Saturn Wont Start

[VolcinS]

Whats up guys. Hope someone can help me with this. I have a Saturn SL2 2001 with 80k miles on it.

Recently it stopped starting (wont even crank, does nothing) all lights are on, battery is new, everything works. She was running fine and still does when i manage to start it. The way i have gotten it to start is what confuses me the most (doesn't take much to confuse me tbh, as you'll soon see. Im a noob). i was told it might be a starter problem so i googled what the starter was and what it looked like and a lot of people said i could sometimes try to bump the starter while trying to turn it on and it might start. So i hit what looked like the top of the starter and turned the ignition and BAM! she started right away. Turns out though I've been hitting the egr valve and its worked every time till now. I should mention every time i got it to start using the method above it would start no problem 3 or 4 times in a row after drives then i would have to give the egr a good knock to get it to start again.

Now she wont start no matter what i try. I've even replaced the egr valve with a new one. let me back up a bit. even when i replaced the old egr valve i would still have to give it a knock to start it. After a day or 2 of starting it like that with new valve NOW she wont start at all. Ive google my ass off about egr systems and their function in a vehicle which is why I'm more confused now than ever as to why a hardish tap on the egr valve would get it to start.

Ive cleaned out the pathways, Ive replaced the valve, I checked for codes and the only one that comes up is p0401. BTW I did all of my screw'n around after she stopped starting indefinitely.

One more note... I'm pretty low on gas so I'm going to try getting some gas into it when my girl gets back from school and hopefully that's the reason it wont start now. I'll update after i get back.

Any help would be awesome. Thanks!

[alordofchaos]

Guessing that when you hit the EGR, you basically shook the whole engine including the starter?

$38 for a starter at DB electrical
https://www.dbelectrical.com/starter.../sl/1-9-liter/

richpin's starter replacement video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YRqE9cqnn7g


See attached pics. First is EGR, located at top, driver side of engine.

Second is starter, located behind the engine (facing the firewall / rear of car). It is a little bit above the line of the oil pan, but below the air intake manifold. Note that you have to be under the car looking up to see it.

Being low on gas will not prevent your car engine from cranking. It would still crank, and start, but maybe sputter and die if it was out of gas. It would crank but only fail to start if you were completely out of gas

[floridasl22002]

If the car has a good battery that is fully charged, then the starter should turn over the engine to start it. If the car will not even turn over on the starter, you have either a starter problem or a connection to the starter problem.

Starters don't last for ever and when they go they can do so by 'sticking'. That is where the starter solenoid situated usually on top of the motor sticks and doesn't engage with the electric starter motor. A remedy for this is to whack the starter with a hammer to 'shock' the sticking solenoid free. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.

You need to sort out the turning over of the engine first. Once you have fixed that and the starter turns the engine it will fire up and run or it won't. If it doesn't, then you have another issue to deal that is unrelated to the starter.

[VolcinS]

Thanks for the replies.

I also thought that maybe the vibration from hitting the egr was reaching the starter so I tried knocking a sturdy part of the engine to see if it had the same effect but it didn't ( this is when my "trick" was working). Though i can admit that i didn't really try that hard. I'll see what a new starter can do for me.

Thanks again.

[toggenburg]

Go with Dbelectrical.com.
Best price, best 2-day delivery and is comparable to any FLAPS product but LOTS cheaper $$$$

[VolcinS]

Yea it really is a heck of a lot cheaper, the one at auto zone was 120ish. Highly appreciate your help and timely responses!! Will update after I install it.

[Packard]

if the starter solenoid is not getting voltage to the solenoid it will silent . There are two connections that use 12 volts the solenoid and the starter motor if any circuit not recieving it will not start car .
check ignition fuse in underhood fuse junction box if it blown. Need to see if both solenoid wires on starter are sending 12 volts to it if it is bad solenoid. If no voltage is shown on the solenoid connection .Possible scenario bad ign switch or a bad fuse under the hood junction fuse box.When you turn key does the dash lights come on like brake abs etc . If so test the solenoid with it out of car is another thing u can try. But easier method would be too test voltage at both solenoid and the motor of starter . You will have to test each individually. Take black lead connect to good ground of car and red to top solenoid wires then crank car see if it shows 12 volts. You can check motor before you start solenoid test this will be hot always with 12 volts. You test this by seeing if there is 12 volts to solenoid.
The ignition will send 12 volts to the solenoid while you have the key in start cranking postion . The starter motor is the secondary connection that has always a 12 volt hot going to it . If its not hot it possibly a fuse problem if there is 12 there then motor is bad.

[Waiex191]

Another happy DB Electric customer here. My old one was failing when hot, and I had a 15 year of student driver that I wanted to teach in a manual. My DB Electric starter got a lot of abuse. Starts great.

I have given up troubleshooting when it won't crank. The starters are a weak points in the S Series. I just replace as required and haven't been wrong yet.

[alordofchaos]

Originally Posted by Waiex191

My old one was failing when hot,

Same issue here. Luckily, Saturnfans had the answer.

Since I post stuff on the "what did you do to your Saturn today" thread for easy reference, I can see I paid $49 for the starter back in April, 2013. So it was fine for 4 years, 50k miles (minimum 2 starts a day, M-F) and still going strong.

Looks like I used a bit of duct tape to hold the top bolt in the socket (it kept falling out) until I got it started in the hole.