GenVibe - Community for Pontiac Vibe Enthusiasts

I tried a search and didn't find anything on what I was looking for.Has anyone experienced their Vibe lugging down when the a/c is running right before you shift gears? This is happening to me at ~35-mph when I am still in 3rd and shifting to 4th. I don't experience the problem when the a/c is off. What causes this problem? One of my friends' made the crack that it is a Toyota engine, so it has no juice. What do you all think?

mine does the same thing unless i get the RPM's a little higher than usual during shifts

I haven't noticed it between any given gears, but I know I lose a lot of power with the A/C on. More so than I have with any other car. Trying pluging something in to the outlet while you have the A/C on and your take off power goes to crap.

I have never heard of that before. Only with the A/C on and not at any other speed or gear? how low rpm wise does it bog down?

i find the jump from 3rd to 4th in the base 5 speed to be a pretty big jump even without the A/C on. I usually rev it a bit higher than normal when going from 3rd to 4th in normal situations. Could the A/C just be magnifying this....probably?

Also although I've never noticed this myself, since the AC can consume several HP under maximum demand, it figures that the engine speed would drop faster when you lift off the gas and depress the clutch to shift. Is that perhaps part of what you are experiencing?

I probably only shift into 4th at 35 mph if 35 is about as fast as I want to go. I'm more likely to be shifting from 2nd to 3rd at 35 mph

I'm gonna see if I can get my car to do this on my way home from work.

Quote, originally posted by Mavrik »Only with the A/C on and not at any other speed or gear? how low rpm wise does it bog down?I watched the tac on my way home and the rpm's aren't falling that much (may 100 rpm's). It is occuring when I am almost at 40-mph and the rpm's are at ~2600. However, to overcome this, I just turn off the a/c when I want the power. It is most noticible as I am trying to get on the highway because I am revving my engine at a higher rate and not shifting gears as soon as I do in normal traffic. I did try shifting when I was around 35-mph and the engine didn't lug down. So I think it is all attributed to my revving the rpm's up a bit more. Thanks for all of the help!!!

I could not duplicate what your experiencing with my car...must be as you say, how your driving haha.

Hi Charlie,All I've noticed with the AC on is the RPMs drop faster while shifting. Haven't really noticed a major drop in RPM. I added ground wires last Fall and it does seem that the RPMs don't drop as fast as it once did, but they still drop fast.The Vibe never seemed to shift smoothly inthe first place. The AC makes things even worse so I don't even run the AC in town anymore then when hitting the highway, I wait till I'm up to speed before pushing the button. It's been a somewhat mild Summer so far so this has worked for me. I would just suggest to shift faster so that the engine doesn't have a chance to lug down. I do the what I need to. Seems to alleviate the fast RPM drop so I'm sure it'll help you.Dave