2013 Malibu Eco 225k no ac winter beater?

[Rmay635703]

I’m looking at buying a very very cheap 2013 Malibu eco with high miles, a crunchy leather drivers seat (not terrible) and a clean rust free body.
I’ve heard horror stories about the 2.4 but never on the older Malibu ecos. (Honestly can’t find much of anything about these first gen first year cars after all the bugs are fixed). Fuel dillusion is about the only issue and with my Cobalt the solution to dillusion is a lot of oil changes.

Similarly I haven’t heard anything specific against the transmission.

Based on what I’ve read the reason the ac stops engaging in these cars usually isn’t worth repairing. (Probably cost more than I’m paying)

So that said now that these things have been around over a decade do they occasionally last like the 400,000 mile impala’s I see buzzing around?

Or are these extremely unreliable with valve train and transmission issues?

I would like to own it semi temporarily due to one family member getting an injured hip and knee and becoming too immobile to drive our 100% mt fleet.
But it may need to stick around a few years if I continue have issues getting parts. Aka if these cars blow up after 100k and rarely exceed 200k I likely don’t want to mess with it.

 

[4WD]

My sister has a 2010 - no issues … not a hard driver and well maintained

 

[Rmay635703]

My sister has a 2010 - no issues … not a hard driver and well maintained

2013 is a different beast

 

[cptbarkey]

The local search of my favorite wrecking yard has several on hand. Thats never a good sign.

 

[4WD]

2013 is a different beast

Yeah junk - what you are looking for?

 

[Rmay635703]

Yeah junk - what you are looking for?

A cheap automatic for an injured family member that will last a couple years.

$1500 doesn’t buy much

 

[4WD]

A cheap automatic for an injured family member that will last a couple years.

$1500 doesn’t buy much

You can get that 2013 for $1500 ?

 

[Rmay635703]

You can get that 2013 for $1500 ?

Cheap junk is always cheap right?

 

[4WD]

Cheap junk is always cheap right?

CarGurus is an easy reference …

 

[Rmay635703]

CarGurus is an easy reference …

Looks like always Electrical issues, the act of steering the car causing it to stall is a nice touch

A few individuals claim to be able to disable e-assist and keep the 12v battery charged with a cel and inop e-assist.

Sounds like a worser Honda Insight

 

[JavierH19]

I guess it's worth a gamble if it runs and drives even for 5k miles if it's 1500 bucks. That ac problem could be as easy as a pressure switch or schrader valve. I've seen someone drive for over a year without ac when they could have just jumped the low side switch with a paper clip which I did when I rode with him after first jumping the relay to check the compressor and getting cold air and he was so upset he didn't try to do anything. He assumed it'd be super expensive just to even get a diagnosis and didn't bother.

 

[Rmay635703]

I guess it's worth a gamble if it runs and drives even for 5k miles if it's 1500 bucks. That ac problem could be as easy as a pressure switch or schrader valve. I've seen someone drive for over a year without ac when they could have just jumped the low side switch with a paper clip which I did when I rode with him after first jumping the relay to check the compressor and getting cold air and he was so upset he didn't try to do anything. He assumed it'd be super expensive just to even get a diagnosis and didn't bother.

It’s unfortunately a car with a very cheaply built very expensive HV battery that can run completely fine without said battery but nobody has made a walkthrough to remove and bypass it. When the hv battery dies the car runs fine with a cell but refuses to charge the 12v forcing you to replace the big battery, inconveniently the battery control module tends to die with the battery.

I unfortunately am not familiar enough with it to properly determine the cars hv battery and controller condition. And cold weather makes it harder to overheat and brick the car during a test drive.

Sort of stupid that a car called ECO is actually a half baked hybrid.

 

[clinebarger]

I’m looking at buying a very very cheap 2013 Malibu eco with high miles, a crunchy leather drivers seat (not terrible) and a clean rust free body.
I’ve heard horror stories about the 2.4 but never on the older Malibu ecos. (Honestly can’t find much of anything about these first gen first year cars after all the bugs are fixed). Fuel dillusion is about the only issue and with my Cobalt the solution to dillusion is a lot of oil changes.

Similarly I haven’t heard anything specific against the transmission.

Based on what I’ve read the reason the ac stops engaging in these cars usually isn’t worth repairing. (Probably cost more than I’m paying)

So that said now that these things have been around over a decade do they occasionally last like the 400,000 mile impala’s I see buzzing around?

Or are these extremely unreliable with valve train and transmission issues?

I would like to own it semi temporarily due to one family member getting an injured hip and knee and becoming too immobile to drive our 100% mt fleet.
But it may need to stick around a few years if I continue have issues getting parts. Aka if these cars blow up after 100k and rarely exceed 200k I likely don’t want to mess with it.

Same as the Regal E-Assist 2.4L of the era?

 

[dishdude]

Same as the Regal E-Assist 2.4L of the era?

Yes.

 

[JTK]

I've got a 2016 8th gen Malibu LT. It's the 2013-2015 body style. Ours has the Eco badge on it as well, but all that meant for this 2.5L equipped GM is it's got auto stop/start.

It's a nice car. Exterior seems huge, but the interior isn't. The door openings are small, etc. it's got a crazy large AGM battery under the hood and a tiny motorcycle battery in the truck to keep some electrical items steady during auto stop/start.

Insurance cost is higher than other similar vehicles and plastic front end parts are expensive. Daughter hit a deer with ours so most of the nose plastic is long gone and staying that way.

The a/c is barely hanging on at 90k miles on ours. The 2.5l and 6spd auto has good power. Fuel economy is ok. Mid high 20s

 

[daves87rs]

Regular malibus of the era-ok,

Ecos are pure junk- it’s ready for the junkyard. These cars are even tough for the DIYers.

That should tell ya something……

 

[Rmay635703]

Regular malibus of the era-ok,

Ecos are pure junk- it’s ready for the junkyard. These cars are even tough for the DIYers.

That should tell ya something……

I wonder why GM couldn’t even make a functional AC on cars of that era?

Open inverter has guys that have hacked these cars to remove the hv battery but they don’t spell out the how.