15th Jun 2007, 16:40

I own a 1998 Malibu and when I got it, it had 1930 miles on it. I ran very good for the next 3,000 miles. I had bad front brakes and my ABS light came on. I got it fixed and about 1,000 miles later the ABS light came on again. The mechanic said this was normal for the 1998 Malibu. Wow! I never thought that anything like this was normal. My A/C compressor started going off and on by itself. The mechanic said it was the switch. I have repaced the switch 6 times. I put in a toggle switch, it works now. I changed out both CV joints at 41,238 miles and at 94,980 miles. They are starting to make noise again at 120,786 miles. Back light sockets have melted, inside light socket melted, (over head) A/C fan plug melted, and the left head light socket melted. I do not want to go on and on about this rotten lemon of a car, because I don"t know how much more room I have, but I can tell you that this car is the worse car I have ever owned.

Daniel

17th Jun 2007, 22:21

Damn, some of you must've bought one that was poorly used.

I have a 98 Malibu and it runs great. I haven't had any major problems with it. The only problems I've had with it were usually my fault.

The ABS light is on, but it happened when I ran over a huge bump that hit the underside of my car. Plus I got a new battery put in cuz the old one died.

Now besides your typical tune up, oil change, and tire change/rotation, I haven't had any problems. I've been thinking of hooking mine up and making it look nicer.

Oh, and I guess I should point out that the mechanic that installed my battery said that I had the nicest looking 98 Malibu he's seen, since most of the ones he's seen were in real poor condition and dirty, like the owners just couldn't care less.

8th Jul 2007, 16:13

I just bought a 1998 chevy Malibu LS with 100K on it. The previous owner just replaced brakes. All the brake light went out except for the one in the window. The car revs up tp over 4KRPM before shifting into 2nd, but then it runs well. I think the transmission is going. I have 2 weeks left on a 30 day warranty that covers the engine and transmission. Is the previous owner (a used car dealer) responsible for transmission work if needed?

1st Aug 2007, 00:38

It's crap because the parking light doesn't work?! Wow that means about a third of the cars I see driving on the road are complete crap heh.

14th Aug 2007, 21:55

Well I just bought a 98 Malibu about 2 months ago.

Tail light sockets were melted a bit, but I just used a knife to bring the contacts back in range (no cost).

My ABS light does not come on ever.

There's a little bit of a noise when I start it. Kinda mysterious.

Another noise like a pulley or something is loose, but no costly repairs yet. Knock on wood.

A lot of these comments don't sound to good, but I know that all those people that have these cars that are very satisfied with it, will not be looking on the Internet for sites like this.

Not all the Malibu's are complete lemons. I have had lots of friends with a Malibu and have heard nothing but good about it. I am hoping that I have a good one.

20th Aug 2007, 07:56

I've had almost all of the issues stated, including brake lights, shaking going faster then 60mph, alternator, and fuel pump... but I've just had one recently in the past year or so that I've not seen anywhere.

I can't gas in my gas tank 3 out of 4 times I try. I pull into the gas station, begin to fill my tank, and the pump acts like it's full, shutting off the gas. It happens after a few drops are pumped in, almost as though there is an air bubble in the tank. Anyone else have this problem?

29th Aug 2007, 09:36

I bought a '98 Malibu and it works fine. However, I have a couple of minor problems; my air conditioner was working when I bought it, but last summer it went out. I now need an A/C condenser, and my ABS light does come on, but only when I hit something in the road. Other than those little problems mine works fine. A word to the wise: sometimes you have to check the history on a car before you buy it, because not everyone is honest. My car currently has 185,000 miles on it, but it runs fine.

14th Sep 2007, 09:05

We bought a '98 Malibu in January of 2005. Since then we have had to replace both front suspension struts (one broke after hitting a pothole and the mechanic said we needed to replace both), the power steering pump and the O2 sensor in the engine, along with other minor repairs.

We have also experienced the problem with the heating fan control (we currently have two settings - 'full blast' and 'off') and the 'Theft System' thing is a nightmare - it tends to go off at random, especially when you're in a hurry or in the middle of winter when it's -40 C and you stand a good chance of freezing to death before you get another chance to start your car.

This morning the (!) (P) warning light came on ('Brake' in the US - we're in Canada) along with the ABS light, but we've had instances in the past where just the ABS light has come on when snow had packed behind the tire, and knocking it out made the light switch off.

I'm going to get it checked out, but I'm hoping there's nothing wrong with it apart from bad sensors, although the ABS seems to have been kicking in a lot lately - even for just gentle braking - so we may have the warped rotor problem.

(The muffler is also shot, but that's just by-the-by.)

We paid Can.$7500 for the car (up to $9000 with the loan interest) and have only just finished paying it off. We've spent an additional $2500-$3000 in repairs on the thing in the space of 2 years and we've pretty much had enough.

We're going to get any obvious minor glitches fixed and see what we can get for a trade-in against a Toyota or Suzuki. We're never buying another GM Vehicle.

12th Oct 2007, 13:30

I've had my Malibu for a bit now... my grandma had it before me, and I've put the majority of the mileage on it.

Two alternators (and a couple of batteries)

New-used side-view mirror after the glass fell off.

Brakes.

Water pump.

Idle pulley and fan belt.

And now:

Gear shift button won't go in (it's been sticking a bit for a while), so I can't shift from park to reverse.

Yay. New car soon.