All Activity

Yes, but if you are rotating tires, for example, it's nice to be able to jack up one side of the car rather than one end of the car.

I guess most Mustang people would know this, but I just discovered that Mustang GTs like mine have a fiberglass hood and trunk lid. It also has aluminum heads on the engine. Ford did their homework on trying to save weight on a Mustang. I drove my Mustang about 170 miles round trip on Sunday. It's a really good driving car and it is comfortable once you get in it. Getting in and out is about the same as the Reatta. Both are low to the ground which makes it hard on an old man to get in and out of. Most of the roads we were driving on was smooth, but we encountered a section of road where the cracks in the asphalt had been filled in with tar. On that section I could feel the ripples from the tar through the stiff suspension, and it created more road noise than my Reatta would have. The Reatta was a smoother riding car.

Ronnie, after seeing your thread, I purchased the jack pads from Amazon for the two portable car jacks that I have. They're out for delivery today... thanks for the info.

I usually used the front or rear crossmember when using a floor jack. I believe in the FSM it states that the wheel jacking points are meant to be used with the emergency trunk jack.

I'm going to get an alternator and serpentine belt and have them in the trunk as well. Thinking about a crank sensor also. Don't believe I need a MAF sensor as I replaced that with a new one about 3 months ago.

Those two items saved my butt in 2014 in the middle of eastern CO when my '92 Riviera's transmission decided to let go.

I still carry my tools and test equipment in the 25 year old car I have now but I don't know what parts to carry at this point. I put the old belt in the toolbox when I installed a new one but that's it so far. Maybe a MAF would be good to have. I guess a cellphone and a AAA card are the best things I can carry that will help me get back home if I break down.

Lately I have been having an intermittent ignition failure where the engine would die while I was driving. On attempting the second start [after playing Pickleball] I had a total failure. As most know I carry extra parts and 15 minutes later I had the pretested Ignition Module/Coil Pack installed. I believe the failure was the Ignition Module, the original one to the car. I had thrown away the old coils as the terminals were badly rusted/corroded, but I reused the ignition module. That got thrown away too. I then went to a You Pick yard and got another Ignition Module/Coil Pack and installed it taking the prior spare and once again put it in the trunk as back up. While I had a break down I was not stranded as I carry both tools and tested parts. To me this is a requirement when one attempts to drive 25 year old [and older] cars on a daily basis.

That explains the missing bolt! Thank you 🤨

Returning from my trip to Arkansas for the recent eclipse. Lucked out with perfect weather and clear skies. Attached are three photos, one is my poor cell phone photo held up to the eyepiece of my small telescope and the others are from a kind lady from Texas who shared pics from her nice camera and lens combo. Bet you can guess which might be which😜

That bar installs under the area covered by the oil filter adapter. It bridges over one bolt hole that is difficult to access and consequently you will be one bolt short of the total number of tapped holes in the pan rail. That bar should have a slight kink in it to apply pressure to the missing bolt. You can install a bolt in the open hole and delete the bar if desired. I think they are 1/4” SAE thread

Dropped my oil pan to repair a cross-threaded drain plug. Easiest oil pan removal I've ever done. My 1990 seems to have the smaller starter, so clearance was plentiful. But upon reassembly, I see that the flange bolts come in two different diameters, and amongst the thicker ones, one is slightly longer than the others. The three skinnier bolts were easy to figure out. But which hole does the slightly longer bolt need to go in? Also, early on, a short strap fell off before I had a good chance to see where it was originally located (see photo). An oil pan bolt gives a sense of scale. It seems to have been part of the oil pan lip assembly, as those were the bolts I was removing when this fell off, and the strap is the right width to fit in the flange. But the two holes in this strap are so far apart that they would skip a bolt in the oil pan flange itself. What is it for, and where does it go? Rethreading the oil drain hole was easy, and I've never seen a cleaner oil pan floor. Even after 70,000 miles, it was nearly spotless, with hardly any residue at all. Don't skip the RTV dabs under the gasket, at the seams where the crank seal covers meet the block! Thanks in advance for any suggestions!

I go to the yard a couple times a month and am always amazed at the amount of wasted good parts that get crushed. I always haul out at least a thousand dollars worth that would have been smashed otherwise

Good idea. I recently purchased a rubber pad for my floor jack that has notches molded into it that might serve the same purpose. I can't jack up my Mustang using the pinch welds because the pinch weld area has fiberglass ground effect parts attached to it. The main reason I bought the rubber pad is because the K member (cradle) where you jack up the front of a Mustang is slightly angled making it easy for a floor jack to slide off if you don't use a rubber pad to provide some grip. Using the jack metal to metal is dangerous and using just a block of wood isn't recommended on the front of a Mustang like mine. The rubber gives the jack a better grip on the K member, and the the pad has a lip on the bottom to keep it from slipping off the jack. For only $8 on Amazon the rubber pad is a good addition to any floor jack.

When you want to use a generic automotive floor jack, but don't want to mangle your Reatta's sheet metal...

Because very few Reattas and 7th generation Rivieras were sold in New England, I haven't personally seen either in the two yards near me since around 2015.

It's sad that they value Reatta parts more for scrap iron than for used parts people could use. Parts are going to get really had to find as more and more of this happens. The biggest yard close to me has done this for a long time with old cars since the original owner died and left the yard to his sons. The sons only employ a couple of guys who pull a few fast moving parts and store them inside the building. Then they have a portable crusher outfit come to their yard every so often that crushes them and hauls them off. Not many people I know go there to get used parts anymore unless they need an engine or transmission.

Rock Auto shows different part numbers for the left and right seal 1991 BUICK REATTA 3.8L V6 Output Shaft Seal | RockAuto

I was out on appointments today and thought I would stop in that You Pick yard I got all those Reatta parts from about 5 years ago. they are under new ownership now and while they still do You Pick they crushed all the old iron. Gone are all the Reattas, Rivs and even the vintage Regal I am driving [1997-2005]. Looks like Gibson's is the only yard left for me to shop...

They are different parts

Gregoryb, read below from previous posts on this topic: "Because I didn't want to cut and ground one of the headlight wires as mentioned in previous threads, I bought the H4 9003 Canbus Decoder (noted above) and installed one of them to the drivers side LED headlight harness. I didn't have to install the other one to the passenger side since the current harness for this side is actually a spur from the main headlight harness. The decoders do come as a pair, so I now have an extra. The LED headlights now go up and down as they are supposed to. Yea!! I want to thank everyone for your help and guidance." "I bought the LED headlights and Canbus Decoder from Amazon. Headlights cost $39.95: Amazon.com: H6054 7"x6" Chrome Housing Diamond Cut Headlights Replacement Glass H4 " 7x6 : Automotive D-Lumina H4 HB2 9003 LED Canbus Decoder Anti-Flicker Harness cost $25.99: Amazon.com: D-Lumina H4 HB2 9003 LED Canbus Decoder Anti-Flicker Harness, LED Bulbs Resistor Error Free Decoder, LED Warning Canceller Capacitors Resistor (1 Pair) : Automotive Handling, Shipping and Tax extra."

So I bought this led kit and they are super nice and bright but with the LEDs connected the lights won’t pop up even wit the lights retract is it a resistance thing?

You may want to pull the bleeder out to and check it for obstruction, especially if it did not have a rubber dust cap on it to keep dirt/ water/rust out of the nipple.

If anyone has a picture of theirs or part number(s) that would also be very helpful.

Are the seals on both sides of the ‘91 trans the same part? I haven’t pulled them yet because the parts stores have two part numbers and one of them has to be ordered. Thank you