GenVibe - Community for Pontiac Vibe Enthusiasts

My 2004 Vibe has 265k miles on it! It was still going strong when all of a sudden some weird things started happening. At first it started to 'sputter' I guess as if it was out of gas. Because it is my only vehicle and I currently have to use it to get to work as biking will subtract 1-2 hours of sleep (15 miles, yeah im slow) from my already 5am morning. Well after a few more days of this the 'sputtering' became worse and then it would do odd things like accelerate to 40mph and not beyond with the RPM staying at a solid 2-3k not going above this; this would happen on and off. The other day was the kicked and i'll be borrowing my mother in law's car. The Vibe started to 'buck' and make some really nasty high pitched noise.

Now I know for a fact it isnt an oil problem because I check the oil religiously due to it burning oil because of its high mileage. Also, because of its high mileage, I use 10w-40 not that has anything to do with it just a little more information. I checked the transmission fluid and yeah it is VERY dark I just have a feeling it isnt the transmission. I got it back from the mechanic today and his opinion is the head gasket is leaking and because of this has saturated the serpentine belt with oil. Two of the ignition coils are reporting errors and something else I forget off the top of my head. The quote he gave me was 1300$ but I am hoping to get some opinions/information here and buy a repair manual to try to save some money.\



--edit sort of remember he said something about the cam shaft.

You remind me a little of my son - all kinds of strange noises etc. but no real attention paid until it just dies.
Just junked his 1998 Voyager that I gave him in 2001 - had a little over 200,000 miles on it. Got around $350 scrap value.
While we read of Toyotas going over 300,000 miles, a 2004 Vibe with 265,000 miles is probably at the end of its useful life.
Problem is you can spend a lot of money to fix this and that and it still isn't right. "Camshaft" sounds expensive. But I am not a mechanic.

jake75 wrote:While we read of Toyotas going over 300,000 miles, a 2004 Vibe with 265,000 miles is probably at the end of its useful life.

Not necessarily, I believe there are some members with Vibes over 300k miles somewhere around here...

Should have phrased that differently - meant that some "Toyota" vehicles including the Vibe have lasted more than 300,000 miles, but most are probably on borrowed time at 265,000 miles. That includes Toyota or clones like our Vibes.

Head gasket and leaking oil onto the serpentine belt are not related problems. The head gasket is internal to the motor, sealing the bottom of the motor and the top of the motor together. He could mean the valve cover gasket, that could leak and let oil hit the belt. The valve cover covers the valves and the camshaft. But that is a relatively cheap, even a possible DIY repair. And anyway, a oiled serpentine belt would not cause the problems, it just might let the alternator and water pump and power steering pump slip and not turn like they should.

The stumbling sounds more like a computer issue or sensor problem, or even the coils like you mentioned. The coils fire the spark plugs and if they are misfiring, it would make the car run badly. I would go to and auto parts store like Autozone or such and see if they can pull all of the codes and translate them for you.

The bucking reminds me of my friend's Mazda Protege 5. It was acting up, bogging and having trouble taking off and the revs would drop for no apparent reason. His car threw a CEL and it turns out his plastic intake tubing was cracked, so his engine wasn't breathing right. 5 minutes' time and some duct tape and the problem was gone. I don't know what the odds are of this being your problem, but in any case I hope you can figure it out soon... Good luck!

I would start with any codes, then the coils...something to coinsider is the fuel pump. I had an old vw that acted just like that when the fuel pump was going out, 235k is a lot of milage on that little pump.

Good Luck and keep us posted.

Sounds like it was running in "Limp" mode if it wouldn't run over 3000K. What codes are you getting? Is the check engine light on? The mainfold gaskets are also very suspect and if you have been running the engine lean it could be toast.

toddex wrote:My 2004 Vibe has 265k miles on it! It was still going strong when all of a sudden some weird things started happening. At first it started to 'sputter' I guess as if it was out of gas. Because it is my only vehicle and I currently have to use it to get to work as biking will subtract 1-2 hours of sleep (15 miles, yeah im slow) from my already 5am morning. Well after a few more days of this the 'sputtering' became worse and then it would do odd things like accelerate to 40mph and not beyond with the RPM staying at a solid 2-3k not going above this; this would happen on and off. The other day was the kicked and i'll be borrowing my mother in law's car. The Vibe started to 'buck' and make some really nasty high pitched noise.

Now I know for a fact it isnt an oil problem because I check the oil religiously due to it burning oil because of its high mileage. Also, because of its high mileage, I use 10w-40 not that has anything to do with it just a little more information. I checked the transmission fluid and yeah it is VERY dark I just have a feeling it isnt the transmission. I got it back from the mechanic today and his opinion is the head gasket is leaking and because of this has saturated the serpentine belt with oil. Two of the ignition coils are reporting errors and something else I forget off the top of my head. The quote he gave me was 1300$ but I am hoping to get some opinions/information here and buy a repair manual to try to save some money.\



--edit sort of remember he said something about the cam shaft.

I had this issue with my Buick, it had a 3800 and was horrible on gas, it was a bad crank / cam sensor. It would run fine for about 30 minutes then exhibit the same symptoms. Finally one day it got the point where it would run for around 20 minutes and die then wouldn't start for an hour. I didn't feel like messing with it because it was already a 60 dollar fill up.... thus I obtained my vibe. At first I thought it was the coil packs or ECM. From the sound of your symptoms, about 80% sure its the cam or crank sensor.

http://www.ehow.com/list_5869788_sympto ... nsor_.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://www.ehow.com/about_5860665_bad-c ... ptoms.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

"Symptoms of Problems
When a crankshaft sensor has failed or is failing, certain timing problems will arise in engine function. The engine may start normally in some cases, but will cut off after a few minutes (or seconds) of operation. More than likely the engine will be unable to start at all. Since the crankshaft sensor is responsible for engine timing, the driver may experience engine backfire or irregular rpm function, if the vehicle starts at all."