GenVibe - Community for Pontiac Vibe Enthusiasts

Went this evening with the wife and kids to do some grocery shopping. Left the store with no problems, hit up the BK drive-thru for the kids. Wasn't in the mood for a Whopper so I drove over to Penn Station for a couple subs. Turned the car off and went inside. Back out after 15 minutes, turned the key - nothing. Dash lights barely lit up, not even a croak from the starter. So I figure it's the battery. It's the original (7 years old, and from what I've read on here, the OEM battery wasn't all that great). Pop the hood and the charge status window is green indicating the battery is "OK". Anyway, wife calls brother and he comes over and gives us a jump, starts right up. OK, fine, I'll drive the 5 miles home and get a new battery tomorrow. On the way home notice the odometer window light is flickering...hmmm. Make it to my neighborhood, turn on my street - car dies. Probably not the battery at this point. I guess now it's the alternator. Was able to coast the last 150 yards or so to my driveway, wrench the wheel and make it about halfway up the driveway before it stopped. Very lucky. The last couple miles of the drive home are on 2-lane rural roads with really no pull-off space (I'd end up half in a ditch). So my Father In Law is coming over tomorrow to help get the alternator off and go get it tested. Figures something would go wrong now since I just spent $300+ the other week getting work done on it.

Well hopefully it's just a dead battery!

Sounds like the alternator to me. Had a similar experience once (not in my Vibe).

Turns out it was the battery. Took both alternator and battery to AutoZone. They tested the alternator and it got 3 green "pass" lights. Hooked up battery and it read 12.x volts. After applying a load it dropped to about 0.3 volts. Hooked up new battery and started right up. Glad it was an easy fix. At least now I also know how to remove and install the alternator (this was my first ever attempt on any vehicle).

Still seems strange that the car, once running, would lose electrical power as the alternator should be providing the electric at that point.

Quote, originally posted by jake75 »Still seems strange that the car, once running, would lose electrical power as the alternator should be providing the electric at that point.It is a little strange, but not unheard of. If there isn't enough juice in the battery, the alternator doesn't have much to charge.

Quote, originally posted by jake75 »Still seems strange that the car, once running, would lose electrical power as the alternator should be providing the electric at that point.That's what I thought too. Maybe the battery's more important then we think even if the car is running. I did do some googling on how to check the alternator. I'm sure everyone's heard about the "disconnect the battery and see if the car still runs" method, but they say this is a bad idea because there can be voltage spikes from the alternator that can wreak havoc on electronics in newer cars. Supposedly the battery filters out these spikes. Maybe that's why I noticed the dash lights flickering when I was running on just the alternator. With the new battery installed, no more flickering. So maybe I got some voltage spike and it killed the engine again?? [Scratches head]