Saturn will stall when gas is released at high speeds.

I have a 95 Saturn, when I get up to about 40-50mph, shift to neutral and quickly let my foot off the gas the check engine light comes on and the car dies. At the same time when I go 20mph and shift to neutral, let go of the gas to let it coast it will idle real high (around 1500-2000rpms) for a few seconds then come back down to normal. I'm guessing its a problem with the feul injectors but I'm not sure. Does anyone know what steps I can take to try and fix the problem before I take it in to get it fixed? I really dont want to spend $90 a feul injector if I can fix the problem by dumping some cleaner in the fuel.

I did drive it going 50mph steady not releasing the gas and letting it slow down as easy as I could for 25 miles to get it home from work and got home fine without it dying. It just jerked a bit every time I started releasing the gas. Not sure if this helps at all. Thanks in advance.

I'm thinking sticky or slow responding IAC valve.

Remove the throttle body by removing the vacuum connections on top, the accerlerator and the connections to the IACV and the TPS. There are three 10 mm bolts looking at you after you remove the air intake assembly.

Clean out the IACV as Cat Fuzz states and do a good clean out of the throttle body. There is a lot of gunk in there. Use a toothbrush and alot of carb cleaner. It will clean up easily like brand new. Ensure that the throttle plate linkage appears freely and closes. Be careful of the IACV. Wipe is clean without any pressure on the inner work side. Do not soak it. Note there is an O-Ring too when taking it out and reinstalling.

Reattach. Remove the EGR valve. Two 10mm bolts. Turn upside down. Get a torx to fit on the seated pintle. Push in and turn left and right. Clean with carb cleaner so that the pintle goes in and reseats.

Both gaskets for the undersides of these components can generally be reused however be prepared to pay nominally for their replacement if necessary so no vacuum leaks remain. If there are no chunks out of the gaskets, reuse..

After you have replaced the throttle body and before replacing the EGR, restart the car for 3 secs.to blow out any build up from under the EGR mounting.

You'll like the difference.

I'll do the cleaning and post my results. Thanks for replying.

I cleaned out the area and changed the spark plugs and the problem is still there. I drove it around and it seemed to be running fine. At about 3 miles out it completely lost power, the RPMs fell and it stalled as I was slowing down from about 40mps. I gave it about 15 sec and started it back up to get it off the road onto a parking lot. I made it there but it ran loud and puttered all the way there. I let it sit for about 5 min, started it up and drove it the rest of the way home fine. From what I was told you can do a quick check on the fuel injectors by unpluggin one spark plug at a time and starting the car up checking to see if there is any change in the way it starts or idles. If there is no change then the prob. may be there. When I did it, it started up with low power and a very low idle so I'm guessing (assuming that check works) that's not the problem. So once again I'm stuck:banghead:. Is this leading to the fuel pump or fuel filter?

clogged fuel filter??....maybe automatic choke is sticking??

What does the car idle at when in nutral? SHould be 800rpm. If not then check the intake for leaks (spray intake cleaner or brake cleaner arround the intake manifold where it meets the clinder head, if the idle rises or the car starts chugging than its time for an intake gasket replacement. Also I reccomend just replacing you coolant temp sensor, its a 14.00 part and its simple to replace (the lower 2 wire one on the intake tube side of the cylinder head) Its a common issue for them to crack and cause hard starts/ high idle.

clogged fuel filter??....maybe automatic choke is sticking??


Choke? :grinno: Fuel injected cars don't have a choke.

Just changed the fuel filter and its still stalling on me. I've driven it to work the last 2 days and it stalled once on me on the way back going 40mph. Still idling very high. I got it looked at and I was told it was a bad Powertrain Control Module (PCM), how likely is that?

Well, thanks for all your help. I ended up taking the throttle body completely apart (I just sprayed it the first time) and replaced the colant temp sensor along with dumping more cleaner in the feul tank and its been 4 days now and its been running fine. Im hoping it keeps running that way if not I guess my next step is replacing the PCM. Thanks again for all your help.

Cleaning out the throttle body is a maintenance need for the Saturn S series car for various reasons starting with the waste spark management system and reliance on the original ECTS having design and durability flaws.

The PCM for these cars are the last item to be changed when having these symptoms. Review Autozone's websites for guidance in repair as well as visit other Saturn websites that may have more participating members with timely information.