SPS

I purchased a set of after market ignition coils (SPS brand) for my 1992 SL1 5 or 6 years ago and now want to use them on my 1998 SC2 but my car wont run right and it sets off sensors. Is there anything I can do to make them work?

The short answer is no, I don't think there is anything you can do to make them work without the error codes.

The underlying issue is that the 96-02 Saturn S cars used GM's 'compression sense ignition feature'. I don't really understand this feature 100%, but the gist of it is that somehow they programmed the pcm to interpret camshaft position as a function of the firing points on cylinders 1 and 4.

So as a result, the electrical resistance within ignition components must match very very closely between cylinders 1 and 4. If the resistance variance gets too far apart, then this gives a bogus signal for camshaft position and sets off the error code.

Most aftermarket coils will cause this problem on the 96-02 cars. (FYI: I begged Accel and MSD to address this issue, but they never really gave a shit about addressing such 'details'.)

I'm curious, as far as you can tell, does the car run OK? Is it just a matter that you are seeing an SES light? Or are you also detecting misfires?

Yes, I had a misfiring issue. If it would of just been a sensor I would of dealt with it caus when thats is on there my plugs burn hot enough I don't have to clean my plugs due to a oil burn proble all my Saturns suffer from.
Is there any safe spark boosters I can use for my 98 SC2?

If you can find some, you might try the Nology Hotwires in combination with a non-resistor plug gapped at 0.050 or so.

Unfortunately, we are sold out of the DOHC wires and have only SOHC sets left. Sorry...

I used to have accel coils and SPS 8MM wires on my 2000 SC2 which went good for about 35K before the coils went bad. So now I'm back in the market to re-do my ignition system and done some research however I'm looking for more insight which I feel I can get the best on SPS. I've read that the PCM's on the 96-00's and the 01-02's were made by 2 seperate companies namely Delco and Motorola. I've read that the aftermarket coils on work better on the 01-02 models than my model. Any truth to that? From what I've read the stock coils put out more voltage than the current aftermarket ones by MSD and Accel. Any truth to that? In the case of my 2000 I keep reading that should stick to my factory coils and simply upgrade the wires and plugs which are basically back to manufactor specs. (Currently Duralast 7MM Wires and Bosh plugs). Any input would be great. Thanks guys.

The only thing I found I can do with my 98 SC2 is I got 10.3mm six core wires through OBX for cheap and I swear by Iridium plugs for the hottest spark. But I have only asked Admin here on SPS. He knows A lot more than me. See what he sais.