a crank sensor?), so will

leave others on this news group or do a search in Saturn Fans Forum (do a

Google search) to know for sure.

On the transmission temp, could this be the CTS and maybe someone translated

the code incorrectly for you? If not, check the wiring to the transmission

temp sensor and replace it if the CTS does not fix it. I've never replaced

that sensor, but suspect once you find it it will be fairly trivial, like

most sensors.

Good luck.

Bob

"cj" <changbah@charter.n­et> wrote in message

news:bV4qj.80$Lk7.5­@newsfe05.lga...

Bob Shuman wrote:

hi bob, thanks for the response. this past weekend i took the car in and

the mechanic told me that the tranny was stuck in overdrive due to a

faulty solenoid and for about $400 he would fix it.today a coworker

suggested that i disable the solenoid...not sure how to do it....anyone

with any info or suggestions?

thanks, cj

I've changed a Saturn trans solenoid myself previously on my son's 1996

SL1 . It wasn't too terribly difficult given the cover access on top. I

also posted how to diagnose an open solenoid in Saturn Fans Forum using a

simple ohm meter. (I have re-posted it below for your info):

After removing the outer cover (13 bolts) and then removing 19 more bolts

that held the internal solenoid cover in place, I was able to remove the

solenoids themselves. There were 5 in total and 4 of them measured 4.4 to

4.5 ohms each which agreed with the information that Bill Biggs had

provided (they should be 4-6 ohms when "cold"). The 5th solenoid however

measured just 0.6 ohms so appears to have an internal short. This solenoid

is the last in the string nearest the front of the vehicle and I presume

the

one that modulates the fluid pressure. Since it was not working, the

shifts

were getting full pressure which almost certainly would have caused a

catastrophic problem if we had continued to drive the vehicle and ignored

the "clunking" noise.

I plan to pick up a replacement solenoid tomorrow at the dealer along with

a

new cover gasket and then put it all back together and have it back on the

road sometime later this week. Special thanks to Bill Biggs ( a.k.a.

webacraft on the SaturnFans Forum) for his assistance and to Blah Blah,

Steve, and Curmudgeon for their replies.

I hope that this thread may help someone else down the road if they

experience the same problem.

Bob

"cj" <changbah@charter.n­et> wrote in message

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