
Black plate (2,1)Chevrolet Malibu Owner Manual - 2012
12-2 Technical Data
Vehicle Data
Capacities and Specifications
ApplicationCapacities
Metric English
Air Conditioning Refrigerant R134a For the air conditioning system refrigerant charge
amount, see the refrigerant label located under the hood. See your dealer for more information.
Engine Cooling System 2.4L L4 Engine 7.1 L 7.5 qt
3.6L V6 Engines 9.4 L 9.9 qt
Engine Oil with Filter
2.4L L4 Engine 4.7 L 5.0 qt
3.6L V6 Engine 5.7 L 6.0 qt
Fuel Tank 61.7 L 16.3 gal 

Black plate (1,1)Chevrolet Malibu Owner Manual - 2012
INDEX i-1
A
Accessories andModifications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10-3
Accessory Power . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9-21
Add-On Electrical Equipment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9-48
Additional Information,
OnStar
®. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14-5
Adjustments Lumbar, Front Seats . . . . . . . . . . . 3-4
Air Cleaner/Filter, Engine . . . . . 10-14
Air Conditioning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8-5
Air Vents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8-9
Airbag
Adding Equipment to theVehicle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-31
Airbag System Check . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-32
How Does an AirbagRestrain? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-24
Passenger Sensing System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-26 Airbag System (cont.)
What Makes an Airbag
Inflate? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-23
What Will You See after an
Airbag Inflates? . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-24
When Should an Airbag Inflate? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-22
Where Are the Airbags? . . . . . . 3-21
Airbags
Passenger Status Indicator . . . 5-15
Readiness Light . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5-14
Servicing Airbag-EquippedVehicles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-30
System Check . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-19
Alarm System Anti-theft . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-11
AM-FM Radio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7-6
Antenna Satellite Radio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7-14
Anti-theft Alarm System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-11
Antilock Brake System (ABS) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9-28
Warning Light . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5-19 Appearance Care
Exterior . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10-90
Interior . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10-93
Assistance Program, Roadside . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13-7, 13-10
Audio Players . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7-15 CD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7-15
Audio System Backglass Antenna . . . . . . . . . . . 7-14
Radio Reception . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7-13
Theft-Deterrent Feature . . . . . . . . 7-2
Automatic Climate Control System . . . . . . . . 8-5
Door Locks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-8
Headlamp System . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6-3
Automatic Transmission . . . . . . . 9-24
Fluid . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10-14
Manual Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9-26
Shift Lock ControlFunction Check . . . . . . . . . . . 10-28
Auxiliary Devices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7-20 

Black plate (2,1)Chevrolet Malibu Owner Manual - 2012
i-2 INDEX
B
Battery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10-26Jump Starting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10-83
Load Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6-6
Power Protection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6-7
Blade Replacement, Wiper . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10-29
Bluetooth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7-25
Brake System Warning Light . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5-18
Brakes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10-24
Antilock . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9-28
Assist . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9-29
Fluid . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10-25
Parking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9-29
System Messages . . . . . . . . . . . . 5-27
Braking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9-3
Break-In, New Vehicle . . . . . . . . . 9-16
Bulb Replacement . . . . . . . . . . . . 10-33 Back-up Lamps . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10-32
Fog Lamps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6-5
Halogen Bulbs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10-30
Headlamp Aiming . . . . . . . . . . . 10-30 Bulb Replacement (cont.)
Headlamps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10-30
License Plate Lamps . . . . . . . 10-33
Taillamps, Turn Signal,
and Stoplamps . . . . . . . . . . . . 10-30
Buying New Tires . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10-60
C
Calibration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5-5
California Fuel Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . 9-37
Perchlorate Materials
Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10-3
Warning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10-3
Canadian Vehicle Owners . . . . . . . . iii
Capacities and Specifications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12-2
Carbon Monoxide Engine Exhaust . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9-23
Trunk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-9
Winter Driving . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9-8
Cautions, Danger, and Warnings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . iv
CD Player . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7-15 Center Console Storage . . . . . . . . 4-3
Chains, Tire . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10-64
Charging System Light . . . . . . . . 5-16
Check
Engine Light . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5-16
IgnitionTransmission Lock . . . . . . . . 10-28
Child Restraints Infants and YoungChildren . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-35
Lower Anchors and
Tethers for Children . . . . . . . . . 3-42
Older Children . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-33
Securing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-49, 3-51
Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-37
Cleaning
Exterior Care . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10-90
Interior Care . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10-93
Climate Control Systems . . . . . . . 8-1 Air Conditioning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8-1
Automatic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8-5
Heating . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8-1
Clock . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5-6
Cluster, Instrument . . . . . . . . . . . . 5-10 

Black plate (5,1)Chevrolet Malibu Owner Manual - 2012
INDEX i-5
Front Storage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4-2
Fuel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9-36Additives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9-37
E85 (85% Ethanol) . . . . . . . . . . . 9-39
Filling a Portable FuelContainer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9-41
Filling the Tank . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9-40
Fuels in Foreign Countries . . . . 9-37
Gasoline Specifications . . . . . . . 9-37
Gauge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5-12
Recommended . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9-36
Requirements, California . . . . . 9-37
System Messages . . . . . . . . . . . . 5-28
Fuel Economy Driving . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-22
Fuses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10-34
Engine CompartmentFuse Block . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10-35
Instrument Panel Fuse Block . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10-37
Rear Compartment
Fuse Block . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10-40G
GasolineSpecifications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9-37
Gauges Engine CoolantTemperature . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5-13
Fuel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5-12
Odometer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5-11
Speedometer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5-11
Tachometer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5-11
Trip Odometer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5-11
Warning Lights and
Indicators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5-9
General Information Service and Maintenance . . . . . 11-1
Towing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9-42
Vehicle Care . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10-2
Glove Box . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4-1
GM Mobility Reimbursement Program . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13-7
H
Halogen Bulbs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10-30
Hazard Warning Flashers . . . . . . . 6-4
Head Restraints . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-2
Headlamps
Aiming . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10-30
Automatic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6-3
Bulb Replacement . . . . . . . . . . 10-30
Daytime RunningLamps (DRL) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6-2
Delayed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6-4
Flash-to-Pass . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6-2
High-Beam On Light . . . . . . . . . . 5-23
High/Low Beam Changer . . . . . . 6-2
Heated Front Seats . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-7
Heated Mirrors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-14
Heater Engine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9-20
Heating and Air Conditioning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8-1, 8-5
High-Beam On Light . . . . . . . . . . . 5-23
High-Speed Operation . . . . . . . . 10-51