2006 Malibu...Ignition Problem?

Maintenance/Repairs
1

Help!

About a week ago, my wife’s Malibu (~130,000 mi) started exhibiting symptoms I would associate with a problem with the ignition system. It was idling rough, it felt like it was misfiring, and the check engine light started blinking when I was accelerating from stop up to 30-40 mph.

The timing was all weird because of the holiday, and so I didn’t take it to get the engine codes pulled right away because I figured Id take care of it this week (we were traveling over the weekend).

My wife just called and said her car won’t start at all. tje car will try to turn over and she didn’t describe anything consistent with a dead battery.

If I can’t get it somewhere to get the codes pulled, do any of you guys have an idea of what might be wrong? To summarize, it started idling roughly and maybe misfiring about a week ago, it sat for four or five days, and now it won’t start.

Thanks in advance for any thoughts you might have!

2

I’m afraid you’re going to have to have the vehicle towed to a shop to find out why the engine won’t start.

You do realize that driving a vehicle with a blinking Check Engine light can cause damage to engine and catalytic converter?

Tester

3

Yeah, and for what it’s worth, I didn’t do it more than once. The only time I planned to drive it again after that was to and from a shop to get the engine codes.

4

Misfiring and rough idling could have been caused by worn out spark plugs. When was the car last taken for routine service?

Its best that you have an engine diagnosis carried out since the CEL was on before the car couldn’t start.