Moving from Vibe to Matrix - This will be fun.

[Bookworm]

Well, I'm committed.

My damaged 07 Vibe is still my daily driver, but not for much longer. Today I finished signing paperwork and driving home a 2007 Toyota Matrix.

It's not the highest end version, while it has automatic windows and locks, it does not have automatic mirrors, and has steel wheels instead of alloy.
(edit - it's apparently the XR, not the base, according to the VIN and CARFAX. For a funny, it supposedly has a 5 speed manual with overdrive. It's an automatic.)


I'll definitely still be around, however. The Toyota sites are a PITA to navigate, and always suggest information on vehicles that aren't even related to the Matrix.

My intent is to perform a full maintenance on the Matrix, such as my Vibe would need if I kept it (210k miles). Then I'll be seeing what I can transplant from the Matrix to the Vibe, and what I shouldn't bother trying. Suggestions welcome, even if it's "I did that, and it was an absolute mess. Stay away from it".

I'll put photos up once I've gotten it put together better - it's in fantastic shape, especially considering it was bought in Virginia. More corrosion than my Vibe, but no signs of crap in the crevices.

Current thoughts.

1) Fog light transplant (which would require moving relay, dismantling steering column, and swapping the stick(s)) I'd buy new lights, just move the wiring.
2) Moon and Tunes - can this be done with the Toyota head unit at all? Anyone know if the wiring looms are the same between all the vehicles, just missing the actual devices?
3) Inverter - the dash has a pop open mini-glove box that isn't big enough to hold anything useful, and yet deep enough to make it a pain to try to dig out your change.
4) mirror controls/motors. I guess this depends on if the motor is behind the speaker, or if it's behind the actual mirror itself
5) wheel swaps between the cars. (I need to make sure they're still straight. The last tire rotation, I got shuddering)
6) if no Moon/Tunes transplant, perhaps new speakers and head unit (maybe get digital radio!)
7) Repair the dash clock.
8) Move the 03 double arm-rest console to the Matrix that I moved to the 07 Vibe when I stopped driving the 03.
9) No roof rails. Just plain channel gasket. Need to find out if rails can be added, and if so, what kind. Or moved from the Vibe. (Maybe just Thule?)

Plus the usual - brakes, fluids, spark plugs, pcv, maybe valve cover gasket and chain tensioner for "just in case" - since the tensioner will be MUCH easier to reach with the valve cover removed.

So, I guess I'll become an 'ex-viber', while still having a 1ZZFE.

The old car will become available, cheap, for anyone that wants to come get it to use for parts. It _is_ fully drivable. Just timing chain seal oil leak, and the driver fender is torqued into the engine compartment. it does pass inspections

[tpollauf]

Can't comment on much as I have never owned or worked on the Matrix. Just curious if the Matrix also has the dreaded air circulator box damper motor with the cheap plastic gears ???? Hopefully it will be a bit more trouble free than the Vibe. Definitely keep us posted and share updates with us as they come. Congrats on the "new to you" ride Too bad you're so far away as maybe I'd consider taking the Vibe off your hands.

[Bookworm]

I can guarantee it can make the trip to Toledo.

I believe that one of the few parts that wasn't shared between the Vibe and Matrix was the a/c system. Somewhat better compressor, and no click, click, click, click, click.... Another is the radio head unit.

[joatmon]

4) mirror controls/motors. I guess this depends on if the motor is behind the speaker, or if it's behind the actual mirror itself

the motors are behind the mirror itself

7) Repair the dash clock.

I have a matrix radio bezel with the clock, thought it would be a unique tweak to my 03 when I had one, but its different enough to not be practical. If your clock is actually broken, I can send you the one I have. Or if anyone else wants to mess around with that bezel. The radio opening is slightly different shape than on the Vibe, and the switches are different enough to not work in a Vibe

So, I guess I'll become an 'ex-viber', while still having a 1ZZFE.

No, a matrix still counts

[Bookworm]

I have a matrix radio bezel with the clock, thought it would be a unique tweak to my 03 when I had one, but its different enough to not be practical. If your clock is actually broken, I can send you the one I have. Or if anyone else wants to mess around with that bezel. The radio opening is slightly different shape than on the Vibe, and the switches are different enough to not work in a Vibe

Sounds like I'll just live with manual mirrors.

I may take you up on the bezel. One of the prior owners used superglue to attach velcro to the bezel, and another drilled mounting holes in it (right above the clock, which may be why). I'll find out this weekend how acetone will work on the bezel. The superglue looks nasty, and I'd rather have shiny black plastic than that crap. The clock, it seems like, tends to have resistors that crack loose from the solder. Probably victims of the 'no lead' solders. I'll be able to test that this weekend as well.

I put in a big order for parts, not including the corners. (wheels and shocks. THAT'S going to be the pricey part)

[Bookworm]

Updates:

Repaired the clock. Definitely just a 'resolder all the resistors' job. As part of this, I found that the two holes drilled in the top were for a zip tie. The cut pieces fell out when I removed the bezel. Now to see if I can remove the superglue without stripping the paint.

Replaced the spark plugs. The spark plugs _were_ NGK, but someone put in the nickel 'v-groove' NGK BKR5E-11 plugs. Oil on the threads, too. I suspect that the car will perform a bit better; I remember when I tried platinum in '06. Car wasn't happy until I went back to iridium.

Valve cover gasket has been replaced at some point in the past. Whoever did it used random orange RTV for the junction over the timing chain cover. So, that's also on the to be replaced soon list. (I wonder if they bothered replacing the gaskets around the spark plugs)

Sprayed throttle body cleaner around the intake manifold. No change in the idle at all, so that's apparently good.

ATF was both low, and very dark. So I topped that off - three quarters of a quart to get it halfway between hot and cold while running - but no signs of any leakages. Possibly just never really checked in 155k miles? I'll be doing a couple of drain and fills as well, but I wanted to make sure that it was at least CLOSE to normal before doing the first drain.

Replaced the gas pistons on both the rear hatch and the glass. The hatch ones were working, but the glass was.... open *thunk*. Open *thunk*. Hmmm... So I just bought two sets and replaced both at once. $44 or so for all four.

Next is putting the car up on four jack stands, pulling off the wheels, bleeding the brakes, and trying to get the front rotors off without catastrophically flinging cast iron across the yard. Then, flush the radiator, drain and fill the transmission, and drain and fill the oil. I don't want to do a full motor flush on unknown oil.

Has anyone else noticed that it's getting harder to find straight conventional oil? NAPA's store brand is apparently now a synthetic blend _only_. I hate to add extra detergents to a 155k mile engine that I don't know the history of. However, I guess I could ask the local Take5 oil change place if they can look up what they put in the engine of the car for a previous owner. (CarFax says they did some stuff) I ended up buying Castrol at Wal-Mart.

[Bookworm]

Here's where I am now.

When I moved the car from the grass to asphalt so I could jack it up.... I ran over the beauty cover that I'd carefully put out of the way so that I wouldn't step on it. *sigh*.

Front rotors are not factory. No screw holes. Since the pads still have at least 80%, I left them alone for now. I do need to either bleed myself, or pay someone else to bleed. Brakes work, but take more effort than they should.

Drained the transmission fluid. It was black. Even after adding almost a quart of red, there was no red showing. Refilled with fresh fluid.
Drained the oil. It was also black. Refilled with conventional oil and basic filter. I'll change it again within 3,000 miles, to make sure everything's cleaned up.
Sucked out a good chunk of the grey 'power steering fluid', refilled, did the back and forth with the steering wheel, rinse, repeat. Did this four times. Will do it more, simply because I don't want to risk the hoses right now.

Radiator coolant is now Beck/Arnley "Pink". Self burped and pulled replacement fluid out of the overflow reservoir. (I consider this a good thing - it'll be topped off in a day or so).

After hitting LKQ Pick-and-part, I've decided I'll buy the power mirror controls and mirrors from elsewhere. Junk yard wants $44 for each mirror, and I can buy a pair of aftermarket ones for $58+tax, with free shipping. What I did get is a replacement beauty cover ($30) and the blank cover plates ($2.50 each) I'll need for the mirrors. That way I won't have holes from the manual controls catching my eye every time my head turns to the sides. It's saddening to see how much worse people have gotten over the last 20 years about destroying 'good' parts to get to what they want. I found two beauty covers that were obviously just ripped loose rather than someone just using a 10mm socket to remove them. It's not like they wouldn't need the 10mm socket 20 seconds later! Not to mention the center consoles torn apart, mirrors yanked down, door panels pulled out, then thrown to the ground, and so forth.

Cleaned the throttle body. Took red rag and vigorous scrubbing, as well as a stiff nylon brush in some spots. Lots and lots of carbon - even three inches into the intake hose. Luckily, I had a spare throttle body gasket (with the wire mesh, what ever that's for), although I cleaned the old one and put it in the bag as a spare. LOTS of engine codes! Left them alone, drove 10 miles to work the transmission fluid, coolant, and oil in, got home, pulled up the codes on my BlueDriver, then cleared them out. Shut the engine off, waited, restarted - no more check engine light.

With the wrong spark plugs, a tiny amount of oil around the coil pack tubes, and all the carbon buildup, I'm concerned about the PCV valve. Unfortunately, I'll have to order a new hose as well, because the hose is so heat hardened that I think it'll shatter when I start to pull the valve out. Someone previously used orange RTV to 'glue' the hose onto the PCV valve.

Previous people working on this car were gorillas. Oil drain plug required me to just about hammer the wrench to break it loose, the lugnuts required enormous force on a 30" lug wrench, the oil filter was jammed tight enough that I barely broke it loose with the oil cap wrench. Oil changer never heard of "turn filter to touching, then turn 3/4 turn", I suspect. I think they were of the "Metal must touch metal!" school of thought.

So, what's left?

Console power adapter. I have a dual USB with spring closed cap to fit into the console cigarette lighter. I'll need to make a wiring harness connector for it; that'll allow me to drop things into the console to charge without wires being exposed.

Repair the console lid. I have the one from my old 03, but thieves broke the hinge on it a long time ago, and I never repaired it. The one I found at the junk yard had the same break point AND was gouged from one of the morons pulling crap out of the car. Basically, if I could find a replacement hinge, I'd be good.

Bleed the brakes. Maybe go ahead and replace shoes, drums, rotors, and pads just to say it is done.

Replace shocks and struts. Boots torn to heck, probably needs replacing. I may just use cheaper ones and just hope they last a couple of years. (Like Detroit Axle)

Add power mirrors.

Try to remove the superglue from the main console above the radio.

Clean all the windows, paint around the lift gate and glass, lube the rubber gaskets and seals.

Either bang out the bent rim (just the outer edge in two spots on one wheel), or swap it for my spare tire (steel rim). Then get four new tires and an alignment. I may pick up another wheel at the salvage yard. Maybe paint them all purple with rattle cans. Why purple? Because I like the colour.

When it warms up a bit more, I'll pay for a full shampoo detailing.

String wrap the steering wheel.

Replace the brake pedal cover, just because I want newer rubber.

Do a full top end teardown (sort of). Replace valve cover gasket, plus all associated gaskets, pull the intake manifold, replace the thermostatic relief valve (thermostat), top and bottom radiator hoses.

Replace the serpentine belt.

Install aftermarket HD radio. I'm not going to worry about trying to install the tweeters, subwoofer, etc. I don't need them - I just need sound.

Not sure if I want to try to move the inverter for the dash or not. I haven't decided yet.

----

Any suggestions beyond what I have listed?

[cigvibe]

I am vibe to matrix and now back to vibe.

For the inverter, I would want it in the back if I had to choose. Thats is where your tools and stuff would be anyway.

You should find a missing hump where the factory moon subwoofer would be anyway to mount, or go discreet under the rear cover.

Now that I have a vibe again, I am still going to look into relocation to the rear, along with some lighting built into the rear hatch so I can have a good work area in the back.

The nice thing about having a matrix is that you can do it all yourself from scratch.

[Bookworm]

In this case, according to Toyota, it's a Matrix Base, not XR (which is what other sites were saying it was). So while it has power windows and cruise control, it doesn't have fog lights, dash inverter, or power mirrors.

I'm ordering new power mirrors from Ebay for 60 for the pair, just ordered a dash panel with the mirror control. I decided against stealing them off of the vibe. If I do fog lights, I'll just harvest from a junkyard or order parts. So the only thing I'm debating stealing off of the Vibe is the dash inverter. I've used it for laptop charging in the past, but right now use a cigarette lighter power cable.

I decided to not try to move the moon and tunes (subwoofer, tweeters, etc). I don't really need them, I just want music, I don't care about bouncing the car. It's a work vehicle, not a show car. Partly it's because I've read that the wiring harness for the moon and tunes doesn't exist in the non-moon and tunes car, unlike all of the OTHER accessories.

[Bookworm]

Latest update.

Bled the brakes - they desperately needed it. I'll do drum and shoes later, plus rotors and pads.

Pulled the old PCV valve. I have a 12204-22041. Wonderful. The metric size.

I'm not going to bother with an OEM right now. I'll put in an aftermarket and get an OEM in a few months.

I did order an OEM replacement hose, however. The spring clamp was no longer clamping, and a previous technician put orange RTV inside the hose (and on the nipple of the valve - didn't close it) to try to seal it up. The hose is hard as a rock, probably from the heat.

VSV is clattering like crazy - hopefully with a new PCV and hose that'll calm down.

Drove vehicle last weekend. Tried to start the car today, and 'click'. 10.8 volts or so. Hm. an hour on a charger at 3 amps, and it was sitting at 13.08 volts. Started fine. Charging fine at 14.3 volts at idle. SOOO.... With just one week of 40 degree weather, the battery dropped. I'm calling it marginal. I'll see what it does after sitting this week, and probably replace it.

New aftermarket power mirrors should be in tomorrow, as well as the mirror control vent and PCV hose. I bought the inside mirror covers from the salvage yard, so once those are In, I'll have power mirrors, power doors, power windows. That's probably good enough. Still waiting for Crutchfield to get HD radios back in stock. I listen to the radio too damned much in the car, so I want to be able to listen to classical and other things again (several stations moved that stuff to the digital radio "bands". )

Oh yeah, I have an 18 bolt transmission pan. Now I can order the right gasket and filter.

Forgot to mention. Someone or something disabled the dinger for the seatbelts, etc. so I need to trace that out, and make sure they didn't do it with a 'cut the cable' fix. I realized it when I was moving things around the driveway to test the brakes.

[Bookworm]

Today was changing the oil and doing a drain and fill on the 07 Pontiac Vibe's transmission. I'll be abandoning the car within 2 weeks, I hope, but both were long overdue. I'd rather pass it on to someone else saying "they're done" than "you've got filthy crap in them".

Also replaced the inner fender liner on my wife's Mazda5', front passenger side. I'll have to make some new popit holes at the front, she managed to tear the bumper/liner connecting holes up. It's that insane low clearance on everything, and they insist on making bumpers closer to the ground than the average car stop in a shopping centre.

The sad part? My old Mazda 323, with 14" tires, had better clearance under the car than the Vibe/Matrix, let alone the Mazda5 - all of which have the same 16" tires. (yes, the exact same).

Also replaced the mirrors with power mirrors. I must have one of the last '07 Matrix(es?) that rolled off of the assembly line. January 29th, 2007. The mirror has a sticker in it as well as the Carfax. The _passenger_ mirror was replaced in 2018. Obviously not reported to anyone. Probably while that owner was rolling back and forth to Texas A&M.

Battery - it dropped a full volt over the last week, was 12.08 volts last night, and after running the windows up and down once each side (for the mirrors), the resting voltage dropped to 11.48. So, I get to drop $190 plus tax on a battery at NAPA. East Penn, AAA labeled, 3 yr replacement, 6 year overall warranty. Better than a 100 dollar 2 yr warranty from wally world. I may not have the car two years, but I want the option.

So, tomorrow will hopefully be PCV valve, 2nd drain and fill on transmission, battery, and pull the calipers on front brakes and make sure they're moving when the brake pedals are pressed. If they aren't, then either the ABS module is buggered up, or the master brake cylinder has something wrong.
Also, replacing (or just installing) cabin air filter. I need to order new ones for my wife's car. Those are a PAIN to put in. They're stacked, and you have to install them from the bottom, pushing them -up-.

[Bookworm]

Last update for now - I'm currently driving the vehicle.

Battery has been replaced. Big difference.

PCV Valve and hose were replaced. VSC seems to be massively quieter. - Be VERY careful with this! Pull your old one and take it into the store to check the threads. There's a BSP and a Metric version of the PCV valve. The "16 mm" (M16) vPCV valve I purchased from O'Reilly turned out to be a BSP thread. I luckily managed to get a metric thread version at Autozone (without thread locker. I don't see that as really being an issue).

Installed an older rear view mirror with dual map lights. I now need to run a power cord either to the dome light or pull the A pillar to get a cord down there. I'd prefer the straight shot to the dome light, personally.

Still need tires and _maybe_ replace the dented wheel. I'm going to go ahead and stick with the steel wheels and pass the alloys on to whoever takes the old car.

Needed to do in a bit - move the inverter from the Vibe to the Matrix, and get the toll tag off of my old windshield to put on this car (along with changing the information at the Texas toll authority) Also need to pull my 16' jumper cables out of my old car and move it. Rebuild the front left caliper - I managed to abrade the piston boot.

Next step, probably at the next oil change: another drain and fill on transmission, pull valve cover gasket and replace, replace thermostat and both upper and lower radiator hose, and probably replace the intake manifold gasket at the same time (not leaking, but pulling the manifold should expose the thermostat just as well as pulling everything off of the left side of the engine. Also replace serpentine belt - it's not bad, but I have a new one.

New radio with HD Radio.

Anyone have suggestions on things I may have missed, but should look to do?