GenVibe - Community for Pontiac Vibe Enthusiasts

well i guess it had to happend to me one day... My transmission on my 2003 auto vibe went yesterday. I turned the corner, accelerated and the POP then GRINDDDD. The car was in drive and not even moving and the grinding was very bad. Got it towed by CAA 1h45 min later in 10 Celcius weather to my local garage. He cheked it out, put it on the lift and did some normal tests. What surprised me the most is that while the car was on the lift and in PARK, the wheels were moving forward with that grinding noise. I can't beleive that after 79 000 KM the tranny went. Apperenlty, there is a defect with the 2003-2005 Vibe, Matrix and Corrola tranny's. So 1640$ CDN later, i got a used tranny with parts and labor Has this happend to anybody else??

Odd, have 180,000 + on our 2004 Vibe.

Sorry to hear that. I just hit 101K & no probs with my auto.

well hopefully for you guys it will stay that way but i was wondering if it happend to anybody else? Because i find it very odd that a tranny let's go at 79 000 KM.

It is strange.....when was the last time your tranny fluid was changed & what does it look like now?

79,000 km = 49,088 milesGiven this math, and the fact that my 2006's auto tranny fluid was nearly charcoal black @ 40,000 miles, it might have been your fluid – especially if your Vibe has been driven on inclines at any point. Do you tow anything?I've been driving my Vibe on a flat pancake, otherwise known as Southern Michigan – thus, not a whole lotta hard shifting, and my fluid was STILL darker than dark @ 40,000 miles. The owner's manual definitely leads us astray, concerning the frequency of changing out our fluid. Hope it's not terribly costly, and you can find replacement parts readily.

That is really low miles for a tranny to go out, however there is no way of predicting when they will go.

Quote, originally posted by cptnsolo77 »It is strange.....when was the last time your tranny fluid was changed & what does it look like now? it was changed at the start of summer and the fluid loooked a little dirty but nothing major

Quote, originally posted by jkm311 »79,000 km = 49,088 milesGiven this math, and the fact that my 2006's auto tranny fluid was nearly charcoal black @ 40,000 miles, it might have been your fluid – especially if your Vibe has been driven on inclines at any point. Do you tow anything?I've been driving my Vibe on a flat pancake, otherwise known as Southern Michigan – thus, not a whole lotta hard shifting, and my fluid was STILL darker than dark @ 40,000 miles. The owner's manual definitely leads us astray, concerning the frequency of changing out our fluid. Hope it's not terribly costly, and you can find replacement parts readily. the fluid was changed at the start of summer. i dont drive on big inclines and i dont tow anything (lowered, body kit, dual exhaust etc...)

The fliud in my 04 was brown at 60K so I had it flushed and filled with toyota fluid. It has 115K now and it's brown again and needing changed. Anybody recomend something else other than toyota's $8 a quart stuff that doesn't hold up. This car gets nothing but freeway miles and 3/4 mile off the freeway to home.Maybe drain and fill this time

i guess the transmission on the vibes, matrix's and corrola's could of used some better designs?

I'm sort of the opposite of this: At 51K, I did my first drain & fill and the fluid still had a lot of "pink" color to it...plus, it smelled like the fresh stuff. As for this transmission being harder on ATF than others, I don't think so. I think the problem is that manufacturers have convinced people that transmissions don't need ANY service until after 100K miles or more. As such, the average Joe doesn't even check his/her tranny fluid until there is a problem. It's odd that we sort of fixate upon oil changes, which are important, but we seem think that a transmission is a sealed unit. In reality, we should stretch oil changes to 10K (using the right fluids) and perform drain & fills with greater regularity (25K?).As for our cars, I've only read a about a few instances of transmission failures in the Vibe/Matrix/Corolla. Now compare that to something like Chrysler/Toyota/Honda minivans; AAMCO stays in business because of those things. I think it's fair to say our transmissions are generally very reliable.