6.7
fairly significant- Typical Repair Cost:
- $2,070
- Average Mileage:
- 76,700 miles
- Total Complaints:
- 20 complaints
Most common solutions:
- not sure (14 reports)
- pistons were replaced (3 reports)
- new short block (1 reports)
- nothing is wrong (1 reports)
- replaced long block (1 reports)
This problem may be covered under warranty. Ask your Chevrolet dealer.
Just finished working on my wife's 3.1 Malibu. It was hard, but the engine is possible. The noise you are hearing is most likely related to the magnetic preload of the valves that Chevy put in these. If you don't know what that is, then I suggest finding a new mechanic. Maybe one that can accept automotive advances and new internal components.
- chevy sleeper, Col. Springs, CO, US
Well so i buy this 2000 malibu last year. gotta say i love the car - comes with a major amounts of upside. But the downside. what a piece of sh*t. the transmission 3 times, getting the fourth one in this week. also the dreadful knock. it isn't a serious enough knock to affect the driving of the vehicle. sounds like loose lifters. also back brakes squeal with brand new drums and shoes. fuel pump is like 600.00 dollars and every time i hit a bump the struts squeak. brutal. whatever i bought it and this car isn't gonna turn me from chev. i still appreciate them.
- Nick F., Milton, Ontario, Canada
31,000 km, heavy piston slap. Replaced under warranty. At 110,000 heavy piston slap was back. I still had extended warranty, but General Motors would not replace the pistons.They said, " When the engines warms up, the noise goes away" !! I said, " really, when i bought this car new it never made this engine noise" They said, " The noise clears up when the engine is warms up,everything is fine" Now at 141,000 km i'm replacing the transmission!! Can you believe they don't even have a dipstick for the transmission!!! I would not deal with General Motors ever again!!
- Jody M., Atikokan, Ontario, Canada
I would like to say first off I wish I had seen this site before I went out and bought this car. I just purchased a 2000 Malibu on the 19th of March, sounded great when I picked it up. Shortly after (Couple days) I started to hear like a tapping noise come from the engine. I am no mechanic and have the slightest bit about cars, so I had my brother check it out when he told me it sounds like a lifter going bad. I tried to take it back to the dealer where I purchased the car but the only thing he had to say was "Well it sounded perfectly fine when I took it off the lot." So now I am stuck paying for this car for an entire year just waiting for the engine to blow. Thanks alot asshole.
- david_frye2000, Boardman, OH, US
I just brought this car October 3, 2008. I thought I had a great deal only cost 2500.00 and had 70, 000. I cant afford a new car being a divorced mom with a deadbeat dad and to my dismay this car is really taking its toll on me. Engine started making a knocking noise 2 weeks after I got it. Its not constant but once in while. I did have this car checked out by mechanic and he said he finds nothing wrong even on diagnostic tests. Thanksgiving Day was ruined as the coolant, for no apparent reason leaked out all over and I had to stay at home with kids. After being checked by mechanic, he said it was a seal and now for the GOOD NEWS!!!! Engine needs to be re-built. Talk about depressing. I was quoted 1800.00 I am going for a second opinion because I took a loan against my retirement for this car and All i wanted was to be able to enjoy outings with the kids. This is so MESSED-UP. I amPISSED and HURT!!
- Karen D., Ridgewood, NY, US
I bought the about 2 years ago. The first 3-4 months was fine. Then came the problems.
The engine always knocked a little but nothing too loud but after 4 months it just got louder and louder. Now it takes about 15mins of idling just to get the car to a decent noise level.
I think the oil lifters are also dying. Doesn't seem like the oil is going up to the engine fast enough. As a result, I might need to replace the head gasket. Thats gonna cost me large!@!
The fan blower also died. First, it went from working fine to 1-4 dying then the fifth and only speed died. So its now summer and I dont have a blower for my a/c! ahhhhhhhhh!
The car doesn't accelerate fast enough. It feels like im driving a 5ton car. There are many others but these are my main complaints. I wanna kick whoever built/designed this vehicle in the nuts. Please let me know if anyone can arrange that. If not, please let me know how I can get in on the law suit against GM!!@!!!!
- faymetta, Ottawa, ON, Canada
I had a friend that owned a chevy monte carlo with the same problem and it was fixed with a new oil pump. Still this engine has had this problem all the way back to the 1989 pontiac grandprix line. I don't understand why GM, with all of it's history, can't make a car that lasts, without problems, for more than 60,000 miles. This is my last one. I won't buy American again. They have finally driven me away........... THANKS GM!
- andreg, Chesapeake, VA, US
From the people I see that found the problems being.. It is indeed the pistons knocking. This generation of malibus have suckass pistons as well as brakes. They come and go easily. Although what do you expect from a cheap family car like this?? Expect the worse while owning this vehicle.. Trust me, I'm going into the auto mechanic field. Get rid of your malibu while it still has low miles... You'll get more for your trade!
- rickybabe2221, Phoenix, AZ, US
The Chev dealership would not admit that the Malibu has piston
slap. My mechanic says that he has come across several of these.
I know it will only get worse with time. I hope I can get rid of the car soon. I will not go back to a Chev. My two other vehicles
are Toyotas. NO PROBLEMS to speak of.
- Henry G., Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
So its been a little over a year since the last time i heard the knocking. Now 1/19/05 ! Knock knock and no neglect on my part the guys at the shop gave me a real hard time about covering it and fixing it. I ended up paying $350 for them to do the short block on my car. I'm not done look at the next complaint.
- Casey M., Salisbury, NC, US
I have always taken good care of my car it's near christmas of 03 and my car has been knocking for 2 weeks and is getting louder! So I take it in and they replace the long block. I paid my deductible and that was it. I thought look at my next complaint.
- Casey M., Salisbury, NC, US
Ok, so now that I know what is wrong with my car (from the accounts on the website, my car has the same symptoms) I can definitely say i hate chev. I have personally gone through 3 fuel pumps in the 1 1/2 years that I have owned the car. I would have never bought the darn thing if I knew it was such a piece of junk. I have to fill up my coolant every two weeks, which is completely disgusting. I still have 2 years to pay on this piece of junk, and it sounds like it might not even work for another year. I bought it used, so I don't even know if there were any previous problems. And the fact that chev won't do anything about!?! what the hell?! I say we all get together and file a suit against them, because this is pathetic. They should have to replace the car, or give us our money back, or fix the problems that it has. I am thoroughly disgusted.
- Pam A., Cardinal, ON, Canada
Car was taken to a mechanic that I have dealt with before. He said that I should try a better oil filter with a better return on it. He suggested Napa Gold filter, but I haven't tried it yet. He said that it would help but won't fix the problem.
- hesser6, Blah Blah, NY, US
Piston slap, from 60,000 onwards, is the worst on any car I have ever owned ( includes two 1936 Morris 8's ); fortunately it fades as the engine warms up.
- George R., Lefroy, Ontario, Canada
$1000 to fix the problem. 1st Chevy I owned and it will be the last I own. I am hoping that they will help cover it because it has low mileage.
- geigermarc, Manchester, NH, US
From the driver compartment at first, you could hardly notice the noise if listening to the radio. When I noticed it, went to the garage and had it fixed, they changed the pistons. My mechanic had told me this was quite a common problem with this kind of car, but the worst part is that only a few months later, the slapping noise came back! This definitely hurts resale value, and I will deninitely NOT buy another GM in the near future, since this should not be an issue on a car that is not that old. (my entry says 75 000 miles, but that is actually km)
- Jan M., Victoriaville, QC, Canada
i BOUGHT THE CAR FROM DEALER WITH 27,000KMS ON IT AND THE SLAPPING STARTED A FEW WKS. LATER AND IT TOOK 3 YRS. OF FIGHTING THE SERVICE DEPT. THEY SAID THE NOISE WAS NORMAL FOR THIS CAR-NOW THE PISTONS ARE REPLACED (NOW THE KMS AT 57,000 AT TIME OF REPAIR) AND GM WAS BILLED $3700.00 FOR THIS REPAIR (MOSTLY LABOUR) AND I HAD A RENTAL FOR 2 AND 1/2 WKS.
NOW THE LIFTERS ARE MAKING NOISE AND I HAD TO CALL GM AFTER PAYING $170.00 FOR SERVICE DEPT. TO TELL ME THIS NOISE IS NORMAL, SO I HAVE ANOTHER APPT. SET UP TO GO TO A DIFFERENT DEALER AND TO REPORT BACK TO GM... TO ANYONE ELSE WITH PISTONS PROBLEMS OR WHATEVER PROBLEMS BUY " PHIL EDMONSTON LEMON BOOK" IT TELLS OF SECRET WARRANTIES ETC. AND HOW TO FIGHT GM OR WHAT EVER CAR COMPANY YOU HAVE ... IF I'M NOT HAPPY AFTER THIS NEXT SERVICE APPT. I PLAN TO GO PUBLIC...
- malibu50, Edmonton, AB, Canada
This problem has just started and is no longer under warrantee. My mechanic says this is a common complaint on this car which will cost me a lot of money to fix. I am extremely disappointed in GM because I really love my Malibu, have been a long time purchaser of GM vehicles, but never again. This premature failure is unacceptable.
- Denise G., Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
Last year this slapping noise appeared and I had the engine replaced being under warranty. I was told that this model has a piston problem. Unfortunately the noise came back again now after 10000 K. I am wondering if GM knows that they have a problem with this engine, why aren't they doing something. They still expect us to buy GM products?
- Dorel R., Windsor, Ontario, Canada
When I went to the dealership they initially refused that there was such a thing as piston slap with the Malibu. Once the car warms up it will go away. Will it decrease the life of my engine???When I had another Chevrolet vehicle the dealership gave me a run around.I will never go back to a GM vehicle.
- garbz, Hamilton, ON, Canada