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remote start/panic/trunk problem

9K views 6 replies 4 participants last post by  Oldvetter 
#1 ·
Hi everyone. I'm new here, and I have a problem with my 2004 Malibu.

Occasionally when I try to remote start it by pushing the lock door button on the fob, the panic/alarm goes off and the car won't start. I know i'm hitting the lock door button and not the red alarm button. I have noticed this seems to happen on cold days. I've never had it happen on a warm day. Most times if it isn't really cold, the remote start works great.

I've had this problem since I've had the car. I took it in numerous times over the length of my factory warranty and they could never replicate the problem. During my extended warranty that I purchased, they couldnt replicate the problem. Now that my warranty has expired, guess what, they replicated the problem. I dropped it off last night when it was -35C and left it there hoping it would start at all, and it did thankfully, and they were able to see what I was talking about. They tried different fobs and that didn't help. They've tried putting in a new module and we're letting it sit tonight again, and they are going to try to start it again tomorrow and see if it honks or starts.

Oh yeah, and the more bizarre thing... after I go through this non-starting alarm thing... after I stop the alarm by pushing the opening door button, I can sometimes get it to start by pushing the release trunk button (and the trunk does open). I have no idea why.

We will see if it does it again inthe morning and if that module fix helped, but I'm not sure if I will know if it did fix the problem if it just didn't happen to do it that morning. It seems intermittent, but it does seem to be connected with weather.
Any thoughts?
Thanks
 
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#2 ·
Update:

Took it into dealer and they finally replicated the problem. The module that receives the signals from the key fob apparently had a warped circut board and they think that is what was happening in the cold is that the board was warping and then the connections were getting messed up. That's about as much detail as I have on that.

Well, that morning after it was pretty cold it the doors locked normally and it started normally! Haven't had the car start when opening the trunk yet either. Hopefully the problem is fixed but will keep tabs on it in case anyone else ever experiences this as I tried to find information on it and had a hard time. I don't know how many malibus there are out there that have had this problem.

At this point I can't be 100% sure that the problem has been addressed as there's only been one cold morning since and the problem was sort of intermittent anyways, but so far everything is great. We'll see! :)
 
#5 ·
Sorry, but I'm new here and having trouble getting my posts to work.

My mother is having the exact same problem with her 2004 Malibu - remote start not working on very cold days. Can you tell me what the cost was to replace the circut board? She's going into the dealership to have the problem looked at next week but doesn't want to spend a lot of money. Thanks for the information, at least we know what the problem is now.
 
#3 ·
I hate those problems that come and go with the weather. Since you can never get the right weather on the day of your appointment.
 
#4 ·
TDS009 - My mother is having the exact same problem (remote start not working on very cold days) with her 2004 Malibu. I was wondering what the charge was for replacing the circut board. She has an appointment with the dealership next week to look at the problem but doesn't want to spend a lot for a repair. Her car is also recently out of warranty. Thanks so much for the information. I feel we can go into the dealership with a little more info than we had before reading your post.
 
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