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Sedans Chevrolet Malibu Chevrolet Malibu Engine Problems
76 messages, Last post on Oct 26, 2009 at 8:11 PM
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I drive a malibu 2000 and when i start it up the engine taps for about five minutes or until it warms up... dont know what the problem is, could someone help me out  is it bad or good or cant be good
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Replying to: phatmatttrip60 (Oct 04, 2006 6:42 am) Bulletin # 01-06-01-005 Actually it is a GM problem with Chev,Buick & Pontiac 3.1L engines. It is not serious, only a noise.It's called Piston Slap or Cold Engine Tick. GM calls it a "Customer annoyance issue" and will not affect the durability or life of the engine. You see the Einsteins at GM thought is would be realy funny to put a polymer coating on only 2 of the 6 pistons (cyliders 1~4 uncoated)on this motor, hence the racket it makes when you start it up cold. When I bought my new '01 malibu in 2001 I heard this noise after it had about 3,000 miles and was convinced it had a bad valve train. Fought tooth and nail with the dealership. Finaly the dealership admitted and showed me the official GM bulletin on the problem. The fix is to replace all of the pistons. But the choice was up to me as long as it was still within the 1st 36,000 miles or 3yrs. Guess what I chose. Yep! I chose to have it done. But the noise came back after it had about 70,000 on it. I must say it doesn't burn any oil even with 150,000 miles on it. It would be kinda nice if the engine ran better. It runs like garbage and is unreliable. |
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Replying to: phatmatttrip60 (Oct 04, 2006 6:42 am) 
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Here's one I had for a period of less than twenty four hours. After a couple minutes of operation from a dead cold start after sitting at work, the temperature gauge does not indicate the engine is warming up. Then I hear the engine fan running non stop. WTF? I have heat (thank god). The next day I was out and the same thing is going on so I took it straight to the dealership. Amazingly the fan continues to run and the gauge is not responding. So they know I'm not nuts. Later they call back and say it's working. "What did you do?" "Well, we pulled the thermostat checked it and put it back and it worked." So you didn't really change anything?" "Nope. But it's working". And it has been working since. And again Chevy sends me a questionaire about the dealership but again fails to ask me what I think of their car. What I think is next time it will be Toyota. |
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My 2002 Malibu has 69k miles on it, and today I brought it into my dealer for an inspection prior to a 1500 mile road trip next month. Dealer calls me back and tells me there's oil in the coolant, and the culprit is the intake manifold gasket. WTF?? How does oil/coolant relate to the intake manifold? My son suspected this was BS, so we go down there to see for ourselves. The mechanic said it looked like someone recently poured oil into the coolant reservoir (hmmm, could it have been him looking for a fat commission?). So I raise a little stink, told the service manager this never happened to my Toyota or Honda, and would Chevy cover the cost, as it has only 69k miles? He goes off and thinks it over, punches some computer buttons, and says Chevy will cover it if I pay a $200 "deductible." Otherwise, with the 6.5 hours labor, parts, flushing, oil change, etc., it'd have been over $1100. What do you guys think of this problem? Ever even heard of it before?
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Replying to: barky (Apr 06, 2007 7:39 pm)
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| I have a 1999 malibu and am swaping out the bad engine with one I found from a 2000. The wiring connection for the injectors is different. Does anyone know if someone makes an adaptor for this? Mine has two plugs - one 8 prong plug and one 2 prong plug. The new engine has a single 12 prong plug. Please help! | |
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Replying to: jonkholm (Mar 11, 2007 8:08 pm) You could try the dealer for a repair plug, but you would need to do a lot of splicing. |
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