GenVibe - Community for Pontiac Vibe Enthusiasts

We relaced my son trans this weekend with a used unit from a corolla. A post mortem of the unit found that one of the main bearings on the output shaft had failed completely. One half of the outer race and the balls from this large ball bearing which is pressed into the case had been ingested into the transmission completely destroying it. The case was also broken at the point where the bearing failed so the replaced unit could not even be used as a core. I have some of the destroyed parts and will posts pictures if possible. @ warnings for vibe owners with 5 speeds@Replce the lube in the 5 speed immediatly. The manual calls for 75w-90 gear lube and what was in our failed trans from the factory looked and smelled like ATF. If there is any metal other than copper synchro material in the fluid make them repair it. Save a sample for proof.Our trans failed at 39,000 miles. If yours is noisy/Shifts poorly DEMAND that the condition be rectified BEFORE it goes out of warranty. Create a log and keep recieprts/notes of dealer involment. GM sucks and will do nothing for you unless made to. The used unit with the correct lube in it is silent.On another note. This was the easiest trans replacement we have ever done. The dealer states that it takes 17.5 hours labor to complete and this is bullcrap. We did it in 10 without a lift and all the niceties a dealer has. No special tools required.A second note. A dealer in Pitt, PA offered us a reman/new transmission( 0 miles/ remanufactured, never heard of such a thing before) for $2200 that had a 100,000 mile warrenty plus $1200 for installation total $3600 for job. Why are they remanufactering uninstalled tranmissions if the dont have a problem.I love GM dont you. Live and learn.The selling dealer offered to give us an 800 number to call and expressed no further interest in our problem. They could not even locate a replacement trans in the parts system and told us if they did it would take 4 weeks to get it.

Mine is loud as hell - especially in reverse and 1st gear. Getting into 2nd at >5k rpm is just about impossible. Even when I do shift it feels like a broomstick in a bucket of ice.I know reverese is not synced - but it sounds like a science experiment when I'm backing out of my driveway.One more thing to add to my list of things to do. Thanks for the heads up! So if I dump the transfluid and it is ATF - what then? I got 8k miles on a poorly lubricated transmission

Keep in mind, these are quality TOYOTA parts that failed you.Don't bash GM because Toyota and it's supplies are a bunch of idiots.

It is likely that the Vibe and the Corolla that the replacement tranny came out of were put into the car and initially filled up with oil at NUMMI, so be aware that although the new tranny came out of a Corolla, however many miles it had on it before the wreck could have been with the same fluid that your Vibe had. Did you get to see the oil that was originally in the replacement tranny?My 2003 5 speed lasted 75K miles, the last 15K of that on known proper gear oil, the second, from an 03 Corolla with 27K miles on it lasted 5K miles on known proper gear oil, the current one is from an 04 Corolla, wrecked at 5K, I've got 10K more on that one so far no problem (knocks wood) I am hoping that if there is a reliability issue with the 5 speed, it was fixed in '04. What year is your son's Vibe?

Our car is an 03. The replacement had about a cup of gear lube in it which we drained and inspected. It was clean and had synchro material in it as expected. I have had a similar experience with GM before. The 700r4 4 speed automatic. In 1985 we had an s-10 blazer that required 5 trans replacements. That was the last GM car I bought until now.If this one fails I am considering a 6 speed since I havent heard of any of them breaking.

Quote, originally posted by FLABARBARA »Replce the lube in the 5 speed immediatly. The manual calls for 75w-90 gear lube I know I have mentioned this before but while the manual does call for such a weight with a GL-5 rating, the manual also mentions specifically a synthetic MT fluid, part no included. And it is only on the qrt bottle that one sees that this syn fluid is a 75w-80!? What gives?I replaced the factory fluid after 2500 miles with this manual recommended rebadged Castrol Syntorq. But I will replace this again sometime next year with a synthetic 75W-90. The matrix manual only calls for 75W-90.

Quote, originally posted by FLABARBARA » In 1985 we had an s-10 blazer that required 5 trans replacements. That was the last GM car I bought until now.Like ragingfish said though, this car is basically a Toyota, and the transmission is not a GM part.

And in what way is GM released from responsibility for a defective product since they chose to sell someone elses product under their own name. Many parts of a car are not GM manufactured. My problem has been with the response I get when the parts fail.

Yikes. You guys are making me feel glad I got the automatic because my wife hated stick. Sorry to hear everyone has had so many problems.

Quote, originally posted by Flip-Side »Sorry to hear everyone has had so many problems.Only for the '03 model year?

Quote, originally posted by FLABARBARA »And in what way is GM released from responsibility for a defective product since they chose to sell someone elses product under their own name. Many parts of a car are not GM manufactured. My problem has been with the response I get when the parts fail. No one said they were released from responsibility, just that it is a different situation, because the Vibe is only a GM in name and nothing more.

Quote, originally posted by FLABARBARA »A second note. A dealer in Pitt, PA offered us a reman/new transmission( 0 miles/ remanufactured, never heard of such a thing before) for $2200 that had a 100,000 mile warrenty plus $1200 for installation total $3600 for job. Why are they remanufactering uninstalled tranmissions if the dont have a problem.I love GM dont you. Live and learn.The selling dealer offered to give us an 800 number to call and expressed no further interest in our problem. They could not even locate a replacement trans in the parts system and told us if they did it would take 4 weeks to get it. Maybe when they said remanufactured new trannies with 0 miles, they meant newly remanufactured trannies that had no miles since the rebuild, instead of new trannies with 0 miles that for some reason were remanufactured. Or maybe there is some known flaw that they have a fix for and aren't telling anyone, so the remanufactured new tranny would have the secret problem corrected.I do not think that there have been sufficient quantity of 5 speed failures to warrant GM or Toyota considering it "an issue" There have have been a whole lot more problems with the GT clutch, and both companies still blow off owners claiming it is a wear item. I don't know if its a 2003 issue or if its just that the 2003 have more miles so the problem is showing up in them first. If this one goes out, I'm getting rid of the car. I really like the Vibe, so maybe I'd go for an auto tranny one. Maybe look for an envy one THis monotone envy looks really nice http://autotrader.com/fyc/vdp.jsp?car_id=187828767 or I guess I should probably say it did look nice. The seller is located in Biloxi MS. I wonder if they can still find this car after Katrina.

These are new dealer replacement parts from GM. The dealer explained that these had a tag on them reading REMANUFACTURED. He also stated that these transmission were warrantied for 100,000 miles and only the ones stamped as such had this warranty. There were 5 such transmissions in the GM parts system.

That is odd, brand new parts that are then remanufactured. Maybe there isi a secret flaw. 100K warranty would be nice, my junker tranny came with a 101 day warranty, which came in handy, but that has now passed, so I'm on my own now.

They may be Toyota parts but the service idots are from GM....