1998 Chevrolet Malibu LS from North America - Comments

You name it and it has gone wrong on the car - brakes, transmission, radio, premature tire wear (had to replace all four at 20,000 km.), heater fan, gaskets, oil leaks, flaw in dash, numerous rattles, battery, and so on and so on. I have been going out of my way to talk to other Malibu owners - without a word of a lie every single owner I have spoken to has had numerous difficulties with their Malibu.

My dealer has been super (Murray Chev-Olds in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan). They have fixed the problems and have given me a loaner every time. I have been in contact with the manufacturer's head office (G.M. in Ottawa, Ontario) several times through mail and over the telephone - by now they have a huge file of complaints from me. The head office "humors me" but has done absolutely nothing to rectify the matter. In fact, they have ignored my latest complaint.

The Malibu has serious flaws. I am very happy that I bought the extended warranty. I have another 2 years left on this warranty and then will definitely get rid of this headache.

For all the errors G.M. made in developing this car it does ride quite nicely on the highway when all the mistakes are repaired.

We are never sure if the car will make it to our next destination. We worry a great deal about what will go wrong next.

May I say Mr. It is time for a new used car. Try a Honda Accord (95) or a Acura Vigor (Any year they were made) GM has not built a great car in years... they should stick to Trucks!!

When I wrote this article I neglected to add that I will never purchase another vehicle from this manufacturer again. Also, we still own this Malibu LS (the year being 2001). I would also like to add this: prior to purchasing this vehicle we were Ford people. I took a chance on the GM - my mistake!

We just received a recall notice for our windshield wipers... the "serpentine" belt needed replacement (normal wear and tear - after just 40 K... come-on!!)... just sprang another oil leak... I'll keep you all posted. I phoned GM - they never got back to me. This car must be taken off the market!

Please email me regarding your malibu. I would like to discuss further. I just bought one on Friday sept 7th and found a number of problems.

jr.yee@sk.sympatico.ca.

It is now January of 2002 and we still own the Malibu LS. So far (touch wood) we have not had any other difficulties with this vehicle. It is my great hope that we have ironed out all of the big ticket difficulties. Thank god for the extended warranty. We still have two years remaining on this warranty and will most certainly unload the car at that time.

I have a 97 malibu and it has over 120,000 miles on it. I've owned it 4 years and it's been a good car for me so far. The only bad thing is that the brakes are screwed up. Thank God I got a lifetime warranty for them, I take it in, they hook it up and every 5-10,000 they need to be replaced or something. Only other thing is that the alternator just went out on me, that's it, otherwise nice car.

I bought a 2002 Malibu on Feb 27th 2001. With only 1300 miles on it, it starting missing. I was told I guess because I'm a women, my lack of intelligence must have been showing because I was told that my car was going fishing not missing. I have taken it in 3 times now within the last year and it still has not been fixed. The dealer bless their heart told me that unless there were more complaints about this problem they would not fix it. Guess what, they haven't. Now I am going to court in Georgia under the Lemon Law. It all boils down to an Emission problem they say. Doesn't matter I'm still paying for a 18,000 car that the dealer knowing and willing sold me. You see, I was the third person they sold a Malibu to with the same identical problem. What does that tell you?

Wish me luck. Hope to get my money back. If they give me another car I will trade it in on something else besides a Chevrolet or GM product. I AM DONE!

I bought a 1998 Chev Malibu, Car of the Year, in the fall of 1998. Same problems as everyone else, especially brakes, ABS light coming on, and tire wear. I am on my 4th set of tires (147,000 km), 4th set of brakes, new water pump, A/C problems and yesterday a broken front spring on driver's side. Also have experienced the "wind squeal" when driving on the highway against the wind. Can't wait to dump this hunk of junk.

I bought a 1997 Malibu, brand new in 1997. As I have read in previous comments, it has an excellent ride on the highway. One evening I went out, started the vehicle and it bucked, backfired and if I pushed on the accelerator, the car cut off. When I had a mechanic look at the vehicle, I was told it had engine problems. ENGINE problems? The vehicle had 42,200+ miles. I couldn't believe it. Had to replace the engine cylinder.

I have since read that GM has had numerous complaints about engine problems in Malibu's with low mileage costing owners up wards of $1000 to have repaired, but nothing has been done about this.

I had always driven a Toyota (one for 20 yrs) but liked the Malibu when I saw it and the price. I will be buying a new vehicle shortly and getting rid of the Malibu. Might get a Ford truck, but it certainly will NOT be a GM. If not a truck, I will return to my Toyota!

I think you people are all nuts or have a personal agenda with G.M. My fiance and I bought our Malibu in 1999 and as of now in the Fall of 2004 we have 112,000 miles and its been a great experience all around in terms of looks, interior appointments, functionality, practicality, and mechanical reliability. If it all ended here at 112,000 I would call it a big success, but we are attempting to keep it for another three full years finishing out at 170,000 miles without engine or transmission repair. I will update over time. We have done normal wear items like brakes every 30-40 thousand, serpentine belt at about 60,000 to be safe, original hoses, coolant flush

at 100,000 and still have not done our scheduled 100,000 mile tuneup yet! We plan on doing that beginning 2005. Car runs perfectly, not even one hickup. Now, of course we have replaced the battery at the five year point which is normal,

and the accessories that went were as follows:

Fuel pump-700 dollars at 95,000

alternator-300 dollars at 103,000.

Now, I'll admit the pump went a little earlier than expected, I wanted to get at least 100,000 but it's nothing to get upset about either. Its expensive because the part is almost 500 along with 2.5 hours of labor. The alternator, well they do go and 103,000 is a good run. We have done nothing to the car since.

Now with all that said there is one problem we had that I can complain about-at about 56,000 miles, I noticed a coolant leak coming from the engine block-I was hoping it was the water pump, but I could see it wasn't coming from there. Turns out it was an internal engine gasket and the head had to be pulled. All in all thought it was not that bad at 550 dollars parts and labor. I got curious though and made numerous calls to dealers and found out that this is a common problem not with the Malibu per se, but with the 3.1 liter GM motor also offered in other lines like Buick.

Again, all in all a great experience and I want to see how far we can go in the next three years from 2005-2007.

Hope I helped.

G.S.

I bought my 1998 Malibu LS in 2000, and I've had the same problems people have mentioned many times before: head gasket replaced, A/C fan switch working at setting 3 and higher, wind noise through the windshield, brakes replaced more often than normal among other things. I wrote a review earlier, but I'll give the same advice again: don't buy OEM parts unless you have no other choice. After-market parts are generally cheaper and in my experience more reliable. Now things like the alternator and serpentine belts are to me wear and tear items, and are expected to fail (in the case of the alternator at 90k+ miles). It's WHEN it fails that you should be concerned about. Right now my car did not want to start at all this morning. I suspect the fuel pump, but I hope it isn't. It rotates, but does not start by itself. It only starts when I manually move the accelerator in the engine while my wife turns the ignition key, and even then it shuts of as soon as I let the accelerator go. Anyone has this problem? If so, can you please let me know what you did to fix it, or how much the resulting repair cost? I can't afford to purchase a car right now, so I'm stuck with what I have. Thanks.

I bought my 98 Malibu LS with 78k on it already...well, if I had a third leg I'd kick my own butt. I've put more money in work on the thing than I have in paying it off. It's a great car when there is nothing wrong, but there is always something wrong! Bad air compressor, bad wheel bearing, bad water pump, and now... may need a new alternator. 25k miles later I think I'd get more benefit out of it by dumping it over a cliff. I still have 2 years left to pay for it! I was a happy Camry owner for 5 years. When I wake from this nightmare I'll probably go back to Toyota... but sure go ahead... buy American...but don't say I didn't warn you!

OK I bought a use 98 Malibu and I had to fix many things on it, but now I have an issuse that even the dealer "Chevy" can find. My idle is to low and you can't ajust it because it is computerized so it messed up a coil and I fixed that and now I'm right back where I was bad idle I'm soooo sick of this car.