Edmunds dealer partner, Bayway Leasing, is now offering transparent lease deals via these forums. Click here to see the latest vehicles!
2000-2011 Chevrolet Malibu
This discussion has been closed.
Popular New Cars
Popular Used Sedans
Popular Used SUVs
Popular Used Pickup Trucks
Popular Used Hatchbacks
Popular Used Minivans
Popular Used Coupes
Popular Used Wagons
Comments
By the way, did you replaced the tires already at your 99 Malibu?
There was a joke popular in Russia in 1980-th: "the Soviet shoes are very good. Everybody would be happy with them, if only he could not try the Italian ones".
Cupholders and tabletop in the rear center armrest?
Split-folding rear seat?
Sunroof that opens to the outside of the vehicle (doesn't slide back into the headliner)?
Battery Rundown protection?
Programmable door locks?
Automatic Headlights?
Do not understand what you name "tabletop".
2. When shopping for my car, I read somewhere that the 98 Malibu LS has the split rear seats as standard (option for base Malibu). Not 100% sure though.
3. Do not know anything about Malibu sunroof.
4. Battery protection - if you mean the car switches off itself the lights after several minutes, than yes. I read about it in my car manual, but never tried to experiment.
4. Do not remember anything about programming door locks.
5. Automatic headlights - definitely yes. Very convenient.
Mechanics do not like the warranties, and for good reason: the warranty companies make it difficult to collect the payments, possibly intentionally. Manager of the repair shop, or its owner, or mechanic must call the warranty administrator (a separate company) to approve the repair. It typically takes a hour or so on hold. The mechanics are too busy for this nonsense.
In my case the administrator has a voice mail, but it took two days to receive the call back, and only after I called the customer service of warranty company and asked them to push. Even for them it took 15 minutes on hold to connect the administrator with the shop manager/owner. With him on hold too!
Now, with engine disassembled, the mechanic prepared the full payment sheet and faxed it to the administrator this morning for payment by credit card. But it is Saturday today, and to the best of my understanding, the administrator will be open on Monday only. Another two days of delays - even if administrator will answer immediately.
I bought the extended warranty for peace of mind. Now, with the experience, I would rather check the car thoroughly before buying, and would take the feature risk myself.
The 98 Malibu is not very reliable car, but only two expensive problems are common.
One of them are brake rotors prone to warping. Most usually develops at 7-15k miles. Most probably, the rotors are already replaced after 70k miles and this is not relevant. Though:
The symptoms: pulsation of the brake pedal, initially at highway speed, about 70 mph. It may cost about $400 to replace at dealership, with genuine GM parts, but much less at independent shop, with aftermarket parts. Some of the parts, like Rasbestos, have better reputation than the OEM ones, and often are covered by a long or even lifetime manufacturer warranty.
By the way, the rotors are never covered by extended warranties.
The second problem, which usually develops with time, is a coolant leak from the engine intake manifold gasket. If it leaks slightly outside engine, for time being owner can just add the coolant for time being. Much worse if it leaks inside the engine, leading to its corrosion.
The repair costs about $550 at independent shop and takes several days. Probably much more expensive at dealership. But the problem is not expensive to diagnose with pressure test of the coolant system - about $25-$30.
With my experience, I would not buy a used Malibu without this test. And would not buy the car at all if my mechanic find the traces of the internal coolant leak.
The only other problem which merit to mention in my experience were speakers. The right rear speaker simply died, and the right speaker at door started to make noise - probably was blown-out after the first died.
Had several nuisance problems, but the most expensive of them costs $24 if I remember it right. Other costs $5 or so, or were solved with a drop of lube.
I was confused about the tabletop in the rear center console. Like I said, I got these feature out of the review of a '99 model. I think what they mean is a flat plastic area on the rear armrest. Here is an excerpt from that article to clear things up:
Standard equipment in the LS includes such popular staples as anti-lock brakes, air conditioning, automatic transmission, power windows, power locks and AM/FM stereo with cassette, plus a few other goodies such as tilt wheel, power trunk release, remote keyless entry, cruise control and a fold-down rear-seat armrest with dual cupholders as well as a small tray to hold snacks.
By programmable locks I mean they are automatic and you can change the behabvior of them (IE you can turn them off, have them no automatically unlock and have the locks lock and unlock when shifting into and out of park). My parents' '99 silhouette has this feature and it is incrediblly handy. If the malibu has programmable locks, there should be a section in the owners' manual about how to program them. I know it involves removing a fuse and hitting certain switches certain number of times to cycle through options.
Thank you for al of you advice though.
BTW, I noticed that you said that your car is the base model. Is it the 4-cl or the 6-cyl. The one I am looking at is a 6-cyl and I don't which engine the coolant leak is common in. Thanks
The engine is also used with several other GM cars. There is a separate discussion board dedicated to problems with the engine and its close relatives:
rbenton "Common General Motor's 2.8, 3.1, 3.4 V6's engine problems" Feb 4, 2001 12:15pm
My base Malibu have no rear armrest. Do not know about LS.
I do not remember reading anything about the programmed door locks. The car manual is in the glove box, while the car is sitting at repair shop, so currently I cannot check. The locks are optional for base model, if I remember it right. My car is equipped by the power locks, but without remote control, and we are using them manually.
The LS is pretty much well equipped witrh every option ( except sunroof). The sunroof opens to the outside of the car, it sort of pops up and slides back a bit so it doesn't hide inside the roof area. Let's see, yea I think I covered some of the questions. Good luck, you'll find you will like the car, very smooth. Good luck!
boardpoisondartfrog put a very useful link
http://www.imcool.com/articles/antifreeze-coolant/dexcool-macs2001.htm
Look at the pictures. The last one, with coolant tank, is especially informative for Malibu owners.
There are tell-tale signs of rust (iron oxide) in the coolant system. The rust is very easy to see on the inside walls of coolant tank. A retired housewife can recognize it. With my car the sediment was more thick, and was also on the floor of the tank and even on its cap. Had it from the very day I bought the car used, one year old (from build date) and with only 15k miles.
The only problem is the rust have the same color as the orange DexCool coolant. The sediment looks natural.
My car had serviced by ASI certified mechanics, first at dealership, than at very good local Firestone shop. They added the coolant every 3 months, but never mentioned the rust. Probably even mechanics do not know this is rust, not natural...
http://www.imcool.com/articles/anitfreeze-coolant/dexcool-johnbrunner.htm
tells that at least 3 types of the dark-brown sediments can be found in the coolant system filled by DEX-COOL. The rust (iron oxide), hose material, and sealant pellets. All of them are looking the same.
The rust is the worst, it can clog the radiator. If the rust is developing, the system needs in chemical flush. Fortunately for the Malibu owners, the 3.1l engine is not prone to the rust sediments. Only to the two other ones.
GM is also suggesting to overfill the system a bit. To fill it to the full (hot) mark with the cold engine.
I thought my top priority was reliablity, safety, etc. but now it's just blind spots.
Anyway, if I buy the Malibu, I may be posting over here some. Hopefully I'll be buying this week sometime. I like the Malibu price better than the Impala price but seeing traffic will have to come ahead of price.
truckdude struck the Taurus forum this weekend. Maybe he's just a kid cutting up. I guess we get a few pranksters from time to time.
It was somewhat difficult at first to backing up at parking garage at our work (we work together). The garage is very tight - an old city building, converted. We are backing up usually till there is two inches left to the wall, and with the high Malibu trunk lid touched the wall several times by bumper. Well, I touched - my wife is more accurate.
Though, the Impala and other W-body cars have outstanding field of view. Much better than Malibu. Our other car is Buick Regal; we are comparing the view from the car to the view a fish have from a glass tank.
I do like the prices on the Malibus. And I also liked the way it handled on the test drive - lots of pickup. Guess you have to weigh the crash test results with the price. I've got to test drive the Malibu again before I decide. If I can't see backing up, I'll have to move on to something else.
I may be sacrificing safety to find a car I can see out of when looking over my left shoulder for traffic. Although it's even more unsafe when merging onto the interstate where cars are usually going 80 and I hit one because I can't see.
The dealer said the calipers were the problem: leaking, rusting, etc. They changed (and or rebuilt) the calipers. You guessed it. Creaking continues. Dealer says bring it back. Any suggestions on what I might suggest to the service people on what might be the problem?
I recommend http://www.carreview.com/reviews/midsize_compacts/product_241.shtml and read other owers' reivew to anticipate any upcoming problems. Good luck to you all.
I've been to a couple of places and couldn't work out a good deal so will keep looking. I hope I can find something this week.
I'm curious about one thing, though. In an earlier post, you mentioned the W body. Would the Grand Prix be a W body? The vision between the Grand Prix and other cars I've sat in is like night and day.
The sheet metal (the upper body) is different, but the windows / vision is the same or very similar.
I finally bought a new car today and got the Grand Prix SE. It's a 3.1 L engine so I would guess it's the same engine as the Chevy Malibu. I think the crash results are about the same too.
I've owned white cars for 20 years so it seems strange to have something in the garage that isn't white--got the dark bronzemist. I liked the galaxy silver but couldn't work out a deal with the car place that had one.
I saw the dark bronzemist color, and like it very much. Definitely more than silver.
I've read several posts about pings and my car does have that ping sound when I get out of it. I'm hoping it's just from being new and it will quit with time.
The proof of insurance is required by banks: no loan without insurance. I am not sure what if you paid cash, but I believe that in most of states the dealer still must check for current insurance. Either it is explicitly required by a state law, or because the dealer do not want to be sued in case of an accident with an uninsured motorist.
So I am pretty sure that your dealer have a copy of the insurance card. Probably you already received it with other documentation for your car. If not, you can ask the dealer to Xerox it and to provide the copy to you.
I'm probably worrying about nothing. When people buy a new car, they've got to drive it off the lot. And no one is going to get their actual card that moment.
I've also put on Michelin Xone tires. This was a big improvement over the stock Firestones, which were very poor tires that wore out within 30,000 miles, handled poorly and were noisy.
Except for little annoyances, the car is working out pretty well at about 60% the cost of an Accord (though I'd buy the Accord in a second if it were in the budget).
Tom
I have three questions:
1. Does Malibu produce a chime warning when trying to drive with parking brake engaged? I have a slight remembrance it did this when we bought the car. Did not hear the chime for years, though. Not sure if this is a false memory, or the chime simply does not work for years.
2. My son pointed yesterday to what looks as small lights on the power window buttons. Small clear strips on the the big square buttons. Do not remember the lights ever to work, though. Is Malibu equipped with the lights?
3. The air flow knob is somewhat tight. I mean the left-most air condition knob. The 5 position switch, directing the air flow to windshield, feet, the dash vents, etc.
Do I remember right that the knob was very easy to turn - as easy as the air speed knob?
2)The window switches for the FRONT ONLY are iluminated.
3) The knob gives more resistance when switching it all the way to the right.
Hope that helps.
It took the dealer 5 days to do the job (Would have cost almost $2000 if I had to pay for it).
Problems since the repair...1- The car almost overheated one day. Checked the coolant, and it was bone dry. Oil also had a funny smell to it, I thought for sure the head was blown. Dealer had it half a day, said there was an "air pocket" in the coolant system which worked it's way out with driving, therefore when it looked full, the coolant was actually low as air was in it's place. They filled the coolant, changed the oil for free. It still smells the way it did, so I hope I was wrong. 2-Burning smell coming in vents. Beats me as to what is wrong.
Another question I have is what are the long-term affects if repairs are not made? I don't know whether my dealer is correct, or not, about the fuel injectors, but they are not about to replace the pistons in my car. After 16000 miles, the engine is reliable, powerful, and does not use any oil, etc. If this is piston slap in my car, I'm inclined to think, maybe incorrectly, that it's not all that serious.
The only thing that is occurring in my car now is rattles showing up from several places. One particularly annoying rattle is coming from under the dashboard. I'll try to fix it myself as the dealer claims they don't hear anything. I guess I can't really blame them too much for not wanting to tear the dashboard apart for just a rattle.
Anybody with A/C problems meaning system cutting on and off at will should have dealer look at wires near the Air Intake hose on a sensor. Had to a chevy dealer that had the car every spring and could only temporarily fix it. Took it to my selling dealer and the fix was done right and hadn't been back since. These compressors are the Delph Thermal System V5 model and it's a continuous varible operating unit that cools interior on the demand of the system and outside ambient air conditions. Ex. Very hot outside, compressor runs at full capacity and both varible engine cooling fans run at full speed. Cool outside, Compressor runs at lower capacity and the engine fans run slower and quieter. It's a smart car but it can be annoying when you want cold air anytime, but it saves gas and part wear.
Thanks.
Malibu in SC
The service adviser at dealership refused to fix it: too much work for the small nuisance.
I found a road near the dealership where the rattle happens reliable every time. Than I made an appointment for a test drive with service manager. He did not like the rattle too and ordered the problem to be fixed.
My car was at dealership for 3 days. The dealership mechanics had to dismantle the dash three times - the rattle disappear only after the third attempt.
A month later the same rattle appear again. This time the mechanics and manager found the dash panel to be warped. They ordered the whole new dash panel, replaced it, and the rattle disappear.
So it helps to be persistent.
The dealers are supposed to notify us of recalls aren't they or do we have to find out about them on our own as well?
I have a 98 Malibu, built in July 97. Base with 3.1l V-6 engine. Bought is used, with 15k miles, and have it for almost 3 years now, 41k miles on odometer.
In my experience the car was not exactly reliable - a lot of things was repaired. On the other hand, none of problems was dangerous or made the car undriveable. Mostly small things like bad speakers, sticky door sensor, bad resistor in the A/C switch, a cord holding the fuel tank cap broke. Fixed them when changed oil. Often just a drop of lube was enough to fix. Was covered by warranty.
Currently the illumination of the power window switches does not work, and the glove box door became creaky... Do not plan to fix this till the 45k miles service.
There were three expensive repairs, though:
1. The first does not concern reliability: the car was rear-ended, and needed $5,000 body work. The repair took almost a month.
2. Warped brake rotors needed replacement. Cost about $400 at dealership, took couple of hours.
3. A coolant leak developed through the intake manifold gasket. Costs $550, covered by extended warranty. I was for a whole week without the car: the repair itself took 3 days, plus 4 days waiting for the extended warranty approval and payment.
As you see, most of repairs needed only couple of hours or so and are not expensive. Though, the car have two weak points:
1. Some brake rotors are prone to early warping. At 8-15-20k miles. 50k would be normal... This is not a safety item: the brakes works even better. But the warped rotors are eating pads rather fast - they will serve only 7k miles or so.
The symptoms: the brake pedal is pulsating when braking, at first at highway speed only, 70 mph or so.
Most probably, with the problem is already fixed with older car, built in 1996-97. Or the specific car have no problem with this random production defect. Nevertheless, check for warping when test-driving.
Adjust the price $400 down if rotors are warped. Replacing rotors and pads will cost about $400 at dealership, and probably half of this at independent service stations. Some aftermarket rotors are better than original, and have a warranty.
2. This concerns the V-6 engine only, and happens much less often than the brake rotor problem:
The intake manifold gasket is somewhat prone to leak. If the coolant leaks outside the engine, this is less important, but if antifreeze gets inside, into oil, corrosion will happen soon inside the engine.
The pressure test of the coolant system costs than $30. I would suggest to perform this test before buying the car. I probably would not buy a car if my mechanic has a slight suspicion that the coolant ever leaked inside the engine.
By the way, that ticking noise that was mentioned I also hear in the Celebrity's 2.4 V6 (think it's a v6) engine. I thought it was just a normal sound coming from a GM engine!!