Edmunds dealer partner, Bayway Leasing, is now offering transparent lease deals via these forums. Click here to see the latest vehicles!
Options
Chevrolet Malibu Oil Changes/Service Questions
Discuss routine maintenance and special care for the Malibu here.
0
This discussion has been closed.
Comments
Everything is good, I just need to give the girl a bath. She's looking pretty dirty. It finally rained so its not too bad now.
I also rotate the tires regularly, and pay close attention to the brakes while doing so, because of all the complaints about Malibu rotors. Once again, however, since we are putting on mainly highway miles, I will probably see less brake wear in a year than a city driver would see in a month.
I lube the weatherstripping and door/trunk/hood hinges every Spring/Fall, and pay especial attention to the sunroof seals with silicone grease. I would hate to have to hold up a towel while driving around in a heavy rainstorm.
Most importantly, I try to do everything myself. I have little faith in some of the people who call themselves mechanics. Its been my experience that if they fix problem A, they usually create problems B and C.
Other problems, yes, too extensive to even begin to detail. Would take 15 pages of posts, or more.
Plus, if you are still on the factory oil at 1200 miles, I would recommend you change it. All engines create minute metal filings, etc., as they break in, and I have always found it good policy to change the factory oil somewhere between 750 and 1000 miles, then again at 3,000, and then every 3,000 after.
I wouldn't go any longer then 7500 miles with out an oil change. Also I wouldn't go too much beyond 3000 miles if I know that all of my driving between that period of time was short trips, stop and go traffic and tons of idle time.
The oil technology has gotten better and so have oil filters. It's common practice to replace the filter each time you change our oil which better traps the particles that can do damage to your engine. I remember talking to guys that I worked with who used to only change their filter every other oil change.
With a good synthetic you get improve mpg, HP, and less engine heat.
Last week, she ran out of gas even though the fuel gage showed 1/8 full. She was able to put in only 13.4 gallons. Since then the fuel gage has been reading full, even after driving 190 miles. When she tried to add fuel yesterday, the pump shut off after adding only 3 gallons.
I got under the car and looked for a collapsed tank. From what I can see, the tank looks okay. When I thumped on the tank, it sounds like there is only a few gallons in the tank. The fuel filler pipe doesn't seem to be collapsed. It's as if there is a big bubble caught inside the tank, or a liner that is collapsed.
Has anyone experienced this problem and found a solution?
gearhead4
- Car ramps were no use as the air deflector hits them before the tires do. So, this is a good chance to get acquainted with the jack.
- Take careful note of how the jack fits into the spare tire compartment. It only goes one way; be sure to put it back the way you found it. "Space saver" has been taken to an extreme; the lug wrench has a telescoping extension handle which the wrench section folds into. You have to turn the jack screw a few turns to disengage the wrench from the jack.
- The drain plug is at the back of the oil pan. Nothing special about it except it's a long way from the filter, so get a large drain pan.
- The oil filter is in a near ideal location, on the bottom of the engine near the front. No trouble to get a wrench around and remove. Unfortunately, an exhaust pipe runs directly underneath, so clean up your mess unless you like the smell of burning oil.
- The oil filler is also conveniently located at the front of the engine. A funnel is a good idea to prevent spills.
- Don't forget to reset the oil life monitor when you're done.
The monitor showed 94% oil life remaining at 500 miles. At that rate I should get over 8000 miles between changes; not too bad.
I also just did my first oil change at 1,000 miles. I'm using dinosaur oil this time, and then around 5,000 miles I'll convert over to Mobil 1. The oil change was easy once I got the oil plug off. I had to put a box wrench on the plug, and tap the wrench with a hammer because it was on so tight from the factory.
The drain plug should be rather tight. You have a Steel plug going into a cast aluminum pan, and the coeffecient of expansions are different between the two metals. Always hand start the plug, then give it an extra "nudge" when it feels tight. I always have the most trouble with the original oil filters. GM uses a hard plastic O-ring on some of its factory filters, and these things sometimes grip so tightly that the filter looks like a piece of scrap metal by the time I get it off.
I also noticed something weird: even though the owner's manual says the V6 Maxx has a 5 quart capacity, I could not help but notice that the oil level seemed to go way over the top mark on the dip stick when I put in the full 5 quart jug. This made me nervous. I am wondering if there was some "old" oil left in the engine as a result of me draining the oil pan first, reinstalling the plug, and then taking off the "old" filter. The reason I say this is because when I went to take off the filter, oil was "pumping down" for a good 2 minutes, as if there was something pushing the oil out. I'm wondering if next time I should keep the oil plug OFF while I remove the filter, just in case pressure releases any more oil from the pan.
I was so concerned about overfilling that I drained the pan again this morning and put in only 4 quarts of oil. I figure that $6 wasted was better than replacing an engine due to overfill. Comments?
5qts eh? Thats a lot of oil, considering that my Camaro also takes 5qts!! I might go to mobile 1 as well. 5w30 or 10w30?
I suggest Purilator PUREone filters. There was a test done by a club I belong to who tested several popular filters: Fram, AC Delco, Wix, Powerflow, Purilator and found that the PUREone has the best filtration. Fram seems to always be at the bottom of the tests.
GM did a good job when they designed the placement of the filter. Right there, unlike a lot of the imports which have filters that have odd angles and mostly jammed in a very tight area.
Anyone know the oil drain plug torque value?
-MadMaxx-
25 N·m or
18 lb ft
From Service Information
Do I need to change transmission oil during break-in also? How much would it cost?
Thanks!
Kristen
Since I have two children- one an eight year old and the other a two year old, I considered cloth for the Malibu, but the only car on the lot with all the other features I wanted happened to also have the leather / Ultralux, so that's what I ended up with. Ironically, now that we've had the car for about six months, I find that it's much easier to clean up the messes my children make off of these materials than cloth ever was. With cloth seats, spilled juice tended to soak into the foam through the seat materials, and I had to work quickly to clean up messes to avoid staining the seats most of the time (ScotchGuard was a godsend!). Liquids don't seem to penetrate the leather / Ultralux (even though the material has a perforated appearance), and cleanup usually just takes a damp cloth.
I will admit that I worry about the long-term care requirements for any leather surfaces, since most other vehicles I've ever seen with them have required special cleaning / protection to prevent cracking and wrinkles (nearly all I've seen actually eventually ended up with those wrinkles). My cloth equipped vehicles have generally looked fairly new even after several years, so long as spills were taken care of immediately and I vacuumed them off periodically.
i used to use white lightning that is acid based which is awesome, but you cannot let it dry.
let me know, thanks!
I'd like to clean/condition my leather seats with leather conditioner. I'm a little concerned that if I get a bit of the conditioner on the UltraLux covered portions of the seat that it will stain or somehow darken the surface.
Does anyone have any experience with leather conditioner and UltraLux? I love the look and feel of these seats and would not want to jeopardize them in any way.
If so, read the instructions on your brand of conditioner. My brand is Meguiars Rich Leather. It seems that this one is ok on mock leather (vinyl).
the manual says certain negative things MAY occur, but do not make it sound like a life and death catastrophe if you mix coolants.
I'll get it flushed next week.
Thanks for your help!
I changed a burned out brake light today. After getting it to work, my tail lights stopped working altogether...on both sides! What could have caused this?
I called the dealer, who didn't have any ideas. I also checked the fuses for the brake lights and the back-up lights. Both seemed okay.
Is there another fuse I should check?
Thanks in advance for the help!