06 Saturn Ion Broken Manifold Bolt

What could be the cause of a car’s temperature gauge to fluctuate?

There are several possibilities.1) faulty teperature gauge. In this case the gauage will have to be replaced. This is relarively simple and inexpensive depinding on the make and model of the car.2) Issue with the radiator, coolant of the car. This could be caused due to insufficient coolant, leakage of coolant, damage to the radiator of the car. This will require extensive repair. In this case, it is advised to get the issue diagnosed and fixed at the earliest to avoid engine damage due to over heating.Hope this helps. :)

If I took off the catalytic converter, will it make my fuel get better mileage?

Don't listen to the naysayers. A engine is a pump, anything you do to increase pump efficiency, is going to increase gas mileage. A new cat will not rais fuel consumption much, But if it has over 100,000 miles on it, You will see a marked increase or “restoration” of gas milage. This is especially true of cars with a secondary air pump. They are not exactly filtering the air, before its pumped into you exhaust.This is what gets fun. If you reprogram, or modify the O2 sensors signal to bring the engine to stylometric fuel ratio or just less, you will get a 5–10% increase in gas milage. This trick really shines in stop and go traffic. If you analyse the wave form of the upstream O2 sensors, you will notice it spends a lot more time rich, than lean. You are sitting at red lights feeding that Fat Cat, so it can make more smoke.All cars are set up to fuel that catalytic convert. This keeps them hot and working. Without extra fuel pumped thru the engine, that cat has nothing to do, cools down, and slowly plugs up. To bad your cat will plug up if you lean out the engine. Hint, Hint……….

How long does it take to repair a head gasket?

You don’t repair a head gasket, you replace it.Once I had a rally car - a bit of a ratty old junker if the truth be told - that had a 2.3 litre overhead cam engine. It was a bit like this, only this one is way nicer:Anyway I was heading off to do a rally on some Friday night. On the Thursday, the day before, I took it out for a blast around the lanes to shake down any last-minute faults, and blew the head gasket. It was too late to do anything about it that night, so next morning, I got up at the crack of dawn, stripped the engine down to the point of having the head off (it was OHC, so that involved also removing the cambox, timing belts, etc. plus the exhaust manifold, inlet manifold and carburettors) By then it was almost 9am, so I drove to the nearest big town - 25 miles away - to get a replacement head gasket set. 25 miles back, and by 10am had the head all cleaned and ready to be reassembled. Engine back together and running by 12pm, I then had to drive it 250 miles to where the rally started. It all went smoothly and I made it with plenty of time to spare.So the answer to your question, for me, on that occasion, for this car, was about 6 hours, including an hour to fetch the parts. Sometimes what you need, apart from the basic skills, which in my case don’t amount to all that much, is a great big incentive!As I recall, the rally ended in disaster, but that’s another story.

Can I still drive my car with a heated oxygen sensor?

Oxygen sensors in general are normally located before and/or after the catalytic converter. P0136 is a generic code for types of trouble with oxygen sensors on “Bank One” of an exhaust system (FYI, if you have true dual exhaust Bank One will be driver side). The code that you are receiving is more of an indicator of dirty or bad oxygen sensors. As oxygen sensors are installed directly into the exhaust pipe, normally somewhat near the engine. Point being, they are always what I would consider very “heated”.As with any check engine light it should never be ignored or driven any further than necessary. But to answer your question, if your vehicle will start and stay running, it is drivable. If your light has not been on for the past several months, ie. just came on within the past few days, you should be fine. Oxygen sensors can cause the vehicle to run extremely sluggish/rough and/or stall. As well as no run/start at all.If you do replace your oxygen sensors it would be wise to also replace your EGR valve as well as the PCV valve as these can potentially cause very similar problems (not to mention these are normally more inexpensive & easy to replace items that will help the vehicle run better & more efficiently).Average PCV Valve, less than $5.00. EGR normally $30.00 or so. But be advised that part prices can differ greatly from normal auto parts stores to online pricing. I just put a new EGR on my 2001 Chevy Silverado and local parts store pricing ranged from about $115 to $145. I purchased it online for $35.34 with shipping. You will find oxygen sensor pricing to probably be skewed about the same (I am not the biggest fan of ordering parts online but am forced to because of the dramatic cost differences).Good luck and I hope this helps you!

What are the effects of driving a car with a misfiring cylinder?

OK. I am a gear head who loves working on cars and has done so since the 1960’s.If a cylinder is misfiring because of an ignition problem you will, in the short term, just experience a loss of power increase your fuel consumption. In the longer term, continuing to drive it that way could destroy a coil and cost you more money.If, however, the misfire is caused by an injector problem, you could seriously damage your engine. Running that cylinder too lean will cause it to overheat and potentially damage the valve or the piston. If it is running excessively rich the unburned fuel could be washing the lubrication off of the cylinder walls leading to severe wear. In either case, repairing the damage will be expensive.NEVER drive a car that has a problem. NEVER drive a car in which the Check Engine light is on. If the Check Engine light begins to flash, SHUT OFF THE ENGINE, NOW! A problem that to you seems small, if not repaired, can cause a lot of damage that will be very expensive to fix.Read your car’s manual. Do exactly what it recommends. Find a mechanic you trust. Doing preventive maintenance will cost you a lot less than repairing the damage caused by neglecting to keep your car serviced.