knucklehead

joatmon · Post by **joatmon** » Thu Jul 03, 2003 9:27 am

Until today, the stupidest thing I did in my Vibe was the first day I got it. I was driving it home from the dealer, and it was getting on to twilight, and the dim sky and my headlights on the road reflected off the hood, you know that little bit by the windshield that angles down, and I thought that the windshield was bevelled at the bottom. The more I looked at it, the more upset I got that I hadn't noticed it before I bought the car, and was relieved when I finally figured out that I was looking at the hood. Well, today I locked my keys in the car. Left them in plain sight, right next ot the cell phone. Had to walk around a bunch to find a payphone, and called the 1-800-ROADSID, answer a hundred questions, and they said someone would be there within an hour. About an hour later, I got impatient and scrounged a coat hanger. On these cars all a coat hanger is good for is messing up the door/jamb/seals. I was getting pretty fed up when a guy showed up as a result of my call and he was able to open the door in a minute. He had a thicker bent metal rod that he pushed down the outside of the window, lifted it up so the end came up on the inside of the window, twisted it, pushed it back down some and then wiggled it until the rubber tipped end pushed the door lock open. It would be a great tool to have, but it's not the kind of thing you'd likely have access to when you needed it. So I felt pretty stupid. At least it was good to find out that the 1800 roadsid service actually works, didn't cost me, and the guy who came out was cool about not rubbing my nose in it. I sure better not do that again. I don't like having a magnetic key holder under the car, so I'll probably get a spare key, if I can find one without the plastic so it's thinner, and then keep it in my wallet. grrr

Vibe Rater · Post by **Vibe Rater** » Thu Jul 03, 2003 11:50 am

It took an hour for roadside to show?

joatmon · Post by **joatmon** » Fri Jul 04, 2003 12:01 am

yeah, about 75 minutes. caught some grief at work over it, but tough. s happens. I guess roadside uses local subcontractors, wasn't a Pontiac or GM service rep, no markings on the pickup he drove. Would have taken about 2 hours to get my extra key driven up from home, and I thought I'd see how roadside worked. I would have preferred to have someone show up sooner, but it was good to be able to call someone and get out of the jam for free. edit 8/17/07 for pic upload not worthy of a new post elsewhere

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ColonelPanic · Post by **ColonelPanic** » Fri Jul 04, 2003 10:04 am

Yeah, well over an hour sounds normal... I've used Chevrolet's roadside assistance on my last two cars, same thing. I know what you mean about locking the keys in the car... Did that THREE times in a two-month period a few years ago. After that, I carry at least two sets of keys with me at all times. You never know when you're gonna need them!

yank dini · Post by **yank dini** » Tue Jul 08, 2003 5:37 am

I had to use them about three times last year in my old one. Not sure because I live close to a dealership but one time they got there in about 15 mins!

ragingfish · Post by **ragingfish** » Tue Jul 08, 2003 5:41 am

I had a spare made, and keep it in a small envelope, and hidden in my wallet, for just such an emergency.I believe they also make "credit card" keys, which are made of plastic as thin as a credit car, and are attached to a bigger piece of plastic the size of a card. You keep it in your wallet. If you need to use it, you pull it out, gently bend out the "key", open the door, and just pop the key in the door.I think any key cutter that sells those credit card keys can cut one for MOST cars...not sure if it works for the vibe or not...

joatmon · Post by **joatmon** » Tue Nov 04, 2003 12:49 am

today I had a follow on in stupidity. I've been spending bits and pieces of time over the last couple of months trying to fix up and repaint the outside of my house. Today is supposed to be the last nice weather day here for potentially 5 months, so I took off work and have been painting. The house is a light tan. The vibe is Satellite. Can you see where this is going?It wasn't that bad. I have the vibe opened up with the radio lblasting, and after a while the radio station starts to fade, so I go change to a different one. They start playing some stuff I don;t care for so I go back to change the station and there's all these patches of tan paint on the driver's door. Didn;t register at first, but then I went fom "Hmm, there seems to be something on the car" to "Oh Shi..! I got paint on the Vibe!" Luckily it hadn't been on there long and was water based paint, so it came off ok. Turns out I had gotten some paint on my shirt and transferred it to the car when I leaned in the window to change the station. So it turned out to be no big deal, especially compared to some of the recent Vibe disasters discussed here at genvibe. Now I can laugh at my own stupidity, and reported it since I already had a thread on that general topic,

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cibomatto · Post by **cibomatto** » Tue Nov 04, 2003 12:51 am

in a sarcastic tone-- Jeez you guys are stooopidLOL..just kidding

joatmon · Post by **joatmon** » Fri Nov 20, 2015 12:03 pm

Another minor knuckleheadedness for me today. Changed the valve cover gasket in the Vibe today, and after cleaning everything up and I go to bolt it back in place, I came up one bolt short, an extra hole with nothing to put in it. I looked under the car, all around the engine compartment where I might have dropped it, extensively outside where I had cleaned all the grime off the valve cover. Even took the valve cover back off to make sure I hadn't somehow put it inside the engine. Spent a good 90 minutes looking for that missing bolt.

Finally remembered that when I took off the plastic engine cover, the cap nut didn't come loose, the whole long stud had come off and was still on the plastic engine cover, that stud is one of the fasteners that holds the valve cover on the engine. Took me about two and a half hours to change the valve cover gasket and spark plugs, and more than half of that time was looking for the missing bolt that it turns out I didn't lose.

ImUrOBGYN · Post by **ImUrOBGYN** » Sat Nov 21, 2015 7:20 am

Haha Don't you hate that (removed)? Had the same issue with a hub nut a week ago. Never went anywhere, but it sure as hell disappeared off the face of the earth. Still can't find that one....

ctgottapee · Post by **ctgottapee** » Sat Nov 21, 2015 2:42 pm

Lost a wheel nut after doing a full brake job; guess I forgot to torque one.
They were aftermarket with the aftermarket wheels, so now I have one nut not the same ;(

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