GenVibe - Community for Pontiac Vibe Enthusiasts

So my Vibe is having trouble starting and I was just wondering if anyone had any insight into what the problem might be. I've only had it a little over a year but, I have killed the battery twice... I left the lights on once and when i tried to start it, it made this noise of a machine gun coming from under the hood but it eventually started after turning the key to start and holding it for a few seconds. The other time, I had to get jumpers. The obvious problem is a new batt, but I was wondering if it may be the starter.

starter could be a good place to start, have you check your spark plugs? they should be ok if its only a couple yrs old but doesnt hurt to check (i dont think they would make that machine gun noise though)

How old is the battery? When the battery is low and there is not enough power to start the car the starter will make the machine gun sound. I believe some '03 and '04 batteries are crap.I would check things in this order:1) battery (most likely the problem)2) alternator (may not be charging the battery properly)3) starter (Probably not the problem)

The battery is the one that came with the car, so a little over a year. I checked the little light on the battery, and it's green, but I've heard that that means nothing.

could be the battery. Might be the starter. Might also be some other electrical problem that is draining the battery. When the battery is low or it does not tstart, is it after the car has not been driven for a while, or is it after a long drive, or is it totally random? Have you done any electrical mods to the car? Is it still under warranty?

it is usually when it has been sitting a long time, but it is sometimes random i guess (it had a hard time starting after a short 4 hour work day today). Yes, I have some electrical mods, I have 3 gauges on my pillar pods and some LEDs in the air vents (I'm going to pull those out) and I have basically Xenoned out the car (headlights, fog lights, Reverse Lights, Licence plate lights) and LEDs in the dome lights, which reminds me, when i got my car from the auto body shop yesterday, (it was repairing my hit-and-run) one of the dome lights was flickering and th carhad a hard time startng (but it was in there for four days without being started). I'm not sure if it is still under warranty or not, i believe it had a 3 year/36000mi warranty on it, and it just rolled over 17000 and it's an 04

If you literally killed the stock battery twice, and had to jump it, and it sounds like rapid clicking when you try to start it.Ditch the battery, it's dead. Fried. Useless. Get a new one.Starter's probably fine..it clicks like that if there isn't enough voltage to fully turn it..

Yea, I finally realized that when I listened to my new subs for about 5minutes and the car would not start AT ALL, no starter clicks, nothing, I knew there was a problem when the windows couldn't even roll up ASAP i will buy an Optima Yellow top and swap that in there.