What's Up / Used 04' Manual / Need Advice

[edennis]

What's up everybody? I'm new here and brand new to owning a vibe.

I was looking around and saw one pop up on craigs list and thought- I wonder how those are? I went to see it, and for a car with that many miles everything amazingly well maintained and clean. The clutch felt good, no sounds, etc. Long story short I went for it. It's a 2004 Base 5-Speed with 184,000 miles.

I don't know a ton about cars, but I'm hoping to learn to do some of my own work on this car. My question is fairly general- I am wondering what I should check out on this car? Fluids I should immediately change? Other maintenance things I should get done on it? I know that it does need the airbag recall fixed. I guess I am wondering, with a vibe with this many miles on it- what should I do before driving it?? Thanks in advance, and feel free to ask any questions. I will try to answer them.

Eric

[sideshowalan]

Only thing to specifically look out for is transmission fluid quality. 03 & 04 5-speeds have a high failure rate around your mileage. It will make a high pitched whining noise and eventually seize up, common fix is to drop in a used 6-speed manual once the 5 dies. Best way to avoid it is frequent gear oil changes, I recommend Redline MT-90. Fantastic cars otherwise, would still have mine if the wife would have learned to drive a stick

[edennis]

Feel free to points me in the right direction if this info is somewhere else already-
What is the best way to go about finding a 6 speed to put into it (if the 5-speed does indeed bite the dust) and approx. how much do those things cost??

Thanks in advance,
I'm excited to have a forum specifically about the car I just bought!
Eric

[jayoldschool]

I looked on car-part.com, found a few in my area, and settled on one that was close enough to ship in a day. Paid 650 CDN, with clutch and PP, and they threw in the GT steering wheel and shift knob. I used Amsoil Severe Gear in the trans.

[edennis]

Is there a reason people replace with a 6-speed besides the power difference? Are they generally more reliable?

Thanks

[joatmon]

People who replace 5 speeds with 6 speeds tend to do it because the early 5 speeds had a bearing reliability issue, the 6 speeds do not have that issue, and have been more reliable. There is a minor difference in the overall gear ratio of the top gear in the two transmissions, such that for any given speed, say 60 mph, the engine will run at higher RPMs with a 6 speed than with a 5 speed, so if you do a lot of highway driving, you may see a slight decrease in efficiency.

But there's no reason to worry about that unless you have a problem witht he 5 speed. If the 5 speed works fine, then file away the info and don't worry about it