Chevrolet 1997 Malibu Owner's Manual page 204

Adding only plain water to your cooling system
can be dangerous. Plain water, or some other
liquid like alcohol, can boil before the proper
coolant mix will. Your vehicle's coolant warning
system is set for the proper coolant mix. With
plain water or the wrong mix, your engine could
get too hot but you wouldn't get the overheat
warning. Your engine could catch fire and you or
others could be burned. Use a
50/50
mix of clean
water and DEX-COOL
fM
coolant.
NOTICE:
In cold weather, water can freeze and crack the
engine, radiator, heater core and other parts. So
use the recommended coolant.
A
CAUTION:
I
You
can
be burned if you spill coolant on hot
engine parts. Coolant contains ethylene glycol
and it will burn if the engine parts are hot
enough. Don't spill coolant on a hot engine.