I've owned my Malibu for about a year and a half now and so far I absolutely love the car. I'm amazed at just how many problems other people are having with their rides and it's really a shame, but there is one on mine that's fairly significant.
It started around the end of October of 2017, any sort of acceleration harder than granny pushing on the gas pedal, having the windows open and HVAC controls set to fresh air intake, you would smell rotten eggs or sulfur if you will. At first I wasn't sure what was going on so I tried diagnosing myself. I've changed spark plugs since it was due thinking maybe it's running lean/rich, nope. I've tried using fuel system cleaners and even a catalytic converter cleaner, nope. I hooked up my OBDII scanner to check on catalytic converter data, running just fine and getting to temperature like it should.
So what the heck! Now I was starting to get annoyed. I decided one night to crawl under the car with it running because since I bought the car, I noticed a slight whistling sound coming from under it while it was running but just never really thought anything of it. So I got under and used my atomic beam flashlight (which those things really do rock!) and low and behold.....my resonator is leaking exhaust! Well, this was a turn of events! So I went ahead and got my video camera, stuck it under the car with the light on the leaking resonator and started reving in park. That REALLY started making exhaust come from it. That's where the fun for me begins.
I took it to the dealer where I bought it from and they took a look at it. "Yep, you're right, resonator is leaking, $850 because the resonator and muffler is all one kit and needs to be replaced as a unit."
Woah! I don't have $850! I'm still paying the car off on a loan for cripe sake. I decided to shop around a bit. I took it to the muffler shop where they looked at it and at first I thought that they could cut the old resonator out and install a new one. Well, they could but it turns out part of the muffler is starting to go back already as well and I'll have to bring it back eventually to replace it as well. So now that will cost about $560.
Neither is a great option but $560 is a lot cheaper than $850. But I can't have exhaust leaking like this! The resonator is like the pre-muffler and is mounted under the car around the rear compartment so it's under the cabin. I do a lot of driving and since this has happened, I've noticed I've been more drowsy than usual. Whether it is from this or not, I don't know. But I don't have any check engine lights, the motor itself isn't that loud, and unless you really go under the car, you can't see this or even see an exhaust leak. But what makes this more annoying is the car is only going on 7 years old and shouldn't be experiencing failure of the exhaust components this fast. Though I live in a winter state, I have under the car washed several times a year just to make sure salt and other things don't build up under the car and start eating away at this stuff. I've had other GM vehicles that never required an exhaust replacement this quickly. In fact I traded in my 2005 Impala for this vehicle and never installed any exhaust components on it and never had this issue.
So to sum it up, I never would've even known this was an issue unless harder accelerations didn't produce a horrible smell, otherwise I would've probably had an exhaust leak for years that I never even knew about especially because it was coming from the TOP of the resonator which is facing the bottom of the car. Either way, I don't believe it should've failed this fast and regardless, making it all one unit to make it cost so much is ridiculous.
I've owned my Malibu for about a year and a half now and so far I absolutely love the car. I'm amazed at just how many problems other people are having with their rides and it's really a shame, but there is one on mine that's fairly significant.
It started around the end of October of 2017, any sort of acceleration harder than granny pushing on the gas pedal, having the windows open and HVAC controls set to fresh air intake, you would smell rotten eggs or sulfur if you will. At first I wasn't sure what was going on so I tried diagnosing myself. I've changed spark plugs since it was due thinking maybe it's running lean/rich, nope. I've tried using fuel system cleaners and even a catalytic converter cleaner, nope. I hooked up my OBDII scanner to check on catalytic converter data, running just fine and getting to temperature like it should.
So what the heck! Now I was starting to get annoyed. I decided one night to crawl under the car with it running because since I bought the car, I noticed a slight whistling sound coming from under it while it was running but just never really thought anything of it. So I got under and used my atomic beam flashlight (which those things really do rock!) and low and behold.....my resonator is leaking exhaust! Well, this was a turn of events! So I went ahead and got my video camera, stuck it under the car with the light on the leaking resonator and started reving in park. That REALLY started making exhaust come from it. That's where the fun for me begins.
I took it to the dealer where I bought it from and they took a look at it. "Yep, you're right, resonator is leaking, $850 because the resonator and muffler is all one kit and needs to be replaced as a unit."
Woah! I don't have $850! I'm still paying the car off on a loan for cripe sake. I decided to shop around a bit. I took it to the muffler shop where they looked at it and at first I thought that they could cut the old resonator out and install a new one. Well, they could but it turns out part of the muffler is starting to go back already as well and I'll have to bring it back eventually to replace it as well. So now that will cost about $560.
Neither is a great option but $560 is a lot cheaper than $850. But I can't have exhaust leaking like this! The resonator is like the pre-muffler and is mounted under the car around the rear compartment so it's under the cabin. I do a lot of driving and since this has happened, I've noticed I've been more drowsy than usual. Whether it is from this or not, I don't know. But I don't have any check engine lights, the motor itself isn't that loud, and unless you really go under the car, you can't see this or even see an exhaust leak. But what makes this more annoying is the car is only going on 7 years old and shouldn't be experiencing failure of the exhaust components this fast. Though I live in a winter state, I have under the car washed several times a year just to make sure salt and other things don't build up under the car and start eating away at this stuff. I've had other GM vehicles that never required an exhaust replacement this quickly. In fact I traded in my 2005 Impala for this vehicle and never installed any exhaust components on it and never had this issue.
So to sum it up, I never would've even known this was an issue unless harder accelerations didn't produce a horrible smell, otherwise I would've probably had an exhaust leak for years that I never even knew about especially because it was coming from the TOP of the resonator which is facing the bottom of the car. Either way, I don't believe it should've failed this fast and regardless, making it all one unit to make it cost so much is ridiculous.
- tbreece, Manistee, US