Overheating on the 2002 Chevrolet Impala
Only 5 reports for this mode came with an odometer reading, which is too few for percentiles to mean anything. The page is here because someone linked to it; treat the figures as anecdotes, and see the full report for this year instead.
When overheating gets reported
There are 6 reports of overheating on the 2002 Chevrolet Impala, 5 with a mileage attached. That is too few to place the failure on the odometer with any confidence.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 102,000 miles. It is the 38th most-reported problem on this model year.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| — | — | 71,200 miles | — | — |
Read the 10th percentile as “one report in ten arrived this early”. Exact figures are shown in this table because it is the table of record; everywhere else on the site they are rounded to the precision the sample can carry.
What a percentile can and cannot tell you here
These five numbers describe the readings owners gave, in order. The median is the middle one: half the reports arrived below it. The 10th and 90th are the edges of the bulk of the distribution, and the distance between them is the part worth reading. A tight spread — say 70,000 to 95,000 miles — points at something that wears out on a schedule, and the schedule is knowable. A wide one, 20,000 to 190,000, points at a fault that hits some cars and never troubles others, which means the mileage on the listing in front of you tells you very little about your odds.
What these figures are not is a survival curve. Every reading here comes from a car whose owner filed a complaint, so the sample contains only failures: it cannot say what share of the fleet made it past 150,000 miles untouched, because those owners had nothing to report. Nor is the mileage the moment of failure — it is the odometer reading as recalled at the time of filing, which may be weeks later and is sometimes rounded to the nearest ten thousand by the person typing it.
Percentiles are shown at all only once 8 readings exist for the vehicle and mode. Below that the middle of a handful of numbers is noise wearing a decimal point, so the figures are withheld rather than dressed up.
What happens, and what it costs
Putting it right typically runs $400–$3,500 at an independent US shop. That range is an editorial estimate held in this site's failure-mode catalogue, not a figure from NHTSA, and it is a repair cost rather than a diagnosis cost.
The same failure on other years
The same failure is reported on 12 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 2006, at a median of 5,000 miles, and latest on the 2000 at 150,000 miles.
By volume the 2004 carries the most reports, with 22; the 2002 has 6. A mode that appears across most years of a model is usually a design choice rather than a bad batch.
If one year stands out to the left, that is the year to avoid; if the whole line sits at a similar mileage, this is wear rather than a defect in one production run.
Tick median reported mileage Solid middle half of reports Faint 10th to 90th percentile Colour how bad the failure is when it happens
What owners wrote
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint narratives, trimmed for length. The mileage is the one the owner gave.
I have had brake rotor problems early, starting at about 8,000 miles, with my vehicle. We live out in the country (very little city driving) so this is a very premature failure of the rotors. I have replaced the brake pads and turned the rotors but have discovered(too late) that the brake rotors are made of an inexpensive metal that overheats and warps easily. The overheating then causes the brake pads to glaze and thus reduces braking ability. This appears to be common as two other impala owners I've spoke with also suffer with this problem. It is even noted by many other owners at www.impalahq.com. Currently my car is out of warranty and I am planning on replacing the brakes (again). This time I will purchase rotors on my own since the factory and dealer issued rotors are no good. I am not happy with gm products because brakes are the last place a manufacturer needs to cut costs. *la
The intake manifold gasket is leaking. It poses a fire hazard if the car is overheated which could pose health threats to those in the car and others outside of the car. The car is a 2002 chevy impala with 71,000 miles. This car has had regular maintenance and is good condition. There have been several things fixed over the past two years. We have spent over $3,000 fixing everything. We cannot afford to fix yet another problem. This car should not be facing these problems at such an early stage. *tr
Tl*the contact owns a 2002 chevrolet impala. The contact stated that the vehicle would continuously overheat and the coolant warning light would illuminate on the instrument panel. In very high temperatures, the vehicle would hesitate to start and would often stall. The contact believed that there was an issue with the intake manifold. The manufacturer stated that the exhaust manifold could possibly be leaking water. There were no recalls for the failure. The VIN was unknown. The current and failure mileages were less than 126,000.
Also reported on the 2002 Chevrolet Impala
No-start or intermittent start failure
Other electrical problem
Other engine problem
Other lighting problem
Control module (ECM/PCM/BCM) failure
Headlight failure or clouding
How far this goes
This page is kept out of search results because 6 reports is not enough to publish percentiles from. It stays reachable because somebody looking at this exact car would rather see the reports than be told there are none.
Complaints are voluntary, so 6 is a floor and not a count of affected cars. Mileages are typed in by owners and cluster on round numbers. And the mode itself is assigned by software reading the complaint text, which is reliable in bulk and fallible one report at a time.
Questions this page answers
At what mileage does overheating happen on the 2002 Chevrolet Impala?
Across 5 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 70,000 miles. A quarter were filed before — and a quarter after —. These are the mileages owners reported when they complained, not a prediction for any individual car.
How common is overheating on the 2002 Chevrolet Impala?
6 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 0.1 per 1,000 vehicles. Complaints are voluntary, so this is a floor rather than a count of affected cars.
What this is and is not. These are the mileages at which owners chose to complain to a federal agency, which is not the same as the mileage at which the part fails on every car. It skews toward failures that happened outside warranty, cost real money, or frightened someone. It is still the only public dataset that carries failure mileage at all, and the shape of a few hundred readings is informative even when a single one is not. Methodology · JSON · this failure on other cars
Source Owner complaints and recall records published by the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, model years 1996–2027 Figures rebuilt Published by AtWhatMileage How every figure is computed