Hesitation 98 Saturn SL2?

Question

98 Saturn SL2, when you let off the gas and start to slow down, when it hits approx 1500 rpms, the needle jumps a bit and when you apply the brake it feels like the car still wants to go.Had the Throttle Position Sensor cleaned up. Anybody have any suggestions?? I mean besides getting rid of the car!

Answer 1

Need a little clarification on the question. When you say "...the car still wants to go." You mean the car wants to die? Or do you mean the car still revs high? If it revs high, you probably have a gas and/or ignition problem. Have you changed the fuel filter at regular intervals? I believe it's every 60K for your car. To rule out ignition problem, have you changed the ignition wires? If you did, did you make sure the wires are 4-1-2-3 on the coil packs? Did you clean the coil pack towers? Have you changed the spark plugs? Did you make sure the plugs are gapped properly? The correct gap is printed on the user's manual and also in the engine compartment of your car. I believe it's 0.040. Most spark plugs you buy for this car are 0.044 out of the box...

If your car is in the neighborhood of 100K miles and you haven't changed the ECTS (Electronic Coolant Temperature Sensor), you should probably change it. It may or may not be what's causing your problem, but is a common killer of Saturns prior to model year 2000. The part only costs $10 to $20. I posted details on another answer... but I'll leave a link below for the saturnfans.com forum.

If this doesn't help, you'll find the answer at the forum. Good luck.

UPDATE:

If your car is throwing code P0301, you might want to change out the ignition coils and/or ignition module. I'll add another link for that in the sources section.