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CRT Issue


Jay

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I purchased a 1989 Reatta. Miles unknown but in clean, good condition.  Car runs great, windows, 16 way seats, sunroof, lights (no pop ups though). The IPC does not work other than the ABS and the Service Engine Soon light.  The CRT only works on the Radio feature.  I can actually change stations, volume and on off.  However, the only feature that works on the CRT is the radio.  No other lights for the other options.  I sent my CRT to have it repaired.  When tested, it was found to be good on all options.  Where would I go next to sort out the CRT?  BCM?  Central Power Supply?  I went through all the grounds and made sure they were tight.  I have not found any blown fuses including the 10 amp under the steering wheel that I just found yesterday. Fuses passenger side interior good and those under the hood driver side.  Any suggestions?  I have not been able to get good responses by searching this forum for some reason.  Thanks in advance.

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Welcome to the forum Jay!  It sounds like you are having a problem with the Retained Accessory Power (RAP) system. What you describe is normal when it malfunctions. This will explain what it does.   What is RAP?

 

Of the top of my head I can't remember for sure what causes RAP to malfunction but I believe it is a problem with the ignition switch that causes it. Let me do some checking to see if I can find out for sure.  In the meantime maybe another forum member will chime in and give you the answer you need. I was just on my way out the door so it might be a while before I can get back to you. If you do a forum search I think you will find that it has been covered here before.

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Thanks Ronnie!  I did finally find an earlier article that mentioned RAP in relation to the CRT that sounds pretty similar.  My radio turns on but after a few seconds, the screen goes away which I thought was normal. However, the RAP dimming feature seems to be more indicative.  I understand what RAP is, so I am trying to figure out how to diagnose and correct the RAP issue.  I do have to wait until my CRT gets back to me from Eddie who tested it.  Again, thanks for the heads up and I will be sure to post any resolution.

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After a little more digging I think the problem you are having might be as simple as the RAP fuse being blown or a bad RAP relay. That is the first thing I would check followed by the ignition switch.  Check out this article on ROJ.

 

Below you can see the location of RAP breakers and fuse.

 

hidden_fuses_breakers_4.jpg

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Ronnie the link that you provided above does not work for some reason. (this article on ROJ)

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So my CRT came back from Eddie's.  He says it is fine.  In fact, when I hold any of the buttons (Options, Summary etc.) while I turn the key, I see that particular screen flash briefly before it goes to the Radio. 

- Ignition Key to On

- Radio comes on, antenna raises and CRT screen lights up on Radio

- Radio screen fades away after a few minutes but radio continues to play

- #14 25 AMP fuse is fine. 

- ignition Key to Off

- Radio turns off, antenna lowers

- Security light blinks as long as door is open

- CPS fuse is good.

- I have tightened all the grounding points under the hood including those around the battery area and the engine ground group.

 

These are the other known issues that I have, so given the intricacies of the electrical not sure if they are related:

 1.  Radiator Puller Fan I have not heard or seen the electric fan blow.

- I have tested all the fan relays by plugging them into the horn section to verify that the horn blows signalling that the relays are fine

- I did a voltage test at the relay plugs and found 12+volts

- The two wire fan connector shows 11 volts with the vehicle turned running

- Direct voltage to the fan causes fan to turn in either direction depending upon positive/negative placement

 

2.  IPC is dark except for the Security and Service Engine light.  

 

3.  Idle Air Control Valve - at idle the vehicle surges up and down while hunting for stable idle  under throttle vehicle acts fine

- I cleaned it twice

- MAF sensor cleaned - twice with proper MAF sensor cleaner

- Once engine is warm, if I remove the 4 wire connector, the engine would high idle smoothly.  Upon reconnecting, it would hunt for idle

- I replaced the IAC with a new one.  Hunt / Surge continues, but without shutting down.  

- Disconnecting IAC after warm engine did not have the same effect as before.

 

Am I still chasing a ground, BCM, ignition switch, or multiple unrelated issues?  Sorry for the long post!

 

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I believe the problem is in your steering column. The car thinks you are in "Accessory" and that is why you only get the radio page. You proved it when you said you can see other pages on the CRT when you turn the ignition key.

 Also regarding the Idle Air Control [IAC] issue. Rather then just clean that, clean the cavity that the IAC fits into. 

 I believe I have extra Instrument Clusters for the 1988/89 Reatta. If interested  e mail me at lemke1044@aol.com

Edited by DAVES89
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11 minutes ago, DAVES89 said:

I believe the problem is in your steering column. The car thinks you are in "Accessorie" [[sic] and that is why you only get the radio page. You proved it when you said you can see other pages on the CRT when you turn the ignition key.

 Also regarding the Idle Air Control [IAC] issue. Rather then just clean that, clean the cavity that the IAC fits into. 

 I believe I have extra Instrument Clusters for the 1988/89 Reatta. If interested  e mail me at lemke1044@aol.com

Is there anything specific I need to check in the steering column or should I just replace the ignition switch components?

 

Good call on the IAC - I will try cleaning that area.

 

As for the IPC - when I get the CRT going then I may hit you up about your IPC's.  Thanks!

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I have never done this but I had a problem similar so what I did was get a Riv steering column from my local You Pick yard [Gibsons] not to replace the entire column [as the Riv column will not work on the Reatta] but for the parts inside. I made sure it was a working unit and Kendall [ a mechanic friend of mine] was able to use parts from it. I believe what he took was the ignition switch.

Edited by DAVES89
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I'm going to do some digging in the service manual to see if I can come up with a way of testing to determine what is causing this problem.

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Jay try this. Remove both the RAP relays. Then turn the key to run. Does the IPC and CRT work now?  OR did the radio controls you had before quit working?  Also carefully check all the fuses to make certain they are all good.

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Removed both relays. 

- No IPC

- CRT functions the same with Radio coming on initially and then blanking off the screen. 

- Radio button causes screen to come back on.

- With the RAP relays removed, the only change is that the antenna does not raise with the radio being turned on

I also tried removing the fuse to the RAP but no difference..

Rechecked every fuse - none blown.

My next step is to check the RAP relays to make sure that they all function.

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12 minutes ago, Jay said:

My next step is to check the RAP relays to make sure that they all function.

Good idea.  I will continue to look at the service manual but so far I've not been able to put my finger on what would be causing this for sure.  So far everything seems to point to a fuse or breaker causing the problem.  That is the reason I wanted you to pull the relays to see if it would change anything. Still in the back of my mind I think I remember a new ignition switch (located at the bottom of the steering column) being what fixed a similar issue in the past.

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One thing to check before you go any further.  Make sure the dimmer on the headlight switch is slid to the RIGHT enough so the CRT will be fully lit up.

 

While sitting in my car in the garage today I discovered the if I slid the dimmer all the way to the LEFT, I couldn't see anything on the IPC or the CRT with the key turned to the Run position.  I also found that if I turned the key to the Accessory position with the dimmer slid to the way the LEFT that the CRT would be displayed fully bright in radio mode. I didn't expect that.  I thought the dimmer would effect the CRT brightness regardless of the position of the key but that was not the case with my '88 model.

 

Now,  I was cleaning out old emails today that I've saved from people who contact me via ROJ's "contact us" page to get help with their Reatta problems. I found one from a guy named Gary D. that had the same problem you are having with his CRT showing nothing but the radio.  In email exchanges we went through the same process you are going through to find the problem.  When all fuses, breakers and a new ignition switch didn't fix the problem I recommended that he try a different BCM. I didn't know for sure it would fix the problem but since he had one in his parts car I thought it was worth a shot. That is what fixed the problem.  If you happen to have a spare BCM you should try it. 

 

I hate to recommend you buy one without knowing for sure how to do a test to confirm that the BCM is bad. But I THINK the BCM might be the problem.  If makes sense because the BCM is what controls the RAP system from the inputs it gets from the ignition key, door switches and probably a lot of other stuff.

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Thanks for the tip.  I did check the dimmer switch to no avail.  Since the lights to the CRT buttons are not even lighting up, I am beginning to believe it is the BCM as well.  I am going to go ahead and order one and switch the EPROM and see what happens.  If that doesn't work then I will order the ignition switch. Besides, the BCM is much easier to get to than the ignition switch.

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1 minute ago, Bobnewbie said:

Got fingers crossed for a BCM fixing it.

Me too.

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Seems like there are other models that use the same BCM as the Reatta?  Eldorado / Riviera Is that correct?  Trying to find the post that discusses possible interchange info.  BTW - thanks for all the help and suggestions on this!

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