99 Chevy Malibu Overheating PLZ HELP

[tantum75]

Hi.. I purchasae a 99 Chevy Malibu a few days ago. I took it in to my uncles shop yesterday and had the ac charged and bought 3 new tires... Today I was driving and the check coolant lite came on and then the gage shot up to all the way hot.... The car started to steam under the hood. I waited a bit for it to cool and then noticed that the lid was not all the way on the coolant reservoir... My uncle said this might actually be a good thing... I waited for it to cool a little more and went to the gas station and put in a gallon of water and made sure the lid was on really tight... and drove thirty miles to my uncles shop. Mind you on the way to his shop the gage did not go over the halfway mark.... So i get there and thy looked for signs of antifreeze on the engine etc and did not see any.. They said that becuase the cap is presurized if not put on correctly it would have possible caused the car to overheat,, So about an hour ago i went to get my son from school and it did go up two llines above the half way mark on the temp gage on the dash? Is that ok? Any ideas? I saved up the money for this car,,, am a single mom,,, college degree and cant find a job.... PLZ HELP ME>>> Thanks

[smerlan]

My first malibu was a 2002 and now i have a 2005 malibu and they do tend to run at half point to one or two bars above. as long as it doesnt go into the red zone your fine. do watch the coolant and oil though if you start losing either or both without any leakage on the ground than your head caskette could go bad. this is a common problem for malibu's after 100,000 miles and dont let anyone tell you its just the intake gaskette bc its not and alot of ppl get told that and they have thier engines blow bc they paid to have the wrong gaskett changed. but in all i love my malibu and have no regrets while excpet wreaking my first one during a snow storm two months after i replaced the engine.

[oldrock&roller]

your system now has air in and will have to be bleed out. Also have the pressure cap checked. I had a bad one on my 99 and you couldn't kept water in it. Good Luck..

[ChevMali99]

I have a 99 3.1L and it's normal for them to go up to one quarter short of touching the red, specially in extreme weather and driving conditions. Short of leaks, monitor your reservoir. You mentioned, you recently got the car. Gotta wonder how long was the car idle or how it was maintained. Check for gunk in the reservoir, swollen hoses, and that heat blows out of the vents when you turn the heat on. The purpose would be to see that the anti freeze is clean and flows as it should. If you have the money and believe in preventive maintenance, replace your thermostat and water pump - specially if you do perform the radiator flush; it would be pointless to do one and not the others since these are all related. But again, Malis are known to run hot.