Other engine problem on the 2000 Chevrolet Malibu
1 crash 1 fire 2 of the 86 reports for this failure mention a crash, a fire, an injury or a death. Those are the owner's words on the complaint form, not a verified finding, and one report can mention more than one.
When other engine problem gets reported
Owners of the 2000 Chevrolet Malibu report other engine problem at a median of 67,500 miles. A quarter of the reports come in before 47,500 miles and a quarter after 85,000 miles, from 34 reports that carried an odometer reading.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 95,000 miles. It is the 5th most-reported problem on this model year.
The mileage distribution
The reported range runs from 37,500 miles at the tenth percentile to 140,000 miles at the ninetieth, a spread of 101,258 miles across the middle 80% of reports.
A spread this wide points at use rather than design. Towing, climate, service history and city mileage all move a failure like this, so the median is a weak guide to any individual car.
6% of the dated reports were filed under 36,000 miles.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 38,000 miles | 48,000 miles | 66,500 miles | 85,312 miles | 139,258 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
Of these reports, 1 a crash and 1 a fire are mentioned. Owners write their own complaints and the agency does not verify them, so read this as what the reports say happened rather than as a confirmed count.
Putting it right typically runs $300–$4,000 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 27 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 2018, at a median of 48,000 miles, and latest on the 2004 at 105,000 miles.
By volume the 2016 carries the most reports, with 226; the 2000 has 86. 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 too, have many of the problems that other malibu owners have. My turn signals work intermittently, the brakes have been replaced 2x, in addition to rotors, etc. The battery blew up, but was replaced as was the AC turning off and on by itself. The one issue that is very concerning to me, is one familiar to you. My car cuts off at anytime while driving. It has done this to me on 2 separate occasions. Nashville has 3 interstates running through it and I was on them both times this happened. It was very scary and dangerous. It is out of warranty and the shops that I have taken it to cannot replicate the problem. The mechanics at then shops told me that malibu's are by far some of the most troublesome cars on the road today. Someone is going to be killed. You lose control and have no steering ability, what does it take to fix the problem. I can see from others that their problems are being ignored as well. When will gm acknowledge the problem. Don't they watch the news and see what happened with the firestone recall, or the tobacco companies that kept secrets? It is time for someone to be responsible for their product. *nlm
My 2000 chevrolet malibu (36,000 miles) recently stalled 4 times while I was driving at high speeds on the highway. On friday 10/7 I was going approximately 80 MPH when the car suddenly turned off. I coasted to a stop on the shoulder. In about 5 minutes I was able to cut the car back on. At which time it resumed driving normally for about 10 miles. Then it stalled again. I towed the car into town and drove it to a repair shop. (yes, the car drove normally around town). The repair shop tested it and was unable to find anything wrong. When I picked the car up I drove about 40 miles (again at greater than 75 MPH) and the car stalled again. It started back up in 2-3 minutes. Then 30 miles later stalled again. This time on a part of the highway where there was no shoulder! I coasted the car until the shoulder reappeared, pulled on to it and re-started the car. The car does not show any symptoms of the problem in my day-to-day driving around town. However, it is not suitable to drive for long distances or at high speeds due to this condition. *la
2000 chevrolet malibu with persistent brake problems. Have to replace major brake components every approximately 20,000 miles. Also, dexcool coolent leak from the intake manifold after only (approx) 50,000 miles. Dexcool coolant breakdown and subsequent failure of cooling system. *ak
Also reported on the 2000 Chevrolet Malibu
Tail light, brake light or signal failure
Other brake problem
Premature brake pad or rotor wear
Other electrical problem
Other lighting problem
Fuel pump failure
How far this goes
Complaints are voluntary, so 86 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 other engine problem happen on the 2000 Chevrolet Malibu?
Across 34 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 67,500 miles. A quarter were filed before 47,500 miles and a quarter after 85,000 miles. These are the mileages owners reported when they complained, not a prediction for any individual car.
How common is other engine problem on the 2000 Chevrolet Malibu?
86 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 1.0 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