Transmission Problem

[Asullyde]

Hi All,I've been having some problems with my 2006 Vibe automatic transmission (still under warranty). About 3 weeks ago, I noticed the check engine light came on and that the cars was "bumping" through the gears when taking off from a stop. Also bumped when shifting from park to drive. Took the vehicle to local dealer for repair. They diagnosed the problem as a bad PRESSURE SENSOR SOLENOID in the transmission. They told me they had to order the part but that I could drive my car while we waited for the part to arrive. After about 5 days of waiting for the part to arrive I called the dealer. They informed me that the part was on back-order and not available at any warehouse in the US. They then tried to locate the part at other dealers. Turns out that only 3 dealers in the country had one of these pressure sensor solenoids. Finally they got one of the dealers to send them the part. It took TWO WEEKS after first diagnosis for the part to finally arrive at the dealer. I've never heard of having to wait 2 weeks for parts before!!Anyway, they had to pull the whole transmission out to install the new part which they did yesterday. Got a call from them last night that after putting everything back together that the check engine light is still on! So, they are keeping the car today to try to continue to diagnose/fix it. Has anyone had a similar experience with their transmission?Fortunately they provided me with a loaner car so at least I'm not stuck without wheels. I really thinking that I might need to buy the extended warranty now. I already have 22k miles on the car and it only came with a 36k warranty.

[pingber]

I don't know about the pressure solenoid, but I also have an '05 with 56,000 miles on it (that's right, I do 100 miles/day) ... mine was also in for possible tranny work, but it turned out to be a left front wheel bearing ... just to let you know, I think that most of the problem w/ the car stems fro GM service.... just a suggestion here ... I checked with our local Toyota dealers (we have 3 of them) and they all can service the car ,,,, I think Toyota service is FAR better than GM .. you might want to take your car out of that dealership and try another ... I find it ahard to believe that it took that long just to get the part ... and then still to have the problem??? yech ... that's real crappy service ... as far as the warranty .. I didn;t opt for it ...of course if I were out 3 grand for a tranny rather than $400 for the bearing work, I';d be kicking myself right now ... the xtended is a crapshoot .... if you can still get it and if its reasonable AND if your eally think you have a tranny problem, then maybe go for it ..but make sure that "pre-existing" conditions are covered too ... just my 2 cents.I;ve had other assorted problems with the car ... it eats tires , but the alignments are always just fine. Random starting problems, a few electrical issues ... etc etc etc .... I don;t care what they say, its not really a Toyota in GM clothing, its still a GM.

[ragingfish]

Quote, originally posted by pingber »I don't know about the pressure solenoid, but I also have an '05 with 56,000 miles on it (that's right, I do 100 miles/day) ... mine was also in for possible tranny work, but it turned out to be a left front wheel bearing ... just to let you know, I think that most of the problem w/ the car stems fro GM service.... just a suggestion here ... I checked with our local Toyota dealers (we have 3 of them) and they all can service the car ,,,, Not covered under warranty they can't. The issue is not with GM service. The issue is with Toyota technology.Quote »I find it ahard to believe that it took that long just to get the part ... and then still to have the problem???There are numerous parts that are in short supply nationwide. Happens when they have to buy their parts from Toyota.Quote »yech ... that's real crappy service ... as far as the warranty .. I didn;t opt for it ...of course if I were out 3 grand for a tranny rather than $400 for the bearing work, I';d be kicking myself right now ... the xtended is a crapshoot .... if you can still get it and if its reasonable AND if your eally think you have a tranny problem, then maybe go for it ..but make sure that "pre-existing" conditions are covered too ... just my 2 cents.An extended warranty is just that. An extended warranty. It picks up at the 3/36,000 mark where the factory warranty runs out. I don't know about third party coverage, but the GMPP options have no such "pre-existing conditions." This isn't health insurance.Quote »I;ve had other assorted problems with the car ... it eats tires , but the alignments are always just fine. Random starting problems, a few electrical issues ... etc etc etc .... I don;t care what they say, its not really a Toyota in GM clothing, its still a GM.That's the most ignorant remark this week. All of your issues you've experienced are with the parts of the car that ARE NOT ENGINEERED OR MANUFACTURED BY GM. The ONLY parts of this car that are GM are the interiors, the radio, and OnStar. Anything powertrain-wise is Toyota. Your wheel bearings, transmission, electrical system, starter system, etc. ARE ALL TOYOTA PARTS.Get over your narrow-minded viewpoints and stop the GM bashing. It's getting old.

[pingber]

You are correct about a few things ... Toyota can't service the car under the warranty, they CAN service it if you want to pay. However, I think that you do have to watch out for pre-existing conditions in that you can't purchase a warranty to cover something for which your car is sitting in the shop ---although I don't know how they would ever find out.As to the car itself ... Toyota service is just better ... its all they do, they don't work on all sorts of other cars, just Toyotas. Let me put this in a more personal perspective ...I have my Vibe, an '04 Corolla and a 97 Prizm (Chevy/Geo/Toyota) ... I've had no service issues with the Geo at all ... I've had no service issues with the Corolla ...but the Vibe??? Lots of issues ... so what's the difference? I think its the GM influence. I also have two brothers, one a GM engineer and the other in their "reverse-engineering" department ... basically, the Vibe is a Toyota as far as drivetrain, BUT, the quality control issues, assembly issues, etc are controlled by GM.

[pingber]

...and one more thing .... the wheel bearings are made in China ....

[Asullyde]

Well, thanks for the replies. Here's an update on may Vibe. The Pontiac Service Center called last night to say that I would need to keep the loaner car one more day. Turns out that they had to replace the PCM (?? something control module) to get the check engine light to go out. That's in addtion to the work they did on the tranny to replace the pressure solenoid. They said they test drove it and it seemed to work fine but they wanted to keep it one more day in order to test drive it some more to make certain that everything checks out fine. As for exteded warranty - I called the dealership where I bought the car to ask about purchasing the extended warranty. They said that I could get 4 year, 60k warranty extension for $1525. This warranty would have a $100 deductable. The person I spoke to said that I should wait until my orginak 3 year, 32K warranty is closer to expiring and then purchase the extended warrantly. I think this is exactly what I am going to do. Not a bad price to pay for peice of mind.

[Vivid_Art]

Although you might be right on all those counts, the fact of the matter is that Pontiac service is **** no matter where you go. Toyota is better at fixing thier technologies. Anyways, do you work for GM, is that why you're defending them so much? Quote, originally posted by ragingfish »Not covered under warranty they can't. The issue is not with GM service. The issue is with Toyota technology.There are numerous parts that are in short supply nationwide. Happens when they have to buy their parts from Toyota.An extended warranty is just that. An extended warranty. It picks up at the 3/36,000 mark where the factory warranty runs out. I don't know about third party coverage, but the GMPP options have no such "pre-existing conditions." This isn't health insurance.That's the most ignorant remark this week. All of your issues you've experienced are with the parts of the car that ARE NOT ENGINEERED OR MANUFACTURED BY GM. The ONLY parts of this car that are GM are the interiors, the radio, and OnStar. Anything powertrain-wise is Toyota. Your wheel bearings, transmission, electrical system, starter system, etc. ARE ALL TOYOTA PARTS.Get over your narrow-minded viewpoints and stop the GM bashing. It's getting old.

[ColonelPanic]

I had all kinds of shift solenoid codes thrown when my transmission died on the Vibe... Of course, my check engine light never came on but there were codes there. *shrug*They had to replace the entire transmission. It took a day or so for them to find a replacement - and I took the ONLY one they had in stock anywhere in the region. I can see a solenoid being even more difficult to track down.But according to the Toyota legend, it would be senseless for GM to carry ANY parts at all for these cars, since they're Toyotas and they will NEVER, EVER have anything break! So that's why you can't find parts for them, 'cause you don't need them! In raging's defense, the GM bashing thanks to defective Toyota engineering gets old. Yes, you bought the car from GM, and GM has to support it, however if all the parts that you have breaking say Toyota on them and not GM, it isn't GM's fault that they suck. I had everything under the sun break on mine, but the only criticism I had for GM was about the dealer's inability to fix all of the crappy Toyota parts that shouldn't have broken in the first place had the car actually lived up to its alleged Toyota level of quality. The eleventeen radios it burned through, that was GM's fault. But that's about it.GM's hands are tied anyway - if they find a concern with the vehicle that requires something to be re-engineered, they're still at Toyota's mercy to have anything done about it. And well, since GM sucks and Toyota can possibly do no wrong, you get the deal. Anyway, if you're going to consider the GMPP, do it. It saved me several thousand bucks - Toyota engineering and all. If you've been having problems, either get rid of the car NOW before the warranty runs out or buy the warranty. Just my $0.02

[Mavrik]

yeah this GM bashing IS getting old.Oh and if you have issues with your car and its out of warranty and wish to buy extended. Its considered a pre-existing issue and would not be covered. MOST good extended warranty companies require an inspection of your car to prove its in good order before they will sell you a warranty. After all they are in it for the money as well. PLUS you have to then wait 30 days before being able to make a claim from the date of purchase.I'm a GM fan and none of your concerns are their fault. THEY don't make the parts or design the vehicle. I'm also a certified GM Service writer (now working for Subaru) but I've worked with other manufactures as well to say a lot of what I read here other then CP and Raging is a lot of BS and spoken with true ignorance...Some of you guys should go work at a dealership to see how things are done to get a better understanding.

[AKLGT]

Quote, originally posted by Vivid_Art »Although you might be right on all those counts, the fact of the matter is that Pontiac service is **** no matter where you go. Toyota is better at fixing thier technologies. Anyways, do you work for GM, is that why you're defending them so much? NO. Raging just understands that the powertrain and everything but the sheet metal was made by Toyota. take a look under your hood. what do the parts say? Toyota. Now, both Mav and I owned Vibe's, I had an 03 Vibe GT that I drove for 33K miles and beat it to hell, while Phil has an 04 base Vibe MT and doesn't drive as agressive as I. Both cars were great. Both cars had no major issues unless it was something done by one of us. I'm not GM loyal by any means, though my family and I have purchased over 15 vehicles in the past 12 years. I love Toyota and the jap cars. however, though for the most part these cars have been extremely reliable, there have been some bad lemons in the bunch. It's few and far between, but CP had more issues than anyone on here I believe. Sounds like yours is also craptacular. Being that these vehicles are Toyota based, you cannot expect your GM Pontiac service department to know as much about that particular model (since it's a Toyota) or carry a lot of parts for the car. I found this out many times when I did have mine, and usually took it into the Toyota dealership for quick questions or parts. Warranty work had to be done at the Pontiac dealer and I usually had found enough information through these forums or others like it, that when I went in to have the car serviced, I almost always knew more about my car than they did. It's unfortunate, but that's the price I paid (as well as crappy resale value) to purchase my Toyota for the GM price.You just simply cannot blame powertrain issues on the manufacturer that did not design or make the parts that are failing. If anything, you will have to yell at NUMMI or Toyota as they designed and built these engines for our cars.

[AKLGT]

Quote, originally posted by Asullyde »They informed me that the part was on back-order and not available at any warehouse in the US. They then tried to locate the part at other dealers. Turns out that only 3 dealers in the country had one of these pressure sensor solenoids. Finally they got one of the dealers to send them the part. It took TWO WEEKS after first diagnosis for the part to finally arrive at the dealer. I've never heard of having to wait 2 weeks for parts before!!ok, this is funny because i have had my Tundra into the shop and it took them 2 months to get a part! the fan relay recall that Subaru just sent out to replace a fan relay and possibly ECU also has a few people waiting more than 2-3 wks as they are in high demand at the moment and parts cannot keep on the shelf or in stock. it's basic economics 101: supply and demand. If you have a part that hardly ever is used, you don't stock it. if you have a part that is used all the time, you do your best to stock it unless you can't keep up with the demand. good luck on getting your car fixed right.

[Petrucci914]

Ya, I understand that a few people have had a lot of issues with their Vibes. All car manufacturers will have their lemons but quality reports do tell you that Toyota is far more reliable than GM/Ford/Etc. That doesn't mean that if you buy a Toyota you'll never have problems, it just means that you are less likely to have a problem. I think GM is grateful for the Vibe because it is a stable platform and engine that they were given. The problems they do have with it are due to the agreements through the Joint Venture. The service they provide for the Vibe is subpar and the prices are through the roof. In that case it is GM's fault because their management is useless and hence the reason they are going under.