GenVibe - Community for Pontiac Vibe Enthusiasts

As the title suggests, my daughter's 06 is not starting. It was hard-starting for a little while (she didn't tell me about this until recently). It cranks over fine. Immediately I thought of the fuel pump as apparently there has been an issue with fuel pump pressure on these. It has over 250k km on it so I fugured it was probably about time. I put a new pump in (Denso) which didn't remedy the problem. I removed the plugs (replaced last fall) a while after attempting to start after replacing the pump, and 3 of the 4 plugs were damp.....so it seems to be getting some fuel at least.

I don't want to start throwing parts at it....as I have already done with the fuel pump it seems. The fuses seem fine, and I swapped out the relay for the one in our other 06 Vibe which did not resolve the no-start issue.

I would like to test the coils............and also ensure that the coils are getting the pulses. My question pertains to the wiring for the coil connectors. Which of the 4-wires would be the one generating the pulses for the coil? The connector are 4-wire....ground, hot, pulse, and ?

Could someone by chance point me in the right direction as to how I would check for a pulse at each connector, and perhaps where I would go to next?

Thank you in advance,
Paul

You want to check these pages out for the testing your asking for:

http://madstyle1972.com/Repair/18/20iajc04/onvein40.pdf

http://madstyle1972.com/Repair/18/20iajc04/inspec40.pdf

From what you have described above, if it was a GM made car, I would be checking the crankshaft position sensor. In the two links above, the testing will get to sensor after checking spark at spark plugs which is talked about in the first link. I hope you used Denso spark plugs. The odds of all four coils or spark plugs going bad all at once is not very high. Do the above tests first. If you more questions after that, just ask as there are very helpful people here on this board. Good luck to you in keeping another Vibe on the road.

Thank you very much for those links jolt. I went with your instinct and just checked the sensor.....2520 ohms....so that appears to be the issue. It was a bit of a pain to get to though. I took the cooling fan out and removed the starter just to get my paw up there.

Unfortunately the parts place only has them in their warehouse. They can get it by 2 this afternoon, however they might be shutting down non-essential services here......Trudeau has an announcement in about an hour. I guess we'll see.

Anyway, thank you very much again jolt, it is greatly appreciated!

I'll post again after the sensor is installed for an update.

2006 wrote: ↑Fri Mar 20, 2020 7:02 amUnfortunately the parts place only has them in their warehouse. They can get it by 2 this afternoon, however they might be shutting down non-essential services here......Trudeau has an announcement in about an hour. I guess we'll see.

I'd be surprised if they shut down the auto parts stores/warehouse. Most places are deeming mechanics and garages necessary, and as such, auto parts stores and their warehouse. I know here in PA that auto parts stores were deemed essential, and they're still open [because I still have to work].

Well, replacing the crankshaft sensor didn't make a difference. The resistance of the new sensor was even greater than the original...over 3k ohms.

Cranking of the engine seemed a bit sluggish so I thought I'd swap out the starter from my other Vibe. It fired right up! Both cars still had their original starters in them, so I guess I shouldn't be too upset with a 14 year old starter giving up the ghost (over 257k kms on it). I ended up buying a replacement starter for the other car. No Denso's available locally, so I went with a standard rebuilt. It probably won't last nearly as long as the Denso did though.

Anyway, thank you jolt and zbyers for responding, it is greatly appreciated.
Paul

That's weird. Started out you said it cranks over fine, then you did some stuff that didn't seem to help, then replaced the starter and now it fires right up. You must have fixed something. What do you think was actually causing it to not start?

It was turning over.... but was maybe just a bit sluggish. I'm assuming it wasn't turning over fast enough to start it.

joatmon wrote: ↑Mon Mar 23, 2020 10:54 am Started out you said it cranks over fine

I was going to comment on that exact comment BUT you beat me to it! Glad it was an easy fix

2006 wrote: ↑Thu Mar 19, 2020 4:10 pm It cranks over fine. Immediately I thought of the fuel pump as apparently there has been an issue with fuel pump pressure on these. It has over 250k km on it so I fugured it was probably about time. I put a new pump in (Denso) which didn't remedy the problem. I removed the plugs (replaced last fall) a while after attempting to start after replacing the pump, and 3 of the 4 plugs were damp.....so it seems to be getting some fuel at least.

The engine needs to crank over at a speed of 450 RPM or more before the ECM will send power to the electric fuel pump. If the cranking speed of the engine was slower then 450 RPM's, the electric fuel pump will never powered up. It could also be that the electrical connection to the crankshaft position sensor was bad and by UN-plugging and re-plugging the connector on the sensor got it working. If he had checked for spark at the spark plugs in the first link, that would have told him that he had spark and not to go further and not to replace the crankshaft sensor. It is hard to say what fixed it at this point, just glad you got it going without spending a lot of money.

I don't know how accurate the tachometer may be during cranking.....but I did note that it didn't go above 250 or so. I wanted to check for spark initially.....but to be honest I was paranoid about damaging a coil in the process.