Quote, originally posted by star_deceiver »And to test the water pump, when the engine is up to temperature squeeze tightly the upper rad hose. You should hear and feel the coolant rushing past your hand. Put a dry rag on the rad hose to prevent burns.I'm having some heat problems too. I just repla...

I'm waiting for a "this is what the problem was" post, because mine is doing the same thing. Just started today, while I'm driving the heat is just fine. When I come to a stop, the temperature of the air steadily drops. The water temp stays within a few degrees of 186 (scan gauge), where i...

Went to the Buick/GMC dealer today, I explained what had happened, gave him the fault code, and explained what I knew about the recall. I may as well have been speaking Swahili. He said they'll look at it. I went back 4 hours later, nothing. Talked to another guy, and we were on the same page. He ca...

Had my Vibe towed to the dealer at around 1230am. I'm cruising along at 50mph and the engine just quit. 100% shut down, no warning, no nothing, like I turned the key off. Did a little research on the crackberry while I was waiting for the tow truck and realized it's the ECM. I also read that the off...

I put in a new water pump. The old one was making a grinding noise for a few months, and it finally started leaking so I got on it. Wasn't too difficult, took maybe 2 hours. $50

Nice write up! I'm about to steal it from you. I have a rattling sound coming from that area of the engine, it's not the tensioner (already replaced that) or the belt. The sound stops with the belt removed so it's definitely an accessory. I've read some Corolla write ups saying they had rattling wat...

I had both low beams burn out at the same time tonight. The high beams worked fine, as did the fog lights. Checked the fuses - check. Checked the relay - still there. Switched HEAD with DIM - same. Took the bulbs out, they looked fine...no black burn marks, filament looked to be intact. Turns out th...

Something I thought about...the sound isn't fast. It seems like if it were a bad pulley or something, the sound I hear would be fast since they spin fast in relation to how fast the belt is moving. So maybe my next step is to replace the belt, it has 88,000 miles on it anyway so it's due.

I did, thanks for the heads up. I didn't give it a whole lot of thought since you said you but in a new engine. I guess I should check, I've got nothing to lose.

I'm on the channel lock bandwagon as well. Must be a self-torquing cap...

My 08 has 3 engine mount bolts. I remember reading this, and only removed 2 bolts...and couldn't figure out why the chassis was going up along with the engine when I worked the jack. There's a third bolt up a little higher than the obvious two, on the wheel well. I also found one of those long sprin...

Today, I put in a new tensioner, then discovered that not where the noise is coming from.

All the talk about the belt tensioner problems on here, I immediately assumed that's what the problem was. Well, $80 and a bloody knuckle later...that's not it. (By the way, it looks like the tensioner was re-engineered for the 08's, it looks slightly different than the earlier models, the piston is...

I have a 2008 with the ol' marbles in a cup feeling. I want to try replacing just the piston but I can't find one for the '08, they all go up to '07. Does this suggest that the '08 has the particular tensioner with the permanently attached piston?

In the time it took you to turn your computer on, log in to genvibe, start a new thread and wait for a reply, you could have unscrewed it and screwed it in 153 times. Blindfolded.With your feet.

No one mentioned Gunk Degreaser, is that not a popular choice? I've been using that stuff for nearly 20 years, works great. I go to the self serve car wash, spray down the engine with the foamy degreaser, wash the car, then rinse the engine with the low pressure spray for 3-4 minutes.

What did you do about the hooks for the carpet mats? Looks like the vinyls don't have holes for them.

I've had my Vibe for 2 years now, and I wish I had gotten a bug shield when new. Not so much for the force field that it supposedly builds around the windshield, but to eliminate all the chips in the paint on the front of the hood. I think it's damn ugly too, but then again, so are the paint chips.

Saw whatever you want about Fram oil filters, I've had two GM's, both with over 250,000 miles on them when I drove them in for trade-in, and always used full synthetic oil and Fram extended life filters. Changed the oil every 10,000 miles and never had a single oil related problem.

Turns out the noise was a result of a broken plastic clip underneath and some plastic trim was flapping in the wind. Tires: A+Mr. Tire: F-

I notice no mention of removing any brake fluid to make room when the caliper is compressed. Is this not necessary on the Vibe? My other cars I would suck some out with a turkey baster and replace with new.

I've read the reviews, and everyone says the Pirelli P4s are quite, much quieter than the stock Goodyears (which I got 58k out of). I've had the P4s on for 2 weeks now, and when I approach highway speeds, there's a strange noise that resonates in the car, almost like a rubbing/grinding noise. It has...

The knob that controls temperature for the a/c gets stuck half way between hot and cold. It's on hot now, and I can't get it to go to cold. What could be causing this?