2003 Malibu Coolant Light

[jimdichiara]

I have had the low coolant light appear and the car has overheated slightly on my 2003 Chevy Malibu. Refilled car, had system pressure tested, held pressure and couldn't find any leaks. It has been working fine for a week, but don't understand what happened, where I lost the fluid, or why. I hear some Malibus have an intake manifold gasket leak or something similar to that. Can anyone let me know what they think? Thanks.

[gordow]

Originally Posted by jimdichiara

I have had the low coolant light appear and the car has overheated slightly on my 2003 Chevy Malibu. Refilled car, had system pressure tested, held pressure and couldn't find any leaks. It has been working fine for a week, but don't understand what happened, where I lost the fluid, or why. I hear some Malibus have an intake manifold gasket leak or something similar to that. Can anyone let me know what they think? Thanks.

I've had the same problem just this last week ,, happened on the first real cold snap here in Ont. , there are no leaks , no change in the oil consistancy just dropped and the light came on. Strange thing , my 98 Cavalier had the light come on as well in the same period ,, i'm thinking its just slight evaporation over time? This is the first time it's come on or been topped up since i got the car with 34000km on it and it's no got 90000km on it.

Hope it's just a coincedence and not anything else.

Gord

[Negatoro]

gordow - 90,000km, about 60k miles, right?

My '01 first showed signs of coolant loss at 65k miles. The MIL came on and off while driving so I checked coolant - level was low - and I topped it off.

Another 6 months goes by, then at roughly 80,000 miles same thing happened. I inspected LIM gasket and found no fault.

By the time I hit 90,000 miles it happened again so I cleaned the piss out of the engine bay and motor. Then when all was dry I started her up and grabbed a flashlight to find the leak. Sure enough LIM gasket had a pinhole leak.

Before you all rule out that blasted gasket make sure you look VERY closely.

If that's the culprit then it'll bite you in the ass down the road.

No problems since the gasket change. Used new design with new bolts and haven't touched the cooling system in 90k miles besides last weekend's flush. That was just for the hell of it, no problems at all.

Happy leaking.
-Mark T.

[gordow]

Originally Posted by Negatoro

gordow - 90,000km, about 60k miles, right?

My '01 first showed signs of coolant loss at 65k miles. The MIL came on and off while driving so I checked coolant - level was low - and I topped it off.

Another 6 months goes by, then at roughly 80,000 miles same thing happened. I inspected LIM gasket and found no fault.

By the time I hit 90,000 miles it happened again so I cleaned the piss out of the engine bay and motor. Then when all was dry I started her up and grabbed a flashlight to find the leak. Sure enough LIM gasket had a pinhole leak.

Before you all rule out that blasted gasket make sure you look VERY closely.

If that's the culprit then it'll bite you in the ass down the road.

No problems since the gasket change. Used new design with new bolts and haven't touched the cooling system in 90k miles besides last weekend's flush. That was just for the hell of it, no problems at all.

Happy leaking.
-Mark T.

Hmm , the km>miles has always thrown me ,, you give me food for thought , i will be keeping a closer eye on things , i have a very good friend at the local dealership where i take my car to , i'll mention it to him , i know he won't screw me over , plus when the spring and summer get here i will have a better chance to have a better look for myself for any leaks.

Thanks for the info.
Gord

[Negatoro]

I just looked at my speedo..

80km/h ~ 50M/h

km:miles ~ 8:5

I figure 1km ~ 5/8M = .625M

..

90,000km * .625M/km = 56,250M

I got bored.

-Mark T.

[I_Like_Cars]

Hey Negatoro, I just posted a thread. I'm just now starting to service my own vehicles (it's about time for me to learn) and I'm having trouble finding the release or plug for the coolant. I have some buildup around the resevoir cap and it hasn't been changed in a while. It's an '02 Malibu. It sounded like you have experience changing your coolant.

Thanks