What would make a 2000 Malibu backfire?

Answer 1

may need a tune up or spark plug wires are crossed. That is assuming that no work has been done to Malibu recently.

A quick verification that wires are on in the correct order would be to do the following: The Malibu should have a labeled coil back on the rear of the engine. Each of those numbers represents a cylinder. For the 4 cylinder model the cylinders are 1,2,3,4 - starting from the passenger side of the vehicle. Simply make sure the coil pack label and the cylinder numbers match with the plug wire running between them. For the 6 cylinder model the cylinders are labeled like this: 1,3,5 on the back of engine (starting from the passenger side) and 2,4,6 across the front of the engine (starting again from the passenger side) If all checks out well, it could be on of several other issues. The most basic being that the car needs a set of plugs and wires. If you haven't had the plugs and wires changed on the vehicle in a while (say 30k -60k depending on driving habits, etc.) , it'd probably be a good idea to change them to keep the car running optimally. Beyond that, the list grows to conditions such as: - A faulty coil pack - Injector issues (either electrical issues or a clogged injector)