oz37k Posted January 16, 2012 Report Share Posted January 16, 2012 Ok. My brother in law has a 2001 Malibu 3.1. He asked me to check why his serpentine belt was squealing even after he put belt dressing. Come to find out that the tensioner is out and the belt is stretched. He has had the car for 2 years and he has only taken it to Jiffy lube once for supposedly maintenance. They changed his oil, flushed his cooling system or he thought cause when I checked it, it was very rusty and all the hoses including the heater hoses are no good. All are very mushy. I plan to help him bring it up to date and will be performing the below. Any tips or suggestions?: *Flush the cooling system thoroughly *replace all hoses including the heater bypass hoses *refill with the yellow Prestone 50/50 prediluted coolant *replace tensioner and belt *replace plugs *use seafoam to flush engine and replace with new oil and filter *replace fuel filter *Replace PCV valve *check all vaccuum lines and repair as necessary Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
urbex Posted January 16, 2012 Report Share Posted January 16, 2012 He's only changed his oil once in 2 years? How many miles does he put on the thing? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oz37k Posted January 16, 2012 Author Report Share Posted January 16, 2012 He's only changed his oil once in 2 years? How many miles does he put on the thing? He works very close to home, about 2.5 miles 3-4 days a week and rarely goes out in the weekend. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mihela816 Posted January 17, 2012 Report Share Posted January 17, 2012 He will probably need intake gaskets. Oil in the coolant from leaking gaskets is probably why his hoses are rotted. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rich_e777 Posted January 17, 2012 Report Share Posted January 17, 2012 I`d recommend a good piece of hickory to smack him with(jking, not worth an assualt charge), then what the other guys said. I hate people who let their vehicles go to shit, but then again that leave us expert junkyarders plenty of booty to find when idiots get rid of their cars for the littlest things. If your changing the plugs you might as well do the wires to, coil packs might be worth looking at after everything else or at least clean the connections really good. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AL Posted January 17, 2012 Report Share Posted January 17, 2012 He will probably need intake gaskets. Oil in the coolant from leaking gaskets is probably why his hoses are rotted. I agree with this, almost every 3100 has this problem Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oz37k Posted January 17, 2012 Author Report Share Posted January 17, 2012 I agree with this, almost every 3100 has this problem Yup, oil is in the coolant. Upon further inspection I noticed that what I thought was rust in the resorvier was actually oil. He has more oil in the cooling system than in the car.....WTF was this guy thinking. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oz37k Posted January 17, 2012 Author Report Share Posted January 17, 2012 I`d recommend a good piece of hickory to smack him with(jking, not worth an assualt charge), then what the other guys said. I hate people who let their vehicles go to shit, but then again that leave us expert junkyarders plenty of booty to find when idiots get rid of their cars for the littlest things. If your changing the plugs you might as well do the wires to, coil packs might be worth looking at after everything else or at least clean the connections really good. Hickory is too soft...I was thinking more concrete block...J/K. I too hate people who don't maintain their cars and they keep running..I just don't get it but us that are always on top seem to find more things to fix and do it to keep the cars on the road. I think of sending him to a shop now so that way he feels the pain in the wallet for his neglect. Funny thing is that he thinks Jiffy Lube is taking care of him....LOL. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oz37k Posted January 17, 2012 Author Report Share Posted January 17, 2012 He will probably need intake gaskets. Oil in the coolant from leaking gaskets is probably why his hoses are rotted. Yup, oil in the coolant...damn. Oh well, price to pay for neglect. Sending him to a shop now that will hit him hard in the wallet to teach him a lesson. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rich_e777 Posted January 18, 2012 Report Share Posted January 18, 2012 Sending him to a shop might be better off for him in the long run. I wouldnt waste my time with it anymore, i worked on a Malibu classic `01 myself and my solution was to push it in a lake and report it stolen. Thank God ppl dont come to me anymore to fix their cars:D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GtpKo Posted January 18, 2012 Report Share Posted January 18, 2012 ...my solution was to push it in a lake and report it stolen... Be careful! Big Brother is watching. Looks like a good place to start as far as getting caught up on maintenance. But then again, you don't get "caught up" on maintenance. Thats called repair. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oz37k Posted January 18, 2012 Author Report Share Posted January 18, 2012 I decided to just send him to the shop since he was not willing to help out and learn a thing or two and wanted to pay me peanuts for the work. Oh well, if he sends it to the scrapper I will give you guys heads up. It is in ok shape body wise but the engine, thats another story. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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