GenVibe - Community for Pontiac Vibe Enthusiasts

For those who use jacks and jacks stands where do you jack the car up and where do put the jack stands. The manually says "fit over the flange between the two notches nearest the tire". Does that mean inside the notches themselves or anywhere on the car between the two notches?

It means inbetween the inside the notches themselves.

In other words, near to impossible to get a jack AND a jack stand in the same 2 inch space...

If I'm going to use jack stangs, I always use a hydraulic floor jack under the suspension to get the car in the air and then place the stand(s) in the factory jack location(s).

I found that I can reach the oil pan without jacking, however I can't the filter off. There isn't enough room to use the oil filter wrench. How did you guys get your's off?

Oil filter wrench (cap type) and some elbow grease.

I use Rhino ramps to change the oil -- much quicker than a jack and stands. I got them back when I had my Z-28, which wasn't easy to jack and get on stands either.

I take the filter off from the top (under the hood). It's tight but doable.

LOL....the first time I change my oil.....I was able to get my filter wrench around the filter after trying several times only to find out my wrench wouldn't constrict small enough to grasp the filter. I had to end up buying a cap filter wrench and turning it with a socket wrench. . Works beautifully.Jim

Quote, originally posted by NovaResource »If I'm going to use jack stangs, I always use a hydraulic floor jack under the suspension to get the car in the air and then place the stand(s) in the factory jack location(s).Do you raise the entire rear at once? If so, where exactly do you place the floor jack? I have the service manual on cdrom and it depicts the central jack point as the rear suspension cross member. I don't have the AWD Vibe and I don't have much confidence using the crossmember.

I can get my filter off without evenin usin the wrench. I take it off from the bottom of the car.Inder Singh

Quote, originally posted by TRD4reel »I can get my filter off without evenin usin the wrench. I take it off from the bottom of the car.Inder SinghMake sure you're tightening it enough then!A loose oil filter can eventually work it's way off the threads...and, well, you know what that means if your filter flies off on the highway.Bye bye oil, bye bye engine!

I use my floor jack with a block of wood, so I do not damage the body, on the designated spots the jacking directions state on the side of the car. The spots mentioned behind the frt wheel and in front of the rear wheel. For a Jack Stand I jack the rear up by the trailing arm (axle) and place my stands under it. This is how I rotate my tires. Floor jack up front and stand in back.

Quote, originally posted by MiVibe-ToolGuy »...I jack the rear up by the trailing arm (axle) and place my stands under it.... The first time I jacked up the rear of my Vibe, I started lifting at the center of the trailing axle, and it began bending alarmingly! I settled for doing one side at a time by repositioning the jack under the shock mount. Maybe now that I have a beefy Progress rear bar, it could handle the full weight, but I don't think I'll try it, JIC...

Never had that happen but then again I lift it by one side of the arm at a time maybe I should have mentioned that too, never on the middle lifting the entire rear end.

Hey all..When I Painted my Calipers, I did the front then the rear. The front had an obvious jacking point. It's in the center, about a foot or so behind the Radiator. I think there is also an opening on the jack point for pulling the vehicle with a wench. Now for the back, I looked up on this site or mo.com and it said something about a jacking point just behind the gas tank but, I believe it was in front of the back axel. I had to get under the back just to see it. I used this point. The little platform type thing bent a little but it went up fine. There is some pipe going into this platform thing as well. Maybe a vent or something from the tank? I dunno.It didn't seem like the best way to jack the back up but it worked. I did use jack stands on the underbody frame. For the front, just behind the front wheels... on the back, just in front of the Back wheels. Some underbody coating flaked off but it was where it said to use stands and where it said to use the jack that came with the vehicle.Dave