2002 Chevrolet Malibu: windshield wiper failure

Filed Dec 9, 2014 · Electrical · 78,000 miles · TX

While vehicle is on some power is lost while vehicle is still running. Motor is on but A/C , dashboard gauges, power windows, power locks, windshield wipers do not operate. I recently had vehicle serviced for recent recall #14350. I have noticed on inspecting vehicle that if key is slightly adjar or moved these loses happen. When contacting gm dealership I was informed that it had nothing to do with ignition.

Filed Sep 18, 2008 · Visibility · 68,500 miles · OH

My wife was driving the car on friday, september 12, 2008 on state route 2 westbound during a rainstorm at approximately 5 pm. Suddenly, the windshield wipers stopped working when a semi-truck passed. This has never happened before. She was very scared and began to slow down. She then turned the wiper control lever to every speed setting until the high speed setting began to work. Wiper motor was determined to have failed and was replaced.

Filed Mar 21, 2007 · Electrical · 30,000 miles · OK

Driving car and it would die. First occurance was under warranty. Car taken to dealer. Dealer said fuel pump was bad and replaced pump. Same problem ocurred out of warranty. Noticed that some of the gages and lights on dash also quit when this happened. I could hit the key and they would come back on, and the car would restart. Dealt with this for about 2 yrs because the cost of a new switch was more than I could afford at the time.finnally dissassembled the ignition switch when problem got too bad. Discovered that gm had not used the normal heavy wiper style contacts that most ignition switches have. They used a plastic cam that pushes pins that operate very light spring style contacts. I found that the contacts had arced and were not making good contact. Used very fine emery cloth to clean contacts, reassembled switch, and problem was solved.car starts and runs fine for now, but as soon as contacts arc enough, problem will return. I have noticed that there are many many people who have the same problem and the dealership is telling them that the problem is in the security system. Well its not. Anyone who has a minor amount of mechanical ability can fix the problem in about an hour. Be sure and consult a repair manual on the proper removal of the ignition switch from the dash. Its not hard, but there is a trck to it.

Filed May 13, 2006 · Electrical, Engine · 45,000 miles · NH

Car has failed to start on numerous occasions and no one has been able to tell us why. We have had to replace the head gasket, which had not fixed the problem. Our wipers only work on high. Our heat only works on number 4 and 5. While driving home on the freeway during rush hour with my baby daughter in the car, the car just decided to die on me. I had to try to get out of the passing lane, so that I could pull off of the road. My radio and heat still worked, but car would not restart. My oil and battery and cruise control lights were on (I had not even used the cruise control) and my car just would not start. It took me an hour to get my car to start again, now I am afraid to drive it any distance for fear of being stranded.

Filed May 11, 2006 · Electrical, Visibility · 50,130 miles · OH

My 2002 chevy malibu ls would not start and needed towed home. This is the first time this has happened and seems to happen regularly to other malibu owners with no recall from gm yet. I have a young child and wife that drive use the car mostly and am worried of their safety if this would happen on a highway. I have also had problems with the windshield wipers quitting during a rainstorm. I contacted gm and I was told there was no recall and all repairs would be out of pocket even though this is a safety issue. The vehicle only has 50,000 miles on it.

Filed Oct 18, 2003 · Visibility · DC

Many makes of cars now have the windshield washer fluid coming out of small rubber tubes attached to the windshield wipers. When I was driving on the pennsylvania turnpike in january the windshield washer fluid froze within the tubes and would not come out. This creates a dangerous situation in which road salt splashed from other cars fairly quickly builds up on your windshield and you can hardly see out of the windshield while driving over 60 MPH on an interstate highway. The day was cold, perhaps 14 degrees, but not extremely cold and this was pennsylvania not minnesota nor canada. My guess is that the 14 degrees weather plus driving at 70 miles per hour creates a windchill that is below the -20 degrees that the washer fluid is good for. But it is on cold winter days that you specifically need the windshield washer fluid because of the salt left on the road. The fluid began to flow again when I got into slightly warmer temperatures in maryland. I never diluted the windshield fluid with water. For this winter I have bought windshield washer fluid that is good to minus 38 degrees and have also bought an alcohol additive for the fluid that will make it good to about minus 40 degrees and I will see if that works. But many drivers won't know ahead of time to do that, and almost all gas stations only sell the standard -20 fluid. I think that car manufacturers in designing future models should go back to the old system of windshield washer fluid coming out of slits in the hood instead of coming out of the windshield wipers.