Engine And Engine Cooling Problems of Chevrolet Malibu - part 1

Several things have been going wrong with this car. I have only had it for about 7 months. Minimal driving. Got the car with 84,000 miles and it now has 88,000 miles. About 2 months ago the check engine light came on. Got it into a shop and they said an oil change may possibly help with this. Got the oil change, cleared the code, drove it around and check engine light came back on. Brought it back to the shop and now the entire valve cover needs replaced. It’s been about 2 weeks since then haven’t had it fixed due to low funds. A couple days ago I was driving with two [xxx] olds in the car and was at a stop light. After about a minute the cars engine turned completely off lost all power including the center screen that displays your settings and radio, all lights, and the screen behind the wheel all with my foot on the break at a stop light. Due to this situation I was unable to turn my hazards on to alert the cars coming up being me at a green light absolutely panicked that we were going to get into an accident. A little while after the car turned back on, but unfortunately when trying to push down on the gas pedal nothing was happening. No revving sound and no movement of the car. Car still in drive. A police officer pulled up behind me to check if we were okay. He stayed to keep us safe until people came to push the car off to the side. During the push the wheel was almost completely locked up as well as the breaks. This is not the first time the breaks have locked up on me. Next day we got the car to a safe area to be parked. A couple days later went to try and turn the car on and immediately the car is shaking violently and making horrible noises. The car is unsafe for me to drive and unsafe for people on the road. This car is completely unable to be driven now also due to the horrible shaking. No recalls were found under my VIN, but all of these signs seem to be a problem for other people. Information redacted pursuant to the freedom of information act (foia), 5 u. S. C. 552(b)(6).

See all problems of the 2020 Chevrolet Malibu 🔎.

Fuel injector backing ring failing causing o-ring to dislodge and rupture due to high pressure fuel leaking past the seal. This is causing a major fire hazard. Gm seal kits will not fix the problem do to backer ring not being in the kit. Part number for the o-ring kit is 12673056. This part should not be sold without the backer ring. If installed without the rings they will fail and will be leaking fuel on the hot cylinder next to the ignition coils. Misfire and bad fuel smell and possible no start or fire!!.

See all problems of the 2016 Chevrolet Malibu 🔎.

The contact owns a 2020 Chevrolet Malibu. The contact stated that while driving at various speeds, the vehicle hesitated and failed to properly accelerate while depressing the accelerator pedal. The check engine warning light was illuminated. The vehicle was taken to a local independent mechanic, who associated the failure with TSB: n222372590. An appointment was scheduled with the dealer to inspect the vehicle. The vehicle was not yet repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 114,000.

My 2023 chevy Malibu has a missing turbocharger screw that randomly came off from under a metal plate on its own, GMC has a recall on 2022 -2023 chey Malibu with turbo charger issues but they wont cover mines because it didnt come from a certian factory although they know a hell of alot of chevy Malibu owners have turbo charger issues and that factories share parts with other factories they say they wont do a recall on all the Malibus unless alot of people report and NHTSA makes GMC reall all chevy Malibus turbocharger ( gm launched a special coverage program for 2022-2023 models with 1. 5l engines due to turbocharger failures leading to "reduced engine power". The program covers, or potentially reimburses, repairs up to 15 years/150,000 miles)but my vehicle VIN isnt covered.

See all problems of the 2023 Chevrolet Malibu 🔎.

My car caught on fire under the hood. As I was driving on road I heard a sound and my car started slowing down and smoke started coming from under the hood got out the car not a minute later flames of smoke engulfed the car.

The chevy Malibu turbo is malfunctioning and making a loud noise when driving also bringing up the engine light with codes.

See all problems of the 2022 Chevrolet Malibu 🔎.

I was driving and the reduced engine power came on. I almost crashed because I couldn't control the steering.

See all problems of the 2018 Chevrolet Malibu 🔎.

I was driving my car on the highway and the car begin to feel like it was about to shut off. Shortly after, the car check engine light turned on with a warning sign on dashboard stating “engine reduce. ” the check engine is still on and my mechanic states my turbo needs to be replaced. I have an appointment for second consult with chevy dealer to verify.

See all problems of the 2017 Chevrolet Malibu 🔎.

The contact owns a 2020 Chevrolet Malibu. The contact stated that while driving at 35 mph, the check engine warning light illuminated. While the vehicle was stopped at a traffic light or a stop sign, the failure was more noticeable. The contact stated that the vehicle jerked abnormally and failed to accelerate as intended while depressing the accelerator pedal. The rpm fluctuated before the transmission slammed into gear. The vehicle then returned to normal functionality. The vehicle was taken to the dealer, where it was diagnosed and determined that the turbocharger had failed and needed to be replaced. The vehicle remained at the dealer unrepaired. Prior to the most recent failure, the contact stated that while her daughter was driving at an undisclosed speed, the vehicle failed to accelerate as intended while depressing the accelerator pedal, and the vehicle failed to function as intended. The vehicle was towed to the dealer; however, no cause for the failure was found. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 77,000.

I was driving on the freeway with my kids in the car at 60 mph and without warning I get an engine power reduced message and then my car losing power and starts dropping speeds down to 35 mph within seconds. I have cars speeding up behind me and I can't go any faster than 35 mph on the freeway so I am forced to quickly pull to the side of the freeway before I get hit. This was one of the post scariest situations for me any my children. I had to turn the car off and sit for awhile before I could start it back up and pray it made it home and didn't do it again. It has randonly done this for no rhyme or reason and no codes are showing when it's happening. I have no recalls on my car so this is something I believe chevy needs to fix before someone gets seriously hurt.

The contact owns a 2022 Chevrolet Malibu. The contact stated that while driving at an undisclosed speed, the vehicle unexpectedly decelerated and failed to exceed 40 mph, with the check engine warning light illuminated. The vehicle unexpectedly went into limp mode. The vehicle was towed to an independent mechanic, where it was diagnosed with turbocharger failure. The contact was informed that the turbocharger needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The vehicle was then towed to the dealer, but was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 110,022.

So ive been having issue's with my 2022 chevy Malibu the check engine light has been on and I got it looked at twice both saying its my turbo I looked up online and in detail recalls and other websites on chevy's and the 2018 and 2022 Malibu's are recalled for there turbo chargers and says gm has a recall im at like 66k miles and it says reduced engine power and my light is staying on please help me with this I dont have the money im pay check to pay check and 2,200 is alot I would very much appricate it and I would tell a friend and give great reviews I dont know if I can make it happen alone again thank you have a good one.

The contact owns a 2022 Chevrolet Malibu. The contact stated that while driving at 45 mph, the message “engine power reduced” was displayed, and the vehicle decelerated unexpectedly. The driver pulled over and was informed to turn off the vehicle and restart the vehicle with the assistance of a police officer. The vehicle was restarted but failed to exceed 10 mph while driving. The vehicle was towed to the local dealer, where it was diagnosed with turbocharger failure. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was contacted and confirmed there was no coverage for the repair and referred the contact to the NHTSA hotline for assistance. The failure mileage was approximately 62,000.

I was driving along and my car went into a reduced engine power mode. Code came up as the gas pedal sensor.

Engine power reduced car shuts off and will not start.

My vehicle sometimes will not start when I press the start button and press the brakes at the same time. The dashboard will light up with a message that says “service esc” followed by “engine power is reduced”. When it does start, I can drive the vehicle for a moment before it does the engine power reduced mode where the car feels like its pulling more. It has done this several times while I’m driving on the highway which often times causes me to have to pull over to the side of the road, or make my way to the slow lane so I can pull into a gas station or somewhere public at the next exit. When the dashboard lights up with “service esc”, all of the hands on my dashboard (I. E the hands for the speedometer, gas, the car temp and the rpm) move radically back and forth while the car is driving. Sometimes the speedometer will say 0mph even tho the car is moving. Sometimes I am able to pull over and turn my car off and back on and the lights will go away, but often times this doesn’t solve the problem. In fact, it feels like it only exacerbates the problem because when I shift it into park and then attempt to turn off the vehicle, it says “shift to park” even though it is parked. In fact, this morning when the vehicle wouldn’t start after I tried to start it with the button, I attempted to turn the vehicle off (because the radio would come on and I can see lights on the dashboard, but the vehicle itself won’t start) and it said “shift to park” even though it is parked and has been since last night. I contacted the nearest chevy dealership and they informed me that they have dealt with plenty of these complaints lately. I have not had an inspection completed by the dealership because my extended warranty is up and I do not have the funds to pay for a diagnostic inspection.

See all problems of the 2024 Chevrolet Malibu 🔎.

The contact owns a 2018 Chevrolet Malibu. The contact stated that while coming to a stop, the brake pedal suddenly became inoperable. There was no warning light illuminated. The contact stated that excessive force was required to depress the brake pedal. The contact stated that the brake pedal went to the floorboard while stopping the vehicle. The contact then stated that after pulling into a parking lot, the contact attempted to restart the vehicle; however, the vehicle failed to start with the check engine warning light illuminated. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic, but was not diagnosed or repaired. The dealer was contacted, but the vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 111,000.

The vacuum pump continues to go out causes code p1101. I have replaced it 4 times and people just in my town are fighting this code for dear life like me! it causes our brakes to barely work and make it completely unsafe to drive as the check engine light goes in and out for maf sensor. It’s not safe. It needs to be recalled. It doesn’t matter if I buy the most cheapest part or expensive part. It has happened on multiple occasions where I replace it and within 2 months, its back on and does reduced power in the middle of me driving on busy roads. I’ve been almost hit and almost caused multiple accidents because I have to pull over.

The reduce power to engine keeps happening. It shuts my car down and lights up the traction control light, check engine light and its a serious hazard because I travel highway to and from work and its very dangerous when you loose power to your vehicle at high rates of speed. Also my emissions is bad due to a supposed fixed recall for the catalytic converter.

The contact owns a 2022 Chevrolet Malibu. The contact stated that on several occasions while driving approximately 50 mph, the vehicle unexpectedly stalled and then went into limp mode with the check engine warning light illuminated. The vehicle was able to be restarted. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic, where it was diagnosed and determined that the turbo charger had failed, causing oil to leak into the turbo charger. The contact was informed that the turbo charger needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The dealer was contacted. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired by the dealer. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure and referred the contact to the NHTSA hotline for assistance. The approximate failure mileage was 70,000.

Throwing code p1101 for the mass air flow sensor. This is a listed recall amongst other Malibu's but does not include my VIN number. Check engine is on.

The engine light came on, later while driving the car shuts down engine reduced speed, engine power reduced. I have to restart the car and sometimes that dont help. Also the (abs) light came on service stabilitrak, my anti brakes went out.

See all problems of the 2013 Chevrolet Malibu 🔎.

Urgent complaint: no response to demand for rescission - odometer fraud, deceptive practices - banner Ford of monroe, la.

Purchased the car February 14 2025 with 102,664 miles on it. About 2 weeks ago I was merging on a highway and it went into limp mode and I almost get rear-ended. It felt like it lost all power. The check engine light came on and I drove it to auto zone to have it scanned and code p0299 was the code, turbo underboost. I then went to o'reilly's for a second opinion and their scanner also said turbo underboost. I have replaced all sensors that interact with the turbo thinking maybe it was a sensor but negative. Turbo failure.

The car continues to die when I come to a stop. The error code for the engine light is p305f. I have changed both batteries along with several different sensors and spent thousands of dollars in repairs at a couple different shops and still can’t find the problem with this error code. I have fixed everything that this error code points to. The car will not pass inspection with the check engine code on. This should have been recalled as this is a very common problem.

See all problems of the 2015 Chevrolet Malibu 🔎.

- started shutting shutting off at while in drive. - started having reduced power - started idiling high while driving - initially there was no codes - last night I drove, I put in drive gear but it was delayed so I had to keep moving from park to drive for it to full go into drive - the codes came p0325 p0505 p0507 p0700 p1101 p2714 after I was driving up an incline the car stopped moving forward and started reversing backwards. One other independent shop advised they were able to produce but couldn’t figure out the problem because no code were shown at the time. There has been many people having the same issues I started off with and I found the forum to file a report .

See all problems of the 2019 Chevrolet Malibu 🔎.

The contact owns a 2018 Chevrolet Malibu. The contact stated that there was a strong fuel odor coming from the vehicle. The contact stated that the engine was difficult to turn over. The tpms warning light was illuminated. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic who determined that the fuel injectors were leaking. The local dealer was not contacted. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The failure mileage was 123,074.

While driving, the vehicle experienced a mechanical failure involving the engine and lubrication system. Oil leakage was observed, and the engine began operating abnormally. This created a risk of sudden engine failure while the vehicle was in motion, which could result in loss of power, stalling, or loss of control, especially at highway speeds or in traffic. Prior to the failure, warning signs included abnormal engine behavior and fluid loss. The issue was not caused by driver error and occurred during normal operation. Continued operation in this condition presents a fire risk if oil contacts hot engine components. The problem has been inspected by a repair facility, and the failure appears to be related to a mechanical or manufacturing defect rather than wear or misuse. The component is available for inspection upon request. This defect poses a safety risk to the driver, passengers, and other motorists due to the possibility of sudden engine failure, loss of propulsion, or fire.

Reduced engine power. Car will not accelerate over 35 mph. Almost rear ended. Will be the second time in dealer for same problem. Also, shift to park. Also second time at dealer for same problems. You cannot get out of car until you keep moving the shifting handle.

Was driving on the freeway maneuvered over to exit vehicle lost power and engine completely shut off while in motion. Same incident occurred while on surface street as I was approaching a red light vehicle completely shut off while in drive and in motion.

My car has been malfunctioning it keeps saying shift to park when it’s park and it show esc system issue and then the brakes stop working it has been going on and off took it to lou bachrodt Chevrolet and they couldn’t fix the issue. I have done research online and it shows the same.

Dear NHTSA: I am submitting this complaint because my vehicle, a 2021 Chevrolet Malibu (VIN [xxx] ), is included in emission recall n252516900 issued by general motors concerning the fuel pump power control module. Despite that inclusion, I have experienced the following: - a prior near-fatal incident in 2023 when the vehicle unexpectedly shut off while stopped at a red light (engine stall) due to the root defect. - the dealer has informed me I now need a new 12-v battery (just over one year old), a new ac compressor, and a new drive/serpentine belt. - the defect referenced in the recall (interruption of fuel flow) is reasonably the root cause of these consequential failures (battery stress, accessory drive stress). - I have been without the vehicle for 11 days, have not been provided adequate interim mobility support, and have not received timely resolution from gm under my case #xxx (agent jasmine who has followed her company's protocol while remaining helpful and empathetic; supervisor stephanie called October 17, 2025). Requested relief: 1. That gm be required to pay for the recall work (module replacement) *** reimburse/cover the consequential damage (battery, compressor, belt). 2. Interim remedy: loaner vehicle or rental reimbursement for days without vehicle. 3. Acknowledgment of the safety risk posed by the defect and record of the stall incident. Thank you for your attention to this matter. Sincerely, [xxx] [xxx] information redacted pursuant to the freedom of information act (foia), 5 u. S. C. 552(b)(6).

See all problems of the 2021 Chevrolet Malibu 🔎.

The contact owns a 2016 Chevrolet Malibu. The contact stated that after driving and parking the vehicle, the contact entered the residence; however, upon returning to the vehicle, the vehicle failed to start. There were no warning lights illuminated. The vehicle was towed to the local dealer, and the contact was informed that the battery needed to be replaced. The battery was replaced. The vehicle was diagnosed, and determined that the camshaft, fuel vacuum pump, and camshaft sensor needed to be replaced. The oxygen sensors were replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was not contacted. The failure mileage was approximately 146,000.

I get a engine power reduced warning and check engine light is on for 3 start cycles and goes away. Auto start/stop after stopping, lights flicker and power is slow to come back on upon auto start and I get a power steering reduced warning. ,.

Engine power reduced, my car then loses the ability to pickup speed I’ve even had my break tighten up on my in the middle of trying to stop my vehicle.