I put this in the lounge since it is so unbonnieic. my 93 SL2 backfired when i tried to start it...and now when i start it, it immediately revs to the limiter as if someone is holding the gas pedal to the floor. throttle, linkage, gas pedal...are all fine. the intake manifold butterfly stays inthe closed position (throttle cable relaxed). so is this a timing blet slippage issue? thanks guys and "hi" to everybody...ASU has been keeping me busy.

Well, in this case it actually sounds like the backfire possibly cracked the aluminum intake manifold since there is no possible way the air can get through the engine without the throttle plate being open, right? I have seen backfires get violent like that to where they will either crack the manifold or head. How hard and how loud was the backfire?

hard and loud. hood was open...saw a small flame and lots of black smoke (smelled super rich). no oil leakage though...hmmm would it cause it to run at high revs like that?

As far as I know, nothing above the had has in oil in it anyways, so if you had cracked the manifold, you wouldn't see any oil. But, the theory sounds correct.

After the car has run for a bit, is there a stronger than usual smell of gas under the hood? This could possibly reinforce the cracked manifold theory because if it ain't being sucked down (or burned in) the cyliders, then the gas could potentially escape/evaporate through the cracked manifold.

i'll check to see if i can smell fuel. as i am googling around, the theory for the cracked intake manifold is getting stronger. stinks to be me.

Only thing I know about Saturn is if you post a pic of it, make sure you remove the ******* vids folder first...


Sorry, had to.

Damn, sounded pretty violent. If you are googling and finding this as a problem that has been mentioned on other peoples saturns, I am def. betting on the cracked manifold. Should be no problem to replace but first things first is what caused it to do that?

could a damaged MAP or BAP cause this too?

good question on what caused it. i can tell you...but i'll pm you to tell you since it is too embarrassing to post out in the open. maybe you can confirm this is what would have caused the backfire.