Questions and Answers

Saturn Strikes Again Q. I have a manual 1996 Saturn SL2. My car from time to time would kind of jerk and right after when I came to a stop, it would idle all the way down and die, but I was able to restart it and then it would be fine. It seemed I had oil leaking into my spark plugs which I changed, replaced the lead wires, and oil valve cover.

I also cleaned out all the oil that I could and changed the fuel filter. I was able to get my service engine light to come off after doing these things. However, 6 days later it came on again, it has stalled at a stop one time since and is now making like a ticking noise when I accelerate. What else could it be?

A. Having seen this before in Saturns it makes me very afraid. I may be wrong, and I hope I am, but these symptoms usually lead to a bad engine. I would take it to a shop and have it cheecked out as soon as possible. The last one I saw like this was about two months ago and required a new engine.