GenVibe - Community for Pontiac Vibe Enthusiasts

Hi. After alot of reading I decided to go with a wired fm modulator, rather than wireless. I installed it last night, and it sounds great, however I am having some car issues now, so I need to go back in and make some changes - so had a few questions. Warning: not a lot of experience with cars here.BTW, I followed the instructions from the Matrix forum that I found a link on in this group. My issue is the knobs that control where the air comes out, and the one that controls how warm the air is don't work anymore - they will not turn any more to the left than where they are now though the arrow shows they should be able to. I wasn't sure which knob was which when I put them back together so I am hoping I just put them on wrong and swapping them will work. Neither will turn to the left, and the heat control one when I turn it to the right it sounds like I'm changing radio channels almost.The reason I removed them at all, was I ran into problems when I tried to install the power to the cigarette lighter. The post said you need to put the car into gear to get the panel that contains the lighter, air controls, etc out, and I couldn't put the car into gear with the battery unhooked, so struggled for a long time trying to find the space to do the job with the panel on (including removing the knobs), I finally gave up and reconnected the battery and started the car so I could remove it and get to the back of the lighter. I am assuming there is no way to go into gear without starting the car - is that correct? Is it safe to start the car when removing that panel because that's the only way I could figure out to do it. I was careful not to touch any of the wires.Well that's really my only question other than if someone knows from my description of what's wrong what I must have done wrong or forgotten to plug in. I was so tired and hot last night it's possible I forgot to plug something in so I'm going to doublecheck everything. It should be quicker now that I've done it once.Also when I reconnect the negative terminal of the battery I get sparks - anything to watch out for there?Meg

automatic right? theres that little button on the right of the shifter, there may be a cover on it. If you remove the cover and push that button you can shift without starting the car. sound like the that knob isnt connected any more... take it apart again and make sure its connected and try again.oh about the sparks, yeah it happens to me sometimes too...BlueCrush showed me a fuse for the batter terminal but i forgot which one it was...it was a big one though in the fuse box in the engine bay. Just dont touch the metal when you put the terminal back on.

Thanks - that was much quicker, knowing that the button was there.I figured out what the problem was - actually two problems. I'd put the knobs on 180 degrees wrong - just had to flip them over, but then when I turned the heat switch up to test that knob, I lost my sound completely. When I took off the panel again, I found that the red wire had disconnected itself from a part on the modulator so there was now no longer any power going to it - my guess is that the wire was wrapped around the knob and it pulled loose when I turned the knob. I was able to get it back together again and working now.Thanks.