'03 Vibe Completely lost power...on I-90 500 mi from home

[vtvibe]

I'm having a rough go with my '03 standard trans base model Vibe--The other day I got a new key cut, drove the car a few parking spaces down the street with the new key, went in to pay for said key, and when I came out of the locksmith shop, I got in my car and it would not start. Not only that, there were no dash lights, nothing. No turning over, absolutely nothing. No power locks even. . I popped it in neutral and rolled another parking space, pressing the clutch, jiggling the steering wheel, turning the key; and nothing happened. Nice guy from the locksmith came out to help me look under the hood and got a battery tester out from his car and determined the battery had no juice and advised me to get a new battery from the service shop down the street. I don't know the age of the battery but I bought the car at 140K miles with this battery, and I'm up to 156K now. The battery was looking pretty messy and I was preparing for a big X country road trip so I figured as good a time as any to replace it; luckily I was able to do that all by myself (which I was proud of, and I even had my own wrench in the car), and the car started right up! Victory!

HOWEVER---Today I drove 500 miles west, and the last 2 times I stopped, I had the same exact thing happen. The first time I tried disconnecting and reconnecting the battery. I sat in the drivers seat with the door open watching the "open door" dash light slowly and weakly light up, then go completely black again as soon as I tried starting the car. Finally a nice guy offered me a jump. It started right up--as it did again 100 miles later when I got a jump another time.

I'm wondering if cleaning up the connections to the battery might be enough to fix this (wishful thinking?) or if I am perhaps looking at needing to replace the alternator. Or if it's something else altogether? I hate being far from a trusted mechanic that i know will tell me like it is and not overcharge me or sell me something I don't need, but I'm hoping I can get someone to look at it tomorrow. Also, considering how big it felt for me to be able to change the battery on my own, how good an idea would it be for me to try changing the alternator on my own if it comes to that, to save a considerable chunk of $ ?

I'm curious to see what the car does after sitting all night. BTW, I safely made it to my cousin's house which is at least a better place to be stranded that a NY State Thruway Service Area. I have 600 more miles to go on Tuesday though, so I hope we can make it.

Just fishing for insight, encouragement, etc. Donations? Kidding.

[ImUrOBGYN]

First, try cleaning up your terminals and checking the connections. Be sure you don't have to replace them. Our original terminal clamps can get a little weak at clamping with age. You'd truly be surprised at how little corrosion can create a problem, while on someone else's battery posts, the corrosion may block your view completely and it'll still work fine.

What I think is actually the problem is your charging system. Autozone or one of those others can test your charging system/alternator for free if you're unable to do it yourself. It sounds as if your battery isn't being charged while you're driving it around. Get it checked out soon before it ruins your new battery.

Good luck and keep us updated so we can continue to be informed and/or help.

[joatmon]

I agree with Doc, try cleaning the connections. I sometimes take a piece of fine sand paper, and wrap it around a finger and stick it in the hole and twist is back and forth some. They also sell small round wire brushes for doing that. Hopefully it will something as simple as that. And as was said, if could be the charging system, so big chains like auto zone and advance auto, an(and likely others) will test your alternator for free. I like free.

[Salsa Guy]

Yep check the connections on the Alternator. It's strange you didn't get a warning light on.

[lannvouivre]

If you clean the alternator main power wire connection, disconnect the battery first unless you want a big arc and then to have to replace the "fun" fuse

The main power wire is a size 10 mm, I recommend a deep socket. Make sure you get it snug, because if it works loose it will arcweld itself to the stud! If this has happened already, you'll need to use a die on the stud and probably replace the nut.

If you want to test the alternator yourself, get a digital multimeter. Just a cheapo one, nothing fancy. Set it to volts. Test the voltage on the battery with the car off by putting a probe on each terminal. Doesn't matter which way. You should have a reading of like 12.5 or somesuch volts. Next, start the car and retest the battery, this time the voltage should be about 14 volts. Do this after cleaning the terminals up, of course.

I agree that it's probably just dirty connections. So nice and cheap! UGH I love how easy these cars tend to be to fix.