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The forum has been overwhelmed with an attack by spammers trying to register for an account, mostly from Russia. For that reason I have temporarily disabled new forum registrations. I'm hoping that the spammers will go away soon and new forum registrations can be restored. Sorry for any inconvenience this may cause.

After two failures of brand-new AC Delco HR6 Compressors, I did some research and found that there is a known manufacturing defect, or "decision" as it might be put. For whatever reason, GM removed the dowel pin from the body of the compressor. Some speculate that it was done to make it easier to assemble at the factory. There is just one problem with this. When the unit is installed on the car, tightening the bolts without using shims to make the mounting surface fit perfectly flush with the compressor results in the compressor housing twisting and coming apart at the seams in the middle of the housing, and complete loss of refrigerant in short order. There are improved aftermarket versions of the compressor available that have dowel pins wisely reinstalled where they belong to keep the compressor body intact. Note that these compressors use PAG 46 rather than the PAG 150 of the original design. I hope this helps someone else who may be experiencing this problem, or prevents it from happening entirely.

Yes one of my horn buttons finally popped off/broke and I was facing removing my steering wheel and figuring out a better mouse trap. Don't know if I did, but check it out--I glued a pair standard foam earplugs, cutting a slot to fit along the plastic tabs, and glued the button back into place. Seems to be the exact depth, rebounds after making contact, and so far has stayed in place, even in the Los Angeles sun. I used Permatex clear RTV silicone adhesive. Too simple to be true?

Update: problem solved. It turns out that the blend door was sticking and with a bit of wiggling the arm back and forth, I was able to get it to the Max Cool position where it will stay for the summer. That How To Guide here was so helpful. Thanks again ROJ

Ship, I am a Blessed man, I still get up under the dash,, a bit of an issue getting back out and my eyes don't always see what I am looking for, and I turned 85 in Feb.

It really wasn't until I put my known good ignition module on that I thought it was something to do with the wiring. Before I was swapping first coils and then the ignition module and old coils and finally a known good module/coil set up that I knew something else was wrong. First test was just disconnect the harness and reattach it and it would fire. Next time wiggle the wires at the ignition module without removing the connector and it would fire. I then took a close look at the harness and saw it was only a 3' harness with 5 connectors. Went to the Buick dealer and one left in the country at $200.00. Went to Rock Auto and a Dorman was $85.00. Amazon was $110.00 for the same Dorman. The Dorman was a nice replacement, looked to be of good quality. Only connector that gave me trouble was the crank sensor. It started going on so hard that I had Kendall make the connection as I didn't want to damage the pins on the crank sensor causing more work. Only things I had to remove to get at everything was the engine shroud, serpentine belt, and water pump pully. Front to back time about 45 minutes. Gotta love the 3.8!

Just today hit 333,200 miles on the Red of which almost exactly 220,000 were put on by me. Bought the Red in December of 2006 for my 50th birthday. Flew to Fort Lauderdale to get it. Bought it from a private party and drove it home. Took the rest of the fly in day and the next to get home. Had my first experience of sleeping in a Reatta with 16 way seats!

The servo was used on multiple GM cars in multiple years. take a walk through a you pick yard and look for a lower mileage Buick. Once you get it off suck on the big hose nipple. If it holds while you have vacuum on it, it probably is good.

Greetings to the Reatta community. I recently purchased a 1991 Reatta that was featured on Barn Finds, and listed on Ebay. It was a one family car since new, in pretty nice shape, 63K. Red with saddle interior. Not my favorite interior color, but the red/tan combo looks good enough for me. It was shipped from Cincinnati down to it's new home here in Florida. Arrived on Tuesday, and has gotten a wash, clay bar, wax, and started fiddling with buffing out the oxidized tail light and front running lights. Interior is in good shape, but will be totally gone through as well. The only issue that does need attention sooner than later is the not cold AC. I was amazed to see the car has a "service AC" light on the dash. I will change out all the light bulbs to LED, upgrade all the speakers, and maybe the head unit to something modern with either XM or Bluetooth. Looking forward to learning about this great car thanks to this site. Peace, John

I was able to purchase them at my local Lowes store. There is an assortment of them in drawers in the hardware section.

No, they are solid aluminum and can be buffed. The top layer is anodized and really should be stripped and then buffed. When you are finished you have bare aluminum. I took mine off and stripped them, then I took them to a fellow I know and he polished them, only the part that shows. To keep them shiny I polish them with a product the polisher recommends. It's called " White Diamond."

My reatta isn’t nice like most of the ones in here but very soon it will be my dad painted it put rims on it and changed the seats for me to like it 10yrs ago everything else on this car is original from 1989 when it was manufactured as a teenager I didn’t think much of it I’m a little older now I’ve fell in love with it the 1st time I spent money on in April of this year its just the rarity and Chase of finding parts. Boy when I tell people the parts are for a 1990 Buick reatta with 73k original miles the responses and reactions make me fell as if brand new Porsche… Can’t wait to hear the responses my kids get with it

Look at that! Both a Mustang and a Reatta can coexist in the same garage!

I had to install an axle in my Reatta a few years ago and this is what I remember. The axle and transmission splines have to line up properly to get the axle started inside the transmission. I don't remember anything else that needs to be lined up. After the axle slides in so far it will seem to stop. Then you will need to put a large screwdriver, or something similar, in the grove shown in the photo below and carefully hit the screwdriver with just enough force to get the axle to pop over the snap ring to lock the axle in place. As the FSM instructions said, don't push or pull on anything except the part of the axle that has the grove in it or the CV joints could come apart.

I'd been having intermittent issues with rough idle, and rough running. I've cleaned the MAF sensor, I've cleaned the IAC, I've replaced the crank position sensor. No change. I was on the verge of replacing the ECM. But while I was under the car replacing the crank sensor, I noticed a foul viscous sticky goo on the frame, that seemed to have come from above. The slime was beige, with a greenish tint to it, really nasty looking, very sticky, and impervious to WD-40 and Goo-Gone. When I traced it uphill, it was leaking from the seam between the coil pack (Motorola) and the ignition module. I removed the coil pack, and sure enough, there was a crack on the bottom side with this gross slime oozing out. I had to clean a lot of slime off the wiring that connects the coil pack to the Ignition module. But replacing the obviously failing coil pack didn't change anything, which really surprised me. Inspired by Daves89 post about the ignition harness on his '99 Regal having been the problem, I thought I'd take a look at my Reatta's ignition harness. First step was unplugging the ignition harness from its socket on the ignition module, and that's when I discovered that the wiring harness connector and socket on the ignition module were both fouled with the slime that had leaked out of the old cracked coil. I tried electronic parts cleaner, but the slime was unimpressed. Lots of scraping and digging with tweezers and tiny screwdrivers got much of the goo off of the connector, but there was still plenty of sticky residue on everything. I was concerned that something as aggressive as carb cleaner might soften the wiring harness connector, but as it was useless anyway, unless I could get the slime off, I gave it a try. Carb cleaner did the trick. I wrapped a rag around the connector to keep the cleaner from removing paint or anything else important in the vicinity, and cleaned the socket on the ignition module the same way. Finally, I sprayed off all the goo that had embedded itself into the wiring bundle, hoping that carb cleaner doesn't soften wiring insulation either. After putting it all back together, she started right up and idled smoothly. A short test drive was similarly uneventful. As the problem has been somewhat intermittent, I'm hesitant to say I'm home clear, but it does look like the slime was actually the culprit.

Update: SOLVED! I was about to give up and return the Delco coil pack and ICM, but for fun I put the old Magnavox pack on and it wouldn’t work either! I did I did a little googling and came across this old post: https://forums.aaca.org/topic/332605-1990-reatta-occasionally-wont-start/ His problem was that the coil pack wasn’t grounded. I already thought of this, or so I thought. I double-checked and tightened the bolt where the ground wire goes from the engine to the frame. I had loosened it to get to the screws for the coil pack and I thought I had tightened it enough, but I hadn’t. Once I tightened the bolts for both the ground wire and the coil packs, both coil packs worked! It just wasn’t grounded “enough.” Of course I removed the Magnavox one and installed the Delco as has been recommended to me by many people. So the good news is that yes, a coil pack from a 3300 engine (in this case a Buick Century 1993) is the same part and will work. hopefully that opens up some junkyard options for people. Thanks for the helpful comments.

another project completed that made a huge difference in how the car was running and idling, i went thru the dx screen and codes , had a code for the cruise servo, ordered a new one on Rock Auto,. installation took all of about 20 minutes, maybe 30 once vac lines was replaced since the connection was cracked on the old one and broke off inside the hose, but once that all was done , took it out for a test drive and i guess that was one cause for vac leak and why the idle was slow and varied up and down. now it is steady and constant idle, and the cruise now works perfectly. Drove to work today and enjoyed being able to set the cruise on the highway for my 20 mile commute.

Try www.car-part.com

or try www.car-part.com Very simple easy to use website. there's 4 of them within 200 miles of you for less then $200.00 with the lowest $70.00. You can drive over and pick it up along with the extra parts you also need.

We need some background on the charging problem. Was the battery not being charged the reason you installed the new alternator? Or did the problem start after you replaced the alternator? Any additional info you can give us would be helpful. Don't assume the alternator is good just because it is new.

Edit: nevermind, culprit seems to be two fuses were blown/corroded

I put new wheels on the driver side and left the old stock wheels on the passenger side, then pulled it outside and took a few photos for comparison. This sealed the deal for me. I will be swapping my tires onto the new wheels soon. I think I will be very happy with the wheels Gary gave me. Before I got my Mustang Gary said he would help me with parts if I bought one but I wasn't expecting this. I offered to pay but he refused take anything. He's a good guy.

I found the issue. To answer your question, it would idle fine with my foot on the brake and other foot lightly on the accelerator. I looked under the hood and way down by the ac drier, the link hose to the vacuum accumulator tank was rotted and broken. Changed it and now it runs fine. I will be going through all these hoses this weekend. The plastic one for the climate control appears to have been changed and is in good shape.

Just installed a compass mirror from an Olds. It has the map lights, auto dimming and compass. It was a direct plug and play. No harness adaption needed.

The Regal has been running great. Hate to say it, but I like the extra room the Regal has so I use it more and more. One of my cars has to stay outside [the Regal] so I only drive the Red when I know the weather is going to stay nice.

The hood might just be stuck. Hold the hood release lever out and get someone to push up and down on the front of the hood and see if it pops up. I had this very same thing happen on an old Mercedes I bought and it took me quite a while to figure out why the hood wouldn't open.

Doing it on a Ranger makes no sense but doing it on a Mustang that is supposedly a "high performance car" is just plain crazy. It's got a fiberglass hood and trunk lid, aluminum overhead cam heads, limited slip differential, dual exhaust from front to back and huge roll bars for handling. Then they install a fake oil pressure gauge? Whoever came up with that idea should have been fired.

Like most things, it sometimes makes no sense. People are repairing, or at least trying to repair, Reatta's that should be parted out and others are just the opposite. Seemingly decent cars that deserve some TLC are being scavenged and discarded. Definitely well under $1k for a running parts car, much less than that for a lawn ornament, unless of course it has exactly the stuff you need. Mixing and matching colors, inside and out, or model years with incompatible content really limits the usefulness.

I have 4 servos in my parts bin and never replaced a one. Use the one off your parts car. Next week I will turn 331,000 miles on the Red of which 220,000 were put on by me.

I understand you wanting to save spare parts when you can but the cruise servo may be the most plentiful part you can get for a Reatta. Your time would be better spent picking up a few spares at a junk yard and testing them on the car before storing them so you know you have good ones.

I built a 12 X 12 shed in the backyard just for spare parts.

I don't see a lot of wobble, although there is a little movement. It is called a flexplate, essentially sheet metal, and is designed to have some flexibility. The crankshaft can have up to five or six thousandths of endplay and the torque converter floats in and out. I think some of the visual is actually the counterweight appearing and disappearing.

Burning smell and smoke? Yeah I think it went bad...

My Reatta sat in a garage/pole building (concrete floor, but no heat) for two years after my father was no longer able to drive. The interior was covered with mildew and there were several mouse nests under the hood that would smell like, well, hot mouse pee when I drove the car. Meticulous inspection from up top and under the car revealed all of the locations. Shop vac with crevice tool followed by steam cleaning got rid of the mouse issue. The interior cleaned up readily using standard cleaners and leather conditioners. I cleaned the carpets (without removing them) with our household hot water extractor unit and everything looks as good as it should for a car with 26k miles. I used Febreeze on the carpets and also sprayed some into the intake for the HVAC when it was running.

Something to think about... 🙂 The Quotes of Steven Wright: 1 - I'd kill for a Nobel Peace Prize. 2 - Borrow money from pessimists -- they don't expect it back. 3 - Half the people you know are below average. 4 - 99% of lawyers give the rest a bad name. 5 - 82.7% of all statistics are made up on the spot. 6 - A conscience is what hurts when all your other parts feel so good. 7 - A clear conscience is usually the sign of a bad memory. 8 - If you want the rainbow, you got to put up with the rain. 9 - All those who believe in psycho kinesis, raise my hand. 10 - The early bird may get the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese. 11 - I almost had a psychic girlfriend, ..... But she left me before we met. 12 - OK, so what's the speed of dark? 13 - How do you tell when you're out of invisible ink? 14 - If everything seems to be going well, you have obviously overlooked something. 15 - Depression is merely anger without enthusiasm. 16 - When everything is coming your way, you're in the wrong lane. 17 - Ambition is a poor excuse for not having enough sense to be lazy. 18 - Hard work pays off in the future; laziness pays off now. 19 - I intend to live forever ... So far, so good. 20 - If Barbie is so popular, why do you have to buy her friends? 21 - Eagles may soar, but weasels don't get sucked into jet engines. 22 - What happens if you get scared half to death twice? 23 - My mechanic told me, "I couldn't repair your brakes, so I made your horn louder." 24 - Why do psychics have to ask you for your name 25 - If at first you don't succeed, destroy all evidence that you tried. 26 - A conclusion is the place where you got tired of thinking. 27 - Experience is something you don't get until just after you need it. 28 - The hardness of the butter is proportional to the softness of the bread. 29 - To steal ideas from one person is plagiarism; to steal from many is research. 30 - The problem with the gene pool is that there is no lifeguard. 31 - The sooner you fall behind, the more time you'll have to catch up. 32 - The colder the x-ray table, the more of your body is required to be on it. 33 - Everyone has a photographic memory; some just don't have film. 34 - If at first you don't succeed, skydiving is not for you. 35 - If your car could travel at the speed of light, would your headlights work?

I put them on all 4 wheels. Helps with tracking and stopping. I have had them in the past and dedicated snow tires adds a lot to driver confidence.

Issue has continued with the occasional cut out while driving and the very seldom no start until I cleared the codes. As a side bar the Series 2 scanner will tell one that there is a crank sensor communication issue which is a bit more then the information we get with the Reatta. At any rate I swapped out the Crank Sensor and while I was there also did the Cam Sensor. So far after about 100 miles of driving and numerous starts no issues. Will continue to drive it more then normal as I want to be sure it is fixed. I plan on heavy use this fall with work.

About your unrelated question about the brake fluid reservoir and fill mark. I'll attach a photo of an article regarding brake pressurization and fluid level that I keep in my Reatta to show any mechanics that work on my brake lines that require adding brake fluid. Invariably, mechanics unaware of how the Reatta system works will over-fill. I got the instructions somewhere on the ROJ.

Ronnie, they are the right wheels for that car. Shiny enough to make a difference and way sportier.

Subframe is out. Yay. Got it cleared of all it's extra stuff so I can measure where to mount the new trans. Even plopped the new trans it it's hole. It's a ways away from where it has to be in these pics, so don't worry. Man, there are a ton of rubber bushings in this thing. I got all six subframe bushings waiting to be installed. Now I have to order control arm bushings and sway bar bushings and sway bar end link bushings and bushing-bushings for the bushing that bushings. Oof. No wonder these cars are so quiet going down the road! Next step is to get the trans located and find a mock-up Series II 3800 block. Hopefully tomorrow.

Never mind, I just found this in the How To guide. Thanks Reatta Owners Journal !

I don't see how changing the timing chain could cause that code. Since it is sporadic the culprit might be a problem with the EGR valve. The EGR has three ports and one of them could be sticking in the open position randomly causing a lean mixture. I would check the EGR first before doing all the other work you described. BTW, you can open and close the 3 EGR solenoids using the onboard diagnostics while the engine is running to see how they respond. If you cycle them repeatedly maybe you can catch one of them sticking open when it should be closed.

2seater, one place to check for a leak is inside your car, on the drivers side floorboard. My previous Reatta was leaking from where the rod from the brake pedal goes in the back of the Teves unit. Ended up swapping out the whole Teves unit. Never heard of any other members here having this problem, I'm just lucky I guess.

Makes sense, appreciate the feedback. I figured since there's a lot of things that could be related together it would help to keep it together. I'll try to break it down into at least related pieces. Thanks Ronnie!

Welcome to the forum! You have packed a lot into one post. That is OK, but I would recommend you start a new topic for each problem, beginning with the one that is most important to you, and work your way through each one until you have resolved the problem. That will avoid a lot of confusion. With one large post that has multiple problems it is hard to follow what is being said about each of the problems you listed as people start offering suggestions.

Welcome. It looks like you have quite a job in front of you. Regarding photos; it sometimes helps to have a general overall photo with locations noted as well as the detail photos. I am just speaking for myself, but I do not have color codes and wiring configurations committed to memory🥴. That said, a couple of things are obvious and that is the area of the brake system in the engine bay has been converted to some sort of standard type brakes. The original anti-lock system is missing and the photo of the cluster of harness plugs is what used to plug into the motor and anti-lock module. You will probably have multiple warning lights related to brakes. I see the corner of what appears to be a cone type air inlet filter, and the sensor out in the open is probably the inlet air temperature, which is installed in the stock air filter housing. I do not know what is being referred to as an aftermarket MAF, but the photo appears to be the stock style setup with the protective loom covering missing from the last portion of the harness to the plug.

I usually use Google to search this forum (and others), by adding ::reattaowners.com (or whatever site you want to search) after my query. That forces Google to prioritize hits from the site you are interested in. e.g. Oil pan gasket ::reattaowners.com brings up two threads