I need help!

[Obadiahjohnston]

I've had my 2009 vibe for a while, it's at 200000 miles and I changed the spark plugs on it and it ran great for about a week, then all of the sudden on my way back from a 2 hour drive, any time I got around 2000 rpm it would jerk really bad like it was having trouble changing gears but only when I would hit 2000 rpm and it got gradually worse then as I was pulling into the driveway the check engine light came on. So I called a mobile mechanic and he ran diagnostics on it and found that it was misfiring in cylinder 3 so he took them all out and cleaned them and put them back and we started driving and at 2000 rpm it would jerk a couple of times and then just lose most power, check engine light came on, and only go 10 mph with the pedal to the floor, but once he cleared the codes again it would drive fine until 2000 rpms and do it again. He thinks it may be the spark plugs that I replaced the NGK's with (auto lite). Has anyone else had problems after changing to an aftermarket plug? Any information would help, I don't think it's the transmission because it runs fine up until that point, only has a rough idle after the engine light came on.

Thanks

[Rayven01]

Replace the plugs with NGKs or Densos as a first step. I wouldn't use auto lites in anything, but especially not a Japanese engine.

[Obadiahjohnston]

Is that something that would cause it to mess up this badly? Thank you, I'll be changing in the morning.

[Obadiahjohnston]

Put the original Densos back in and it runs perfectly. I was worried there for a minute, it's surprising that just using an aftermarket plug would mess it up so bad, well lesson learned! Thanks for your help

[Rayven01]

Cars are pretty picky about plugs these days. Everything is so finely controlled by the ECU that something like off-brand plugs with different characteristics can throw things out of whack surprisingly far.

[Obadiahjohnston]

Pretty peeved with auto zone for having the auto life's as the main plugs for this car if it makes that much of a difference. Went back three times. Originally to get plugs. Then to exchange them once I took them out to change and realized that they were completely different, gave the guy the original plug and said I want this. He then gave me autolites that size. And then I had to go back to get Densos that matched the original...they should be required to know these things

[M1MECHANIC]

They just look at the make of the car and recommend based off of that but the Vibe is all Toyota engine, trans. so it needs NGK or other Japenese plugs. Autolite is for Pontiac cars which the Vibe is only by name. I have an 03 GT and found then Orielys has the wrong plug listed for it, online its correct but in store its wrong. They list the base engine plug for the GT luckly caught it befor I installed them. Don't trust that the counter person knows much at an auto parts store, some do but most just look at a computer and type in what you tell them. Always double check engine parts befor you install with a Vibe. Replace altenator and it took 3 different ones and bring in the original to make sure the mounting holes were right.

[shaeet]

I've never had bad luck with autolites...maybe the plugs they gave you weren't long enough so they weren't protruding properly into the combustion chamber? did you check the lenghts of the threaded part between your old plugs when you removed them?

I've had autozone and advance auto parts give me some retarded sized plugs before for various cars. My sisters 2.3 mazda3 needed plugs so I went to autozone & came back. Plugs they gave me were WAY shorter than the ones we pulled out of the cars cylinder head. I'm guessing they were 2.0 plugs maybe but still....they entered 2.3 in the computer & the part was still wrong.

Also worth noting, you should seriously consider cleaning your MAF if you think your car isn't running well. Buy a can of the CRC MAF cleaner from the parts store ($6-7) and spray up inside the MAF really good. Makes a world of difference on any car that hasn't had it cleaned lately.