01 malibu with lots of problems

well here I go, i'll try to mention all I know so far on this car. it belongs to a friend, and has the 3100 v6. now as for things that have been done, spark plugs, wires, injectors(due to sugar in the tank), fuel pump, fuel pressure regulator, themostat, temp sending unit, and water pump. also had to replace the cam sensor.
now with all that stuff replaced, it is getting a code3every once in a while, for random cylinder misfire. also her temp gauge goes high and warning lights come on,. runs rough, in morning. this morning it is getting harder to start.
I am thinking the coil pack with ignition module is going bad. at least from what I have looked up so far.
now the other thing is in my opinion, the car is a piece of junk.
but she needs it. she don't have a lot of money.
so any extra thoughts would help with getting this car to last through the winter.
:banghead:

well here I go, i'll try to mention all I know so far on this car. it belongs to a friend, and has the 3100 v6. now as for things that have been done, spark plugs, wires, injectors(due to sugar in the tank), fuel pump, fuel pressure regulator, themostat, temp sending unit, and water pump. also had to replace the cam sensor.
now with all that stuff replaced, it is getting a code3every once in a while, for random cylinder misfire. also her temp gauge goes high and warning lights come on,. runs rough, in morning. this morning it is getting harder to start.
I am thinking the coil pack with ignition module is going bad. at least from what I have looked up so far.
now the other thing is in my opinion, the car is a piece of junk.
but she needs it. she don't have a lot of money.
so any extra thoughts would help with getting this car to last through the winter.
:banghead:




MAAAAAAAN that is a list. Almost sounds like my 3.1l. Does the coolant level drop? Why is the thing overheating? You already replaced the temp sending unit, so if the thing flags as overheating, it probably really is overheating. Get that squared away.

Probably the pump going out. good thing is they only cost about 25 bux.
AND\OR
Are you losing coolant, does it smell like coolant when you start it up and run it? what do the plugs look like, do they look like the color of the coolant? Could be head gasket, I got a 8 dollar fix for that.

As far as the misfire, could be a coil pack, or a cylinder could be getting coolant in it, causing misfire. Could be injector aswell, because of the sugar incident.

MAAAAAAAN that is a list. Almost sounds like my 3.1l. Does the coolant level drop? Why is the thing overheating? You already replaced the temp sending unit, so if the thing flags as overheating, it probably really is overheating. Get that squared away.

Probably the pump going out. good thing is they only cost about 25 bux.
AND\OR
Are you losing coolant, does it smell like coolant when you start it up and run it? what do the plugs look like, do they look like the color of the coolant? Could be head gasket, I got a 8 dollar fix for that.

As far as the misfire, could be a coil pack, or a cylinder could be getting coolant in it, causing misfire. Could be injector aswell, because of the sugar incident.

thermostat is only a couple of weeks old. replaced new.

fuel pump ok.
injectors are all replaced new.
water pump replaced about 4 weeks ago.
now the coil pack is a thought I was thinking about.
as for losing coolant, it use to, when it was spraying from front of engine when running, I re-placed it. not sure if coolant is low right now. she is not complaining about no heat, which is why thermostat replaced.
the sugar was cleaned out by her so called boyfriend, he was the one that put original pump back in wrong and bent pressure line from pump assembly.
she does not live near me, she lives about 20 miles from me.
if it is losing coolant, then I guess I will have to tear top end down.

Check coolant level, Ensure that coolant is not low. If it is low, its got to be going somewhere. If it is saying its overheating, I bet money it is.

Water pump is new, okay,
thermostat new, okay,
You mentioned the temp sensor is new, check
Does the system have an air bubble in it? since you replaced waterpump, your going to need to bleed the system of air. turn heater to high, leave fan off heat twice at 2500 rpms to normal operating temp, shut off. should burp it.
Is it low on coolant? Thats my question. (and this is where my 3.1 exp come in)

These cars are notorious for Lower intake manifold leaks and head gasket leaks due to the dexcool antifreeze. if it is not serviced at the correct intervals or ran low, it will turn acidic and start munching gaskets. If it overheats, its an iron block with alumn heads, they will probably warp. You could put KW block sealer in with plain ol distilled water, after flushing block, and run for 500 miles and it will seal the head. Or you can do a tear down, machine heads for 100, LIM gasket (chepo 25 bux, aluminum 100) head bolts 45, probably get it top tear down for 300.

I did bleed the air out when I replaced the thermostat. if it was my car I would have gotten rid of it, but she needs it. I still say it is a piece of junk. someone also bypassed the passcode system with switches, and also wire the stereo to the head light system. headlights has to be on to play the radio/cd player. she paid 1600 for it a little over a year ago, and a lot of things started going wrong after the sugar incident, and they also slashed her tires.

The good thing about these cars is they are cheap to work on. Parts are cheap. They are fairly easy to workon aswell. Remember if you do the heads, or LIM, the exhaust push rods are longer, "Its going to be a long exhausting day" is the saying.

extra note, she called this morning saying no heat. I met with her and sure enough coolant level was low. so I told her head gaskets and intake gaskets.
putting coil pak on Monday, will let know if that takes care of random misfire.
told her what she could be looking at on price and of course she thinks cars should run forever with no problems. I told her since it was used, she got someone elses problem.
will update when I know more.

Seems to me you put so much $$ into this car already, and really not much closer to a fix than when you started. Sugar in gas? Slashed tires? Bite the bullet and get a good used car, like a mid '90's or something.

Johnny R-- I bet they would set the car on fire if they really had that choice.

As for the problem with the vehicle: like I stated before, there is a blocksealer you can put in that will really work, its 8 bux, but you have to put some miles on it with no antifreeze in it, which may be difficult seeing how it is probably freezing where you are.

Post back if you need some tips on the heads, and some of the bolts you will need to put some thread sealer on because they run through the coolant jackets. ITs a degree torque.

Seems to me you put so much $$ into this car already, and really not much closer to a fix than when you started. Sugar in gas? Slashed tires? Bite the bullet and get a good used car, like a mid '90's or something.

she can't afford another car. her late grandmother bought this for her. I am going to pull the heads and replace the head gaskets, and intake gaskets. I know about those head bolt too. I did an escort many years back and they were the same type that are one time use.

she has had a lot of bad luck. she is greatful for me though, and since I am retired and on disability I have plenty of time to do it.

she has thought about driving it off a cliff or into a concrete wall, but told her that would not do any good and she would have no car then.

got it torn down, and intake gaskets looked like they were starting to go bad. pulled heads, and used straight edge and they are warped.
the girl finally told me that for over a year, just after she bought it, she has had to add coolant to it since she got it. so it has been messed up for a long time. plus with the overheating it has done, and no one ever thought of tearing it down to fix it.
heads at machine shop now. also 2 head to exhaust manifold studs were broke off in head at number 2 cylinder.

As a famous guy once said, now you know the rest of the story....