2002 Malibu Problems

[PHOENIX]

We have a 2002 Chevy Malibu.
The car has approximately 47,000 miles on it now.
We purchased the extended warranty (covers up to 60,000 miles).
The car is about to have the 4th battery installed.
The first battery "went bad" and was replaced under original warranty.
The second battery "had internal short" and was replaced under original warranty.
The third battery "went bad" and is out of original warranty and the extended warranty excludes the battery.
Before the car was towed to the dealer I pulled the battery and had Checker test it.
The guy at checker told me that the battery is good and will hold a charge it just needs to be charged.
The dealer now tells me that this battery is bad and can't be charged.
I asked him why the battery doesn't have a warranty it says "6-years" right on the top of it.
He says a battery replaced under warranty only has a warranty as long as the original warranty.
So this 3rd battery, which is about 1-year old has no warranty because it was replaced within the original 36000 mile warranty.
He also said because the battery is not covered in the extended warranty the diagnosis fee is $40.00 and the new battery will cost $55.00.
I told him there is no way I am buying another one of these junk batteries.
I told him I will be putting an Optima battery in there.
He said if I buy the battery and bring it down they will install it for free while they have the car.
They also found a coolant leak between the intake and the block which is being fixed so they will pay for one day $30.00 car rental and will pay for $50.00 of the tow.
But we will have to pay the $17.00 remaining in the tow bill.
So far the bill is $57.00 + new battery.

Also the front brake pads need replacing and the cost for new pads, turned rotors and install is $225.00.
Is replacing the pads and turning the rotor on a newer car like this the same as doing my older (83) truck?
If so Ill buy the pads and do the work myself.

Anyway what pisses me off is the damn battery problems the car is having.
Do these AC Delco batteries suck this bad?
Do you think if I contact GM and explain to them the repeated battery problem the will refund us the $57.00?

What do you guys think about all this?

[70c10]

These cars seem to have alot of electrical issues. I have heard bad stories. These cars have poor resale value as a result. My dad has a 98' with a 3.1 I think. The brakes should be easy to do. Good luck.

[DennyB]

The brakes should be easier than your truck.
Once the caliper is off the rotor slides right off the hub. No messing with wheel bearings.

[BillGent]

A Girl at Work Had one... It was constantly breaking down... Mostly electrical stuff.

[Nova_Cobra64]

As far as the battery goes, I can't say weather it falls under extended warranty or not. But he is correct about there not being any warranty on the battery. The whole purpose of warranty is to keep a car in proper shape for an X number of miles. Basically when they replace a part under warranty it is just like the rest of the car, and is no longer under warranty once the car is past whatever their X number of miles is.

As for the brake pads, being from a different area it is hard to compare, but personally I think it is a ripoff. Here we do the goodwrench brake special, which is $119 parts and labour, plus $30 to cut both rotors if they need to be done, and that is Canadian pricing.

And I also think $40 to diagnose a bad battery is beyond rediculous, providing my assumption that they did noting more than that is correct.

But, again I guess it is hard to compare, because more often then not, dealers in large centers do a lot of screwing around with things like price matrixes and stuff. We have compared bills from other dealers in large centers at work before and some things are just crazy.......they charge people $900 for things we do for $600.

[PHOENIX]

Nova I hear ya. The $40 is a rip off.
We are going to make some complaints to GM about these cheap ass batteries and see if they will refund us the $57.00 for these problems.
I bought a optima red top for the car last night and brought it to the dealer so they can install it while they have the car for the intake leak.
Other then this battery thing, the car has been pretty good to us.
It just pisses us off that the ac delco batteries suck so bad.
This kind of thing makes me not want to purchase any newer Chevys.
It seems like everyone I know who has a newer Chevy has had it in the shop at least twice within the first 3 years.
Plus the value of this car dropped a lot.
I think the next car will be a Civic or Accord.
They seem to hold up really well and they hold their value well also.

[Nova_Cobra64]

Yeah, definately get in contact with GM, but don't butt heads. Lay out all the info nicely and ask them if they are willing to do anything concidering it has been a persistant problem that started while it was still under warranty. It is a legitimate complaint and they will probably deal with you on some level. I know they do get some stupid calls and even then they will ask the dealership if they are willing to go halfs or something. We replaced an oil pan heater on an 89 Grand Am with a Quad 4 a few weeks ago. GM had a campaign and put these on the Quad 4 cars back in the early 90's to cure some sort of freeze-up problem, so she phoned and said they should pay for it again.

As far as AC Delco batteries go, we don't have a huge amount of trouble with them. probably only replace 1/20 of what we sell under warranty, which I don't think is bad concidering the weather we get here.

[Hooter]

I am almost going to have to start refusing to install remote starters in all the new Impalas and Malibus, they seem to have so many electrical problems, and when something fails in the cars and I have installed a remote starter or alarm, the dealership always tries to pin the problem on my work, because of course its never GMS fault

[PHOENIX]

OK well it took an extra day so they are extending the rental car use for another day.
One other reason we brought the car in is because of the cd player isnt working.
I was just told that it will be 2-3 weeks before a radio is available.
What kind of BS is this?
Anything I can do about this?

[Hooter]

tell them to give you some money to buy an aftermarket deck, because the factory gm stereos are like 500 bucks canadian around here, and think about how good of an aftermarket cd player you can buy for that amount of money!!