Today was a very sad day for both me and my 2004 Vibe...
This morning I was driving to a meeting a bit behind schedule and was stuck behind a slow rolling school bus. Had to put the pedal to the metal to pass it and while passing, I was alarmed to feel the RPM keep rising but my acceleration didn't match. A mile later I came to a stop light. As I was slowing the engine started sputtering then making an ugly noise. The oil light came on...and then it died.
I was 100 feet from a corner store so I managed to get it started and into the parking lot and out of traffic and immediately shut it off. I had my wife come get me and I had it towed to a local repair shop.
Unfortunately, my worst fears were confirmed when I got the call that the noise I heard was a rod knock. I'm not sure what to do. I can't afford a new car or even a decent used car really. I'm going to create a new post here asking for advice but I wanted to mention it here too. My 2004 has roughly 115,000 miles and it's in OK condition but by no means prime. I remember reading about reasonable engine swaps early in my reading here when I bought my Vibe.
So...I'm in a bit of a bind. I'm in Michigan maybe 40 miles north of Detroit and I'm hoping to find a very reasonably priced replacement engine locally. I don't have long to make a decision. It is running again for now with fresh oil a new oil pressure sending unit and a Lucas additive in the hopes of buying me a little time. The oil pressure sending unit appears to have been the weak point that blew all the oil out of my engine though it must have been leaking a bit before this. I saw it up on the hoist and you could see fresh oil streaked in a two foot wide swath from the engine right to the back of the vehicle. I live in "the country" and have a gravel drive so leaks don't announce themselves the way they would on pavement and I must admit I'm not as consistent in checking my oil as I should be. I always run full synthetic in all my vehicles in the hope of avoiding situations like this but it's just a bit of extra protection and not a cure-all.
It now starts and idles fine and I gently drove it the 2 miles home without issue but if I don't take it easy on the throttle I hear the rod knock so I know I'm on borrowed time. I may have to try to drive it to work tomorrow but I don't even know if I will make it there and back. I may have a bit of time driving gently but not much I fear. I need to find an affordable engine quickly and hope the swap will be affordable.
Any assistance or advice is greatly appreciated.