Leaderboard

Ok. Just put in the second reconditioned ECM from Rockauto. Everything works now. We have AC, all the dash works and great idle. Took it for a longer test drive this time and no problems. Going to try to send the first ECM back. Thanks for all the help. Really mean it.

Radio was crackly, even after replacing the speakers, so it was time to do the radio capacitor replacement, per the How-to-Guides. A few pointers... 1) the company that made the capacitors referenced in the How-to-Guide no longer exists, so don't bother searching for it. 2) the capacitors on the circuit board are bi-polar, so you'll have to replace them with the less-common bi-polar capacitors. Most capacitors have a + and a - side, and only function properly when they are in the right orientation. But since the originals are bi-polar, there is no way to tell what the correct orientation would be. 1uF 50V bi-polar capacitors on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B075K6SZPJ/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 3) Of my three '1990 coupes, only one has a radio module whose circuit board looks like the one in the how-to-guide. Apparently my other two are later replacements (one has a date sticker inside for 1993). They look identical on the outside, but the cooling fins are only on the outside, there are none inside, and the circuit layout is completely different. The Guide gives you a model number to check for before you start to disassemble yours, remember to check it! Happy soldering 🙂

The mechanic just did that and didn’t notice any change.

Is there something wrong with the onboard diagnostic system? There have been a couple of recent threads where the owner has found a scanner that works, a Tech4 or something like that, which seems to work well but at the same time, I didn't see any data that wasn't available from the built in system. I am not knocking the scanners as it may be more comfortable to use or the onboard system is suspect.

I was saddened by the news of Padgett's passing. I've suspected it for some time but wasn't certain since I could find no obituary. He has contributed so much to ROJ and the Reatta community. He was a great source of knowledge about the Buick Reatta, especially the electronics. He will be missed.

My internals were pretty good... and a bit different I think. So I took the risk of leaving it alone and lubed everything up. So, 130 bucks for the arm and a bolt lol. Didnt need the rollers. But no more running and they go up and down nice and smooth. My lever was completely rounded out. Pretty easy job... if you follow the direction.