# 3.1 liter 2000 Malibu overheating



## Race (Jun 11, 2005)

44,000 miles, anyone know of any overheating problems? Any information much appreciated.


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## johnwill (Sep 26, 2002)

Sounds like it's about water pump time. :smile: The usual causes of overheating are thermostat, loose/defective belts, and water pumps. Of course, this assumes you've checked/changed the coolant mixture and it's a 50/50 mix or close.


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## batty_professor (Jul 29, 2004)

A little history on your problem wouldn't hurt here. Is there/was there any coolant leaks? Corrected? And if so, when you refilled, did you purge the air from the system? If it's airlogged, the coolant won't travel past the thermostat to heat it up to open it. The system will just hammer and percolate. And the resultant overheating in the upper part of the engine will do damage. If there's the appearance of white smoke from the exhaust, coolant loss, and it's not to the outside, you may have head gasket or broken head bolt problems. I've seen these with the bolts just snapped off, and the threaded area of the bolt flush with the block deck. I think there may have been some recalled, might be worth looking into. Even if that's not a problem now, if this engine is part of that recall get it done if it's still available. I think that problem was there was some made with bolts made of junk steel. If you find coolant in the oil, that may be a different problem, as the intake gaskets leak on some units. That repair is not so serious. This is not to say any of this is what's wrong in your case, but you did ask about known issues.


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## Race (Jun 11, 2005)

*3.1 overheating*

Thanks Guys, will look into the situation later on today. Appreciate Your help. Race


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## johnwill (Sep 26, 2002)

I had a Ford Taurus (1986) that had the defective heatbolts, and there was no visible evidence except for a slow coolant loss. Oil looked fine, no sign in the exhaust, then at 65,000 miles, the main bearings were gone. I was NOT a happy camper!


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