moe87

I recently replaced the thermostat on my mothers 04 malibu 3.5L

Needless to say some coolant splashed onto the engine components (most likely the transmission housing). After the thermostat had been replaced I cleaned up by pouring water over the coolant covered areas and we let the car sit for about 14 hours to dry out.

The next day, the car was more difficult to turn over for the first and second time and the speedometer/tach reads abnormally, such as going 25mph the car says its 60mph. This issue slowly went away during driving and appears to be normal now. At the end of the day, the check engine light had gone away but the cd player read "low coolant" on the display and an orange car with a wrench in the center icon appeared under the tach, far left. (could not find a pic of it on google, will be looking at manual).

On the third day, it's cold outside, most likely below freezing. The car will not turn over now. It feels like the starter is engaging to the engine but the engine does not turn over after the second "chuff" noise. Speedometer and tach all suddenly drop to 0 and the cd player begins "searching" for cds inside itself, or at least that's what it feels like its doing. Orange lock icon appears on dash.

My knowledge of cars is limited but here is what im guessing: Low coolant alert is telling the engine not to turn on so it cannot seize or overheat? OR Engine has already overheated and seized and now is stuck and cannot turn over? OR an electrical issue has arose from the coolant/water being poured on the transmission area which is preventing the starter from either engaging with the flywheel(flexplate on automatics?) and thus engine cannot start? OR Battery may not have enough charge left due to a short or gps being left plugged in for 3 days with short trip driving to provide the power needed to turn the starter?


---- EDIT ----

Leaving the car in the ACC position for 20 seconds has yielded again the service engine soon light which displays LOW COOLANT and ICE POSSIBLE. It could be possible that some of the water is still not evaporated entirely and has frozen closed a servo or wire line so it can no longer operate.

The check engine light is now on as well and I do not have an OBDII scanner. is there a way to have the computer flash a code to me like with the first OBD systems? My 89 bird can have 2 terminals shorted and it will flash the code without requiring a reader. Is it possible on the 04 malibu's obdII system?

---SECOND EDIT---

bought a code reader, says there are 0 codes. Car wont even engage the starter now. Turn the key, not even a mechanical noise.

hdiehl

sound like your battery is dead//take the batery in and have it

draw checked.

bardgirl

My 2002 Chevy Malibu would not turnover either. I stopped to get gas and then it wouldnt start.

I thought battery was going bad but the battery store checked it and said it was fine. When i turned the key it would have a dragging sound then car would start, except for this last time. We took starter off and it wasnt the problem either. Tried to turn the crank shaft and it was stuck/locked frozen. I was scared motor seized.

However, with no knocking noise, no water in oil, did not overheat or give any signs of problems (except i've been having to keep a close eye on coolant level cause im loosing some somewhere). I was 98% sure the motor was toast.

But today, happy happy, its not the motor. It is the darn AC clutch bearing. Im not sure what my father-in-law did, but he said it turns over and works, just gotta change the ac compressor clutch bearing. I think he took the belt off and then tried to start it and it did. But since water pump runs off belt, you cant run it very long with belt off. Good LUck.

At one time on a very rainy night, I drove through some water that was way deeper than i thought it would be. My headlights seemed like they were under water. All i could do was keep pushing forward thru the water. Ever since then, my car had a noise coming from the ac compressor override clutch bearing.