GenVibe - Community for Pontiac Vibe Enthusiasts

vibedrivermatt

I bought those pink phonebooks too. It was kinda steep $150 for the 3 book set but i figured it would pay for itself when my vibe needed a clutch replacement. Im just at over 90k now and shes ready for a new clutch soon, especially with the way ive beem driving it anyway. Im needing to baby it now w...

vibedrivermatt

I don't think that's it. Look at the second picture. That shows shearing bent _into_ the oil pan compartment, not outwards, as it would be if it was just the rod coming loose. I'm suspecting an impact from something underneath, then when the oil blew out - it ate itself. You may be right. I just ga...

vibedrivermatt

Welcome back! Im in a similar boat as you. I too bought a 2009 in 2008 . The only difference is that i kept driving my vibe all these years but just took a break from posting. As for upgrades, i recommend the TRD strut brace if those are still out in the wild. Not sure if you can find one but I thin...

vibedrivermatt

Wow ive never seen a sploaded vibe engine! They must have forgot to put oil in it. As many of us 2.4l owners have experienced, these tend to drink oil. So, if you had one of these, never checked the oil or never changed the oil, eventually it would drink all its own oil and run dry, which i could se...

vibedrivermatt

There are many who've been on lowering springs for 100k+ miles. I've had them for probably 40k miles with zero issues. The bigger concern is using quality struts when lowering. Yes, well it could be that you first and second gen vibe owners had better options concerning suspension stuff. There were...

vibedrivermatt

I dont want to be a party pooper but i feel lowering springs are a bad addition to the vibe. This is just my opinion and some other vibe owners may be happy with their suspension upgrades. Its just in my experience i had two broken front TRD springs after a few years of using them on my 2009 vibe. I...

vibedrivermatt

My 2.4l base also consumes oil between changes but its no big deal. The engine is still running great at 91,000 miles. It seems to drink about a quart every 5k.. i just top-er off when needed.

vibedrivermatt

From what youve described, you got an excellent deal on the car. These wear a pontiac badge but theyre really toyotas underneath. The parts are interchangeable with 09 matrix and not too tough to get. Generally, things rarely break on these cars anyway. 👍🏻 Mainly, all ive ever had to do is replace b...

vibedrivermatt

Looks great. How is it equiped?

vibedrivermatt

Hello, congrats and welcome! I got the springs trd but later went back to stock. They really just made the ride worse. Being such a small car it sorta has a bumpy ride as is. the trd strut brace ia really nice though. The trd torsion bar looks nice but im less certain it does anything. Lately mines ...

vibedrivermatt

I know im late to the party but id like to throw in my two cents. I think the hydraulic on these cars likes to be driven a certain way. 1500 to 2000rpm is way to low for shifting imo. That stuttering you descrube just sounds likebthe engine getting bogged down by the flywheel. Im aways always shifti...

vibedrivermatt

I remember this strange sound from the dashboard of the vibe after I put a few tens of thousands of miles on it.. to me it sounded like a pebble being shaken in a paper cup.. I've since ignored it and learned to live with it.. lately my vibe is sounding like a creaky old sailing war ship from an era...

vibedrivermatt

I agree with the comment about there being something on the road that could cause it to be slick.. its pretty hard to get the rear of the vibe to kick out. it has a tendency to understeer in most situations. it can be fun sorta if you manage to make oversteer happen though. Dont lift! haha I've rece...

vibedrivermatt

hey I know im late to the party here.. yea at the very least the bracket is toast..

vibedrivermatt

Whoops double posted.

vibedrivermatt

Oh ya I have progressive. They are pretty good. Well, I'm not into modding so much lately but still into doing regular maintenance stuff for my vibe. Ohh I do want to buy some nicer lug nuts. I'd really like to get some good mcgard ones. I want something that doesn't rust so easily. There's a mod! :)

vibedrivermatt

Hey! Yea it's been awhile. Well I haven't done any mods lately. Im in the process of going back to my stock springs. I just got a bit tired of the harsh ride.

I have this snapshot thing plugged into my car now. Uhh that's like a sweet car insurance monitoring device mod. Lol.

vibedrivermatt

Aha! My car has been doing this too. Im glad other people are pointing out what could be causes. It first happened last winter but has done it again twice recently. It appears to me that when these light up the systems turn off. I get the check engine, vsc and traction control lights all at once. li...

vibedrivermatt

Hey Goodluck with your brake upgrade. Looks good!

I might have to find some good rotors at some point. My oem ones have a tough time with road salt.

vibedrivermatt

Yea, the brakes seem to rust very fast. I also had an issue with the caliper pins drying up on the front but I thought it was because I monkeyed around around with the caliper pins and put the wrong kind of caliper lube back in. They were fine after I found the correct caliper pin lube. It's a grey ...

vibedrivermatt

The only thing I could think of is that it may be a good idea to do both rear hubs and to make sure you buy the approrate hub/hubs with abs sensor. Im sure more people will chime in on this. :D removing a hub sounds kind of hard. Personally, that may be a thing I'd have a mechanic do but, if you can...

vibedrivermatt

I just did mine today with Black magic pro shine interior protectant. I'm a big fan of this stuff. :D I got a tiny bottle of this stuff several years ago and I still have a lot left. The results are good whenever I use this stuff but it does have a smell that some may take issue with. Personally I'm...

vibedrivermatt

thats nice that getting that done free of charge.

yea, I replaced all rotors and brake pads around 35,000 miles. my car is out of warranty so I had to pay for parts.

vibedrivermatt

Careful with those hankooks in the winter, they have the traction of hockey pucks on ice. Unstoppable in the dry and wet though! Oh I had noticed they seem to have more of a summer tire look just by looking at the tread. but thanks thats good to know. I also noticed the hankook tires made a bit of ...

vibedrivermatt

yea, I just got new tires. My RSA's were definitely done. One of mine had a slow leak as well but I had done one of those repair jobs with the black sticky strips when a nail got in one of my tires.. I think my car is at 37,000.. but this isnt an accurate measure of the miles I had on the RSA's beca...

vibedrivermatt

yea, I had an alignment done once at a tire shop. I remember it costing less than $80 and they also had one of those fancy laser machines. It was cool because I got a neat piece of paper with a graphic image that showed the before and after alignment settings. Also, the nice thing about the place I ...

vibedrivermatt

Hey looks like I finally got this sorted. The problems I was having were because of using the incorrect grease. I guess certain types of grease wont work well with the japanese style guide pins with little rubber bushings.. Anyway, the easiest thing for most people with 09+ cars would not be not mes...

vibedrivermatt

oh awesome! you got one! nice

yea, I remember noticing a big difference when I first installed mine..

vibedrivermatt

cool hood! thats some very nice artwork there. :) well, I completed rear brake job on 2009 2.4 base vibe with rear disk brakes. new pads and rotors put on at 34,000 miles. I think my brakes were bad at this milage cause Im kinda hard on them. I had to use one of those little cube tools to compress t...

vibedrivermatt

The exhaust tip looks great. I've gotta get one for mine.

I notice its tack welded on there. Good idea.

also, really like the optima battery and other stuff.

vibedrivermatt

I know I'm a bit late with the response but I think its definitely a good idea to have the brake fluid replaced. Even though the fluid in the reservoir may still look brand new, after a few years and 64,000 miles the fluid has aged. The oil starts to get moisture in it after a while. Replacing it is...

vibedrivermatt

nice! The tint and vibe look really good.

the front license palte is cool. wish we could do that in NY.

vibedrivermatt

i know im way late on posting but nice job on this thread! why not get the water by pass and just install it on the intake? You do have to cut up one of the aluminum pieces but its definitely worth it. They also have covers to protect from water coming in to your intake through the filter. I have t...

vibedrivermatt

I have the TRD springs installed on my base (non GT) 2.4 and the ride has gotten really harsh lately. I only have about 32,000 miles on my car. Im not sure whether to go back to the stock springs or replace the shocks or both. I just had a kid recently. He's about a month old. :D Im seriously consid...

vibedrivermatt

Wow, I've had this problem on one of my cars before (not vibe) changing the starter fixed it. I think your right with the bendix thingy. I guess its some kind of solinoid thats not engaging all the way. I've heard that sometimes starters can have this part repaired but I think in most cases its easi...

vibedrivermatt

OH, im replacing rear rotors and pads soon on my 2009. They're ready to be replaced. I havent bought the parts yet but ontime when I was replacing all lug nut studs I was tinkering around with the rear calipers and found out that I couldn't compress the rear caliper with a C-clamp. It has to do with...

vibedrivermatt

Hey, maybe that brake grease I posted about before should not be used. I had a problem with it. I recently checked the front calipers about about a year after changing the grease on only the left calipers guide pins. I didnt change the grease on the other one. The the guide pins on the caliper that ...

vibedrivermatt

neat job with the key. I assume that the dealer is able to porgram the new fob so that buttons work?

i've noticed the keys that came with my sisters VW jetta are like that. I think land rover keys are like that also. neat feature.

vibedrivermatt

Well, I did this yesterday actually. I just finished replacing every single one of my lug nut studs. It got to the point that I was breaking them every time I went to remove a lug nut. I put on DORMAN brand ones from car quest. They have the nice 'made is USA' label so I'm hoping they will hold up t...

vibedrivermatt

That's funny. Why not just drive it to the dealer while it was still running? Look about on a Cobalt forum for the answer to getting the key out of the ignition. Oh, we had considered that before shutting the car off. The problem was that the dealer where they bought the car was sort of a long driv...

vibedrivermatt

COOL man! nice bike

vibedrivermatt

Well, something sorta hilarious happened today. I drove my parents 2009 Chevy Cobalt into the town to help them with an errand. I had to pick up my mom from an auto garage where she was dropping off my their truck for inspection. When I pulled up to their house I couldn't turn the Cobalt off. The ke...

vibedrivermatt

I realize I'm sorta late to the party but I've also been in this situation. What you wanna do is get really, really mad! Then muster up all your strength and fury and kick the heck out of the tire as hard as you can. It WILL come off. Although doing this on a scissor jack may be a bit hazardous. If ...

vibedrivermatt

success! maybe we could have still done this with old genvibe. that is likely

vibedrivermatt

bummer guess not or maybe I dunno how to do it?

vibedrivermatt

[youtube]www.youtube.com/watch?v=aWDQIuBXTMY[/youtube] [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aWDQIuBXTMY[/youtube]

vibedrivermatt

Nice! Glad it worked out.

I think a lot of us including myself thought the PCM needed to be replaced. It just goes to show that sometimes it's best to follow your own instincts or at least listen to car talk when in doubt.

Bravo musicmanmu!

vibedrivermatt

Thanks for the reply!I definately have pink collant fluid. For now I'll assume to get the toyota pink coolant should I want to top off the reservoir bottle a bit.I did buy the car new. It's about 4 or more years old by now. I'm pretty sure there isnt a leak in the coolant system. Seeing how the rese...

vibedrivermatt

ahhh nevemind edit post. I see you already found the hotchkis instrutions which I was going to post but I missed it in your last post.

vibedrivermatt

So is it the general consenus that dexcool is not the coolant that was put in at the factory? I have never topped off or done anything with the coolant in my vibe. It appears the reservoir bottle is getting closer to the low mark. maybe some of it has evaporated over the years. Which one should I bu...

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