GenVibe - Community for Pontiac Vibe Enthusiasts

DavidPIL

Several questions here - 1. About 4 years ago I had my clutch changed to a Brute clutch. This was not my first choice in a clutch but I was limited to places where I could go. Had this done at an AAMCO. Shortly after, I noticed a tick sound when stopping/changing directions. It only happened every s...

DavidPIL

Thanks for responding! Yeah, I've been eying those but I think I'm gonna go for lowering spring and I can't find those in a Quick-Strut type setup. KYB had something on their website like that as well though I'm sure a bit more expensive. My Vibe is about to celebrate it's 11th birthday and will pas...

DavidPIL

Hello everyone... I'm just writing to get some verification that the Energy Suspension parts number of 8.5128(G or R) for the Matrix XRS is the same for the Vibe GT. I know that the suspension parts are generally interchangeable but I did run unto slight problems with other parts (rear brake rotors)...

DavidPIL

I really just wanted to make sure that the ground I was talking about was connected to the correct places. The CEL has been an ongoing problem that used to only come on after driving many hours on the Highway while driving slower or at a light in town on the same trip but now it's rare that it turns...

DavidPIL

Having several issues since having my clutch replaced... But regarding this one, I added grounds 8 years ago - this particular ground wire seems to be awfully loose, and I don't remember it connecting where it is now on the transmission. I've had a CEL on for forever (forget the # but it has to do w...

DavidPIL

I need a little help with a Ground on my 2003 GT. I had some repair work done and I don't think they replaced a ground correctly. It's the ground lead that is about 8" below the top of the Strut mount on the driver's side. What does that ground wire connect to on the other end? Mine goes from t...

DavidPIL

*DING* *DING* *DING*We have a winner! (for now)Well, took the Unichip out. It's a pretty quick process since I've done it a few times. Started up - didn't die but did start to act like it had Turrets... Then after about a 10 minute idle, it was smooth. Drove around for about 15 minutes and no jerky ...

DavidPIL

Seriously?I did just get it reprogrammed in early Spring. Had it out for almost a year because I didn't think the custom programmer did it right. (poor mileage afterward). I put it back in maybe 3 months ago?I'll pull it out now and see what happens.

DavidPIL

Hey...Well, drove for about a mile then it started to chug again. Died a couple times but only when coming to a stop. I can't figure it out so maybe it's time to take it in?The only thing I've done in the past month to the car was clean the throttle body. What could I have done there to make this is...

DavidPIL

Job done, sorta... Still have to put the seats back but it's in and apparently working. The $87 one from NAPA is no longer available. Oh, but they had one for $256. I asked the Manufacturer's name and located the same one on Amazon.com for $62. It seemed fine other than the need to change the wire c...

DavidPIL

Well, after replacing the sensor, I went for a drive and all was perfect... until I was just about home and for a brief moment noticed a slight loss of power. This was after a 45 minute drive. Yesterday I went out again, going about 12 minutes away and within 2 miles, the bucking began again. This t...

DavidPIL

Gasket ordered.The symptoms do seem similar but they lean more toward the sensor right now. While at cruising speed with the pedal somewhat pressed, the instances of bucking is as if I release the pedal then press again. Like a connection is lose. Accelerating has been fairly solid as well as starti...

DavidPIL

Thanks fellow GenVibers!...Today it was pretty bad. pulled out of a drive-thru for lunch, got up to about 40ish then it started to feel like I was on a bucking bull. When almost home, it actually flat out died on me.I regularly clean the MAF when cleaning my SR intake filter and it's never really be...

DavidPIL

Today it did it again... several times... all without the cruise on but this time it went from throttle open at 38 mph down to idle and didn't come back till I pressed the pedal a little harder. Could this be the Throttle Position Sensor going out? I checked of symptoms of this and found... "Bu...

DavidPIL

Thanks for the response!I have narrowed it down to the clutch but I have done the several "test" I found on the forums to see if a clutch is slipping but it didn't show any signs of such.The instance it happens is so short, it seriously feels like I'm driving over a small patch of ice (or ...

DavidPIL

Hello all...I did a search on this, went back about 3 years on the forums and didn't find anything...I have a 2003 GT with just under 153,000 miles. Was driving 65-70ish for about 30 miles then the car stuttered for a brief moment. It basically felt like I hit a patch of ice (though it was 80 degree...

DavidPIL

Quote, originally posted by vibolista Â»My son just put EBC rotors and pads on... Love the brakes now. Huge difference between his 05 and my 08. Feels like I have baby buggy brakes on my Vibe, compared to the massive amount of non ABS braking he can now generate. We both have non ABS brakes.I'm, sol...

DavidPIL

There are 2 different adjustments that I know of. One is at the handle itself and the other is through a little rubber plug in the rear rotor. I'll try to attach both solutions to this response.I didn't do the handle adjustment since I had done a complete Rotor/Pad replacement. I did the solution at...

DavidPIL

I know this is somewhat off-topic but the Chevy Cruize is coming out soon. I can see it being a 5 door to take the place of the Vibe in GM's lineup. Not the same frame as the Corolla or Matrix but it might be a logical transition for the Vibes styling. And with some retooling, maybe the Cruize can c...

DavidPIL

Does it make the noise all the time? There are some solutions here... http://my.is/forums/f89/soluti...2886/ I had the "Rotor groove noise" after putting on new EBC rotors. My solution was somewhat different than theirs though. I ever so slightly bent the backing plate away from the rotor'...

DavidPIL

It's still running decent. Since it'll be paid off this Summer, I figure I'd keep it till... Yearly Cost to Maintain >= Yearly Total Payments Were.If I can go at least 2 years past it being paid off without anything too major happening, I should have saved enough money to put a decent down-payment o...

DavidPIL

I did Gold calipers but on a black car. Was going for a whole gold motif. Looks pretty good though it's fading out a little now after 4 years.

DavidPIL

Hey... What plugs did you change to? I was running the OEM Denso's for about 60,000 miles. Changed out to the shorter life Denso's for the next 25,000 - noticed a slight lowering of the MPG and not as much oomph. Then was talked into the Bosch Fusion Iridium's - No change over the previous Denso's. ...

DavidPIL

I've used the K&N filter HP-1002 (HP-1003 is the correct size) for several years now. Like the Fram you talked about, it is maybe 3/4" longer but the can is also a bit wider (seats fine though). I've had absolutely no problem at all. My last Oil change I decided to try the Fram Extended Gua...

DavidPIL

Hey there...Not much help on the tuning part. I had my Unichip custom tuned in Chicago 2 years ago.As for the running rich, yup. Even after it was tuned I get a lot of soot in the pipes. I'm even running dual exhaust pipes and they both get pretty dark around the rim of the pipe. I'm considering hav...

DavidPIL

Nice! If you have slightly wider wheels, don't be afraid to run these at a higher psi than you should the OEMs. My shop set mine at 42psi and they were not harsh at all - Very quiet. I backed em off to 40psi last Summer then down to 37 over the winter. Treads still look fairly new after 15,000 miles...

DavidPIL

Yes... I found an E Brake overhaul segment last night in an online repair manual so I think I know where to lube it. Will also try adjusting it too now that I found that info.Thanks for the help!

DavidPIL

Hey Whelan,Thanks for the update on these tires. If you remember, I asked for you to keep me updated on them because I was considering them for my next tires as well. I did have them installed on my mother's Aveo and so far they are much quieter and much more stable than the oem Kumho's.Before my in...

DavidPIL

Hello all...I've found several (old) threads on adjusting the parking brake but does anyone have any insight on how to possibly grease any mechanicals or any other work that can be done to them?Yesterday I replaces my pads and rotors. I used a brake cleaner when the rear rotors were off to clean it ...

DavidPIL

Dave/Danville/41/03 GT/Abyss

DavidPIL

I would say no more than 20 miles North of Columbia on I-26... Was a newer Exxon on the West side of the Highway. And yeah, Columbia is slightly out of the way but not that bad. The last time I went down, I took NC-74 through Charlotte then took back roads to Myrtle Beach. That way adds more time bu...

DavidPIL

I'm interested in this topic as well...Locally, I had stayed away from Mobil because the pumps say up to 10% ethanol. I always went to the Marathon places because they didn't have the sticker and assumed they didn't. When I went to Mobil before thinking about the ethanol, I would noticeably get a re...

DavidPIL

Hey! Thanks for the response...I did some investigating work on it today and I don't think it's the belt now. It seems to be tracking ok, no noticeable alignment issues. And you may be right about the header. I let it idle for a while, didn't notice anything till it got warm then I leaned into the e...

DavidPIL

Hey everyone....So last week I had the serpentine belt replaced. Took it to my Pontiac service place. I call them after having waited 5 hours and find out that they didn't have a belt for me so they got one from NAPA. Not a big issue, right?Well, I drive to Ohio (about a 200 mile trip one way), when...

DavidPIL

My Vibe is in the shop today getting this recall done as well as a 29 pt check and serpentine belt replaced. I'm hoping all goes well but it's been 2.5 hours so far and no call yet. I've gone to my local Toyota dealer for the past 3 years to get things done on my car because of issues I've had with ...

DavidPIL

I would really like to hear your reviews of this tire after you've put a few miles on em. I recently bought the General Exclaim's and I'm very pleased with the purchase. I'm not expecting them to do to well in the Winter but I'm also not expecting them to be much worse than the Toyo Proxes 4 which I...

DavidPIL

Hey ssampier,My local tire shop will actually store winter and/or summer tires for their customers for free. I found this to be a surprise. But maybe your tire place does the same?Dave

DavidPIL

As far as I know, the seats in the Matrix are the same as the Vibe's. THere is a seat cover place called Wet Okole http://www.wetokole.com/ They have a nice variety of Neoprene cover styles. They're not too expensive and seem well constructed.Dave

DavidPIL

Hi WagonMafia,I do believe that comes off. Open the hatch window, you should see the bolts somewhere near where the bolts for the Spoiler is. On a side note, My after-market spoiler came with plastic plugs for the holes just in case I ever took it off. I also saw similar plugs at Lowe's so you may b...

DavidPIL

Hey Bonzo...I'm just over in Danville... Have changed out my Manual Transmission fluid a few times simply because it's relatively cheap and fairly easy to do. Yeah, the MT90 worked the best for me too. I tried the Mobil 1 stuff. It was horrible. Also tried a combo of the 75w90NS with the 75w80 trans...

DavidPIL

Hiya again...I decided to do a search again on the switches and found some that might not look so factory but are the right size for the panel cut-outs. The link... http://www.minute-man.com/acat....html shows the switches but if you look at the attached catalog specifications, it shows these switch...

DavidPIL

Hi Burns,It should be right behind the front bumper. Look from under the front bumper or I think maybe you can see it from the top down between the radiator and the bumper itself. Dave

DavidPIL

Quote, originally posted by ragingfish Â»Despite the mechanicals, you may be hard pressed to find a toyota dealership that will even touch your vibe.I must be very lucky then. I ONLY take my Vibe into the local Toyota place (Toyota of Danville) and they treat me very kindly. They even spent 2 hours ...

DavidPIL

Here is a tire-size calculator, if it helps any. http://www.miata.net/garage/tirecalc.htmlI sometimes wish the RPM range was a little lower in the higher gears as well. I've found myself checking to see if I was in 5th gear while driving in the 40-45mph range. and then on the highway, would really l...

DavidPIL

hmmm, tried to search for these on the net. seems Gardner Bender and CalTerm are the same? I dunno... but the numbers I found were GSW-45 and GSW 49. These model numbers fit the stock openings. Not sure if they have a momentary switch in this size, which I'm assuming you're wanting for the garage do...

DavidPIL

And a close-up... Now, these are regular switches but I believe both Gardner Bender and CalTerm have other style of switches. Both the GB and CalTerm switches were around $4.00 a piece.

Attached files

DavidPIL

Hey elrodvoss,Let me try this. My usual image hosting site is down so I hope this works...

Attached files

DavidPIL

Hey there...You know, I found exact fit switches at Lowe's and Farm & Fleet. F & F had CalTerm switches while I'm not totally sure on the Lowe's one but I think they were GB (Gardner Bender).I am using 3 of these switches, 2 for my Unichip placed in the hatch switch panel and the one for my ...

DavidPIL

Quote, originally posted by hambox Â»Take those badges off! At least the ones on the side of the car, how many times does "Vibe" need to appear on the car?! I agree. I removed the side ones but left the rear because I have other decals back there. I also painted them Gold so it gives the e...

DavidPIL

I'm also nowhere close to 185,000 but I'm closing in on 112,000 miles. Brakes still original. Clutch still original (yes, I have the GT too!), Nothing major wrong yet though had some weird sounds coming from the engine on a long trip back from Virginia this past weekend. I'm thinking it's a minor Va...

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