Pleasantly Surprised

[nextgen_viber]

Friends, i am new to the site but have had my Vibe since new in 2006. Never have i had any issues with the car till yesterday. By searching google and finding your forums here it sounds like one of my 02 sensors may be defective. Here's my scenario.When leaving a parking lot last evening it started fine but when i went to pull out it just stalled. No choking or abnormal vibrations, no warnings at all, just died. I let it set for a minute or two then it started right up so i proceeded down the road towards home. about a mile down the road it died again, still no warnings "nothing" just dead. I started it up and let it idle for a bit on the side of the road and then put it in gear and it was fine all the way home. The next morning i left for work in my work truck and my wife was taking the kids to school and it died on her 3 times, exact same symptoms. Well, lack of symptoms. Heres the funny part. It doesn't even have to be driving to do this. I had it simply idling in front of the house and it did the same thing.My vibe is just a base model 1.8 with 59.000 miles on it. Not a hard driven vehicle by any means. Mainly a school bus for the kids and wife. I do not own a computer to diagnose the car and have no trusting mechanics that i do not feel will be truthful as to whether it is just a sensor or not. Does this sound like either 02 sensor could be going bad or is it a problem that could be caused by a lot of different things.Any help would be great, or just a way to head forward. Just for curiosities sake i tried to purchase the sensor that is positioned before the cat and none of the 3 parts suppliers in my area have none in stack. That is't a good sign asthis says they sell a lot of the maybe ?

[kevera]

I wouldn't say it's the o2 sensor.I ran for a day without any o2 sensors when I did my exhaust,all it did was throw a code.When it stalls,does it start up right away??Now,how does the car idle??(IS IT SMOOTH,ROUGH)It could be your IAC valve.

[northvibe]

Quote, originally posted by kevera »I wouldn't say it's the o2 sensor.I ran for a day without any o2 sensors when I did my exhaust,all it did was throw a code.When it stalls,does it start up right away??Now,how does the car idle??(IS IT SMOOTH,ROUGH)It could be your IAC valve.Yeah with a bad o2 you'd most likely get a CEL and just have a rough idle. Are you even throwing a CEL? Do you have any auto stores near by? like advanced auto, checker, napa, can tire etc. they offer a free cel scan and you can take the codes and bring here and/or google them too. Hmm Kevera has a good point. When was the last time you had a tune up?

[nextgen_viber]

Its starts right up fine after the stall. I am due for a tune up right now it is a little over due. I was wrong about the mileage on my car. It is 36000 miles. Do you think a tune up would do the trick ?

[nextgen_viber]

It idles very smooth. It does bog down at times, not very often though. I drive the car maybe 1 time a month if that. My wife does the driving unless we have a family event and i can manage to get the teen-age daughters to go with us. I did not know advanced offered a free scan. I have one righ tup the road here. I will call them directly and get right back to you kind folks as soon as i get home with the results.

[RIT]

Have you ever changed the fuel filter ?Actually, it sounds like an electrical component is getting heat-soaked and failing, and then works once it cools off.

[nextgen_viber]

Heres the code guys.P0607 Control Module He had no idea what it means and neither do i. What does this tell me guys ? Nope, never had the fuel filter changed but whats funny is this.When i wen tto advanced the CEL never had stayed on and he said if it wasnt on he wouldnt even hook up the computer. I left kinda pissy. While pulling out of the lot the car stalled at the light. I restarted the car but when i went to give it the gas it would not budge, no power at all while running. The CEL came on and it died. So i restarted it, got power back and hurried back to the Auto store. What luck is that huh.

[kevera]

That's what I was suspecting.Sounds like the computer is screwed man.

[nextgen_viber]

The PCM on the Vibe is the culprit i am guessing by other posts and should be covered by the factory right if under 80,000 miles? I found this post, is it correct ?http://www.fixya.com/cars/t669..._code

[nextgen_viber]

Just called the local dealer and he wont commit to any warranty federally till he sees the car. This is gonna be fun guys. God, remember when the car had a engine, generator and radiator. I know i am showing some age by saying generator but dang. 6 volts true metal and solid as they came. What have we came to with all of this way to sensitive stuff on a car. Just more ot go wrong right ?

[northvibe]

if you are at 36k yes, sepcially if this has been happening well before 36k and was documented...did you tell your dealer about it before? :sBUT CEL's are covered for longer than the 3yr/36 I think they are covered for what stated 8 yrs and 80k, I heard that when I was looking to fix the ex's honda a few months back...

[nextgen_viber]

That would be great news my friend. Lets hope they find it the same way. I havent been tracking the issue ans it has only been an issue for less then 48 hours. It is just the family car and i need it to be reliable and safe for the precious cargo inside.

[nextgen_viber]

Guys i thank you so much for your replies. I will keep you informed of what happens to the vibe. I really like the vehicle. It was the only reason i stayed with an american vehicle. Thank you so much guys for your resources available here.

[sdavis]

Quote, originally posted by nextgen_viber »Guys i thank you so much for your replies. I will keep you informed of what happens to the vibe. I really like the vehicle. It was the only reason i stayed with an american vehicle. Thank you so much guys for your resources available here.Haha... the Vibe is American. That made my day. Thanks!

[2002sportside]

Quote, originally posted by sdavis »Haha... the Vibe is American. That made my day. Thanks!Well, it's made in California. That's more American than a lot of the big three's cars...

[jkm311]

Reviving this post! This exact experience happened to my 2006 base, back when I only had 25,000 on it. I hope you have had it fixed with the NEW PCMs they made after a bunch of Vibe owners got the attention of GMs upper management about this.What kept happening is the dealers were replacing the PCMs, with PCMs that inherently carried the same problem. After a year's time, GM's brass had gotten enough hate mail that they had the engineers go back and fix the PCM, and distribute them to the dealers. I was fortunate enough to have this all occur after the re-engineered PCMs were stocked at the dealer. Hope you got through this, unscathed, Next Gen! There's nothing like loving this car, bragging to your co-workers that it's such a trouble free vehicle, then having to call one of them from a 1/4 mile down the road, asking for a ride to the dealership. Wah, wah, waaaaaaaaah. Still love the thing, though.