I'm having a rough go with my '03 standard trans base model Vibe--The other day I got a new key cut, drove the car a few parking spaces down the street with the new key, went in to pay for said key, and when I came out of the locksmith shop, I got in my car and it would not start. Not only that, there were no dash lights, nothing. No turning over, absolutely nothing. No power locks even. . I popped it in neutral and rolled another parking space, pressing the clutch, jiggling the steering wheel, turning the key; and nothing happened. Nice guy from the locksmith came out to help me look under the hood and got a battery tester out from his car and determined the battery had no juice and advised me to get a new battery from the service shop down the street. I don't know the age of the battery but I bought the car at 140K miles with this battery, and I'm up to 156K now. The battery was looking pretty messy and I was preparing for a big X country road trip so I figured as good a time as any to replace it; luckily I was able to do that all by myself (which I was proud of, and I even had my own wrench in the car), and the car started right up! Victory!
HOWEVER---Today I drove 500 miles west, and the last 2 times I stopped, I had the same exact thing happen. The first time I tried disconnecting and reconnecting the battery. I sat in the drivers seat with the door open watching the "open door" dash light slowly and weakly light up, then go completely black again as soon as I tried starting the car. Finally a nice guy offered me a jump. It started right up--as it did again 100 miles later when I got a jump another time.
I'm wondering if cleaning up the connections to the battery might be enough to fix this (wishful thinking?) or if I am perhaps looking at needing to replace the alternator. Or if it's something else altogether? I hate being far from a trusted mechanic that i know will tell me like it is and not overcharge me or sell me something I don't need, but I'm hoping I can get someone to look at it tomorrow. Also, considering how big it felt for me to be able to change the battery on my own, how good an idea would it be for me to try changing the alternator on my own if it comes to that, to save a considerable chunk of $ ?
I'm curious to see what the car does after sitting all night. BTW, I safely made it to my cousin's house which is at least a better place to be stranded that a NY State Thruway Service Area. I have 600 more miles to go on Tuesday though, so I hope we can make it.
Just fishing for insight, encouragement, etc. Donations? Kidding.