Service Engine Soon Light on 2001 SL1

[AlanCBell]

I'm getting the dreaded SES light on a 2001 SL1. Thanks to the suggestion of someone in this forum, I took the car into Autozone and got the diagnostic codes. They were no help beyond that though. The codes are P0301 (misfire on cylinder 1) and P0507 (idle rpm too high). I did a general tune-up a couple months ago for the state emissions test. At that time, I replaced the spark plugs (long before the SES light started coming on). It passed. Then I started getting the SES light a couple weeks ago. I had read on this forum that it's most likely an Emissions problem, so I replaced the original spark plug wires, but the SES light did not go away. I even tried switching gas stations, but that did not help either. Are there any other suggestions? Ignition module, oxygen sensor?

[hardisk_c]

http://www.saturnfans.com/forums/sho...ighlight=P0301

sounds similar. . . . hope this helps

[AlanCBell]

I'll check the intake manifold gasket. Thanks for the pointer.

[Bigdaddy94sc2]

With those codes, you are darn near guaranteed it is an intake mani gasket leak. Spray near cyl1 and 2 along where the manifold attaches to the head....

[AlanCBell]

I sprayed the carburetor cleaner around 1 and 2. Guess what, it nearly died. Then I looked closely and see that the gasket is folded. Now I get to look forward to replacing the intake manifold gasket. The parts store says it will take three days to come in, so I'll save this task for next weekend. Do I need to purchase anything else (e.g. gaskets, parts, ...) for this procedure? Also, will this problem have caused any damage to the car? rings? valves? Lastly, where would it be best to get the information of how to do this? I'm mostly concerned about how much to torque the bolts that I'll be removing.

[BarnOwl]

You're going to need to drain the coolant. So now's a good time to toss in a new thermostat. There's a fairly good how-to in the How-To Library here. Ironically a friend of mine just got done doing this one recently and found that How-To invaluable.

[madpogue]

Should be no internal damage (it's really just a vacuum leak). Might be worth spraying the studs with PB Blaster now, before starting on the job.

[AlanCBell]

Great advice once again. Any idea what the torque specifications are or where to find them online?

[BarnOwl]

Originally Posted by AlanCBell

Great advice once again. Any idea what the torque specifications are or where to find them online?

I did a quick check and just about everything you're going to touch is 22 ftlbs.

[AlanCBell]

I completed the 2001 SL1 SOHC intake manifold gasket in 4.5 hours. I didn't use the air ratchet as was suggested in the Library article. However, I found it most difficult to reach the nuts between the firewall and intake manifold. An air rachet would have made the job much easier. I did replace the serpentine belt and thermostat at the same time. I hate to make suggestions on an article that I found most useful and hope that someone else may benefit from the experiences I had. So here's how I would reword the article:


2001 SL1 SOHC intake manifold gasket replacement:

Takes 2.5 to 3 hours with air rachet, up to 4.5 hours without.

Drain coolant as you'll loose coolant when the intake manifold is slid off. Replace with the same coolant (pink for pink)(green for green) as they don't mix well together. You may want to take this time to replace the thermostat.

Disconnect the left side motor mount and raise the engine about 1". Remove the engine mount so you can back off one of the bolts that is inaccessible otherwise. DON'T back them all the way out. You need to move the pump about 1/4" to 1/2" inch in order to make room to slide the intake manifold back off the studs. There is a bracket on the right side of the intake that needs to be disconnected by removing a single bolt, and that's about it. Most of the nuts on the intake can be reached from the back with a 4" extension and swivel with air ratchet if you have one (without an air rachet, you'll need a 6" extension and a deep socket). With the bracket disconnected and the pump loose you can slide the intake back off the studs without disconnecting anything else.


The manual calls for torqueing the nuts to 22 ft-lb's. I couldn't fit a torque wrench into the tight space, so had to make a best guess. While the engine mount is disconnected, it's also easy to access and replace the serpentine belt. Putting it all back together took me about 2.5 hours.

My car now runs like new. No more fast idle when hot and rough idle when cold. To diagnose the intake manifold gasket problem I sprayed carbuerator cleaner around number 1 intake and it ran rougher. I had already changed the ECTS and spark plug cables and it had no affect. The diagnostic error codes I was getting were P0301 and P0507.

[Phredawgy]

2.5hrs and how many Cervezas?