FalseAxiom wrote: ↑Sun Apr 11, 2021 1:54 pm
My Vibe seems to have died near the beginning of Covid times, probably around June of last year.
Maybe we need to back up here. What was the Vibe doing or how was the Vibe acting when it "seems to have died" in June? Is your Vibe a 1.8L or a 2.4L? Does it have a automatic or manual transmission? How many miles are on your Vibe?
At the basics, you need three things to make a motor run. That is air, fuel, and a spark. These thing have to occur at the proper time also. You have tried adding the fuel with the starting fluid. Compression is important but having one bad cylinder is not going to keep the others from firing. Also starting fluid can ignite on it's own with as little as 3 to 1 compression ratio so low compression is not going to prevent the starting fluid from firing.
The next thing to check is the spark. You have changed the spark plugs so you have the tools to remove a spark plug. Remove a spark plug from the cylinder head and put the spark plug back into the coil. Lay the spark plug so the metal body of the spark plug is against any metal spot on the valve cover so that the spark plug has a ground. Try to keep the spark plug away from the hole where it was removed from. Now have someone try to start the Vibe as you watch the spark plug to see if there is spark at the end of the spark plug. This is best done in the shade as it is easier to see the blue spark at the gap in the spark plug.
While the spark plug is out, how does it look? Is it wet with fuel? If it is then the engine is flooded and needs to dry out before checking for spark. To dry out a flooded engine, remove all the spark plugs, spray some starting fluid in each cylinder and let the motor sit until the fuel has evaporated from the cylinders.
Here are the steps:
Check for spark
1) Unplug all four fuel injector clips to avoid flooding the cylinders with gas during the procedure.
2) Remove a spark plug from the cylinder head and insert the plug back into the coil
3) While firmly grounding the threads of the spark plug against a clean metallic area of the valve cover, have a someone crank the engine. If you are concerned about getting shocked, you can wear a rubber glove on the hand holding the spark plug, though this is really unnecessary if you take care to keep fingers or other body parts away from the spark plug tip.
4) With the engine cranking, you should see bright white spark (with only a faint bluish tinge) rather than weak orange/yellow spark at the tip of the plug.
5) Repeat procedure above for the remaining three spark plugs.
Note: Do not do this if you have a medical issue that requires you to stay away from high voltage as you may get shocked if not done properly.
If you confirm that you have fuel and spark then the air part is simple. Is air getting the the engine, just to make sure something is not plugged shut in the air hoses and filter box. From that point you may have a timing issue with the timing chain and that would require a service shop to look and verify the issue. Hopefully it is something simple though.