04 redline won't start

[Watts-Up]

I've seen quite a few saturns (including my last one) that had a bad fuel pump where it would work intermittantly...the car would die,then start and run fine a little while later.

[TMRRedline]

Originally Posted by t8sgolf

I have had a cold driveability problem with this car since day one. It's annoying but I can live with it til Saturn releases new calibrations to it's service dept. They tell me it should solve the hesitation experienced in the first few minutes til the car warms up.
At 2K car refused to start one morning. It would crank about two seconds, then fire, but refuse to stay running. After 7 or 8 tries, it ran but was all loaded up. After excess gas burned off, it ran great rest of day. Next morning, same issue; but it took about 20 tries in 30 minutes to get it running. All loaded up again. Drove it to Saturn of Wexford. Tech couldn't pull up any codes, but found TSB # 040601026. It's an adjustment from factory setting on camshaft position sensor. It was explained to me that this sensor basically aids only in starting motor, so it made sense to me that this was the problem. Service dept. at Saturn of Wexford has always come thru for me. I've owned 7 Saturns and it's their service that keeps me coming back. Great group of people.
All was fine til 3500 miles. Same problem. After 10 attempts to start it with no luck, I called Saturn. They said if I got it running bring it in, or have it towed if it wouldn't start. Went back and tried it after about 15 minutes and it started right up. Tried to rev it a bit, it backfired and quit running. Couldn't get it started so coasted it down a big hill in front of my home. Tried to kick it in twice at 15 or 20 mph in second gear. Almost got it to run , but there was so much gas in engine, it wouldn't stay running. Towed it to dealer and it started right up, but ran so rough they shut it down. Pulled plugs and to no ones surprise, plugs were saturated with fuel. Parts dept didn't have new plugs in stock , so old ones were cleaned and put in. Started up and ran fine, but I refused to take it home. I know it's just a matter of time before it happens again. They gave me a rental to drive til they get new calibrations, which they say will solve the problem. Very frustrating situation. I refuse to drive a car I can't depend on.
Ironically the Spring Hill engineer that service mgr. from Saturn of Wexford spoke to on Thursday, stated that the Redline he drives failed to start that same morning, and it was in the shop also. Saturn of Wexford also said they had a few Redlines on the lot that wouldn't start when trying to move them around in lot. Hard to believe with the technology today, these car refuse to start in 30 degree temps. What's it gonna do when it's - 20 ? It does get that cold here in Pittsburgh area. Hope they solve problem ,cause I really do like the car.
Paul

Your problem sounds very and i mean very similar to what happened to my '04 last winter. It was sitting in my driveway and i went to start it and it sort of started then died. I tried and tried agian, so i got out the manual and did some sort of reset pushing a combination of the gas and brake. Didn't work so i Saturn come get it. After looking at it, they said my timing skipped or something??(cant remember exactly what they said). So they pulled my engine and rebuilt it and I had it back in two days. Sounds like the trouble u are having, but it could be a number of things that went wrong.

[dL_RL]

Originally Posted by TMRRedline

Your problem sounds very and i mean very similar to what happened to my '04 last winter. It was sitting in my driveway and i went to start it and it sort of started then died. I tried and tried agian, so i got out the manual and did some sort of reset pushing a combination of the gas and brake. Didn't work so i Saturn come get it. After looking at it, they said my timing skipped or something??(cant remember exactly what they said). So they pulled my engine and rebuilt it and I had it back in two days. Sounds like the trouble u are having, but it could be a number of things that went wrong.

Rebuilt your motor in 2 days? Hmmmm, I didn't think Saturn could do that at thier facilities. JPK had tranny issues they had to FLY a tech from Tennessee to look at the tranny. My dealer in Cali had to take out my tranny and it took them 2 weeks to put it back together correctly.

I'm not saying it didnt happen, it sounds very far fetched.

[ptparker]

Weren't there some issues with the cam shaft sensor recall where some tech's were aligning it to the number 1 cylinder instead of the number 4 one?

Might that be an explanation?

[pclear9061]

maybe a fuel pump or the fuel filter

[crazybrew609]

like it was said in the first post... once the temp goes down the car becmoes harder to start... this is true for the 05's and 04's and i'm not sure about the 06's yet... what happens is that the gass and carbon from the last time the car was running let over some of it's by products in the cylinders... and with temps getting that low and having a lot of un-used gas in the cylinders really crates an issue with carbon build up very quickly... the 06's have been leaned out a bit to help with this problem tho i'm not sure if it's gunna work or not.. last winter every time we had to move the redlines more then pushing distance we had to remove all the plugs... shell blast them to clean them off then drive the shit out of the for a good 30 mins to get all the crap out then re-park them where we wanted.. when you have rpoblems starting your car in cold temps and you finally get it going.. beat the living piss out of it... for atleast a good 20 mins.. and i mean WOT as much as you can... the hotter the cylinders get the more you are cleaning out... thats about all you can really do until a permanent solution can be found...

a little tip to help you out tho would be to go out and just start your car and let it run for 10 mins before you go to bed... that should help to ensure it starts in the moring

[John]

Originally Posted by TMRRedline

Your problem sounds very and i mean very similar to what happened to my '04 last winter. It was sitting in my driveway and i went to start it and it sort of started then died. I tried and tried agian, so i got out the manual and did some sort of reset pushing a combination of the gas and brake. Didn't work so i Saturn come get it. After looking at it, they said my timing skipped or something??(cant remember exactly what they said). So they pulled my engine and rebuilt it and I had it back in two days. Sounds like the trouble u are having, but it could be a number of things that went wrong.

If we have the parts can rebuild it in one day. But was that a redline or an lseries?

[TMRRedline]

Originally Posted by John

If we have the parts can rebuild it in one day. But was that a redline or an lseries?

It was defiantly my RL. And I looked my service papers and it was the cam sensor problem, but the way it happened, the engine needed to be rebuilt.

I hope your problem is fixed soon, but even now I still have idle problems on cold mornings.

[SilverRedLine04]

once in awhile my key will turn and nothing will happen, i simply turn it off and push the clutch in again and she starts right up.

odd huh?

never left me stranded though

i love my RL sooo much

keith-

[WopOnTour]

There's SOOOO MANY things that "could" cause what you have described it's not even funny. You will need to take it in to the dealership. Anything else is mere speculation and guessing.
JMO
WopOnTour