Customer Ready to JUNK This Malibu? (Intermittent REDUCED POWER) 

Really admire your patience having to repair the car before you could even start 🤦🏻‍♀️ At least it had fuel in the tank 😂 Awesome work as usual 👌🏻

Ivan, I have a 2012 Jeep Wrangler Sahara. It was suffering from stalling under heavy loading yet triggered no codes. I took it to my mechanic and all he could see was the fuel pressure was on the low side and recommended a new fuel pump. I was watching Eric O working on a same year and model Jeep and his problem was a bad ground. This led me to go looking for the ground on my fuel pump. As Eric O would put it, it was a green puss sack. Repaired the ground and now there is full fuel pressure, and it no longer stalls under heavy loading.

Another brilliant diagnostic. You are becoming the Guru when it comes to fixing cars.

Did anyone else notice the green crusties on that front ground wire in the engine bay?

Thats. Why i watch you ivan i want to be the tech people will tow there car from four hours away becuase they know or heard of your skill level good job

Great diagnostic, Ivan! Intermittent shorts can be frustrating and very time consuming, while the repairs are usually simple (after spending hours looking for the contact point). And the car was not even street legal, to make the necessary tests... Kudos to your patience and determination! Crazy problem with the AC system (who forgets refrigerant seals?), but the whole car seems to have been exposed to sloppy works all over. Great job solving that too!

Wow, what is going on with that ABS unit😳

Ivan - you deserve a 2 post lift. Still amazes me how much get done without it, and it actually makes you very relatable for people working on their own cars.

That fuel leak should be addressed. That is a fire hazard and expensive to have fuel leaking away. Great video to watch.

Nice video and diagnosis. Wiring problems can be very time consuming to find. The worst I had was a 180 ton Demag truck crane. I spent four days chasing wires and testing a no shift condition on a 16 Speed ZF electronic power shift set up.

Good Job, I have had a hand full of those FTP sensors over the years at GM bringing the 5v down also and that A pillar connector having water intrusion causing APP issues especially caddy's! Visual inspection is always the best tool in the box for finding wiring issues. Now wait for the rotten pump retainer to kick a P0455 ! "Ever since you fixed my car I have a CEL and evap codes!!! "

Great patience and detective work . Unfortunately , whenever the " wrong hands " touch anything , it only makes things more difficult . In addition to garbage parts , wrong parts , items not programmed , etc. Most wire harnesses are extremely tight . They can easily be disturbed by BIG HANDS and HACKS . Obviously , when mounts wear or items are " rerouted " by EXPERTS , the damage begins .

3.6L... it's an LY7. Send it to the crusher! They're ticking timebombs anyway.

Now deal with the leaking brake lines at the ABS module and the leaking fuel tank…..They are both Safety issue’s. 😳🤘🏼🇺🇸

I bought myself a 2013 1.6 115hp opel mokka, no turbo, no gdi, no electric handbrake, no led headlights. An oldschool car that is possible to repair without getting ruined. Im keeping it as long as i can. Dont want the newer money pits.

Just think about where you started! Working with Keith for what was it, a week? We've seen lots of struggles. You have probably had a lot more than you've shown. *RESPECT!*

Thank you Ivan for putting the time in these videos for us! I learn so much from you!!!

Enjoyable to watch Ivan . Communication with the customer and another car fit for the road . Good tip make sure your car has the basics to drive for road test 🔧⚒🛠💥👍

A Chevy Malibu was never designed to still be on the road 12 years after manufacture.

Yay! The Malibu lives to die another day! With air conditioning too! Nice job Ivan!

You have the patience of a saint and the determination of a hungry bear Ivan. Then again, you don't have to worry about the hustle and bustle of a busy shop environment either. No distractions. I also know the pain of having to chase an intermittent problem that doesn't show up for me on my test drives. But nice find though. That could have been very easily overlooked.

"Heat, vibration and ... partial rodent knawing." The triple whammy considerations to under the hood wire exposure.

inspiration and perspiration your persistence is unbelievable great job not just throwing more parts at it

Ivan, I bet your customer really appreciated you getting him to the end of the tunnel. We all hope that care spends the next few years delivering the transportation in which the customer intended when he bought it. Thanks for Sharing!

Nice video IVAN.It's great that you were able to fix this guys car.Having to go out on a test drive with a iffy car is not good,it's bad enough that you may get stuck on the side of the road like it sometimes happens.But even worse to get pulled over by the police,for a fix it ticket only to find 20,000 FENTANYL tabs in the flat spare tire.haha When the cop says get out with your hands up,do you automatically charge 1 extra hour diag time?I wish all the wire diagrams were free. thanks for the video Ivan.

Good find and fix Ivan. Love to hear a followup. What's up with brake fluid on ABS?

You do a stellar job with a hand full of very well chosen tools. The old expression "GO WITH WHAT YOU KNOW" ls living well in you humble shop. You have tweeked my knowledge on many things under the hood, and I always like to learn somthing new and your a good teacher!😊

Yes when I change a Coolant Reservoir & Engine Mount it fixes my "Reduced Power" every single time! 😅

GM has known that there are wiring harness issues in those cars for many years and they've done nothing about it. Nice find Ivan!!! Someone will be back in that engine bay fixing more wiring related issues before the customer is done with the vehicle.

Obi Wan you're our only hope. My solution would be to take out my light saber cut this POS into about 10 pieces and take to to the closest car crusher. How the hell do you get involved with these cars Ivan? You can't make any money on them as they are obviously owned by broke people.

It always amazes me that people know and don't care or are completely oblivious to multiple safety issues with their vehicle.

Your attention to detail is amazing Ivan. Well done Sir. Yes the 2.4 ecotec 4 bangers are junk. My ex has a 2013 Equinox she bought last October. I taught her how to check her oil at every gas purchase, but something just went very wrong. Both VVT solenoids were replaced with OEM ones 2 months ago by me due to a code. Ran fine until I believe the oil pump failed. Known issue ignored by GM. Engine makes a horrible noise, it is now at a stealership(Apple Chevrolet) waiting to see if her car shield policy will replace the engine even though the previous owner was very meticulous with the maintenance. I warned her about auctions, but she did not listen.

That 3.6 liter LFA engine is notorious for issues. You had to pull the bumper cover off to replace the headlights? 154,000 miles on that car? I would take your Mystique over that car any day of the week. Great video!

Visual inspection would not immediately reveal it. Its under and had to use a mirror, but you knew where to look. It took a while but no one else found it, just replacing parts, after parts, after parts with no solution. Excellent work. The Computer did say 5v Reference issue, it did point you on the right direction, some what. Thanks.

Another "Happy Last Resort Customer". I'm glad things worked out for Mr. Philly

The " Intermittant " Rabbit Hole has many tunnels.... and traps to avoid.... just ask Alice...

I do appreciate your patient and methodical approach. In my time in the industry that was always one of my specialties, electrical intermittents. It takes a certain mindset to thrive at that.

A day without a PHD video is like a day without sunshine. You are the best, Ivan!

Well done! Intermittent problems are the worst kind to try and fix, but you showed how it's done.

You are great Sir. I cant stand these types of problems. Because my coustomers dont pay the fair price and if i do some work and it comes back then they want to kill me. So when ever i see these types of car i just say the coustomer that i am not qualified of this specific model of car plz go some where else. Botom line is as a technician I know how much you need to throttle your brain for these type of work and some time it gets Really frustrating and annoying. You are doing very well sir. I really Respect your knowledge and hard work. ❤❤❤

I absolutely love these case studies ,, it gives me lots of things to look for I never even thought of ,,,,,, grate vid ,,,,,

Pine Hollow university - free of charge.

Im waiting on biohazrd to come disinfect a 2017 tacoma that was chewed up by a squirrel i thin it was. It ate thru the fresh air grate, thru the blower motor housing where the cabin air filter goes and after he got inside the truck he chewed up the harness. It took me hours to find and fix all the wires plus remove allb the squirrel dust coz when he died he fell into the blower motor and the customer burned out the resistor so it would only run on high and that ate the dead squirrel to pieces and distributed it throughout the truck and vents lol. I've removed everything and fixed all the damage, after they do their thing it's final assembly and return to customer. Ugly job for real

My thought was that it could be a similar issue with the wiring around the throttle pedal depending on the size of the shoes of the driver and how the driver pushes on the pedal.

We had a 2010 Malibu. Gotta love pulling the bumper cover to change bulbs.

You diagnosed a problem and fixed it. Nice job! It was giving you a good run but wasn't able to hide. Bonus cool fix!

Customers please Make sure your cars have gas when dropped off to service , people always like bringing them when they are below empty...

Great diagnostic. That said, I would never test drive a car with defective seat belts. You should tell customers up front that any safety violations must be corrected before the diagnostic proceeds. Protect yourself my friend.

On my 2011 Chevrolet. All the wiring loom turned to dust within 4 years living in the desert. I replaced it all before an eminent wiring failure. It's still good 8 years later. Harbor Freight loom quality is pretty good. No signs of drying out yet. I'm also impressed that the Malibu didn't have any heat door or air door actuators clicking away. They had to have been replaced before you got it into your shop.

Two things. 1. Rust belt. You all should have totally different cars than the ones we work on in Kentucky. 2. I thought GM can’t be that poorly designed. But I see most was due to very sloppy repairs. That’s a shame. I hope that wasn’t done by a professional shop. And your patience and persistence is greatly admired. This pushing 70 body doesn’t have that any more. Del

Tow and repair probably cost more than the car is worth. 2011 Malibu with 154 K is real close to the junk pile

I thought it was common sense to make sure the vehicle was road worth before sending it in for repairs, or to let the shop know it would need to be brought up to that point. Another great job by Ivan to save a problem vehicle from the junkyard.

The common denominator is the bare wire. Sometimes the codes can lead you right to the problem.....just have to locate the wire in this case where it was bare. I was thinking a corroded or partially corroded wire, but this was better cause it was bare. Good one Ivan.

thats one well used malipoo, def been in a front and rear accident, seatbelt retractor is probably blown and they just unbolted the one end, gas tank leaking from a rotted sending unit/pump, wiring harness is about to grenade, but gotta have that ac working!!! how long does it have left before the timing chains blow thou? lol

Another one saved from the crusher by PHAD. Thanks Ivan!

"set parking brake"...all Canadian techs winced

So some months ago...I said I HAD to have topology. So to the rescue finally comes a Kingbolen K10! Combining a sale price and another discount from Amazon, just did make it work. And lo...the software seems VERY similar to your Thinktool Pros...I wonder if all these overseas manufacturers are under one roof....either way...I got a capable tablet, that beats my Autel MK808 to pieces!

Pine Hollow Manual Diagnostics !? 🤷‍♂️

Nice work appreciate how you determined how to solve the problems.. i bought some mgi speed ware braided wire loom in a few different sizes to replace and make repairs on my projects. That materal is pretty tough .. i remember working on some cat dozers there wiring harness are pretty heavy duty . I was told points of contact where harness can give problems . Thanks for sharing your knowledge

Who wouldve thought... An awesome diagnosis and 'repair'..with no parts..Just Smarts..as with the AC.. Nice going once again.! Wish you were closer.!! Thanks for the vid. Kudos..

Chevy used to make good wire looms. I've never touched my old s-10 wires and they are still solid. I frequently work on a 08 buick lecerne for a family member and have had to replace every wire loom as I go.

I had a very similar problem with my daughter’s 2011 Malibu with the 2.4 engine a few years ago. The local dealer tried the parts canon for 2 years but could never find the real issue causing the intermittent reduced power. After researching it online, I discovered the only people who seem to fix this issue replaced the faulty battery cables on this car with non-OEM cables and cleaned all 5 grounds. I did the same and it has now been over 2.5 years, the car has run flawlessly without a single reoccurrence. If one cannot find a bare wire or short, this would be another option to try since it has worked for a number of us.

Being a car from Philadelphia, it's not surprising that the turn signals and headlights don't work. We have a Police force that's not allowed to pull people over for inspection issues anymore. You can have expired inspection and emission stickers and the Police can't pull you over because it is believed that it is racial profiling (it's actually called The Driving Equity Law). There are thousands of cars driving around Philly that haven't been inspected in years and are so unsafe. Ivan was so worried about taking that car on the road without turn signals and headlights but if you were in Philly you'd have no worries. It's insane! You can see that the Owner never even mentions the turn signals or lights. It's hilarious. Great work Ivan!

I still vote to junk it.😆

Hey Ivan. Really enjoy your videos, you certainly understand how to troubleshoot problems!! Do you do any over the phone tech support? I am in a jam with my grandson's 2016 Hyundai sonata 2.4l. Car starts and immediately dies. No warning lights on, no ck engine light, no codes at all. I have checked everything I know to check. I had a mechanic work on it for 2 days and he found nothing??? Help!!

Hi Ivan, Greetings from the UK, I am always impressed by your work Ivan, your patience with this job was very impressive, as for the Air Con seals, it is pretty obvious that the person who did that either did not care or did not know any better, in both cases they should not be doing the job.

Hi Ivan, This is Kristina from ANCEL. I am reaching out to see whether you are interested in reviewing our OBD2 diagnostics scan tool? Looking forward to your reply.

General Motors is a horrible company. They have added all kinds of crap in the name of "features" with no thought of how to do it properly. The bean counters are yelling at the engineers to save an inch of wire here, and an inch there to lower the cost of their POS vehicles. "Form Follows Function" has been completely abandoned to save a dimes worth of wire, and a nickels worth of wire loom. Its disgusting.

There was a TSB for negative battery cable on some 09-14 chevy models that csuse all sorts weird electrical errors. It was a manufacturing problem and the tsb was through April of 2022 for warranty purposes. Basically cable would corrode inside the neg battery clamp causing weird faults

Was curious about your question... how to duplicate the problem..... i seen you test driving in the country roads... had a problem similar. Asked the same question... the difference was stop and go city driving Bumps and jarring re created the problem.

Hmmm, typical Fillthedephia car. Ivan you are amazing. Still, even if your bill was a thousand dollars thats much cheaper than even a used car.

Shoddy workmanship strikes again. Literally, all of this car's problems were a result of it.???

Beautiful Diagnotics ivan, intermittent faults needs Attention! So.. thanks for awesome process u showed us!

GM does make good ac systems. 40 degree F

Great job!

Ivan, great job keeping the customer informed along the way. This creates a bond of honesty and if he lived closer to you, a customer for life! All these repairs were pretty simple, even putting back the old correct ECM! There must be many ignorant mechanics, not TECHNICIANS out there working on computer-operated vehicles.

Ivan you have the patience of a saint. Boy that client owes you a lot of praise. American cars are made with low expectations and you certainly found such bad build On this one 🇬🇧👍😢 dave

good diag. I like when its not obvious and see how you approch the issues. I get a lot of intermittent electrical issues and its a nightmare to diag when you can't duplicate the problem. I still have a bad habbit of touching harnesses to see if thats the issue i need to get that scope out and watch the data like you do. I sold my 08 malibu early summer and about to sell my 2010 camaro, I'm getting a new Toyota Tacoma. I won't buy another GM as i keep watching the quality drop and so many issues on these new vehicles. I honestly thought that body style malibu was the most reliable and i never had issues with my 2.4 but i changed the oil every 5k and used mobil 1. 90% of its life from 08 to 23 to 150k it only needed maintence.

You raised some interesting topic points about driving someone else’s car during your commentary. Hopefully you will not mind these questions. Do you operate as an LLC? Do you carry extra insurance just in case they lie and don’t actually have it? How much trouble do you have getting paid for extra work that you had to do to get it safe to drive on the road, like you did here?

Sad, this car had problems from shade tree mechanics for sure. Looks as if the front had collision repairs which explains the crusty bumper, new condenser, misrouted coolant and cooler lines etc. TLC is part of being a good mechanic and more importantly, doing the repairs without collateral damage to neighboring parts, clips, hoses, electrical etc. I'n all my years of observing real live mechanics doing their work, most of them are slobs and introduce collateral damage to every job they touch. It's truly amazing to figure them out, they are there to repair a vehicle yet at the same time they are damaging unrelated parts to perform a task.

Proof positive that your better off leasing than buying a computer / car new, better off leasing then when digitalass kicks in it will be someone else's problem. But many of these new P.O.S. even under warranty sit at the dealership for months because they don't know how to repair them.

Great diag and repair as always Ivan. Luckily working at a dealership most intermittent issues we deal with have tsb’s or someone in the shop has dealt with it before to offer some guidance. Most wiring issues I deal with are rodent caused or just poor workmanship.

Water. The intermittent condition may have been found on the test drive if the AC worked and there was condensation on the line it was rubbing, or if there were wet road conditions. Just a thought.

HAPENED TO SEARCH FOR INTERMITTENT ENGINE STOP ON MAZDA 929 1988. YOUR YOU TUBE ANALYSIS WAS OOU TSTANDING. I AM ELECTRICL/NUCLEAR ENGINEER FOR NUCLEAR POWER PLANT START UP. YOU WOULD BE A GREAT STARTUP ENGINEER I M RETIRED BUT YOU HAVE EXCELLENT SYSTEM UNDERSTANDING. ENJOYED THE PRESENTATION. DR KOOY PROFESSIONAL ENGINEER.

Love watching Ivan repair these cars

you know what is weird, to be watching a mechanical video and be thinking how strange it is to be thinking of someone so young as one of the last really real professional mechanics left in an industry that is overrun with parts changers, you'd think that distinction would be for some old timer at the end of their career not some young dude who's still towards the beginning of his career........

An incredible mechanic. Give me an old carburetor any day . I've got one these nightmares sitting my driveway too .

That's the parts rocket launcher, no cannon could fire all that in one shot, lol.

Great video! Did the customer address the leaking fuel? I'm no mechanic, but to me that sounds like something that needs to be sorted as a priority, no?

Congrats on your abilities as they are hard earned. You would do your community a service as an instructor in your local CC as an instructor in their automotive program. You're really good at it. If you can keep my attention..... Too bad it would be a significant cut in pay.

I do feel it would be in the best interest of your customer, yourself, and your business to address the fuel leak you discovered and mentioned in your video. Fuel leaks can lead to fires and explosions (fuel vapor in an enclosed garage for example) and recognition of that problem without notifying the vehicle' s owner about this issue could lead to serious property and/or personal loss. Since you mentioned the leak in the video it would also make sense to document the fact that you notified the customer of that risk as well. If you did indeed notify the cusstomer of that problem it would still be wise to add an edit to this video and document that fact.

My '12 2.4 ecotec panel lit up & serv eng/ power steering. Had to pull over. Had driven about 20 min ( this time) before this happened. Got it towed home. Had battery charged & tested fine. Drove again in 2 days, after a couple short stops, did it again. Wish you could do a good run on my car. About to replace alternator. Ill be out w/ the mosquitos in the morning to check wires. Bettin on that wire touching copper cuz anything out of place or not 1/2 full is gonna be a problem😅. Gas, oil, antifreeze. I felt all your frustrations

I bet some smart young person is going to come out with a very simple vehicle with no sensors and none of the crap that has been piling up on cars in the name of "features" that sells for a very reasonable price. A person like a young Henry Ford.

Someone needs to start something where there's a good resource for finding mechanics who are extremely thorough like you. It's really needed these days. So many shops just throwing parts at stuff, lol.

that was hard to find, good job, I once had a buick lacross setting a stability control code it would do it every time, but nothing showed up on a test drive after the code was cleared, until you but it in park, then all the lights came on, tryed starting it in neutral then you could drive it all day, found the shift cable had rubbed through a harness but would only make contact when the shift cable went into park, easy to find? I think not

The fact that you posses an engineering education background is so evident in your diagnostic procedure rigor. It is sad that we have created vehicles that require diagnostic skills of your caliber to maintain routine maladies.

malibu interprets as don't buy this auto. when my brand new one in 70's couldn't complete a trip just two states away without a complete oil change and other liquids; i should have demanded a deferent car! that auto was terrible the entire time i owned it.

Thank you for the A/C section at the end. I have a similar problem where we detected a leak at the condensor with dye in the system. The shop says to replace the whole condenser but now after watching this video i wonder if it's just a bad seal on the pipes.

Great job.. thanks for the video. Much interesting!

Customer replaced engine mount was my first go to for engine harness because of excessive movement and pulling and rubbing being amplified.