Shot Engine

[cookiemonster]

I bought a 2003 Pontiac Vibe AWD with 140k miles on it last April. After 2 months I had the engine oil warning light come on due to low oil. They Chrysler dealership I took it to diagnosed the problem as a faulty PCV Valve which was causing the engine to burn oil. The engine was still losing oil afterwords l and when I took it back they said the engine was still burning oil and would need to be replaced. They said that the rings had gone bad too at this point. At one point they had to put almost 4 quarts of oil in it. Since then I've been driving it and putting oil into it. Now the catalytic converter has gone bad too and I can't get up to highway speeds anymore. Its a shame since the rest of the car is in such good condition. We also have a 1996 Toyota Avalon which has had a lot of work done on its engine. The bottom of the car has rusting problems and has had its fuel line and exhaust system replaced. The car still runs pretty good though and Avalons can last a very long time. We are probably going to trade/sell both cars and buy a different used car, hopefully on with fewer miles on it.

[keithvibe]

ah, thanks for sharing.Sounds like someone needs to hook you up with better dealer/mechanic and a better service interval.

[Sublimewind]

Hi and Welcome to GV..!I gotta ask, did you check the oil at all in the 2mo you owned it? I mean 140k is nothing to sneeze at and would prolly require some monitoring.. Sorry to hear it regardless

[Salsa Guy]

WHat keith said it true but used engines for these cars are cheap less than $1000. Someone should be able to drop it in for you for about $500. You'll still need to replace a CAT and those at a junk yard are also cheap. How do you know the CAT is bad. What codes are you getting. Is the engine miss firing. If your burning oil the plugs maybe fouled. See blue smoke out the exhaust?

[keithvibe]

Who ever told you that a bad PCV valve would make you lose 4 quarts of oil is smoking the good stuff...

[Salsa Guy]

Also it being an AWD the parts maybe worth alot. Don't know what you spent on it but there are people on this forum and MatrixOwners that may buy it from you (if the rest is in good condition) for more than you can get at a stealership. If it was closer I'd like to take a look. Putting an engine in that car would be cheap, compared to what it can be worth! Which can be from 5K to 9K.

[TONY TAT2]

Hi !Another vote 4 replacen the motor + cat,why buy another "used" headache?

[northvibe]

the cat can be replaced or removed to fix that issue.The engine losing oil..I would for sure request a 2nd opinion for a different place. Is that the dealer you purchased the vibe from? So it burns how much oil per oil change...or how much oil per day/week?Does it leak on the floor or actually burn it.

[joatmon]

Quote, originally posted by Sublimewind »I gotta ask, did you check the oil at all in the 2mo you owned it? If not, it wouldn't be the first time a Vibe lost an engine from not having the oil level checked. I'd guess not, if later it was driven back for service and found to be four quarts low. I don't know how long you need to run the engine with no oil before the rings go, but at this point, sounds like it's either sell the car or get a replacement engine out of a wreck.I'm in MD, and here junkyards are not allowed to resell cat's unless they test them to verify they still work, and junkyards aren't really set up to do that, so they just send them off to recycle the platinum, won't sell a used one.