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Chevy Malibu 2.5 L 2014: 74,446 miles, stalls on cold start after half a minute

18K views 44 replies 8 participants last post by  Scara 
#1 · (Edited)
CMF EDIT: This post has been updated with additional/corrected info by the author. The new corrected form may make some of the following posts confusing.

Please can someone help me with this. If anyone has had this same issue, can you let me know what you did to fix the problem.
So, starting in the middle of Sep my check engine light came on. It was the high o2 sensor. My dad changed this out and a day later the check engine light went off, but then the car started to stall out on a cold start after a minute. I started it back up and it stayed started, but would rumble at low RPM 500. The Malibu 2014 2.5 runs well and seems to be turning over good. In the beg of Oct the car still continued to stall out on a cold start, no codes being thrown since middle of September. My dad cleaned the throttle body and checked out all the vacuums around the Throttle and MAS. No leaks. My dad checked my intake manifold and all the bolts were extremely loose on the intake. He tightened them and I took it in to a privately owned body shop to have the bolts tightened to spec. Still after this, the car continues to stall on a cold start. Last week I took it into the Hugh white Chevy dealership in lancaster Ohio and they told me “We can’t diagnose it if it’s not throwing a code” Jesus man? What has happened to the Trade in this country? Anyhow, I drop some $ down and put a brand spanking new Throttle body in.. the car continues to stall. I ended up having the same dealership put a new MAS sensor in and today 10/30/20 the car is still stalling after the first cold start, but starts back up and drives. No codes being thrown. .! Can someone please explain what the issue may be?
 
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#2 ·
The only 2014 Malibu with a 2.4L engine is the mild hybrid version, and it's very rare for that year. All others had a 2.5L engine or a 2.0L turbocharged engine. If you search the forum, there have been a number of reports of 2.5L models with rough idling and stalling issues with loose intake manifold bolts, tightening those bolts usually fixes the problem.

Another common issue is carbon build up in the intake ports and valves because of the direct fuel injection system. That has to be manually cleaned out with a process called walnut shell blasting and costs around $300-400. It can be done at home with a lot of elbow grease.

If your car is a 2.4L mild hybrid, it's a totally different animal.
 
#3 ·
isn’t the dealers

I appreciate the response! I bought this vehicle from my parents in 2018 with 27,800 on the 2014 Malibu. My father at the time indicated the engine is a 2.4. I am supposed to take the vehicle back to the dealership next week. I’ve mentioned possibly the Fuel pump relay, fuel pump circuit, BCM. I have an Auto technician friend in Texas who has done research on my problem and has Indicated it could possibly be the battery cables that need changed out. If there are anymore suggestions anyone may have, please don’t hesitate✌🏼
 
#4 ·
That didn't really answer what engine you actually have. It makes a significant difference. Look at these pictures and let us know which looks like your car.

This is the engine bay of a 2.4L Malibu mild hybrid.




This is the engine bay of a 2.5L Malibu.

 
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#6 · (Edited)
Sorry, my dad and were wrong. Anyhow, the car has never had any issues ever like this. It’s ran Great since I bought it from them. I also need to mention that I found my gas tank door open in the middle of Aug, and as you prob know these cars don’t come with a locked gas cap. When I noticed this also in August, the gas cap was still on and I did not see any residue of any sort near the cap or ground below. Both places I have taken it have checked the gas and fuel pressure and both said they don’t think the tank was tampered, but I just wanted to throw this out there just to help with a possible diagnosis. This has been very stressful😔
 
#8 · (Edited)
I just drove the car a hour ago. I started it. Cold start. Stalled out sooner than all the other times. I restarted it, it stalled out again. I then restarted it for a third time and it stayed started, a little rumbly, but not as much as it had been on 10/28/20 Wed. As I had mentioned, the dealership placed a new Throttle body in it 10/29/20 the stalling continued and they threw a new MAS in it and the stalling stopped while at the dealership. No codes at all.
 
#9 ·
Is the air filter clean and unimpeded?

Has the fuel pump relay been swapped with another relay like it, or replaced outright to ensure that it's not dying of fuel starvation?

Are all of the ground cables from the battery tight and clean, as well as the grounding straps to the engine?

I'd get an OBD dongle and use the Torque app to monitor the fuel pressure as well as any other sensors that could tell you something about what's going on. I now use a BlueDriver dongle and their free app and it will read all 4 code families, which is very useful with today's computers on wheels.

BTW, if you ever want to know what size engine is in a car, lift the hood and look at the emissions sticker. It'll have the engine size right there for you.
 
#10 · (Edited)
My air filter was just changed earlier this summer. I’ll make sure it’s in there correctly and is the correct size.
For the fuel pump relay, I was told by a mechanic buddy of mine that it could be something as simple as changing the Battery cables out. I mentioned this to the Dealership. The dealership said the pressure was good on the fuel, and nothing was found in the fuel, but I will mention all the advice you have given. I do take care of my vehicles and I’m very concerned. I don’t want to loose an arm and a leg at the dealership for something that could be as basic as a battery cable change etc.. 🥺


Thanks for the advice! I’m going to need it! Single woman, all I have to go by is what my dad has taught me and tons of the correct research and reliable sources.
 
#11 ·
Before you wander off to pay someone to do more, pull the fuel pump relay, look at how many pins it has, then find another one with the same and swap them.

If the problem persists, then the relay is not likely the cause.

Any work done at the dealership will cost, and it's quite often more than independent shops. I'm not saying not to go there; just making you aware that you have options. Either way, it'll cost you money.

What I don't see is any mention of the intake valves being inspected for crud, as mentioned in post #2 by @cp-the-nerd. If the car runs fine otherwise, spend some time and try to look at them yourself. If that's not possible, then consider adding those to your laundry list.

The new TB was probably just a guess by the shop, and now that it hasn't panned out as the cause, it can be considered a costly lesson in what not to do. Don't just go throwing parts at the car. Find the cause, use logic, and make the shop prove that the part they say you need is actually needed, or else they can put the original part back on and charge you nothing for their sell-you-parts-just-to-make-you-feel-better tactics.
 
#12 ·
My guess is loose intake manifold bolts. Vacuum leak on a cold start will lean stall the engine. After warm up and expansion it seals more. I had a Sable with leaky intake gaskets and it would cold stall and be fine after warm up.
Vacuum leak is probably more than system can compensate for when cold. Checking those bolts would be a good step since it's been reported by others.
 
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#22 ·
My guess is loose intake manifold bolts. Vacuum leak on a cold start will lean stall the engine. After warm up and expansion it seals more. I had a Sable with leaky intake gaskets and it would cold stall and be fine after warm up.
Vacuum leak is probably more than system can compensate for when cold. Checking those bolts would be a good step since it's been reported by others.
If you suspect a problem with the intakle get a can of carb cleaner and take off the beauty plastic. Start the car and start spraying the cleaner around the intake ports. If you hear an increase in RPM you know you have a leak.
 
#13 · (Edited)
I don’t work on the cars, my father usually does and he is old and grouchy and doesn’t want to mess with it. His exact words “Chevrolet built the SOB, let them figure it out”. I’ve already spent some money for the throttle body and MAS. I'm very hesitant on going back because obviously they don’t know what it is, but I don’t know what else to do.
 
#14 ·
I believe the intake manifold bolts were already checked, tightened, and double checked. That is a good item to cross off the list because it is very common. Following that I would want to see about actually replacing the manifold gasket since it was loose for so long.
My dad checked my intake manifold and all the bolts were extremely loose on the intake. He tightened them and I took it in to a privately owned body shop to have the bolts tightened to spec. Still after this, the car continues to stall on a cold start.
 
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#15 ·
The manifold bolts where loose as a goose, you could hear the bolts rattling when my dad was tightening them. I just had the alternator and battery checked and air filter. All good. Car idling good at 500RPM no rumble or stalling. It did stall about 45 minutes ago when I first started it up since 430a this morning.

Drivendaily, thank you for all the input. I’m going to pass what you said along and try to start dealing in parts and find someone trustworthy to look into it and help me. The dealership said they would keep trying to figure out what is wrong with the car at no charge, but if they need new parts.. I’m pretty much screwed. I may just have to breakdown and see if my dad will help. This really sucks with Winter coming. 👎🏼

Thanks for the words of wisdom! This is the first time I’ve had to do this by myself.
 
#16 ·
Not sure if this will help, but you said this started after changing the o2 sensor. Did you use an aftermarket brand or did you use oem (ac delco)? Sometimes chevys are very picky with their sensors and computers working together, and if it starts fine then stalls out after a minute, it sounds to me like there is a possibility of the sensor not reading exactly how the engine wants when going into closed loop (running off the o2 sensors to get the right air fuel mixture), causing it to stall out do to improper air fuel mixture. Just my two cents, hope you figure out your issue :)
 
#18 ·
Possibly the intake manifold gaskets got damaged from bolts being super loose. Like I said in post 12 my Sable would only act up with a cold motor. And it was a V6 that did not have the free hanging 4 cyl. manifold.
 
#21 ·
Your car could possibly have a fault and be in limp home mode where the engine loses power. Do you have check engine lights on? If you are going to start learning more about your car you can start with this. It will at least tell you what your car thinks is wrong with it. You plug this into your diagnostic port under the dash and download an app called Torqlite (it's free). The OBD II is $12.99 at Amazon. I just bought a 2014 Malibu and have been chasing problems since day 1. It's at the dealer now. My garage gave up after putting a new battery in thinking it was low voltage setting off the sensors. Now I am getting ready to have a new ECM and Fuseblock. Oh joy. We have a 2012 LTZ with 135K that has never given a minute's problem.

69779
 
#20 ·
Since it appears your dealer wasn't able to find the issue since there is no fault code, you might consider taking it to an independent shop so they take the time to connect a scanner and monitor on cold start. Something with fuel might show there. It is true, if the problem is electrical or engine related dealers tend to look for a fault code. Reading they just tossed parts at it is disappointing. Unless of course they found codes and replaced based on those codes and just didn't tell you. Sometimes issues have more than one cause... but it sounds like a part toss to me. Beyond that, if you are looking to toss your own parts, a couple of us recommend the intake manifold gasket since the bolts were wiggle loose. Speaking of which - have you tried disconnecting the battery for 20 minutes following tightening of those bolts? It might need to relearn if there was that large of a leak.
 
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#23 ·
Hey grayghost,
That’s the weird thing, no codes at least not the dashboard codes. I last had a code in the middle of sep... check engine for a high 02 sensor. Changed it out.. the check engine light was off the next day. This is when the car started giving me the cold start stalling. Still stalling on a cold start, but the damn thing runs well, except for the fuel economy sucking little boggy on acceleration. I took it to the dealer and it was highway robbery just like I’ve always been told it would be. Sad, can’t even have trust in the dealership where the vehicle was purchased from and paid off with out any issues. The trade for mechanics has went down the drain. Only few and far in between technicians actually know how to get under the hood and search for the issue these days. Sad, sad, sad. I’m an old soul.. don’t belong in these times✌🏼❤
Man I’ve looked up so much information on corrosion of the fuse box, bad ECM and this leading to the fuel pump circuit acting janky.

Check this out http s: // www . car gurus.com/cars/discussion-+2017a5544085. Possible codes involved: Po230, po615, Po645,b1325. When this first started happening, I researched this about the wiring getting fried due to Chevy using to small of gauge wiring, and the connections at the fuel pump relay get smoked. My fad checked the back fuse box and saw no corroded wiring. I’m going to be taking my car to this independent shop in Columbus and will be asking them about all this. I’ll let ya know what they have to say. If this independent mechanic finds the real issue, I’m going to let Chevrolet have it. Wish me luck!🤓
 
#25 ·
Just turned 60 thousand. What really sets me off is this car runs absolutely perfect. Great gas mileage.No starting issue. But the dealer said sometimes the pins get bent where the fuseblock attaches, and we only had one remote for the car, so bought two new ones. Could not get them to program, even though it's pretty easy. We had no Onstar then suddenly it came to life. The car is haunted. Twice the service power steering has come on for about 6 miles then magically healed itself. Rather than keep fighting this, I agreed to pony up the $1100 and let them fix what they think is wrong. After this if anything electrical goes bad it's on them. The ignition relay has already been replaced but the error code keeps coming back. As some on her mentioned, they are just chasing codes, not tracing it down to what is really wrong. The dealer agreed that they are overengineering these cars to squeeze out every ounce of fuel mileage. This car has the stop/start feature too. After two minutes it shuts down and has a spare battery to power things.Ridiculous.I have owned two Impalas and not had a minute's problem with either, except for an emissions code on my 2007 with 178K miles on it. I am going back to older stuff. The newer they are the more troubles they have. Where my car is now the guy told me they have a brand new Corvette, $120K and have been working a week on it chasing electrical problems. Enough.


Since you live in a bigger city (I assume you mean Columbus, OH), look for a place that specializes in electric repair. We have one in Nashville that has been around for 75 years. All they do is electrical problems, so they probably have a good handle on what goes with these cars.
If you want to see something pathetic google You Tube power steering on a 2014 Malibu. I didn't know it was electric. So we are on a trip and it comes on and it's very annoying. Disables the car power and chimes every 10 seconds. We pulled over at the next exit and watched the video. Some sales guy at a Chevy dealership was going around showing where fluids get added. So my GF says I found it, the filler is right here. The idiot was pointing at the transmission fill hole. It is still on You Tube and the comments are a riot. I had already changed the tranny fluid so I knew it was wrong.
 
#26 · (Edited)
It’s a money game. That’s how the United States works now. Good luck with the dealer. Hopefully they don’t go back on their word. Write everything down, make sure you get peoples names you are dealing with. My parents owned this Chevrolet and bought it brand new in 2014. There has been no other serious issue other then a recall I think. Lol I just got to the part of your message where you said “It chimed every ten seconds” lol I could just picture that. I don’t mean to laugh, but these cars and some of the posts on here read so funny. I’m sorry dude that your trip got messed up. I’ve found a place in Columbus, but I’m waiting for Chevy to own up for misdiagnosing my vehicle. Goodluck with the dealership there. Make sure you stay on them. They are playing the waiting game with me now. 👎🏼
 
#27 · (Edited)
Also, what was your car doing when the ignition relay was starting to go out? Was there codes thrown? Did the car stall out? It’s just aggravating that when I took the car to Chevrolet and I told them that my father thought it was the throttle body, so they automatically changed the throttle body! Ha! I can almost guarantee they didn’t even look at any other aspect under the hood of the car. I’m going to get the full print out from this Chevy manufacturer lady I’m in contact with. That’s if she calls me back. 🤞🏻I’m a chick. I was taken full advantage of.
I wanted to add also that my 2014 Malibu also has the start/ stop and I’ve noticed it hasn’t being working in a while since all this has started. I thought about this earlier this week, but I was actually glad it wasn’t working because it’s annoying and induces panic when it happens!
 
#28 ·
Actually if not for the check engine light you would never know the car had a problem. Which makes it even more frustrating. The car runs perfect. Now I am spending $1100 on a car that goes down the road just fine. Maddening. But I am sick of it throwning codes, and the very infrequent power steering problem. I fear this is not the last of it. What caused the ECM to go bad? Or the fuseblock? Well now, other than the pain in the butt of dropping it off at the dealer it will be their problem also. As much as I enjoy the car, I think I am going to have to get rid of it. Just a money pit. Sad that GM has become this way. When I called into ONSTAR every person there was a female and asian or something to that effect. Could barely understand anything they were saying. The guy at Chevy I spoke with said that due to the car having a salvage title they would not be helping in any way. I guess I can understand their side of that, but I have pics of the car where it went up for auction. You can't even tell it was ever in an accident. I am baffled as to why it has a salvage title. But this lets GM off the hook.
 
#30 ·
Haha female or Asian.. I’m laughing seriously right now. It’s the same way with Chevy. Both times I’ve called to explain my situation with the manufacturer, it’s alway been an Asian woman and she speaks way to fast. I am not shy to let them know “I can’t understand them”. I have a feeling if the cold start issue with mine can’t be fixed, I’m going to start saving more down for a new ride. It’s a flipping nightmare tying to negotiate a trade in with these crooks. Please let me know what happens with yours. I will most definitely be back on here to update my experience. Way too much time put into all of this. The least I can do is try to help someone else with the issue. This forum has turned out to be the most positive thing out of this entire situation.
 
#31 ·
Glad you understand. And yes, I ask them to slow down or put a guy on because I don't hear well and it's harder to understand females. They just ignore it. I would caution you to never buy new. The depreciation will kill you, and if you are financing it will cost you even more. Hopefully there is an end in sight with your problems and you can drive it for a lot of miles. The ECOTEC engine is actually very good. It's a SAAB design. It's just the electronics that are a nightmare. Good luck.
 
#34 ·
I get it, “Female” I’m not a die hard feminist, I agree a man does belong under the hood of a car and other things that come with that. That car doesn’t even look scathed. Can’t believe it was a salvage. My parents always buy their cars brand new, my dad does the work, they trade it back in and deal with the dealers. Too much stress for me.
 
#39 ·
LOL, he calls the hood strut a "shock", and the trans fluid cap is for the "power steering fluid". It has EPS.
 
#43 ·
Thanks!

If you were to look back in my history, you'll find that I had bought a new 2011 with that paint, but lost it to a flood 3 years later. While looking for a car that week, I checked out a lot of cars, like an Impala SS and a Mustang or two, plus a Mercedes. I think there were others, but what I ended up with was another 2011 in RJT with the V6, making it 3 in a row for the V6 and an almost twin of the car I had just lost. The wheels on the lost one were machined alloy and these are chromed alloy. (I thought they were chromed steel for the longest time.)

I love the color as well.
 
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