Help with car - Saturn SL1 1999

[wx_nut]

Maybe someone here can help.

I have a 1999 Saturn SL1 with 97,000 on it. The car has been running good, but this last trip down to the cities, when I parked I noticed a 'knock' coming from the engine. On my way home, I noticed the engine temp would not go very high, and the heat the car was putting out was not very much - it was almost cold air coming from the engine, and this was after being on I-94 zipping along at 70 MPH for 2 hours. (the temp gauge would only go up just over 1/4 of the way) I watched the temp gauge, and it didn't do any spikes that I noticed. I did not notice any smell of anti-freeze, oil, or anything unusual when I was driving it.

I get home, and the knock is still there. Then, the oil light comes on, but it only comes on when I am stopped at a red light, for example. I checked the oil level, and the oil level appears normal - it's not at 100% full, but it's close. I did not see any frothing on the dipstick when I took it out, but the oil did smell quite a bit like gas, not your normal oil.

Anyone have an idea of what is going on here? Is this something simple, or am I looking at a spendy replacement?

Thanks,

wx_nut

[jeffreyd]

motor mounts

[Tom7227]

post your question in the automotive forum and you'll likely get some great responses.

[Jeremy airjer W]

If its rhythmic knock that varies with engine RPM I'm going to pull the trigger on this one and say you have rod knock.

Two things you can do with the vehicle running and the knock present remove each spark plug one at a time or if your not interested in getting tickled by 30,000+ volts disable each fuel injector one at a time. If the noise goes away when you disable a certain cylinder It a rod bearing. this could explain low oil pressure at idle. A main bearing could do the same.

The other thing you can do is remove the serpentine belt and see if the knock goes away. Sometimes tensioners and A/C compressors can make some funky noises.

as far as no heat. If the coolant level is full and the gauge never goes past a quarter I bet the t-stat is open. When it happened on my I didn't realize it until it started getting around the freezing mark.