Just finished my EOC on 2002 saturn sc2!

[Sprayed 01]

I found out that it was easier to kill the power to the injectors than the ground. There is a 10 amp fuse in the fuse box under the hood on the driver side. I removed it and installed an inline fuse and 2 small spade connectors to go to where the fuse used to be. I spliced into one of the wires and ran 2 wires to the interior through a large firewall grommet for the main harness.

Ran it to a switch and Im done. Just started using it yesterday on the highway. If there is no traffic this thing works like a dream. I run up to about 70mph and kill it with my foot down on the clutch pedal leaving it in 5th gear. Then at around 50-55mph i pop the clutch and go. Its a pretty easy restart and I dont loose my trip odometer data. My scan gauge is on the way so I can see what my mileage is while getting from 55-70mph.

Any one else on here do it to a saturn? What are your results? Any thing negative about restarting with the clutch?

Alex

[ProDarwin]

Originally Posted by Sprayed 01

I run up to about 70mph and kill it with my foot down on the clutch pedal leaving it in 5th gear. Then at around 50-55mph i pop the clutch and go.

Your throwout bearing will not be happy about this.

[Sprayed 01]

Is there a differant method I should use? Or should I just use the starter?

[user removed]

If the engine is not rotating the throwout bearing is not rotating. The clutch disc is spinning inside the stationary pressure plate and flywheel. Throwout bearing is in contact with the stationary pressure plate.

No appreciable wear on the t-brng other than the pressure it exerts on the non moving pressure plate.

Should not present any problem or appreciable acceleration of wear.

regards
Mech

[ProDarwin]

Sorry. I'm an idiot. I meant thrust bearing.

^ When shutting down there is pressure on the thrust bearing, but the engine reduces RPM, losing oil pressure. Not as a bad as starting the car with the clutch in, but still not great, especially if you are repeating it thousands of times.

The thrust bearing wear due to clutch-in starts is a well known issue with Saturns. Not super common, but much more common than other cars. Many disable the clutch switch in order to prevent it. The thrust bearing flange on the Saturn is only 180deg. Some owners modify it to cover 360 deg when rebuilding.



My recommendation for a different method would be to kill the motor in neutral - this way as the engine spools down there is no thrust load. Shift back into 5th to get the car going again.

[Sprayed 01]

Sorry I didnt clarify. I do push in the clutch before i shut it off. I keep my foot pressing down on the clutch pedal so its in neutral. I do keep it in 5th but with the clutch down,then i just left off the clutch to restart.

Are you saying to push in clutch, put the shifter in neutral then shut off?

[ProDarwin]

Originally Posted by Sprayed 01

Are you saying to push in clutch, put the shifter in neutral then shut off?

Yes.

Basically any time your clutch pedal is pressed in, there is a thrust load on the thrust bearing (center bearing) of the engine. This bearing requires oil pressure to operate correctly. If you shut the engine off with the clutch pressed in, the engine will still be spinning as oil pressure is lost.

Probably not nearly as bad as starting the car with the clutch pressed in, where not only is there no oil pressure, there isn't even any residual oil on the bearing. In that situation, you have a thrust load on a dry bearing.

I'm probably being overly cautious, but given the issues I've heard of with Saturn thrust bearings, I'd rather be safe than sorry.

[Sprayed 01]

Just so IM sure, the situation of starting the car with the clutch pressed in. Your speaking of the normal starting of a manual car being inherently hard on the thrust bearing,right?

[ProDarwin]

Yes. (So disable your clutch switch )

[Sprayed 01]

So if i disable the switch would I just start the car in neutral?