How a cheap part cost me $$$ long story
This is a series of unfortunate events, I'm still shaking my head in disbelief at how this all happened;
I was going on a long road trip in the summer, I'm a pretty proactive person when it comes to mechanical stuff.
I had pulled my codes with my mac tools et50 code reader on the 2003 saturn vue. (it did not have a check engine light on, i just wanted to check stored codes) It had a bunch of strange codes, a few were undefined, crank position sensor, etc.
I did some reading and it looked like the igniter could throw a CAS code as well as some other random ones when it's on it's way out, the vehicle ran great but I figured I better get a spare one for the trip. ( i've had igniter issues before they are not fun)
Item was $130 at autovalue, or $60 shipped on ebay from a parts retailer.
So I order one up, it arrives....might as well test it out in case I gotta return it.
Installed it, cranked engine...it would not start and the igniter was super hot. Awesome.
Pulled the igniter, reinstall old one. Now the engine is sputtering and misfiring, looks like ebay igniter damaged my coilpacks, wonderful.
At the time it was my only running vehicle, so I limped the ol' girl to picknpull. It sputtered and missed, went into derate mode a few times but i made it. I found a coilpack/igniter set from another 2.2 ecotec, they only charged me $30. Installed it in the parking lot, runs like new.
Now I have a check engine light that won't go away. I get it checked out at 2 different autovalues, because clearly my mac tools et50 is a piece of shit. First scan shows a few codes, p0420 (cat) and a couple others, we clear the codes. CEL is back on I go to another autovalue and they show no codes with there reader yet I have a CEL.
Fed up I take it to the dealer and just get them to scan the codes. Cost me $80 to find out I need a Catalytic converter, which was damaged by the misfire (also had a gas cap and thermostat code).
Ok so I drive it for a couple weeks, looking at my options. I buy a cat from Auto value, and take it to minute muffler on 32nd. Good guys there did it for cheap (thank you).
Cat is installed, and I'm driving it to work and notice the heat isnt where it should be, and the temp gauge is fluctuating - probably needs a thermostat. I rip it out, yep the inner rubber seal is ripped ( I just installed it not even a year earlier) good old motorad thermostats.
This is where it gets painful, on these engines the thermostat is under the rear exhaust manifold, so you have to lay under it while coolant leaks down your arms, onto your face and in your mouth. (oddly my drain port on my water pump isn't drilled, it's a cast nipple with no actual hole)
Also notice my exhaust manifold is cracked, looks fairly fresh...
So i change the thermostat, but I've got weird cooling issues, my overflow keeps purging, temp gauge is all over the map, the system is burping and gurgling.
Since the thermostat is such a fun job, I figure hey lets take it apart again and make sure it went in right. I take it apart it looks ok, reinstall it.
Same issue, ok its gotta be a bad thermostat, I swap in a different one. Same problem, I made sure to bleed the air everything checks out. It's like the coolant system is overpressurizing....wait....what can cause that?
HEADGASKET!
And what can cause a head gasket failure? head warpage from excessive heat in the exhaust manifold from a bad catalytic converter, caused by a severe misfire, caused by a cheap igniter.
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just a theory...
