00 Malibu Coolant "missing"

SnakeEyeSS · February 21, 2008

Just bought my wife a 00 Malibu LS(3.1 of course) she liked(wanted a 4 door) and it was all around good shape but needed a tune up and wax(turned out very nice so far). When changing the plugs I noticed that all had a orange tint on the ceramic. For some odd reason, it had Bosch Super's in it(bosch's bottom line copper plug, 70 cents a pop.....I put in $8 NGK Iridium IX). When we bought it the guy said the coolant light comes on from time to time (nut not constantly)but the overflow tank was never empty. It HAS HAD the intake gaskets replaced already a few years ago. I got it home and it was a little low so I filled the overflow to correct level, light went off(been driven 5 days since that) My wife sent me a message she she got in the parking lot at her college the light came on....

when she gets home I'll check the level, if its okay I'll know its a bad sensor.....but if it's not.....anyone heard of this? My first idea was bad gaskets again, but the dealer said he's never heard of the replacements failing.

I don't think its the head gasket because it wasn't just one plugs tinted orange, but all of them(and if both head gaskets were bad I doubt I'd need missing coolant to be the first red flag )

TIA

Zembonez · February 21, 2008

You could do a compression / leak down test on it to confirm it is (or is not) a head gasket issue. As far as the plug color goes, I doubt seriously that there is any way that the coolant is discoloring all of the plugs. It sure sounds suspiciously like an intake leak to me. Do you have proof of the intake gasket replacement or did the guy you got it from just tell you that? Does the oil show any signs of coolant contamination?

klunkerbus · February 21, 2008

Did the IMG on our 2003 Malibu last fall. In spending dozens of hours reading online about people who have had IMG problems on the small body engines, I remember reading posts from people who did the IMG replacement more than once. I sure don't consider our replacement a "permanent" fix.

KB06YUKONXL · February 27, 2008

Go to Blackstone Laboratories website (Fort Wayne, IN) and request an oil analysis kit. They will mail you one for free. Then take an oil sample from the pan drain and send it to them and tell them you are looking for coolant in the oil. They will send you a a used oil analysis for $22 and tell you if what wear metals are in the oil and whether there is any coolant or water in the oil. Very easy to do and is a definite indicator of intake or head gasket leaks.

minibike132 · February 27, 2008

Did the IMG on our 2003 Malibu last fall. In spending dozens of hours reading online about people who have had IMG problems on the small body engines, I remember reading posts from people who did the IMG replacement more than once. I sure don't consider our replacement a "permanent" fix.

X2 on this. They don't always last forever and the fix is only as good as the person that did them. You don't know who did them and if they own a torque wrench or even common sense. If there is an internal leak and it shows up on all cylinders the only explaination I can think of is an internal manifold gasket leak. Usually even the originals only leak external if it's internal my guess is someone didn't clean something right. But by all means get the oil analysis to verify there is coolant in the oil.