Hi I bought my wife a Vibe, who only passed her driving test in June this year, it's a 2010 FWD auto 2.4Lt, it mostly looks in good condition, no accident damage and only a couple of small scratches, it is a US import to Nigeria and I had no idea of its history, so first thing replace auxiliary drive belt, plugs, air & oil filters and oil. That is when I kept finding things that were wrong and I can't believe it could be done by US mechanics!
I found 3 different grades of NGK plugs fitted; none correct.
Only 2 of 3 bolts fitted to the upper engine mount, which I removed to access the belt tensioner arm to release the belt.
With a jack raising the R-H front & wheel off I found the inner sliding tripod joint rubber boot torn and slid back off the outer part of the joint, so its best I replace the drive shaft,
The threaded end of the CV joint stub axel and its nut was so corroded, I had to cut the end off with an angle grinder but still could not loosen the nut as no socket could grip what was left of the nut.
Next removed the brake calliper & rotor plus the 2 bolts from the suspension spring strut to release the hub/upright/drive shaft, next I found 1 of 3 bolts holding the suspension arm ball joint broken with the broken bolt still in the ball joint mounting bracket, to release the drive shaft next to remove the bolts on its bearing support bracket and found a bolt missing, by this time I was dreading to look the at the L-H suspension!
With the front hub upright and shaft at work I was able to heat it and with a pipe wrench remove the rusted nut, having heated it I now needed to replace the hub bearings as well, re-assembly was pretty straight forward after removing/replacing broken and missing bolts.
Now for its electrical issues, it had a drain of just over 0.4amps, so left standing the battery would go flat; after removing and charging the battery, I found the engine would only run about 4 minutes and if left 20 minutes could restart. The engine stopping fault was traced to a local very crudely made antitheft device, but having no way to reset it the only option was to remove it, the battery drain was found to be a faulty door switch.
Next we had the battery charge alarm light on the dash and had to replace the diode pack in the alternator but had great difficulty removing the alternator fixing bolt as the hex head rounded off and was rusted in the threaded sleave nut.
After driving a few weeks, the starter motor stopped working, got a S/H replacement.
Not a good introduction to Vibe ownership/driving and am sure the saga will continue
Here in Kano, there are a lot of Vibes and Matrix driving around which should mean spares are available
John
New Vibe owner in Kano
Re: New Vibe owner in Kano
Welcome to genvibe.
That's a lot to have to fix. After all that I hope the car serves you well for a long time.
Too bad the history of the car isn't known, whoever abused the car like that shouldn't be allowed to touch another
That's a lot to have to fix. After all that I hope the car serves you well for a long time.
Too bad the history of the car isn't known, whoever abused the car like that shouldn't be allowed to touch another
Re: New Vibe owner in Kano
Hi Joatmon,
The saga continued on the left side suspension, before I had time to check it out Mrs B luckily driving slowly, on a quiet road had the suspension arm ball joint come out of the upright, the nut was still in the road, but not the correct castellated with a locking split pin, a wrong bigger size inches nylock nut?? also the ball joint was fitted to the arm with just the 2 studs and nuts no third bolt, bought replacement ball joint assembly and replaced the missing bolt, I'm not very happy with the drive shaft, but have to make a split ring tool to pull out the inner sliding tripod joint from the gearbox, unless somebody on here has a trick way of getting them out?
When I've finished with front suspension, I need to check wheel alignment as the steering feels "off" and does not return to centre if you take your hands off after turning a corner.
We do have wheel aligners here, But they never look for info for a car and set them straight, causing tyres to scrub as rubber joints compress and you get toe out when moving.
All this Vibe work is interfering with "my project" of building the only one known in Africa, 50 year old, Mini based, with 1400cc 120bhp mid engined, Cox GTM.
John