ok so, this is my problem. . . im really afraid its the worst, and that its gonna cost me an arm and a leg.

my car wont start, and not because the starter is fucked, cause it is, but this isnt it, its turning over, and then i get a loud knocking, not, i checked the dip stick, and the oil was barly touching the buttom so im like OH **** my pistons are seized. But, i added only 2 liters and its now almost full so wtf? we take 6 liters!!!. Anyways, whats wrong with my car ? did i seize the pistons? could it be the ignition, or spark plugs or something? to me, it feels like its trying to push the pistons up and down and cant, it like stutters and trys to start but doesnt get anything going.... help me be straight with me, i need to know if im fucked or what.

I also want to know what i would need to replace if it is the worst, diamond pistons, cylinders? rods? connectors? like whats it gonna realistically cost me here ? . obviously im modded heavily, and i dont think going to stock would make a difference, however, i never got a warning the oil was low, but how could it have been if it only took 2 liters to almost fill it? im confused please help me!!!!

 

It takes one quart to get it from the add mark on the dipstick to the full mark, so use that as a reference.

As for what's wrong with the engine, I'm going to guess something top end. Thats the part that gets starved first from low oil.

 

can you hazard to guess what it is.

like give me ideas of what to check out please!!!!!

 

Pop the cam cover off, see if you see anything out of the ordinary. Or do a compression test.

 

Do a compression test, if its knocking or banging chances are its a broken rod. Have someone turn the car over and listen for which cylinder number. Pray that is in the lower end, you can score an LSJ block for pretty cheap.

It could be a spun rod bearing as well, my friends S2k did the same thing. Only his starts and runs, it his #4.

 

2 liters? i hope you mean 2 quarts. Pull the plugs and see if the are all carboned up, if so buy some new ones. Smell the exhaust after turning it over, does it smell like gas or burnt fumes?

 

plugs are only 6000kms old, and 6 litres is how much it takes, i know this !!!

god i hope its ok

 

ok a liter is nearly a quart, my bad. Check the plugs anyways, you have a lot of power running through your engine and its probably running rich. Or dont check them but you need to cross the simple things off first.

The oil really wasn't that low. if it was on the stick your fine, it has a large capacity to help with cooling so you're fine trust me.

 

nah im not running rich spent HOURS on the dyno perfecting the tune, although im gonna get it redone at tag this spring when i go whipple.

i just hope its nothing big.. i dont want my whipple funds going to **** like this.

 

OK, check it out... the fact that it turns is a good sign. That tells you that a piston is most likely not seized and you probly have no damage to your cylinders. Probly! I would start with this...

1. Pull the plugs and check for oil on the plugs, no oil on plugs means no oil in cylinders. No oil in cylinders means your pistons are probly OK. And it's rare that a rod goes with out taking a piston with it.

2. Since you have the plugs out do a compression check as said before. This will check all your valves. You can get a compression gauge at any auto store.

3. The third thing I would do is as said before pull off the cam cover and look for anything fucked up. If it's jacked, you'll know!

I can't say this will answer your question but me as a mechanic and being very familiar with the LSJ this is where I would start. From what you described I would have to guess a cracked piston and bent rod. You will know as soon as you pull out the plugs. Good luck man, I hope it's something stupid!

 

if i had to hope for something bad, id hope its a piston, that would be cool, cause i was gonna go diamond asap anyways

but, like lastnight at 1am i drove home no issues, nothing, then this morning i was so afraid to keep turning it over, it sounded so loudly i knew something had to be wrong.

 

Pull the cam cover. Check to see if any or all of the valvetrain pieces are broken or bent. My car had the same symptoms when a roller rocker broke and destroyed the whole top end. If all is well there though, proceed to the compression test.

Does the car have any codes thrown? Those would help pinpoint as well.

 

um nothing i saw, but i cleared them without looking.... stupid me.

 

the knocking you are describing sounds similare to a s/c engine i was working on the other day and it spun a bearing so be careful! if the engine does pop my guess is that the last bearing is black.

 

i've seen a few ecotec engines that have broken a rod and ended up blowing out a cylinder wall. worse case senario. i've never seen it on an LSJ though. first, i'd take the belt off and see if you can turn the crank by hand. that should tell you pretty quickly if the engine is locked up. if you can turn it over, excellent, everything should be good. take off the cam cover and make sure your valvetrain is ok.

i would also check for fuel pressure and spark as well before anything else.

 

the compression was fine guys, and she did finally start up, but itsnt running very well, i spent hours with my brother (gm mechanic) and saturn tech support and weve come up with a few conclusions.

without a doubt something is wrong with my maf sensor, weather it is dirty or dead i will know tomorrow when i pull it out. Beyond that, its become very evident that my ignition switch isnt functioning well, causing numerous passlock issues, amoung them the code to send fuel from the pump not being sent etc etc.

Monday im having him towed to haifax to the saturn dealer for the formal inspection, they know the story and have already agreed to replace the ignition switch, and my maf, so hopefully everything else is in conjunction with that. Im also installing new plugs just to be sure.

my question though, and im sure jim can answer amoung others, when they replace the igition switch, then need to do a passlock code correct? now is this possible without remapping my entire car? i have a tune on it, and if i lost it i wouldnt be able to do much with my car but look at it and frown until i had a tune again... please tell me that they can do it without ******* up my tune

 

Any time a dealer needs tp enter a passlock from what I hear anyways your car will be reprogrammed (thats only what i've heard i have no proof just what enters my ears). Good luck with your car mine is fubar'd right now as well.

 

whats wrong with yours?

 

Installed 60 pound injectors from intense and got it tuned then later that night I got on it and had a misfire then got 2 injector codes (thought i blew the motor originally my friend who was next to me said the car shot flames and sounded like it blew up), so I put my 42 pounders on b/c the car would not start with the 60 punders in and the car started but now I have a p0171 lean code that I keep flashing out and keeps coming back on (mind you I'm not running it just driving home from work) I had another thread going to see if it was ok to drive with the lean code or if it is something that needs to be adressed b4 i drive the car again.

 

that code can be attributed to high rpms, ive seen it a few times, infact im seeing it now with my issues. its not a huge thing, if your running the car, and it comes on, flash it out, and run it to see if it comess back. Id look at swtiching your plugs, and probably cean the maf sensor.

 

Will be getting new plugs but never had any problems like this until i installed the 60's the maf-t should be fine but it's worth a look.

 

the other possibility is that someone did the math wrong when you tuned for thee 60's bro, might want to triple check the tune and math, maybe have someone with 60's send you there tune.

 

Read PM I sent you...

 

when you reprogram the passkey stuff you dont do anything to the pcm. the passkey information is in the bcm, so your tune should be fine.

 

This guy had a cracked MAF that started as a lean code then went into limp mode. We have some good advice on here. Start with the simple things.

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