Car had been maintained very well, oil changes every 3 to 5 thousand miles with only synthetic oil, all maintenance done on schedule since I bought it new. was expecting this car to last me a while longer.... granted 133 thousand miles is high, but I was not expecting to replace an entire engine ...... the dealership where I had the car repaired recognized that it was a known problem, but they cant do anything about it since GM will not stand behind the defect. I have had GM products all my life, this is the worse... other problems... rust by the gas cap, air conditioner would shut on and off, the fan will not run on speeds 1 to 3, and now my new engine is hesitating at speeds over 60.... very disappointed... but I have learned my lesson... no more GM for me or my family....

Driving home in rush hour traffic on one of the busiest interstates in the state, my car decided to simply shut off. Upon investigation by my boyfriend's brother, who is a mechanic, we discovered there was water in the oil. They took the car apart and put in new gaskets (along with spark plugs and numerous other things). It took a week (not working straight). Once back together, we found that one of the cylinders had died, the transmission was slipping, and the radiator was leaking coolant. The car is dead. What a complete pain in the rear end. NEVER again will I buy a Chevy.

I have had so many problems with this piece of sh*t, yet have never posted or shared them.

The 2000 Chevrolet Malibu is worthless! In my opinion, the newer years same model can't possibly be different enough for me to EVER buy another!

I've had problems with the head gaskets 3 times! First repaired by the dealer, right after warranty expired! Next by getting engine completely rebuilt (hoped to fix maybe bad engine). They're just sensitive pieces of aluminum.

3rd, and what I would suggest anyone try before wasting their money on this car!; Make sure your coolant and oil levels are fine (this problem does involve cooling system), add a product called AlumiSeal (powder) into your cooling sytem. Works great at sealing engine coolant leaks into block etc. Once you've ran your vehicle, get an oil change.

Follow up on your oil to ensure water is not getting in (i.e. milky oil). The great thing, is AlumiSeal is still in your coolant should your engine start springing another leak. You won't notice it still helping. Do however, continue periodically checking your coolant and oil.

Other problems I've had include: Air Conditioning defects/malfunction, Coolant system problems (Their plastic reservoir system rather than direct radiator cap is a troublesome piece of crap), Fog light electrical problems [Speaking of electrical, my f**n tail lights are always going out. I constantly see similar cars with their tail lights fused. Right now I can't even just replace the bulb, water leaked in and the metal connectors/wires are corroded], The car handles bad, even when new [It's easily pulled to sides with little lines on road. It's unsteady. As a result, in emergency maneuvering driver could lose control/spin out of control], No under Hood lighting, I've had to replace idler pulley and tensioner pulley,(both of which have torn serpentine belt. And no, it can't be simple like many cars, you have to lift the engine of a motor mount to get the serpentine belt in!).

I'm sure I can come up with many more problems if I actually try to remember them.

Wow! I fixed this problem my self. Now I know why they said it would cost $650-$800.

To replace the leaking manifold gasket, you need to remove EVERYTHING on the top end.

Remove the drive belt, that was hard for a drive belt. Remove the power steering pump.Remove the coil pack (for the spark plugs).Remove the alternator and mounting brackets. Remove the plenum, the top part of the manifold. Remove the fuel rail Carefully, the fuel injectors cost about $100 EACH. Remove any hoses in the way. Once you get down to the bad gasket, you have to remove all the push rods just to replace the gaskets.A job like this is very hard to do it yourself, pay the money if you have it.I am a mechanic and work on many cars, this 2000 Chevy Malibu gasket replacement is the top worst ever repair. I will not buy this car or a car that has this same engine. This engine needs to go back to Chevy. Hey Chevrolet if you read this, we the people that fix your mistakes would like you to know. Remember that People repair the cars. Put that into you formula when you make cars.

Bought a 2000 Chevy Malibu for my step daughter, mechanic said it looked good for the price. 3 months later the temp started running hot, added coolant and found it was leaking through head gasket into oil. Coolant contaminated oil and engine was trashed.

After googling the problem I found head gasket failure was a common problem, apparently they don't use good materials for the gaskets but GM says its not a common problem. I'd like to Thank GM for making disposable cars for America that don't make it to 100,000 mles, Good Job GM. I'll never buy another GM product again.

Toyota can provide some pointers to GM.

My car started losing a bit of coolant. I noticed that the radiator cap's seal looked a bit oil-soaked and was not sealing. There was brown junk in the coolant, but this supposedly happens with Dex-Cool. Not long later, it became apparent that oil is getting in the coolant and the head gaskets are leaking coolant. (Thankfully no coolant in the oil yet.) The problem is from Dex-Cool. It can destroy gaskets, yet you have to use it or your warranty becomes invalid!

About a year ago, I replaced the head gasket on an '87 Saab. It only went out because a radiator hose broke, lost all it's coolant, and overheated the engine. Yet, it still only needed a head gasket. Here I am with a fairly new car which I have maintained carefully, and the head gasket is out because the manufacturer is too stupid to use a material that is resistant to their own coolant!

The car was dealer serviced always. It was driven by my 83 year old mother, and then I bought from her at 35000mi. IT WAS NEVER ABUSED. It began losing coolant, and the real problem, the head gasket was only looked at as a last resort. In the meantime, it was diagnosed as needing a new water pump to fix it running hot. The subsequent overheating cracked the heater core, and the oil in the water cause such gunk, it ruined the radiator and thermostat. As of now, I have spent $3,541 on repairs on this one problem. GM will have nothing to do with it, even though the car had an extended GM warranty of 5 years - 50000mi. Since the car is now 6 years old, it's out of warranty and it's my "tough luck".

The car is 6 years old but has only 30,300 miles on it when I found out from my mechanic when I went to get my 3000 mile oil change and he told me the anti freeze was going into my oil I was like so what does that mean. He said it was a head gasket and it would cost me about 1000 dollars I said how could that be there is only 30,000 miles on the car. I kept an eye on the anti freeze and the oil to see if the anti freeze went down and the oil went up well sure enough thats what happened so I will get in touch with chevy and see if they have a recall on the head gasket before I spend that kind of money for a repair.

I would never buy a Chevy car again. The problems with the gaskets are only the start. The wiring inside sucks (had to have speakers replaced, air blower fails on the first two settings ect) also the sensor in the gas tank will go AT LEAST ONCE. What is worst is that Chevy does not stand by its product, anyone who has a Malibu from will attest these same issues yet there is no recall????? Of course most of these problems should pop up about 100 miles over the warrenty. When my first gasket had to be replaced they covered it even though I was over the warranty since I had just had the car in the week before for a tune up while it was still covered and they didn't catch the problem. But when it went again two years later, I had to pay. I spoke with two different mechanics and they both said they saw the same problems whenever a Malibu came in. Stick with Toyota or Honda folks.