Car cranks and tries to start, just takes forever

My favorite question is, do you want a jump? Like you can hear me cranking the heck out of my baby, obviously it has a good battery. I did crank it so long the battery died last month though (again obviously the battery is good its brand new). I gotta fix this though. This much cranking is going to kill my starter. It already feels and sounds differently. Like it shakes more when it stumbles as it almost turns over like I mentioned the rpms bounce for a sec as it sounds like it's gonna catch and the whole thing shakes. But it didn't used to shake so hard (my change rattles it bounces so hard!)

the idle problem sounds like the TPS throttle position sensor , take a look at the plugs and wires , air filter , look for any broken/loose vacuum lines/hoses , the starter and batt are taking a beating and if you have to take it to a garage for those to be replaced i suggest you bite the bullet and take out a loan for something else , this thing may turn into a money pit if you do get it running I mean it's 18 years old , it's been driven into the ground don't drive it back out

Thanks, a starter wouldn't be too much though right? She only has 91k miles, despite the age, so I'm hanging on as long as we can. It's a tough decision for us bc it always starts eventually, just sometimes it takes a really long time (longest was maybe 8-10 cranks which of course happened the day of that wedding with everyone all dressed up and nowhere to go haha). I know it's bad, I wouldn't crank for so long but it's Sooo close to starting so I just keep at it). we've never been stranded except that one time I killed the battery cranking too long (but the battery was already weak and it was 10 degrees that day). I guess for me I'd rather face the embarrassment of the really long cranking sessions and just deal with it until we kill the starter, then make the hard decision.  I do really love this car, she's my baby. That's probably why I've just  gotten used to our friends making fun of it at this point, but they don't understand why I still love my car.  My friend Jen jokes that I like it bc it's like the episode of curbed your enthusiasm where the guys car shakes so much it actually gets women stimulated (lol, I wish! It shakes bad, but not that bad). At this point, I just get self conscious with strangers and coworkers because I hate having that conversation. Literally everyone asks if I need a jump. Obviously it's got a good battery if it's trying as hard as it freakin can to turn over. So I now park at the end of the parking lot, or wait until people next to me drive away to turn the key the first time, just so no one hears me and comes over if it doesn't start.  That way when it doesn't start, there's no pressure and I can take my time getting it to turn over. I really just hate the feeling of people watching me struggle with it I know what you mean though, it sounds like a money pit. But I love this thing and everything else is great, when we FINALLY get it started. It runs perfect except for the hard starts every other time. Guess I'll just keep parking far and deal with it. A little blushing/embarrassment is a lot cheaper than a new car

if I had a 2000 chevy that wasn't rusted out I would hang on to it also I don't like newer cars , if they made a normal car I would buy one but they are loaded with nonsense so for now , like you , I must deal with repairs out in the cold , me and Jim , turn the key to the runs position and back off without starting it a few times then start it see what happens

My wife’s having similar issues getting her malibu to start. I guess I was hoping she was exaggerating the problem at first. I had yet to be with her when it didn’t start right away, and the car always had a few hard starts here and there since she owned it. It would take maybe 7-8 secs of hard cranking a few times a week, but it always started for her the first time she turned the key back then. I think this was happening maybe 2-3 times a week, and I knew even that tiny bit of extra cranking embarrassed her. She used to complain about it all the time to me and I’d just roll my eyes and ask, “it still started didn’t it?” After a while she stopped complaining about it, so I assumed it was not happening to her anymore. A few months back, she was driving us home from dinner in her car, which we rarely take anywhere together. She needed gas so I had her stop and filled her tank up. When she restarted the car, it ran for a sec and it stalled out instantly. She looked at me nervously, I could tell she was mortified for some reason. I just said something like, “that was weird”, or “what was that about”. And she just casually answers, it does this a lot to me actually. I was minimizing the issue in my head again thinking, a few random stalls when she has to get gas didn’t seem so bad to me, especially if she hasn’t said anything to me about it. But then when she tried to restart the car it just cranked for what seemed like forever. She tried probably 4 or 5 more times before she finally got it started again. That was the longest few min and I was shocked and embarrassed this happens to her. Come to find out that was basically happening everytime she filled up her car. Fast forward to present and it takes her 5 or 6 times to start her car a few times each day now. She somehow just deals with it. Everybody just knows not to have Rachel drive anywhere, and that’s become a running joke. But it’s getting old. She’s attached to the car for some odd reason. I really hate her car now, especially when its hot out and she can’t blast the AC until she gets the damn thing to start for us. Has your problem gotten any better the last few months?

Fml her damn car embarrassed the heck out of us again this weekend. We met up with some mutual college friends we hadn't seen in forever and of course her car decided that was a great time to act up. We were leaving a few min early while everyone was standing around saying goodbye, and Rach went to start her car to get it cooled off, but it stuttered a bunch and stalled right away. I knew that ment trouble, so I started walking away as she tried restarting it 2 or 3 really long times rather than wait for our friends to leave. Id rather no one has to see my babe go thrugh that, but she really has been beating it to death, it just feels rougher now as it cranks than even 3 weeks ago at the gas station. I guess it just embarrassed me watching her struggle with it in front of our friends for 5 excuiating min, we both looked at other other like, not now start this time come on, haha. 6th time was a charm lol, Def time to step up and buy her some good wheels I can be proud of

I was having the same isuue on my 2010 chevy malibu lt. After checking out the cars battery and I did a tune up, and checked more things I went to my relays. What fixed my malibu was changing the fuel pump relay. In the trunk on the left side there is a panel with relays and fuses, this is where you will find the fuel pump relay. I had it checked out and it came back good, then when it happened i checked the relay again and it said it was bad. Now if the fuel pump relay doeant work for your malibu it would be the fuel pump. Dont waste your time with battery, starter, alternator and the little things go straight to the fuel pump relay. There is a video on youtube from some guy doing the process which I didnt have the luck to find this video until after.

Do you still have the car? Any videos of you trying to start it?