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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!

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'm no longer able to tell stories about troubleshooting my Reatta but I do have an interesting troubleshooting story about me wasting several hours of my time by making an assumption about how something works. Since I got my GT I always wondered why the oil pressure gauge went up half way to the "normal" position when I started the engine cold or hot and stayed there all the time no matter what the RPM. That seemed odd to me so I temporarily installed a mechanical oil pressure gauge on the engine to make sure I had good oil pressure. The mechanical gauge showed 75 psi at idle on a cold start and then it went down to 35 psi at idle when fully warmed up. Spec in the repair manual is 20-45 psi at 1500 RPM when hot. I had 49 psi at 1500 so oil pressure is great. So, in typical Reatta thinking, I assumed the oil pressure sending unit was bad and replaced it with a new one. Still the gauge in the instrument panel read "normal" all the time. Bad gauge? NO. After reading on the forums I discovered all GTs of similar model years as mine have the same "normal" reading without the needle ever moving just like mine. The gauge isn't a real oil pressure gauge at all. IT'S AN IDIOT LIGHT in the form of a needle on the instrument cluster gauge. The oil pressure sender I replaced is just a switch that closes above 6 psi and tells the needle in the gauge to move to the normal position. Either the gauge reads "0" as it does when the engine is off, or "normal" no matter what the real oil pressure is as long as it's over 6 psi. For me, the oil pressure gauge is the most important gauge on the dash of a car. You can't even make the gauge on my GT work as a normal oil pressure gauge that actually reads pressure by installing a real oil pressure sending unit. It wasn't designed to do that. What were the fools at Ford thinking when they put a oil pressure gauge like this in a Mustang? Even a real idiot light would be better than this stupid gauge design. Rant over 🙂

I ended up having the compressor, dryer and the little valve in the line replaced. As I was sitting on about 10 cans of R-12 I stayed with the r-12. Also had the antifreeze flushed and filled as the radiator is in the way of getting the compressor out. Ready for spring!

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.

The usual springtime startup ritual, actually two days ago, but a May 1st target. This is the first time I left the battery in the car, in a history dating back more than three decades, and used a battery maintainer instead. The car is stored in an unheated garage/shed six feet in the air on a lift. I still found a couple acorns, chewed, on the vents at the base of the windshield. The varmints must be ninja's 😁 Started and ran perfectly as there was no learning to be done like after a battery disconnect. One item did appear that will bear watching and that is brake fluid level. I have the larger Hydac accumulator purchased from Spinning Wheels several years ago and it does drop the fluid level in the reservoir more than the standard amount. I noted the level was a little low at startup but everything was normal for the first mile or so, then the red brake light came on. Tried the parking brake, that's not it. Checked the brake feel and if the pump ran, all okay, but the level was much lower in the reservoir than I have seen before. I tried rapidly pumping the brakes to deplete the accumulator and the light went out, indicating to me that the low level warning light was the cause for the warning. This has not been a problem in the past but I suspect as the accumulator ages, and greater fluid is required to fill it, the actual fluid level will become more important. From a topped off level to fully pressurized, the fluid level will drop from the top of the level tag to just below it, so the capacity is substantial. I guess it is time to bring out the test rig and estimate the gas precharge and health of the accumulator. Oh joy👍

ICM (Ignition Control Module) Ignition coils ECM (Engine Control Module) MAF sensor (Mass Air Flow) CPS (Central Power Supply) Generator (alternator) Drive belt tensioner Fuel pump, strainer, & deflector Oil pressure sensor Rear struts (if you have $$$)

Still having intermittent ignition issues and believe it is not the ignition module or coils. After doing a bit of online research I have determined that there is a short harness that goes from the main harness splits to go to the ignition module and ignition module ground, goes on a bit farther and splits again ending at the crank sensor and cam sensor. It is discontinued by GM but Dorman makes a replacement. I have one on order and every indication is that this is the issue. I had a no start situation yesterday and rather then swap out the module again I thought I would jiggle the wires between the harness block and the loom protecting the wires. Tried a start and no go. Then tried jiggling the harness block that igoes to the module that the wires run through. That did the trick and car started like nothing was wrong. So I think that is my issue. Hopefully the new harness will do the trick.

Alright the final form of the intake is installed with the maf sensor in place. Just gat a long bend pipe and cut off the excess and she fits great under that support bar!

Update on the brake fluid level and pressure test. At this point I do not see any leaks at the suggested areas so I am in monitor mode now. I did break out my test gauge and as near as I can tell, my Hydac accumulator is in the 750-800psi precharge range. Not perfect, but still pretty good. The gauge flashes to ~800psi when the circulating valve is closed on the way up and drops off completely at ~750psi on the way down. The operating pressures observed for pump on and off are in the correct range at ~2,650psi shut off and ~2000psi for pump on. All appears well at this time.

Mine was leaking at the two rubber seal that the reservoir mounts on. Most people think they are just insulators but there are holes at the end of the legs on the reservoir. If they are cracked one can lose brake fluid that way.

If you look at Reatta Facebook groups you can see a lot of the threads are about someone parting out a Reatta. I guess the reason for that is parts are getting so expensive for a Reatta, both new and used, that people don't want to spend the money to fix them. What does that tell us? Are Reattas parts, and paying a mechanic to keep them up, getting so expensive that the threshold where a Reatta should be parted our versus trying to fix them up getting lower? Or does it mean that less people are interested in them and figure there is more money to be made parting out an old beater than trying to sell them? The way it's going the only people who are going to own a decent Reatta are people that can afford to pay big money for a low mileage Reatta to admire, brag about, and drive occasionally. The days of buying a Reatta as a cheap car seems to be over. Yeah, you can still buy a higher mileage Reatta at a good price, but after you spend the money on parts and labor to get it in good condition, your cheap driver isn't going to be so cheap. Especially if you have to pay a mechanic to do the work. My advice to Reatta owners who plan to keep them, is buy up all the parts that you can afford right now that are on Facebook and hang on to them because the price of those parts is going to get much more expensive and harder to find as the number of Reattas dwindles because of people parting them out.

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.

Update - Ronnie hit the nail on the head with this one. I pulled the brake hose on the left front wheel and the new hose indeed fixed the problem. It is so nice to have correct brakes again! Thanks so much!

I generally follow whatever recommendations I see from GM, but this time it failed spectacularly. A service bulletin from the '90s said to upgrade the oil pan gasket to their new design from AC Delco which is supposed to be so good that you can even reuse it. The first thing I noticed was that it didn't fit very well. It was floppy, hung over the edge in places, and getting it to stay in place while installing it was like trying to make a fish sandwich while it's still alive. The instructions that come with it and in the bulletin say to torque the bolts to 10, then 16. This seemed to squeeze the gasket out, and deformed my new pan. It started leaking and progressively got worse, so I ordered a new gasket. This time I ordered the Fel-Pro PermaDry Plus. This gasket is a solid piece that doesn't flop around or squeeze out. It comes with 4 handy helpers called SnapUps that you screw into 4 bolt holes, and they hold the gasket and the pan in place in exactly the right spot, freeing up your hands to put the bolts in easily. Once you get a few bolts in, the SnapUps just unscrew and you can put the last 4 bolts in. Incidentally, I tried doing a search for "oil pan" on this site, so as to avoid make a duplicate thread, but the search doesn't seem to be working. It returned zero results, even though there is another thread on that very page about oil pan bolts.

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

Odd that a rubber plug would be used to stop brake fluid from coming out. I'm wondering if the rubber is intended to be a dust plug for something else that is supposed to seal the brake fluid behind it. If all you need is a rubber plug, one of the "Christmas tree" style push pins like hold inner fender panels and such on might work. My local Autozone has a big selection of styles and sizes. I had to get some for my mustang to hold the trunk carpet in place when I replaced the rear shock absorbers.

I think this is a better pic, of course not in stock. Maybe try Ebay. ACDelco 18020180 Valve - Walmart.com

We'll see. Was out to Gibson's [my local You Pick] and was window shopping looking at other Buicks. Found a pretty nice floor mat with the Buick Tri shield logo on it. It was a light beige so I washed it up real well, allowed it to dry and just sprayed it with the tan spray recipe found in the "How To" section. Think it's going to turn out pretty nice...

I had considered buying a second one to revive, but people are asking way too much for them for the amount of work that needs to be done. If I could get one for $500, that might be doable, but $2000 is a bit much. Then I also see a lot of finished ones up for sale for a really long time, like 8 months or more. When you can't buy and you can't sell, unfortunately that doesn't bode well for doing a profitable project ☹️

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.

Delrin is amazing stuff, and very easy to machine. I don't know if it is suitable for suspension bushings, for example, as it may be too stiff, but I'd love to look into Delrin's physical properties as compared to urethane. As for 3D printing, there are quite a number of different print media. I'll ask around about what might be suitable for suspension bushings. Of course knowing OEM dimensions is difficult for a 30+ year old part that takes a beating.

Agreed, Ronnie. I have started to amass replacement parts that are hard to find. Though I have not yet procured a front windshield, I have been thinking about having windshield film installed as a precaution. I am good on struts (front and rear new spares) are on the shelf. Caliper rebuild kits. I am wondering if the various bushings could be 3D printed, or machined from a solid block of the appropriate material. The sensitivity of the electronics also causes worry. Regardless, the certainty is parts will be more scarce, and more expensive.

Here is an analogy to this topic. Just like a human being, the Reatta's lifetime will eventually cease to exist. That is, just as a human being will need medical help during its lifetime, the Reatta needs repair. Some people pass away, and others live another day. Along the way there are ebbs and flows with respect to the frequency of events, but assuredly they increase with the passage of time. So, in the case of the Reatta, at 30+ years of age it has rounded 3rd base heading home. Along the way many Reattas have disappeared and were designated as donors so others may live on. This is an inverse relationship........fewer Reattas on the road but more Reatta spare parts. Coupled with part availability from other GM models, perhaps spare part purchases should be closely scrutinized as there will always be aging Reattas entering junk yards or being parted out. The future cost of these spare parts is another discussion as predatory pricing becomes an issue rather than supply vs demand.

And, Dave gave me two complete Magnavox coil/ICM setups as spares for my sons two cars. Can't beat that with a stick👍 Mine runs the Delco style.

Yesterday with nothing else to do I decoded I would revisit the failed original ignition module and coils that were in the Regal. I cleaned up the plate [top and bottom] of the ignition module, got 2 coils from the parts bin to replace the old rusted ones and reinstalled them. The Regal started easily, ran good when revved with no load, then I took it out on the highway where it performed flawlessly. Got back home put one Delco setup in the Reatta for emergency repairs and another in the Regal. No more left in the parts bin but that's okay as they are now where I may need them.

To the best of my knowledge, only the 90 and newer use the short harness. The touchscreen cars have a different wiring scheme.