NFB: 96 Saturn coolant temp sensor

[Injuneer]

My son has a 96 Saturn 5-speed that I am trying to sell. He complained that it started hard, but then smoothed out and ran fine. When I tried to start it, I had to put my foot on the floor, and keep it there because it would stall otherwise. Then I noticed the coolant temp gauge was in the middle of the dial, not down at the bottom/cold position (it was 14degF and the car had been sitting for a week). As I was holding the throttle to keep the rough idle up, I heard a "click" under the dash, and the coolant temp gauge dropped to "cold" where it belonged, and the engine smoothed out and ran fine.

I had suspected a faulty coolant temp sensor when he mentioned the problem, but it appears the Saturn must be using a single sensor for the coolant temp, feeding both the gauge and the PCM. Unlike the 4th Gen F-body that has seperate sensors to feed the gauge and the PCM.

Anyone know if the Saturn uses a single coolant temp sensor?

[Dave M]

Fred, if you don't know then probably nobody knows!

[bru333]

One of the recent posts (#27) in this thread says they have 2. I don't know if they use 2 or not, I only read that forum 'cause my Mother has a Saturn. But looks like they are a problem. It's an old thread, the links to photos at the begining don't work. There is a more recent post with pics.

http://www.saturnfans.com/forums/sho...nt+temp+sender

[Injuneer]

Thanks for the link to the Saturn board. Seems like the Satrurn coolant temp sensors are a bit of a problem. If the temp ever gets above freezing, and the foot+ of snow melts off the Saturn, I'll take a closer look at it.

The car has 150K miles on it, and except for a couple minor quirks, it isn't too bad shape. Some nasty oil leaks though.

Fred