99 Saturn SW2, trouble starting, rough stops

Hey all,

Bit of a car newbie here. I have few delusions about being able to fix this myself but I was hoping someone could point me in the right direction for a better understanding of what is going on.

Anyway! So I am driving an `99 Saturn wagon with manual transmission. The car has held up pretty well, but lately it has developed a bit of a problem with starting and stopping the engine. When I start the car it struggles to not stall for a minute or two, an if I do not apply a bit of gas it stalls out pretty quickly (the is unable to restart for several minutes). If I keep the accelerator down a little for a minute or so I can ease off and it will no longer stall. It will then run just fine till it is time to shut off the engine, at which point it it behaves as if it was stalling, I get a knocking from the back and then it sputters to a stop.

The behavior is very consistent. I have learned to live with it, but it is annoying and I worry it is a sign of a more serious problem. I should also note that before the last time I brought it into the shop the behavior was around but not frequent, now it is ‘all the time’, which is part of why I want a better understanding rather then just taking their word for everything.

Anyone have any thoughts?

Thanks :slight_smile:

Sounds like fuel or spark. Hopefully the spark plug and wires have been changed lately. Fuel pressure would need to be checked. Dirty or leaking fuel injector. I would run some Techron through it. As far as run on when you turn it off, that is usually carbon build up. Techron could help this to.