My 1992 Saturn SL is becoming a major thorn in my side. Over a month ago, I had a new transmission installed and everything was fine…until now. As of two weeks ago, the car loses power and almost immediately kicks back on. It happens mostly when the car is cold (first thing in the morning) and does it without warning. I’ve brought it to my mechanic and he can find no problem with it, even after he test drives it. Everyone that I’ve talked to says it might be my battery or my alternator. I had those checked and they were in perfect working order. All we can think of now is it might be the computer malfunctioning. I AM LOSING MY MIND, PLEASE SEND HELP!
There’s not enough info to make much of a guess but are you sure this isn’t a transmission acting up?
You state you had a “new” transmission isntalled. Define the word “new”.
New as in brand new, remanufactured, rebuilt, used from the junkyard, or what?
Some people consider a high miles transmission from the boneyard a new unit.
Leave the car overnight with your mechanic so he can see what is going on when the car is cold. Might take more than one try.
The transmission was rebuilt.
I have left the car overnight with my mechanic, but he has not experienced it.
Is it just the engine that cuts out or does everything go dead? Is the check engine light on? I’d possibly suspect an intermittently bad crank position sensor or the wiring to it.
Everything goes dead; the radio, the lights, everything goes off for about 2-3 seconds and then comes back on. The warning lights (i.e. emergency brake, low coolant, service engine soon)come on and then go off when it happens as well.
It sounds like a bad connection on either of your battery cables, probably not at the battery end of them. Somewhere you have a major electrical connection that is intermittently opening up. Possibly a damaged fusible link. Look for corrosion and signs of damage. Wiggle everything you can with the engine running and see if it dies. A bad computer won’t make your headlights cut out!