P0200 is a common OBD II error code that can occur in the Chevy Malibu. It indicates an issue with your car’s fuel injection system. Specifically, the fuel injector circuit is out of range (in terms of voltage).
Chevy Malibu P0200: Quick Info
| Definition | P0200: Injector Circuit Malfunction |
| Frequent Symptoms | Check engine light, engine misfire, runs rich or lean, loss of MPG |
| Common Causes | Faulty fuel injector, Bad electrical connection (harness or injector) |
| Breakdown Risk? | Yes: We don’t recommend driving with this code |
| Repair Difficulty | Medium |
| Repair Cost (Parts) | Usually Under $200 |
P0200 Causes
The good news with P0200 is that there aren’t a lot of potential causes. Here are the most common causes of P0200 in the Chevy Malibu:
- Faulty fuel injector
- Dirty or plugged fuel injector
- Wiring harness grounding
- Open harness
- Shorted or open fuel injector
- Bad powertrain control module (PCM)
How to Diagnose and Fix P0200: Chevy Malibu
Diagnosing P0200 in the Malibu is pretty straightforward. You might get “lucky” and find a glaringly obvious wiring problem. Here’s a solid order of operations to work through.
1. Check for Other Codes
The first thing you should do is grab a scan tool and check your car for other OBD II codes. P0200 is often found with misfire codes when the check engine light illuminates. While it can be daunting to have multiple codes, it can help you determine which cylinder(s) is causing the issue.
For example, if you have P0301, it indicates that your Malibu’s first cylinder is misfiring. The last number indicates the cylinder that is having the problem.
2. Visually Inspect the Wiring Harness
It is common for a wiring harness issue to cause P0200 in the Chevy Malibu. Damage to the harness is caused by heat, age, and (all too often) rodents.
Look at the fuel injection wiring. Does it seem to be broken, brittle, or damaged anywhere? Is it making contact with any metal? Examine it to make sure that there isn’t a metal-on-metal connection.
If your scanner pulled up a cylinder-specific misfire code, examine where the harness plugs into the injector. Are the pins damaged or corroded? If they aren’t shiny, cleaning them may fix P0200 in your Malibu.
3. Check the Voltage at Each Fuel Injector
You’ll need a multimeter to check the voltage level at each of your Malibu’s fuel injectors. If there’s an injector with too much or too little voltage compared to the other injectors, look at the wiring harness again.
Suppose the wiring harness is providing the same voltage level to each injector, and the ground looks good. In that case, it’s likely that one of the fuel injectors is defective (either an internal wiring issue or failed mechanically). Replacing it should fix the issue with your car.
You can check your Chevy Malibu’s fuel injection circuit with a noid light, which most people don’t have (they aren’t that expensive). You can use a multimeter to check the fuel injection circuit too. Here’s a video from ChrisFix that’ll show you exactly how to do that:
4. Bad Engine Control Module (ECM)
Issues with the ECM can cause P0200 in the Chevy Malibu. But it’s very rare for this to happen. In this article, the terms PCM and ECM are interchangeable.
We recommend taking your vehicle to a professional for diagnosis before assuming there is an issue with the ECM.
Symptoms
P0200 in the Malibu will almost always be accompanied by at least some of the following symptoms:
- Check engine light (sometimes referred to as the malfunction indicator lamp)
- Misfiring (there should be misfire codes present when this happens)
- Hard/No start
- Rough idle
- Poor fuel economy
- In some cases, the vehicle may go into limp or failsafe mode
Chevy Malibu P0200 Definition: Injector Circuit Malfunction
P0200 is a generic code, meaning it has the same meaning for your Malibu as any other car or truck. That being said, it has a two-part definition and is pretty easy to understand.
Injector Circuit
The injector control circuit is the wiring that goes from the fuel injectors to the PCM and includes the driver circuit that turns the fuel injectors on and off.
Malfunction
The PCM has determined that there is an issue with the voltage or continuity of the fuel injection circuit (which can include the injectors themselves).
Conclusion
P0200 is a generic OBD II code that can occur in the Chevy Malibu and is almost always caused by a wiring problem or bad fuel injectors.