Last winter, I noticed the engine was surging intermittently after start-up, until the engine warmed up. No issues on warmer days, spring/summer, etc.. Recently, the check engine light came on, so I took it into the shop. The shop did not feel the problem was the throttle body, and replaced the mass air flow sensor. The engine is still doing the surging thing after starting up.
View 17 RepliesI drive a 2005 Pontiac Vibe that occasionally will not start on the first try. It seems to only happen when I drive it, let it sit for a short amount of time (5min-1hr) and try to start it again. When this happens, it has always started on the second or third try. It always starts fine when it sits overnight. Is this something I need to be worried about or costly to fix?
View 3 RepliesI recently got another blower motor for my vibe. Got it installed but nothing happened. I replaced the resistor as well. Once I found the secret hidden fuse panel I found that the 40a fuse was blown. I replaced it and it blew instantly upon turning the ignition on, the resistor was unplugged at the time. I am wondering if there could be a short in the wire harness.
The blower went bad a while ago and blew a resistor, I replaced it and it ran for a while until some smoke came out of the dash and then nothing.
I have an 03 vibe. when the temperature get cold around 18 degrees or colder, what would cause the daytime running lights to com on by their self and drain the battery.
View 1 RepliesMy driver seat power window works, however, the other three windows won't go down. When I press those three buttons - I hear nothing. Are the other three windows on a separate circuit? Would this be a fuse, or possibly the master switch assembly?
View 9 RepliesThe car will start up and drive just fine but as soon as you turn it off, it will not turn back on. If you wait three to four hours it will restart with no problem. This repeats its self daily. When you turn the key the dash lights come on but will not crank at all. I am skeptical that it might be the alarm system;however, there is no key fab and no code for the check engine. It has 170K miles. Laughing, my sweet husband dictated this...my first attempt to describe the problem was long and rambling!
View 7 RepliesI never had a single problem with that great car, now at 164,000 km, but got my first check engine warnings last friday, with the VSC OFF flashing, as well as the stabilitrak and check engine signals being lit. The car was still running fine, so I disconnected the battery this weekend and erased the codes. But this morning (2 days only later), the warnings are back. I went to a local garage and they retrieved the following codes: P043F, PO43E, P2402, P2419, P2401 and P2402. What do I do with this?
View 19 RepliesI have a 2006 Pontiac Vibe with an AC Compressor that my be frozen. My car was sitting for 6 months not be used. Before the AC worked great. When i put the ac on a few days ago, my engine died. I turned the ac off and started the car up again, and no problem. I pressed AC button and car slowly died. Does my ac pump need more oil, or a new ac compressor?
View 18 RepliesMy wife and I recently bought a 2003 Pontiac Vibe, a Toyota Matrix with slightly different skin, and shortly after we got a check engine light. When I inspected the car before purchase I noticed that there was black soot in the exhaust pipe. The owner told me that he'd put a cat back exhaust but I suspected I'd probably be replacing the O2 sensors soon and we negotiated the price accordingly. So now it's a month later and I bought an OBD II checker. I followed the instructions and after the checker and the cars ECU linked it showed no stored codes. I turned off the CEL and we went shopping. Mid way on the drive home, we live out in the country, the CEL came on again. Went through the procedure again, still no codes stored. I've read the instruction manual twice and I don't think I'm doing anything wrong. Is it possible to have a check engine light on and there to be no codes stored for the OBD tester to find? I could have bought many rolls of black tape for what the tester cost and I kept the receipt just in case.
View 5 RepliesI have 4 lights that came on simultaneously on my 2009 Pontiac Vibe. My check engine, AWD, Traction Control and my VSC Off is blinking. I had the codes read at Advance Auto and 2 codes came up and they are C1201 Engine control module performance and P0456 Evaporative emission system leak detected (very small leak).
View 6 RepliesWe have taken our 2006 Pontiac Vibe to two different mechanics numerous times trying to find out what's wrong, but they told us that the car needs to not start for them in order for them to diagnose the problem. The issue with this is that every time we leave it with them, it starts just fine, and they charge us $45 per night to leave it there. We are scared to use the car because we don't want to be stranded somewhere when it randomly doesn't start.
Symptoms:
- Starts sometimes, but not consistently (once every week or two, it just won't start)
- The car sounds like it is almost going to start, as we are hearing more than just clicking, but for some reason the engine just never gets to that final rumble to stay on.
- When the issue occurs, the car will sometimes start if we try again minutes or hours later
- Jumping the battery seems to get it start.
Previous Attempts:
- Already changed the battery
- Already gotten a tune-up and oil change
As I said, we are incredibly frustrated, as this problem is not consistent enough to show up for the mechanic, and therefore renders us with an unreliable and undiagnosable car.
I have a 2009 Pontiac Vibe with 43,000 miles. Recently the check engine light, the vehicle stability control light and the traction control system light all came on simultaneously. Since then they have all come on or all gone off several times. Usually once they come on, they stay on for the remainder of the trip. Sometimes they will still be on when I next start the car, sometimes they will be off. What might be causing this?
View 17 RepliesOver the last 30 days or so my 2005 Town car has been acting up when I start it when shes cold. She would normally rev at a higher rpm when cold and then idle down when she warmed up.
I have checked the throttle plate, replaced the throttle position sensor and checked for vacuum leaks. Is there a specific sensor that I should change out in my process of elimination?
I have a 2003 Pontiac Vibe GT - same car as a Toyota Matrix. It's a 6 speed standard. When driving in heavy rain where the street is flooded by an inch or more of water the car makes a noise like the bottom is going to drop out. It comes from underneath and makes a womp-a-womp-a-wompa sound that shakes the car. I initially thought it was one of the plastic panels below the car that was loose and catching water that would make it slap back and forth. But my mechanic couldn't find any loose panels.
Someone told me they had something similar with a Dodge Caravan and it was the timing belt getting wet - only I have a timing chain. I can't tell if it is related to the revs of the engine - it might be. It's such a scary sound I take my foot off the gas and it does seem to go away as the car slows. Seems like keeping under 30mph and out of the puddles works. This is only in heavy rain, street flooded conditions.
We have a 2006 Pontiac with no problems, except all of the sudden the hood won't open! We pull on the latch inside the car and nothing! No, the cable isn't broken ...
View 2 RepliesMy '06 Pontiac Vibe sometimes has one headlight out. When it's on as a daytime light, or on normally, the right headlight is not working. As a high-beam, it comes back on. It did this for a few days, then came back to normal after I hit a hard bump. Now it's back out again. It sure sounds like a loose wire to me, but I can't find it by jiggling wires behind the light assembly.
View 5 RepliesI have a 2006 Pontiac Vibe. Yesterday my Check Engine light came on while driving. It's done this before and randomly gone away. My car has been in the shop twice in the past month for routine maintenance.
The light annoys me, so I disconnected the battery and reconnected it a few minutes later. The car wouldn't start. I jumped it. It started, I let it idle, turned it off, and it's dead again. I did the same once more. Still dead.
So, my family "mechanic" says I probably didn't connect the terminals well enough, and that it might just need to be adjusted (in all fairness, I'm playing the stupid girl card here). He said worst case scenario is that I randomly need a new alternator (I doubt this based on the circumstances), and it's possible I might need a new battery (I think I replaced it three years ago, but maybe I didn't).
I have a 2003 Pontiac Vibe and recently have had problems...after I drive 15-20 minutes the car will begin to slow down...even if I give it more gas the car will stay a constant speed...say 30 mph and will not go faster...if I down shift..(manual trans)... I can get the car back to normal speed...and sometimes it smells hot when I get out...like brakes....on the highway the car will begin to slow as well and stay at 45...then come back after downshift..
View 16 RepliesMy Vibe (manual trans) started making a weird chattering/fluttering noise in 4th gear a couple of weeks ago, so I took it in (mileage around 160k). The noise was similar to the one it was making two years ago when the transmission tore itself to shreds and the shop did a full rebuild, so I was somewhat concerned about taking it in before I was stranded on the road somewhere. It took several days to find the problem, but apparently a balance shaft moved and chipped some teeth, and that somehow affected the trans in 3rd and 4th gears.
Now when they were explaining this I was trying to calm a screaming baby, so I wasn't really paying attention to the explanation, but I wanted to verify that this could happen and that I really do need yet another rebuild, this time with a new balance shaft. He's cutting me a break (this rebuild is significantly cheaper than the last one).
All this said, I really do trust my mechanic, but am really considering letting go of this curse of a car. I've now paid for it's value 1.5 times over the last two years. While the mechanic assures me this trans is bulletproof, two incidents in as many years makes me think otherwise. A quick google search doesn't allay my fears either...
In an effort to save some money, my husband replaced the worn front brake pads and rotors on our 2009 Pontiac Vibe. He had a lot of trouble removing the old parts and did use force. Now with the new rotors and brake pads installed, the steering wheel is misaligned when the wheels are straight. There is no pull to either side when driving. What happened and what should we do?
View 18 RepliesI've got a 2009 Pontiac Vibe GT. A few days ago, my battery went dead when parked and listening to the radio. The terminals looked corroded but we jumped it and it was fine. Monday, my friend removed the connections and cleaned the terminals. The next day, I noticed that upon starting it, there was a noticeable rattle coming from the rear area of the car. Once I hit the gas, it's fine, and after a 50 min interstate drive it seemed fine. However, leaving work today it happened again-- a rattling when stopped at red lights or stop signs. Once I hit the gas it goes away, but starts on again as I slow to a crawl. Is the battery issue a red herring? What could be the cause of this?
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