2009 Vibe base, with Aftermarket double din setup

[unorthodoxoriginal]

Hi everyone,

An intro and a confirmation/question thread.

I am a new owner of a 2009 Pontiac Vibe, base model, 2.4L engine. It has been great to me so far, a great successor to a 2002 Toyota Camry that was totaled last month. It left big shoes to fill...


I also put in a new Kenwood DPX503BT double din receiver into the car, and it plays great. I got the dash kit and harness from Crutchfield.


I noticed there were not many posts and photos of car receiver setups for the 2009-2010 model years, especially as these require a separate 12v red wire to be hooked up to the interior fuse box. It required an unnecessarily long amount of time to try to figure out this step, from reading other pontiac models that required this extra pin connection.

Basically, I used the pin that came with the wiring harness to pinch into the Ignition fuse slot along with the original fuse, after checking with a voltmeter. Trying to pry out the fuse and putting it back in with the wiring pin to that poorly positioned fuse box under the steering wheel took an ungodly amount of time.


Hopefully I executed this correctly and hopefully somebody who has put in something similar can provide me with any comments. Every feature on this stereo seems to work fine, just want to make sure it does not get fried in the case of a short due to misplacement.

Thanks and great meeting you all!

[tpollauf]

Welcome to GenVibe uno-doxo Great intro and you fulfilled one of the most important requirements (at least us viewers think so anyways) which is to POST a picture of your Vibe The other thing we like to know is your whereabouts Based on the pic you're somewhere in the north where it gets cold (snow on ground and leafless trees). Update profile for us. Mileage, what you paid for it, overall condition? Hopefully this 2009 you have with the 2.4l engine is one of the lucky ones that does not burn oil. Some do and some do not. Otherwise it looks real good and clean with very little interior wear. Nice clean install on the radio also. Sorry, can't help much on your question as both of our 2009 Vibe Gt's are still stock. Glad you found us and visit often

[unorthodoxoriginal]

Welcome to GenVibe uno-doxo Great intro and you fulfilled one of the most important requirements (at least us viewers think so anyways) which is to POST a picture of your Vibe The other thing we like to know is your whereabouts Based on the pic you're somewhere in the north where it gets cold (snow on ground and leafless trees). Update profile for us. Mileage, what you paid for it, overall condition? Hopefully this 2009 you have with the 2.4l engine is one of the lucky ones that does not burn oil. Some do and some do not. Otherwise it looks real good and clean with very little interior wear. Nice clean install on the radio also. Sorry, can't help much on your question as both of our 2009 Vibe Gt's are still stock. Glad you found us and visit often

Hey there, thanks for the info - more about the car!

I'm located in Southwestern Ontario, up in Canada. So you're right about the cold weather! 161,000 km or just over 100,000 miles on it. Bought through a private seller, I went in for about $5000 CAD (~$3600 USD). Great overall condition, had it checked out by a mechanic prior to purchase and said there were no problems. The starter might be a little dated as it sometimes sounds "weak" while cranking ignition.

Any way to check if the engine is burning oil other than checking every now and then the colour of the oil?

Thanks again.

[tpollauf]

Any way to check if the engine is burning oil other than checking every now and then?

Answer: NO The only way is to constantly monitor it. We have two 2009 Vibe Gt's in our family. One burns oil (1 qt/2000 miles) has 145k miles on it, and the other (rarely driven and just over 30k miles) doesn't burn a drop! So it's "hit or miss" when it comes to the oil burning issue. Worse case you may have to add a quart between oil changes. No other known issues currently. Long term damage could result in the cat plugging up prematurely but that is likely several years down the road for now.

Sounds like you may be "just across the pond" from where I'm at. Down here in Ohio we refer to the "pond" as being Lake Erie Take care

[ditomathew]

I noticed there were not many posts and photos of car receiver setups for the 2009-2010 model years, especially as these require a separate 12v red wire to be hooked up to the interior fuse box. It required an unnecessarily long amount of time to try to figure out this step, from reading other pontiac mode

Basically, I used the pin that came with the wiring harness to pinch into the Ignition fuse slot along with the original fuse, after checking with a voltmeter. Trying to pry out the fuse and putting it back in with the wiring pin to that poorly positioned fuse box under the steering wheel took an ungodly amount of time.

Just wanted to know how this setup is holding up. Does this cause any other issues?

[Pachelbel]

Hi-

Thinking of doing a similar upgrade for my 2009 Pontiac GT w/ Monsoon. Did you have to install anything like:

https://www.crutchfield.com/p_249CSLOC1 ... erter.html

for the amplifier?

Thanks.