GenVibe - Community for Pontiac Vibe Enthusiasts

Was driving my 2009 vibe (~120k miles or so) when the battery light came on. A tried to make it home and got pretty far but eventually lost my power steering. I replaced the fairly new battery with a brand new one and had the same problem the next day.

I've trickle charged the battery and want to experiment a bit while it has power and the car can start.

What are the basic troubleshooting steps from here?

The power steering is electronic. It sounds like your alternator isn't charging. Hook a multimeter up to the battery and see what the voltage is while its running.

Just realized that might be helpful to know...

After trickle-charging it all night I read 12.2V when the car is off. When the car starts it's at 12.4V.

I guess that means the alternator isn't delivering power anymore. I've read about a large alternator fuse in the forums but my fuse compartment looks a lot different from those I see on this forum. Perhaps it isn't the fuse anyway but I'd sure like to check it. Anyone know where it is on my car? Also, this is a 2009, not a 2010 as I first though.

I realize that the bus bar fuses vertically aligned are designed to be visible through the clear plastic top. I see six of them and all six appear to be just fine. Best guess now is a bad alternator.

You can always put the positive lead from your micrometer directly to the alternator and see what the voltage is.