GenVibe - Community for Pontiac Vibe Enthusiasts

Ok, here's the deal, I go to leave for the movies and when I start the car I get the usual elec issues with the battery light flickering, dash lights dimming and brightening, air-bags not working at all b/c of lack of power, etc... So everything somewhat normals out, get the bags up, and head out to the movies. Due to the elec issues I often have a flickering Battery ligt while I am driving, more often now than it was before. Car seems otherwise fine, get to the movies, watch Fearless (great movie!), and go out to leave. Start the car and notice it is idling funky (rpms jumping up and down, battery light going crazy, etc...), then normals out with the normal elec issues and battery light going crazy, but the battery light seems to stay crazy longer and more often than usual. Get about a mile and notice that the CEL has come on! I asume it is elec related and the car seems to be running fine so I keep driving until I get home. On the way home I notice something doesn't sound right in the engine, like the S/C is winding down funny (slow maybe?) or something. I get home and open the hood and notice that the top hose on the actuator has split (again!) and is completely off and there is a loud vacuum sound. I fix the hose, check the CEL and get 0171, which says it is running Lean in Bank 1. I look at my Air/Fuel gauge and it is completely green at idle! I rev it a few times thinking it will go back to red where it usually is at idle, and it moves to red, then back to green! It seems that it is staying in the green on idle, and there was a strong smell of gas after I fixed the hose and restarted it, which also confused me with the lean CEL. Now I don't hear the CAI sucking much at all which is also confusing me but explains the Lean reading on the gauge. At this point I am completely lost! Any ideas?!?

wow, that is really funky stuff happening

Ugh... Hmm... I'm of no use but to be funny, I'd say take all that stuff off and your problems will get better. It's amazing how much more reliable cars are when they aren't modified. LOL!It does sound like you need a better, more powerful alternator though, no telling what all that voltage fluctuation is doing to the electronics in that bad boy. That could easily be a good portion of your problems right there.Hope you get that sucker fixed.

Quote, originally posted by ColonelPanic »Ugh... Hmm... I'm of no use but to be funny, I'd say take all that stuff off and your problems will get better. It's amazing how much more reliable cars are when they aren't modified. LOL!It does sound like you need a better, more powerful alternator though, no telling what all that voltage fluctuation is doing to the electronics in that bad boy. That could easily be a good portion of your problems right there.Hope you get that sucker fixed. I would swap my stuff out, but all my OEM parts are in SD! The last time I got the HO alt checked they said it was great, but something def seems to be awry! lol Not sure if it is screwing up or what, might take it to Autozone and have them check it and the battery out and see what they can find. I am pretty much on my own now as I can't take it to the dealer and can't afford to take it anywhere else.

Do you have a voltmeter in the car? If so, what numbers are you seeing when it does this crazy stuff?May be worth the cost to pick one up if you don't so you can see what's going on.

Quote, originally posted by ColonelPanic »Do you have a voltmeter in the car? If so, what numbers are you seeing when it does this crazy stuff?May be worth the cost to pick one up if you don't so you can see what's going on.Probably have to check that out tomorrow as well. I do have a little cheap analog one, but anything is better than nothing.

I've had problems with cars in the past sputtering to a halt due to bad alernators. Luckliy they were always av-belt driven so I could cut the alternator belt off and drive a longer distance to get a replacement without the ting sputtering and dying in need of a short recharge every minute. It sounds like the lights flickering are normal for you though.What is this top hose on an actuator? What would make it split? Is it aftermarket...wrong type of hose maybe? Not reinforced enough?

Quote, originally posted by LUVROK »What is this top hose on an actuator? What would make it split? Is it aftermarket...wrong type of hose maybe? Not reinforced enough?The actuator is part of the supercharger. The hose is rubber and is just falling apart due to weather and such. They have been splitting at the seam.

Mine has been pi$$ing me off lately too, so don't feel so bad. Mine is mostly the Unichip has been coming unpluged and causing laggy starts and dies everyonce in a while. Then, some how, my oil drain plug is stripped and leaking oil. Which just happens to be my landlords BIGGEST pet peave.Oh, by the way, Fearless has been out on DVD for a couple years already. It's subtitled, but still the same. You can pick it up at most asian stores.

Quote, originally posted by Lancer »Mine has been pi$$ing me off lately too, so don't feel so bad. Mine is mostly the Unichip has been coming unpluged and causing laggy starts and dies everyonce in a while. Then, some how, my oil drain plug is stripped and leaking oil. Which just happens to be my landlords BIGGEST pet peave.Oh, by the way, Fearless has been out on DVD for a couple years already. It's subtitled, but still the same. You can pick it up at most asian stores. Sux to hear about your probs as well! I took mine to Autozone again today and they said the same thing, all appears well, so most likely he said he thinks it is prob a wiring issue. Guess I'll have to look over all that tomorrow. I figured Fearless was prob old as it looked to be so in a lot of ways. I had Hero for like 2 yrs before it ever hit here as well, so no surprise there!

Try checking your grounds, especially the battery cable. Something could be loose, or you could have a corroded cable. I had a similar problem with my Toyota pickup. I was also having starter isues at the time. When I changed the starter, I also changed the positive and negative cables because they were looking rough. Everything has been fine since then.

Quote, originally posted by K-NINE »Try checking your grounds, especially the battery cable. Something could be loose, or you could have a corroded cable. I had a similar problem with my Toyota pickup. I was also having starter isues at the time. When I changed the starter, I also changed the positive and negative cables because they were looking rough. Everything has been fine since then.Yeah, got the batt. checked again yesterday and he said it seemed that the battery and alt were fine, so he thinks it must be a wring issue. Gonna have to go through the car and see what I can find. I tried it once before and came up empty-handed, guess I will have to check a little closer this time around.

>your car has officially been pooped.

Quote, originally posted by drunkenmaxx »>your car has officially been pooped. Haha, yeah, I'm like the opposite of Xzibit, "Send me you're ride and I'll trick it out until it is it so screwed up you'll never get it back to normal!" lol

"im here to screw your ride!"person screaming histericaly-"AHH haha" *tear*

A bit off topic but....why were the trailers for Fearless saying "Jet Li's final epic film" is he not making any more movies or what? Im confused.

he will continue making movies, just no more kung fu.

what? no more kung fu? what's left? he's gonna start doing the chinese versions of 'me, myself and irene' or something?i'm thinking its his last 'period' kung fu movie. back on topic, jason, yours is one of the hotter vibes out there. FIX IT DAMMITgood luck

Quote, originally posted by ramenboy... »what? no more kung fu? what's left? he's gonna start doing the chinese versions of 'me, myself and irene' or something?i'm thinking its his last 'period' kung fu movie. back on topic, jason, yours is one of the hotter vibes out there. FIX IT DAMMITgood luckThanks, I'm sort of trying, just don't spend a lot of time with it recently. And as for Jet Li, I hope what drunken said is the case, which sounds like a good possibility, b/c I don't think he could make any other movies that would be good like his Martial Arts movies. That is what he is known for, I don't know that going outside of that box would be a good idea for him, and I WANT MORE FIGHTING MOVIES!

That seems like a mighty problem. However, the solution seems simple enough... wait, I have no idea what I'm talking about. Glad you liked the movie though. You should probably ignore your cars problems. Maybe it will heal by itself.

Quote, originally posted by ajflan »You should probably ignore your cars problems. Maybe it will heal by itself. Not likely!

I know. When I tried that method with my old car, I ended up on the side of the road in a steaming pile of trans fluid.