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Hi, been lurking since my wife picked up a 2002 Malibu LS, looking for useful info.
Since I had and fixed a minor electrical glitch I decided to post on it to save others from the same problem.
One of the first things she wanted changed was the stereo. The stock system had nice controls but who wants to be putting CD's in it every few minutes?
Very limited number of head units will fit the Malibu, and of course, there is the chime problem.
Picked up a JVC, kit, chime module, and speakers from Crutchfield and put them in, not a big job.
However, two days later, dead battery. Battery is new, system charges, etc.
Charged it, no visible problems, but two days later, dead again.
Anyway, after doing a simple draw test I found the factory amp (in the left side of trunk, behind the carpet) was failing to shut off with the aftermarket head unit. It would turn on correctly, but when you shut the car off, and the RAP module killed the power, it wasn't killing it to the amp.
I had already put a second amp back there, a Clarion powered sub woofer, so it only took about five minutes to put a relay in the circuit so when the Clarion shuts down, it chops power to the factory amp.
For those that don't know, on that model Malibu the factory amp only pumps power to the rear speakers.
Anyway, everything works as it should now.
To test for mystery draws on the Malibu takes some kind of amp gauge that can handle around the ten amp range.
I have several, but I used a cheap digital VOM that has a ten amp scale. Disconnected the battery at the negative, ran the power through the Volt Ohm Meter on ten amp scale. When the car is first shut off it draws about 2 amps. When you open the driver’s door it kills the RAP module ( the device that controls the reserve power so you can listen to the radio after you pull the keys) so the draw drops to about 1.5 amps, then as the foot lights dim it goes to about .8 amps, or 800 milliamps. After five minutes or so it drops to 400 milliamps, then after about a half hour down to 100-150 or so where it stays.
The factory amp was drawing about 400, or enough combined with the other draw to kill the battery in about 50 hours.
Anyway, easy fix but it took longer to track it down than fix it, of course.
By the way, the rear speakers are 6x9 but the holes are NOT. You either need very flat speakers or must enlarge the hole in the rear deck to use full size 6x9’s in most brands.
The rear speakers also take 4 wires. You have to NOT connect the two wires for the ‘bass’ side of the speakers, just the two wires that go to the ‘full range’ side of the speakers or you get no sound from the rear.
Harder to say than do, but test and find which of the sets will power your speakers before you tape up your harness.
Since I had and fixed a minor electrical glitch I decided to post on it to save others from the same problem.
One of the first things she wanted changed was the stereo. The stock system had nice controls but who wants to be putting CD's in it every few minutes?
Very limited number of head units will fit the Malibu, and of course, there is the chime problem.
Picked up a JVC, kit, chime module, and speakers from Crutchfield and put them in, not a big job.
However, two days later, dead battery. Battery is new, system charges, etc.
Charged it, no visible problems, but two days later, dead again.
Anyway, after doing a simple draw test I found the factory amp (in the left side of trunk, behind the carpet) was failing to shut off with the aftermarket head unit. It would turn on correctly, but when you shut the car off, and the RAP module killed the power, it wasn't killing it to the amp.
I had already put a second amp back there, a Clarion powered sub woofer, so it only took about five minutes to put a relay in the circuit so when the Clarion shuts down, it chops power to the factory amp.
For those that don't know, on that model Malibu the factory amp only pumps power to the rear speakers.
Anyway, everything works as it should now.
To test for mystery draws on the Malibu takes some kind of amp gauge that can handle around the ten amp range.
I have several, but I used a cheap digital VOM that has a ten amp scale. Disconnected the battery at the negative, ran the power through the Volt Ohm Meter on ten amp scale. When the car is first shut off it draws about 2 amps. When you open the driver’s door it kills the RAP module ( the device that controls the reserve power so you can listen to the radio after you pull the keys) so the draw drops to about 1.5 amps, then as the foot lights dim it goes to about .8 amps, or 800 milliamps. After five minutes or so it drops to 400 milliamps, then after about a half hour down to 100-150 or so where it stays.
The factory amp was drawing about 400, or enough combined with the other draw to kill the battery in about 50 hours.
Anyway, easy fix but it took longer to track it down than fix it, of course.
By the way, the rear speakers are 6x9 but the holes are NOT. You either need very flat speakers or must enlarge the hole in the rear deck to use full size 6x9’s in most brands.
The rear speakers also take 4 wires. You have to NOT connect the two wires for the ‘bass’ side of the speakers, just the two wires that go to the ‘full range’ side of the speakers or you get no sound from the rear.
Harder to say than do, but test and find which of the sets will power your speakers before you tape up your harness.
