05 Vibe Questions, Need some help!

[LuvinMyVibe]

Hi, I am new here and have a few questions. Just bought an automatic 05 Vibe base with 30k miles on it about 2 months ago. Car was fine until about 2 weeks ago when it started to vribrate a little when in gear and idle, lets say stopped at a stop light. The vibration was very minor at first but now its a little more, not like a shaking but just a vibration. When I pop it into neutral the idle moves up a notch and the vibrating subsides. In addition to that, I have noticed that sometimes the car feels as if it doesn't have as much power as before. I will start the car, let it warm up a little and when I start driving it just doesn't have that "umph" it used to have, and the gas pedal feels hard to accelerate (I hope I am explaining this right). Sometimes though, the car will start and it will run awesome but not as often as its been weak. Any ideas? I just took it in for the 30k maint. and they changed the oil, and air filters (which was clogged and dirty). I know it says that its not due for a tune-up till like 75k miles but could it be the plugs? This was a rental car before I bought it so its been run pretty hard I am sure. All help would be appreciated. Thanks!

[AKLGT]

a rental car, eh? i'm sure you're aware of what people do to rentals? that poor vibe was probably driven hard, and through things it should have never! could be the spark plugs, could be bad fuel, could be a lot of things. it's still under warranty so I'd take it back into the dealership and see if they can locate the problem.

[jmf2]

Boy, I agree with Hope! I bought a rental car back in '91 that turned into the biggest nightmare i ever drove. NEVER AGAIN!!!

[RIT]

Why pour salt in someones wounds ? On the bright side, your car is probably still under warranty, and it has a Toyota drivetrain. Might just need a tune-up, or else you got a bad batch of gas. Usually rental car companies do timely maintenance on their fleet. A quick trip to the dealer should fix it right up, and you'll be good to go.

[ramenboy...]

congrats on the 'new ride'. one thing about buying a rental, its been mentioned here somewhere before: they may be driven hard, but they're also very well maintained. all periodic maintenance HAS to be done in order to keep it running right for the drivers.at any rate, its never too early to check the plugsenjoy the ride

[Mario]

My god, you bought a rental car! I feel bad for any rental car that I have ever driven. Rental cars are habitually mistreated to the extreme, go to a trusted mechanic and have them check the whole car.

[ColonelPanic]

Welcome aboard. Even at your mileage, yes, check the plugs. I replaced mine at 40-something or maybe it was 50, can't remember. They're allegedly good for 120,000 but don't bother keeping them in that long. Make sure you're using Iridium tipped plugs when you go to repalce them and do not gap the plugs or touch the tips.I've never really had a stable idle with my car. I've fought with it and fought with it, but I haven't been able to get anywhere with it. It bugs the heck out of me! The whole car just sits there and shakes when in gear and holding down the brake while stopped. In park or neutral, it is fine. I don't think you're going to get a silky smooth idle with this engine, but it shouldn't rattle your bones when you're at idle like mine does. The dealer did clean the throttle body when I brought it in for this horrible idle. It helped for a couple days, but then it came back.I guess you could see if they can do a fuel system cleaning on it where they run some sort of decarboning stuff through the fuel lines which cleans the injectors and will take care of any carbon deposits in the engine. That has helped mine before previously, while it didn't do much for the idle, it still ran considerably smoother for quite a while. It was $79 or so.Sorry you're catching so much crap about buying a rental... Personally, one of the best cars I've ever owned was an ex-rental, it was certainly much more reliable than this Vibe has been, and I'm the original owner of this Vibe! That ol' Chevy had 150,000 on it and it was still running strong. I'd do it again in a heartbeat.

[northvibe]

I bought my vibe as a rental car and have NEVER had a issue. Before i bought it I had my mechanic look it over and he said it was a amazing car. ive put over 10k on it and its been great only issues i had were interior rattling of the plasitic. your under warranty until 36k with a vibe, so just bring it in to a dealer. NOT ALL rental cars are beat on, i bought mine from hertz and they only allow people 25yrs and older to rent them AND when they sell them they have to pass inspection and can have no previous problems, so your pretty safe buying them, plus its a toyota .