Top 20 1997 Chevrolet Malibu Questions & Answers

I think you may have answered your own question. I would check to see if the fuel pump is turning on when you turn the key on to the run position. You should hear a buzz sound coming from the gas tank. I would start there.

some 97's there should be a small removable panel right near the shifter i think in the change tray or drink holder. if i remember right its a small red switch you push down.

Depends on the model...I believe your engine is losing oil pressure. You may have a crack in your oil pan or bad oil pump. Oil Pressue sensors or usually located somewhere near on on the oil filter mounting.

Entire dashboard has to be removed. Ac system may have to be discharged in order to replace heater core. Probably a 10 to 12 hour job.

If you found blackened transmission fluid in an automatic transmission - I'd say you found your problem! I'd be willing to bet the discoloration is material from internal clutches that has been worn off and caused overheating. Sorry, but this will likely require rebuilding or replacing. Have a look here for add'l info on tranny oil color: AGCO Automotive Repair Service Baton Rouge LA Detailed Auto Topics The...

The clutch packs are shot. Time for an overhaul

The PCM controls that activation of the cooling fans. I uses three relays to do this. The configuration of the relays is such that failure of any one of them should not result in total fan failure (one or both would still operate). Try this - with the engine running, turn on the A/C. If the fans work, then your problem is that the coolant temp sensor is not telling the PCM the coolant temperature properly. If they still don't work, then, although it doesn't seem likely, I would have the COOLING FAN RELAY, COOLING FAN RELAY 1, and MODE CONTROL RELAY checked. Reason being that the only other possibilities are the PCM and the circuit wiring itself.

Wheel bearing will hum when making turns to check the strut bounce the corner of the vehicle where the strut is should only bounce on own 2-3 times if keeps bouncing after u stop pushing on car then it,s bad

It is at the back of the block, on the drivers side. It's a royal PITA to get at. Make sure you have a drain pan below it as you WILL lose coolant. After replacing, be sure to burp the cooling system.

Might be discharged or worn out battery. Check the distilled water level in battery should be just above the suface of the vertical plates. If sealed battery charge up with mains charger if no change then the battery is getting duff

You must be wanting to check your transmission oil level?

Hi Most times the cigarette fuse is 30A. There is usually a spare located in your fuse box below dashboard. Dave

Please ask a question that can be answered. What do you mean by "drive cycle?" (Makes no sense, sorry.)

I'm going to suggest 3 possibilities, firstly I don't think it's the transmission at all but rather the wheel-bearing! Generally to test for wheel bearing if you are doing about 10 or 20 mph you move the car to the left and right (not violently) and there will be a change in the hum or noise and if it's to the point of grinding and crunching then it is beyond the point that it should have been replaced. If it breaks you will not be able to put the car in park. If a cv joint breaks it could also cause damage to other parts such as the oil pan.. 2nd suggestion perhaps is that it is a constant velocity joint (CV) or the axle as you may call it - although one would hear clicking sounds when turning and giving it a bit of gas - this would be the outside CV-joint since an axle shaft is comprised of 2 CV-Joints (inner and outer) 3rd, and least likely is that where the cv-axle goes into the transmission there is a brass bearing or bushing and this is worn. In some vehicles the brass bushing/bearing is changeable but not an easy task. Dealer inquiries may be necessary for this info and part availability. Generally when there is transmission problems in these low-end cars (not a mercedes, bmw etc...) the transmission is typically changed. There are many local websites like www.kijiji.com or www.kijiji.ca here in Canada, that you may find parts and local junk-yards and mechanics etc., that you won't find in your phone book. This website can perhaps save you money. Considering a possibility of problems inside the transmission, I would remove the fluid, then remove the bottom pan and inspect for filings and grey bits of fine residue or even silver chunks of metal at the bottom of your transmission pan. This and of course the color and smell of the transmission fluid are indicators of serious problems. Contamination, dirt, and especially heat are killers of transmissions. Aftermarket coolers (the little radiator typcally in front of all the other radiators eg for the engine cooling and the air-conditioning although some transmission coolers are part of the Engine coolant radiator). Aftermarket coolers help keep things cooler than the factory ones and are used for racing and/or if you haul trailers etc. Just noticed that you stopped the wheels while on the stands, so Hmmmm??!! That definitely sounds like inside the transmission or perhaps the torque converter bolt has come loose but no, you would hear sounds all the time. Sounds to me like you are going to be experiencing some problems in the near future. Ha, not sure if you remember the days of the Ford Taurus and the overdrive issues they all had, in fact most overdrive vehicles had problems for years. Well I got this Taurus - 1998 model or something and the transmission was shot, I found 3 different burnt out transmissions from different junk yards and tore them all apart and rebuilt one from them all. There was one set of clutch-packs that I couldn't change and they looked fairly bad and burnt but when it was all back together the car chirped in between gears when you were giving it to her. Sounded beautiful, and worked awesome but I couldn't sell that car for $500.00 because of the notoriety these vehicles had. Some other problems that I noticed inside these transmissions is that some of the clutch packs which just fit snuggly inside the transmission had vibration to them and were wearing out the inside of the transmission housing. There were of course bits and chunks in the pan. The ones with the clutches burnt were not so bad and did show small signs of vibration and small wear marks inside the housing were there but one was worse than others. I was able to salvage the clutch disks from all of them and just interchanged the bad ones with the good ones, put in the proper fluid (Be careful to use proper fluids as I believe it is Ford that may be different than others) and the vehicle worked like brand new practically. In short, if you have the tools, time patience, and of course the parts, you can do this for next to nothing. Perhaps some videos of your problem are available on www.youtube.com You can probably get a better idea from there. I'm not a transmission specialist but thought I would give you some indications of steps and hints to resolve your problem easier. Maybe someone else can give you more info as to that noise but I can only say that any noise from inside the transmission is not good. Hope this helps a bit.

It is under front part of dash, on the drivers side bottom.

Down tube leading into tank has a rubber connector that may have gone bad. Either that or another leak in that tube.

I would suggest that the cam sensor doesnt do much and the crank is the predominant one here. P1200b is the injector circuit. Try checking all wires to injectors and the harness connectors. If it jumped it's timing perhaps or the crank sensor was broken or bad it will not fire or fire erronously.

Is it circulating good ,does your heater work ,4 cylinder or v6 . V6 check around intake for leaks

Replace caliper slides and hardware grease with high temp or caliper grease. Clean caliper mounts if problem persists mounts could be warped or bent. Or worst case both wheel bearings are bad. Also check master cylinder by using block off plugs (remove lines at master cylinder and replace with brass plugs) if the pedal doesnt return properly the problem is the master cylinder.

oil drain plug is on the bottom of the oil pan, which is under the engine. a proper sized wrench will remove the oil plug. have a large drain pan ready, (5-6 quarts). You might as well have an oil change done at this time as its just a guess how much oil you remove by quickly re installing the plug while draining. If you do drain just a little oil, keep checking the dip stick to be sure not to add more than needed. Add a 1/4 quart at a time. be sue to tighten the drain plug JUST SNUG.