Hard-starting 04

[BrandonK]

Hi guys,

We're a new-used Vibe owner. We picked the car up in late June with 127k on it, today it has 157k on it. We scored a pretty good deal on it, $2500 after tax/title/registration. Overall condition on it was fair. A few scratches in the interior, the back hatch plastic has a big crack in it. The paint is starting to bubble on two of the rims, the hood has a TON of rock chips in it, a few small scratches on the exterior plastics here and there. Tires were 50%, brakes about the same. As a whole, well worth the $2500. So far, we've saved just over $2k in fuel costs in the 6 months that we've owned it, versus the Buick that my better half was driving to work before (anywhere from 60-100mi / day round trip). We've had little issues with it since we've owned it. A semi truck ran her off the road, causing a bent rim and a shredded tire, so it got a pair of Michelin Defenders up front (Uniroyals still in the rear). The rim ended up getting put on the back as it was causing to much vibration on the drive wheels. I'm actually shocked it balanced out as well as it did on the rear after seeing just how bent it was while it was on the balancer. Because of the paint bubbling on the rims as well as the bent rim, I'll end up putting the snow tires on these and buying new wheels come spring (still waffling on going with OE tire size on 16" wheels or a slightly larger tire on a 17" wheel). The front brakes need to be done soon. It looks like it sat for a little while before we bought it, some rust accumulated on the rotor and has since caused some heavy grooves in the drivers side rotor and pads. Still plenty of pad life left, but I'll still end up doing pads and rotors next oil change.

Wow, I'm rambling.

Anyhow, the only real issue with it as of current is that it has a hard starting problem. It has been like this since day 1 that we bought it and interestingly, my buddy that we bought it from said his other Vibe (I think it's an 06) does the same thing.

The cliff notes of it is, if it has been sitting overnight, or even a few hours, the car starts right up in ~1-2 seconds of cranking. However, if the motor is warm, you have to continue cranking on it for at least 10 seconds to get it to fire. Generally if that occurs, I crank on it for few seconds, let off, crank again. It fires just fine on the second or third shot everytime. I see that there is a recall out on 05-08's that covers something nearly identical to this condition, but as ours is an 04 I know trying to get them to replace the PCM will be like pulling teeth. I also found a TSB (but of course, not a recall) for the 04's that relate to the exact problems I'm having. The solution is to also replace the PCM.

Before I go attempting to get the PCM replaced under a recall, are there any other conditions that would cause the hard start / no start on these? For those old enough to remember it was a common occurrence, it nearly feels like vapor lock, but my method of key on, key off, key on, key off, key on, to re-pressurize the fuel rail has no effect on getting it started. I suppose I should get the fuel pressure gauge out and see if it is in fact low rail pressure that is causing it.

Thoughts?