Good day, I have recently purchased a 2009 Pontiac Vibe with 1.8L engine, 130k automatic from a dealership (clean carfax). While test driving the car, I noticed the car would jolt from accelerating from 0-10km/h (slow turning, turning in a corner, stop sign, etc). Against my better judgment, I bought the car anyway and drove it 400km to go home. I brought it to my local mechanic the next day to have another thorough inspection and an engine compression test. Before this, when I started the car, it hesitated a bit. His finding was that I needed a new battery, new engine filter, I have leaky struts, I would need my crankshaft sensor replaced, and that he found a P0015 code. As for the engine test, he found that cylinder 2 was 20psi lower than the rest (C1 140.2, C2 122.9, C3 148.5, C4 149.2). He said I would have to get my engine either fixed or replaced (that's a $3-6k fix). Now, when I drove the car from the dealership to my home, I had not once noticed my engine light on. I just changed my spark plugs with new ones and installed a new engine filter. The car starts well and I notice the car drives much smoother. The jolting is still there but less present. I will change the battery tomorrow and will be doing a transmission flush soon. My main concerns are the P0015 code and my low engine compression. My questions are:
- are they related?
- We tested the solenoids, they are clean and were producing between 8.0-8.2 from multimeter test. No engine light on. My local mechanic's report mentions the P0015 code was part of its "engine history code". What does that mean? My understanding is that this code was already probably dealt with before (by car original owner perhaps). If so, why would he quote me for a camshaft sensor replacement. If it's just a sensor, wouldn't that be a different code?
- how bad is the engine? Should I get it fixed? Or fixing the P0015 will fix the engine?
- is the car jolting caused by the P0015 and/or low cylinder compression? I will be changing the transmission soon and hopefully that will make a difference.
I guess I just want to know how much I should be investing in this car. I already paid $6,800 for the car and few hundreds more for inspections and such. I don't mind paying more to get it up and running, I just want to know it's all worth it for me. I do love the car! Please, any insights will be appreciated. Thanks!
Presumably no warranty, possibly from a BHPH lot. That car is not worth putting thousands of dollars into for a replacement engine.
The P0015 code is not related to compression, it has to do with variable valve timing problems:
https://www.obd-codes.com/p0015
Ideally the cylinders should be within 10% of each other. To determine whether the low-reading cylinder has worn rings do a dry/wet compression test, also a leakdown test. If it's not rings then you have leaky valves or head gasket. Expensive to fix, I would just live with it if the engine will run reasonably well.
Jolting is probably from the transmission. Probably worn internal parts. What does the fluid look like? Is it burned? Gritty? Don't flush the transmission, just do a drain and fill, and replace the filter if it has one. Keep the old fluid just in case the new stuff makes matters worse.
Don't throw good money after bad, you could easily dig a deep financial hole with this thing.
Thank you very much for the reply. I will bring it to a different mechanic who will diagnose the engine and can pinpoint the exact problem of the low compression cylinder (and how much). I will also just drive the car to the ground or maybe sell it at a loss. Thanks again!
Can you return it for a full refund?
Or put it up for sale in this inflated used car market for 0 loss?
