Replaced alternator now all kinds of electrical issues

[steveassault]

Hi! I'm new here. I recently bought a 2008 Vibe 1.8 w 106k miles. I have had many issues with it in the first few months and the latest one has me losing my mind. The Battery light came on. Car was still running fine (but stuff like power windows were weak) I had the battery and alternator tested and was told alternator was bad (as I suspected). I bought a new alternator. Installed it. Car started up fine and runs BUT now I have no power to the dash/instrument panel, no radio, no ac/heat, now power windows or sunroof, and the car won't even shift out of park... but it seems to start/run fine. I am wondering if fuses are blown? Maybe I was sold a bad alternator? I am really frustrated here. I plan to replace all the fuses and see what happens.

[tpollauf]

Welcome to GenVibe. It would help us if we knew where this vibe has been most of it's life (update profile for us). If a midwestern or northern car where salt, brine, ice & snow are common, you could be starting to have BAD GROUNDS due to corrosion, which produce symptoms as you're experiencing. Fill us in on more details and we should be able to help you.

[steveassault]

Northeast Ohio is the region the car has been located so def lots of salt in winter

[andrewclaus]

With such a wide system power problem, the issue is probably not individual fuses, but as noted above, possibly a missed ground connection, or a fusible link. To troubleshoot this yourself, you'll need a good wiring diagram and a multimeter. The wiring diagram I use is for a 2004 Toyota Corolla and it's close enough for most work. It's too large to attach it here, but it can be found on line.

[joatmon]

With all those systems not working, it sounds like you may have blown the 100 Amp ALT fuse in the under hood fuse block. Not saying you did, but some people have blown that when jump starting the car but with crossed jumper cables. That fuse is bolted in, I never had to replace one so don't know what's involved in replacing it, I remember a thread around here somewhere. If that fuse is blown, then there may be others as well.

[steveassault]

I have resolved the issue.... the ALT 100a fuse was def blown (I could see this visually). After replacing that (which was a hassle) some things worked again but many still did not (like the dash/instruments). I ended up just replacing ALL fuses (it seemed just as easy as testing each one under the dash... once I was down there I didn't want to have to go back down again). After that everything worked fine. Looking at the fuses I had removed I could not visually identify one (other than the big ALT) that was bad but everything is finally up and working again. Whoever the engineer was who decided to put that fuse box under the dash is a sadist who wanted to inflict suffering on others. Thinking back I probably dug my own pit with this one as I forgot to disable the battery before I started working on this and sparks flew when I removed the little cover from the one terminal on the Alternator w a screwdriver. Oof.

[joatmon]

Whoever the engineer was who decided to put that fuse box under the dash is a sadist who wanted to inflict suffering on others.

Anyone with a Vibe or Matrix who had to replace one of those fuses has that same sentiment.

Great news you got it fixed!