This car was in the garage more than it was on the road!!
Head gasket blew at 23000 miles.
Brakes and pads replaced every 3000 miles.
AC motor replaced at 23000 miles.
An unknown electrical problem that took four return visits to the mechanic.
Gas, temp., RPM., MPH., gauges would go out of control at least weekly.
Never, never, never, buy this car.
I can't remember everything that went wrong with this car but I was on a first name basis with my mechanic.
The repair shop felt so sorry for me after the last visit that they gave me a rental for a week free of charge!!!
It's a money pit.
It's a lemon.
It was a nightmare.
After the last repair bill I realized I could not afford this car and traded it in for a foreign.
I'll never buy another American made car.
The only good thing about it were the comfortable seats. GM should be ashamed.
I have a 1998 Malibu LS, I am currently on my 3rd engine with this car, all of them covered under warranty. The 3100 SFI engines makes a loud tapping sound on cold starts. Dealers are known for telling you that it is normal. Don't believe it, it is not normal... tell them you are going to file a LEMON Law Suit and you will get much more respect. Trust me, this is my third engine, and will probably have to replace it again because all 3100 SFI engines have this problem, but if they want to continue to put engines in here and give me new rentals to drive around for weeks at a time, that is fine with me.
3rd Engine give me a break? You must not be doing something right. Do you change your oil? Cars require maintenance. I work for a car dealer and I see what garbage pits some of these cars are. People blame the car whereas they ought to be blaming themselves.
Third engine, Yeah right, anyway, the "Loud" tapping sound is normal and only happens during cold starts and it stops once the car gets even slightly warm. If the sound annoys you that much, just by some octane boost and some fuel additive for about five bucks and your worries are over.
I don't know about a third engine going in that the tapping sound isn't normal and as far is it goes I agree that some people just don't take care of there cars. I work in a garage as well and you should probably think about taking care of your car so it will take care of you.
We also own a 1997 Chevy Malibu, and I have to concur that the car is an absolute nightmare. We are careful to perform routine maintenance - oil every 3,000 miles, belts replaced when required, etc. In short, we do what the manual instructs us to do. We have had the car towed three times in the last year, once for brake failure, another time for electrical (alternator failure), and the third time because of a broken idler pulley. The ignition switch has failed regularly since we bought it, about every 11,000 miles. So far we've gone through four switches. Furthermore, the dealership sold us an extended warranty for about $1,800 - and they have repeatedly refused to honor it. Advice: if you already own this car (you poor soul!), find a good towing company and keep a bottle of aspirin handy for the inevitable headaches. We will never buy another Chevy.
I'm amazed at how many people either absolutely hate their Malibu, or absolutely love it. I have a '97 Malibu LS that I purchased new. Other than replacing the standard items (ie brakes, serpentine belt, tires, battery, etc.) I've had to replace the alternator, the 'anti-theft' sensor in the ignition, and the circuit breaker (or whatever it's called) that caused me to lose the 1st and 2nd speed to the fan. Other than that, I've had great luck with the Malibu. Mine has just over 192,000 miles on it. One of my friends at work, who also owns a 97 Malibu, has just over 215,000 on his. I guess when GM made this car, they either made a fantastic one, or a real lemon. - Diane.
The car is quick and that is all it has going for it. It is poor in quality, reliability, and is expensive to keep running. $1,200. yesterday for 6 injectors. Last month the alternator. Drivers side window fell inside the door this past summer. The left front wheel bearing is howling. Six sets of tail light bulbs... so far. The third stop light blows the top of the bulb off repeatedly. The diagnostics cannot find the bulb explosion dilemma. The car is a typical GM piece of garbage as has been the case for the past 15 or so years. Buy a Hyundai and get a 100k mile warranty that you'll probably never need. I had three and never had to bring them in. Only routine maintenance. Should have stayed with Hyundai, but wanted to believe in the American car, but can't make it to work in the Malibu. I use my daughter's 1984 BMW 318i to get around when the Malibu is sick. I can't wait to go back to a car (Hyundai) that gets slammed, but is truly reliable unlike the GM Chevy Malibu. I'd like to drive it off the levy. It should stand for Garbage Motors.
I have had a 1999 Malibu for just over 3 years. It had 32000 miles on it when I bought it in 2000. The dealer assured me these were highway miles. All of the problems everyone else has had, I have had also. I now have 90,000 miles on it and I have replaced multiple tail lights and brake pads and shoes. I thought this was routine. The motor on the driver's side window has gone out. The ignition switch is going out. The head gasket was leaking, the water pump has been replaced. The alternator has been replaced and the battery. The air conditioner shuts on and off randomly and has been repaired. The driver's side door hinge broke and the handle for the glove box also. Just hitting 90000 miles, all of these repairs have been covered by my extended warranty except the glove box door. If you purchase one of these cars, do not skimp on the warranty. You will need every penny of it.
It does have good power and acceleration and is very comfortable. It gets good gas mileage. I get my oil changed, etc and it is pretty reliable, but these major mechanical problems seems to be standard, all under 100,000 miles.
Some people posting to this site do not understand the real issue, or they work for GM and are trying to tow the company line (which is: Blame the customer!).
See GM Technical Service Bulletin 01-06-01-005, Engine - Ticking Noise on Cold Start Up, issued January, 2001. I don't think it's the owner's problem, it's GM's problem for designing a turd.
I am a single mother with two small children. I purchased a 1997 Malibu in June of this year and my car is in the shop now for the second time. I had no idea that this was such a problematic vehicle until I stumbled on this site. Right now I am having braking problems and LOTS of vibrations when my car gets to 65 or above. I had only planned to keep this car for a year and trade it for something else. I only hope now that I CAN trade it.
In 1998 I purchased a 97 Malibu and it had been good, till... The a/c keeps cutting in/out whenever it feels like it. There is a (for lack of a better term) 'hesitation' on occassion. ex: drove to a mall 5 minutes. away, shopped and when I started the car to come home I would put my foot to the floor and the car wouldn't go anywhere. But, worst of all is the water that's being lost from the radiator... into the manifold.
I try to buy American whenever I can, but from now on car purchases I make will be of the foreign kind. GM has seen to that. And when their employees get laid off because sales are down they can only blame themselves.
I have found it quite amusing of all the complaints listed for the Malibu, I own a 98 model, purchased new in
Dec. of 97. Yes, I have had a new A\C control module installed and corrected the intermittent A\C on off problem
for awhile, but being an Electronics Aircraft Technician and
reading the repair manual and wiring diagrams the primary fault in my case was faulty soldering on the A\C control module. The A\C hasn't failed since 99, furthermore the only
other problem was a water pump seal failure on the four cylinder engine. Please note, this vehicle currently has 60k
miles on it and all in town driving. In closing, the car is only a machine and will require routine maintenance! May be I am just lucky!
I guess I've been fortunate. I have a 97 Malibu with 250,000 miles and have replaced a window motor, struts and an intake within the first 6 months of owning the car. I drove the car for 70,000 and the power steering pump and AC went out. I have replaced the crankshaft sensor and power steering pump went out again. It has always made the ticking sound when started and I called when I first got the car. I was told at that time it was a wrist pin tolerance problem and it was just engineered that way and there was nothing to worry about. This has proved to be a true statement. I had the transmission rebuilt 10000 miles ago. Brakes are frequently in need of replacement. I replace the pads about every 7500 miles. I have replaced both calipers on the car. I am need of a camshaft sensor presently. Tonight the ABS light came on. It's time to replace it I think.. It has been a overall good car considering it's been wrecked three times.
Here is one thing you guys need to understand, I'm not saying you're not having the problems listed, but I am saying you can't listen to these people complaining about the car and change your mind about getting one. I've had my malibu ls since 97 and just hit 120k and finally am putting money into it. lets not exaggerate on the price like some people, but yes its expensive, I'm getting new struts and injectors. the injectors are not $1200 I don't know where you bought yours. I'm paying $500. other than the injectors which are just weak coils on each one. heres are a list of problems I've had and what I did to fix them. leaking head gasket. just re torqued and have gone 20,000 with no leak. new tires. new right rear window motor, and changed brake light connectors because the originals melt and the brake lights stop working. that's about all the problems I've had and you need to stop bashing the car. if you got a lemon I'm sorry, but every manufacturer have equal amount of lemons just about some better than others, but not much. and you can't judge a car by these complaints because who is gonna search the internet and find a message forum just to praise there car, nobody. only people with lemons get on trying to find solutions. there aren't solutions to cars that run great. search any car and you will find a message board complaining about it.
To the person up referring to buy a Hyundai, I've had three friends who have bought a Hyundai and all three of them had to replace the transmission many times. So good luck with you. Also, I have a 2001 Malibu LS and the only problem I've had is coolant leaking from a hose and the loud ticking noise. The ticking noise is because the lifters are going. That's all I ever had go wrong with my Malibu, because I don't drive like a maniac like some of these other people. And they wonder why the car is falling apart.