my 2004 vibe - electrical issues

viberman

I recently got a 2004 vibe, the last owner was somewhat of a twit and let the car go to crap, well I brought it home thinking that all I needed to do was change the alternator and the car was good to go, or so I was told. Well the alternator wasn't the issue it was the battery after buying a new battery the car started up just great, only issue I have not lights,signals, heat, wipers no nothing working. I checked all the fuses and changed the dead ones but still nothing works. Would it be a relay and if so which one. all help welcome

imidazol97

viberman said:

that simple little connection would cause everything to just not get the power to the complete dashboard and such

I see tht one of the positive cables goes to the starter and the other feeds the fuse block under the hood.

You can click on the .pdf file I uploaded and let it load. It has 10 pages showing where the electric power goes from the two battery positive lines. Scroll down through it.

After that, there's a set of diagrams of grounds. If a ground has corroded, then the items getting power to them won't work because the ground doesn't complete the circuit. That's a separate .pdf

You may need to get to some of the lines that carry power, usually red, for certain items that don't work and use a pin to puncture the plastic covering and a voltmeter to check for 12 volts with the other lead on the meter connected to a known good ground connection, such as the battery negative terminal or a wire run to the negative that will reach to where you have the meter.

Checking on one side of the fuse supply that circuit that doesn't work would be a good start.

Always work carefully so you don't short out a positive line to ground.

imidazol97

I assume the engine starts and runs, since you didn't say that was a problem.

A quick look on the electrical distribution shows two positive connections at the battery. On some GM's the two connectors were joined by a lead bushing that could corrode or not make contact with the second positive cable to pass power to it. Separate and clean or purchase new one.

Here's the distribution with 10 diagrams.
Click on the attachment at the bottom of this post name vibe2004.pdf to open it in a pdf view.
It has 10 diagrams you scroll down through.

Hope it helps.

viberman

that simple little connection would cause everything to just not get the power to the complete dashboard and such

imidazol97

Ground diagram in pdf.
Download to computer by clicking on vibe2004ground.pdf
Then look for items that are not working and circle them. See if they have a common ground point.