I just joined, bought a 2003 and need advice.

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mg93108
Posts: 4
Joined: Fri Dec 20, 2019 12:47 pm

I just joined, bought a 2003 and need advice.

Post by mg93108 »

Hi
I hope that this is a friendly forum. It seems like many auto forums get quite aggressive.
I just bought (actually I was given) a 2003 Pontiac Vibe. The outside looks nice and the inside is TRASHED. I really don't know how the plastics could lose so much paint, including the stock radio. The door handle on the inside is broken, along with other plastic parts. The steering wheel grip is in pieces. And mechanically, it's using a lot of water.
I know nothing about these models. This one was a one owner car...it was given to me by the original owner. I'm sure some of it was her fault but are these known for such horrible build quality?
Any suggestions about the steering wheel or cooling system?
Thanks everyone!!
Mark
Posts: 640
Joined: Sun Nov 02, 2008 7:26 am
Location: Cheyenne, WY

Re: I just joined, bought a 2003 and need advice.

Post by Mark »

Welcome to one of the friendliest forums on the innerwebs.

I don't think I've ever seen the term "horrible build quality" and Vibe used in the same sentence before. NUMMI put out pretty solid cars.

If you have salvage yards near by you may be able to scavenge most of the interior parts you need. My Vibes sit outside all the time, generally with a sun shade up in summer, and I haven't seen any deterioration of the steering wheel on any of them. The 04 is pushing 200k and still looks great inside. I did have to fix the driver side window control, but that was easy to do. A few years ago a freaking genius posted a simple fix. Not sure about the coolant issue. Is there any sign of water in the oil? On the dipstick or under the oil fill caps? Hopefully when you say "water" you mean coolant and not water, anyway. If it's not going into the crankcase then it has to be leaking somewhere. (Or it's just water and it's boiling off.)

If you search this site you will likely find the answer to any and every question you could think of regarding your Vibe.
'08 Base Stealth, '05 Base Satellite
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joatmon
Posts: 10018
Joined: Fri Mar 21, 2003 5:19 am
Location: SMC MD

Re: I just joined, bought a 2003 and need advice.

Post by joatmon »

Welcome to genvibe.

There are a few exceptions (03 5-speed manual trannies, fresh/recirc control), but I think historically, these cars have had pretty good build quality

I put 288K on my first 03, didn't have too much interior deterioration, I'd tend to blame the condition of yours on the original owner, not characteristic of the models. Since you got the car this way, not much to do except look for replacement parts on line or at a junkyard.

Hopefully the coolant loss is from an external leak. Pretty much takes looking all over to try to see the leak. My son's 03 Matrix developed a radiator leak. Some people here have had water pumps leak
Worse would be from a leaking head gasket, in which case the coolant would be drawn into the engine, maybe getting burned off. Diagnosing that takes looking at the oil for water contamination (usually turning the oil milky), or the spark plugs for abnormal deposits, or running a compression test
Hopefully its as simple as a loose hose clamp
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zbyers
Posts: 1767
Joined: Thu Apr 03, 2014 6:12 pm
Location: Sheffield, Pennsylvania

Re: I just joined, bought a 2003 and need advice.

Post by zbyers »

I will one up Mark. Welcome to THE best forum on the internet. :D

However, Joatman and Mark both covered it well. These cars are known for a quality build. The plastics are hard and can become brittle on their old age, but they are reliable. The steering wheel does get...weird when used a lot too. Junkyard is best bet for cheap replacement pieces.

Feel free to post some pictures of your ride and update your profile with your general location. Who knows... We could be neighbors!
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wagonis
Posts: 42
Joined: Wed Sep 11, 2019 4:33 am

Re: I just joined, bought a 2003 and need advice.

Post by wagonis »

Everyone else seem to have addressed your questions/concerns and I'll concur that the build quality is not known to be bad. Also as you have already read, junkyards are your friend for all the interior bits.

Aside from all that, welcome to the board :)
KingKrab65
Posts: 162
Joined: Wed May 24, 2017 7:25 am
Location: Charlotte, NC

Re: I just joined, bought a 2003 and need advice.

Post by KingKrab65 »

Welcome to the forum. LOTS of great people and information here for your Vibe needs.

The salvage yards are your friends. Not only can you get replacement parts but sometimes you can even upgrade your equipment. Look for the national chains of Pull-a-part and LKQ in your areas. They have online searches you can use for your generation of Vibe and LKQ even has pictures from multiple angles to see what condition the car is in (this has saved me several trips when I see one that has been damage or missing on a part I am looking for). You can also use car_parts.com and look up specific parts. It is especially helpful when looking for body or interior parts that you are trying to match color to.

Good luck and welcome to the forum!
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tpollauf
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Re: I just joined, bought a 2003 and need advice.

Post by tpollauf »

Welcome to GenVibe. Reach out to us with your whereabouts and get involved here. We all love to help each other out with Vibe related issues :D
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Bookworm
Posts: 764
Joined: Fri Nov 05, 2010 11:21 am
Location: Houston, TX

Re: I just joined, bought a 2003 and need advice.

Post by Bookworm »

Welcome.

I'll just toss in my experience. I had an '03, I bought from Enterprise Car Sales (the sell of the rental cars division) in Feb of '03 - and then proceeded to take the 22k mile car past the moon in mileage. (It still runs, at over 300,000k miles, but not sure if the current owner got the sheared off idler pulley bolt out of the engine as of yet)

In that time period, I had every door handle break (unpainted black plastic), replaced three window regulators, two starter motors, front shocks, brakes, rotors, radiator, and the heater core finally failed. The only interior problems were some worn paint, radio lights, seat cushions, damper actuator, and, yes, the steering wheel. Mainly, the steering wheel rubber starts to degrade from hand oils (and dirt), and eventually disconnects from the steel frame. I could twist the rubber of the steering wheel almost 180 degrees because whatever adhesive they used failed.

I'd recommend just getting a steering wheel from the junk yard, and replacing it - with the battery physically removed, not just disconnected, so that the bomb they insist on calling a 'safety device' in the steering wheel doesn't kill you. Then put on a steering wheel cover, or wrap it in leather/rope.
mg93108
Posts: 4
Joined: Fri Dec 20, 2019 12:47 pm

Re: I just joined, bought a 2003 and need advice.

Post by mg93108 »

Thank you everyone!!
-- I have to say, I really appreciate the kind responses. I've had a lot of vehicles (over 75...quite literally). Consequently, I've joined lots of forums. I've found that most car forums tend to be "grouchy". Thanks for being nice :-)
-- To answer a few questions, the issues that I'm referring to are all on the inside of the car. The outside looks great! It was kept in a carport so it got "some" protection from the Santa Barbara, California sun.
-- To that point, I live in Santa Barbara but regularly drive all over SoCal.
-- Thanks for the suggestions related to cooling fluid leaks. I am aware of all of these items, and there's no water in the oil or vice versa. My real question was more along the lines of....are there any "known" issues or "common" problems related to the cooling system, water pump, etc? It sounds like there aren't from what I'm reading. I'm guessing if there were known problems, someone would have mentioned it.
-- I'll post some pics of the interior.
--Again "THANK YOU ALL" for your kind responses.
wagonis
Posts: 42
Joined: Wed Sep 11, 2019 4:33 am

Re: I just joined, bought a 2003 and need advice.

Post by wagonis »

Quick note about the interior bits...LKQ salvage yards where you pull your own parts, they are having a 40% off everything on New Years Day and I see several in SoCal.
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