GenVibe - Community for Pontiac Vibe Enthusiasts

At my last oil change, they recommended I add a bit more transmission fluid because they said it was low.

My manual, 2-wheel drive 2005 Vibe does NOT have a dipstick for the transmission fluid. Does anyone know where the fill cap is? I can not find any information about this online, though my manual does say only some models have dipsticks. "Automatic Transaxle Fluid Dipstick (If Equipped). See “Checking the Fluid Level” under Automatic Transaxle Fluid on page 5-23."

And without a dipstick, is it feasible/safe to fill in the fluid myself without being able to measure if its full or not? I don't have a lift, garage, or decent winter climate right now so I don't think I would take the fluid pan apart myself if thats the route I'd have to go.

I don't have experience with this particular transmission, but on others I've worked on there's been a fill plug on the side of the unit. You fill to a specified height at or below the fill hole when the vehicle is level. You can usually fit a pinky finger in the fill hole to check the level.

And I found this thread in a search, it may address the question: viewtopic.php?t=23439

You'll need a funnel with a small outlet and a couple feet of flex tubing if you want to gravity feed it. Small hand pumps are also available, but they can cause a mess when things go wrong.

pGVa wrote:At my last oil change, they recommended I add a bit more transmission fluid because they said it was low.

My manual, 2-wheel drive 2005 Vibe does NOT have a dipstick for the transmission fluid. Does anyone know where the fill cap is? I can not find any information about this online, though my manual does say only some models have dipsticks. "Automatic Transaxle Fluid Dipstick (If Equipped). See “Checking the Fluid Level” under Automatic Transaxle Fluid on page 5-23."

And without a dipstick, is it feasible/safe to fill in the fluid myself without being able to measure if its full or not? I don't have a lift, garage, or decent winter climate right now so I don't think I would take the fluid pan apart myself if thats the route I'd have to go.

This post is confusing to me. You say "My manual, 2-wheel drive..." then you talk of transmission fluid and Automatic Trans-axle fluid. What do you have, a manual transmission or a automatic transmission? If it is a manual, then the above answer and links work that were posted by andrewclaus.

If manual, I would one of these type of pumps to full. https://www.amazon.com/Shoreline-Marine ... B004UOPZ9S
https://www.ebay.com/itm/BOAT-GEAR-LUBE ... Mp&vxp=mtr
Easy to control and use.

Who recommended this and what did they base it on? The only way to know if you need fluid in a manual transmission is to crack open a fill bolt on the top side of the transmission, even then you would not know the level because there is no dipstick and the only way of knowing is if you actually start filling it via a tube and a pump or a funnel and a tube as stated above. When it starts to seep out that is when you know you are full.

You will need to go back because you need a lift to do this. At this point, may as well drain the whole transmission and add 1.9 liters of synthetic 75W-90 GL-4 gear oil (Genuine GM Fluid (12346190) 75W-90 GL-4 Synthetic Manual) https://www.summitracing.com/int/parts/ ... /overview/

This post is confusing to me. You say "My manual, 2-wheel drive..." then you talk of transmission fluid and Automatic Trans-axle fluid. What do you have, a manual transmission or a automatic transmission? If it is a manual, then the above answer and links work that were posted by andrewclaus.

YES, I did mean manual. Sorry for mentioning auto.

Thanks for all your help people. I will look into today and see what I can manage on my own. I also got troubleshoot my blower motor today.

I bought a $2 flexible funnel and put in some fluid. Only a little bit leaked out at first, likely what was scraped out from the horizontal fill holl when I removed the funnel. I filled in more and removed the funnel again, and that time it seemed to spill out a bit. So I figured that then it became full. It was about half a small bottle of the transmission fluid that I put in. There was no visible leaking before or after the filling, not beneath at least.

If I am assuming correctly, the fill hole is on the side of the tranny. If you added fluid there until it begins to leak out of the same hole, you are good. As suggested, you should probably have changed it completely if you have high mileage.


The shops check by removing the fill hole bolt, and basically just sticking their pinky in the hole and feeling for fluid. If they can't feel any, it's low.
Even if you see no leaks, the fluid could be low. Sometimes when a cv axle is changed, fluid leaks out. Also, over years of use, some evaporation occurs.

Based on your post, it sounds like you're good.

Enjoy the Vibe