GenVibe - Community for Pontiac Vibe Enthusiasts

I left work today and came home as usual. I was at a different plant which is closer to home than what I usually drive. When I got home I smelled something sweet.If I had a guess, I thought it was radiator fluid. So I crawl under the car and there is a puddle. I stick my fingers in it and its not coolant. Its OIL! I just had my oil changed at Walmart yesterday so what did they mess up. I check the lines. All is good. I check the levels all is good there too. So I get a white cloth and stick it in the oil to see better what color it is. Its RED. ATF! So I pulled the bottom skid plates off and look for the leak. OIL is everywhere. Then I see 2 steel lines attached to the frame. I poke at them and at the rust. This seems like it could be the culprate. I started the car to check the tranny fluids and it just started pouring out. Shut everything off and went to the auto store. I replaced the steel lines with some rubber ones. I made a coupler and hose clamped them all together and all is good now. This will work as a temporary fix until the weekend when I have some more daylight to see what I'm doing. When it was finished I traced the lines. and found out it would be real easy to replace the whole section with a rubber line, removing the spliced sections. So its safe to say, today has been quite eventful. Well, Im done with my rant. I can't wait to fix it properly this weekend. I just hope my splices hold until then. Tools, ramps, and extra oil is in the car just in case.

I had a simm problem years ago with a chevy chevette. I was driving back to college and the return line on the trans split... Some duct tape got the leak manageable, picked up 6 quarts of fluid at the next stop after a trucker stopped and gave me a quart to get me back on the road, thank goodness for CB's.The trip usually took me about 3hrs...this time 8hours... the following day I bought a new line for 2 bucks and replaced it.But yes, we do have those moments when all the forethought in the world won't help.I just hope you didn't do any permanent damage.

It was finally nice out this afternoon. Got home, put the battery in the triumph and went for a ride. Aaaaahhhh... Spring is around the corner.

I'm sorry.

How old is the car? I've had cars for 15 years and never had that happen.

The lines on my Jeep did the same thing. I sold the dang thing since I've done about every other thing to it and bought a Vibe

Will be working on the garden pull all the weeds! Then planting Onions, Cabage, Lettuce and other cole crops

Glad to hear it didn't cause any serious damage, and that you knew how to fix it.I love my manual.

Its an 04 with 130K on it. I got lucky. I have been working 50mi away and traveling 100mi a day, but this one day I was at the closer plant which was only about 15mi away. BTW it was the transmition cooler lines to be exact. I bought some longer lines today and am going to run a complete rubber line from the radiator and bypass the issue spot. I have no idea why it went rubber - metal - rubber - metal. So it will be easier in the long run. Today was a better day, got to go apartment hunting.

Quote, originally posted by rmckinjr »Will be working on the garden pull all the weeds! Then planting Onions, Cabage, Lettuce and other cole cropsThat's not right! I still have a couple of feet of snow on the ground. No planting of anything for a while. I did widen my driveway by cutting the snow back a foot on each side after I got home from work. It got pretty warm this afternoon, up to 50 degrees! Brought the motorcycle out and started it. Rode it up and down the driveway a couple of times, and then put it back under its cover. Street's covered with sand and water from the melting snow, way too nasty to ride on. Thought about a short bicycle ride, but the same thing stopped me. The sand and water mess. Thankfully, no car problems. Knock on wood or something.