Ronnie Posted June 7, 2017 Share Posted June 7, 2017 Is the upper section of the console with the Tape player the dog house? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DAVES89 Posted June 7, 2017 Topic Author Share Posted June 7, 2017 The part of the console that holds the cassette deck is what I call the "dog house". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ronnie Posted June 8, 2017 Share Posted June 8, 2017 I'm thinking of adding the info on pulling the dash to ROJ. What term should I use to describe the "dog house" that would be easily recognized? I can't find what it is called in the FSM. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DAVES89 Posted June 8, 2017 Topic Author Share Posted June 8, 2017 How about "Cassette deck housing located between the dash and console". Kind of looks like a "dog House". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DAVES89 Posted June 9, 2017 Topic Author Share Posted June 9, 2017 Yesterday I pulled the '90 Reatta floor mats from the Red [i got them from that '90 I found in West Bend] and decided to respray them. I used a carpet cleaner to get the dirt out and then rinsed. rinsed, rinsed them with my water hose allowed to dry. Today I sprayed them with SEM "Camel" and I think they turned out great. Looks like this was the last piece of the puzzle/project as I am very satisfied with how my car project turned out. I do have one sensor issue and need to change the tranny fluid [i have about 1500 miles on it since the swap] to see how everything looks. If I may be so bold this car looks like it has way less then the 263,500 miles on the odometer. In my opinion it looks and drives like it has less then 50,000 miles. There is only one flaw that I can see [and I have looked hard from front to back] is that the hole in the drivers door that the seat switch fits into looks irregular, but I can't help that. I keep finding great '90/91 doors but not a single 88/89 [that can be had at a firly reasonable price]. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frogware Posted June 10, 2017 Share Posted June 10, 2017 Hey Dave have you looked on ebay lately for the seat switch, I am not sure if it is the exact one you are looking for but there are a few on there (88's) starting around $30. Maybe that is too much I don't know. By the way your NEW Red sounds like a dream - good for you! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ronnie Posted June 11, 2017 Share Posted June 11, 2017 I created a tutorial for removing the Dash. It can be found here. Dash Removal Instructions 1988-1989 Thanks to Dave and Kevin for supplying the information! If mistakes are found let me know. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DAVES89 Posted June 12, 2017 Topic Author Share Posted June 12, 2017 Hey Guys, Thought you would like to see how badly my old dash broke down. I did remove the pod that holds the IPC and Headlight/Wiper pods, but looks pretty bad. A lot of Florida summer and heat. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ronnie Posted June 12, 2017 Share Posted June 12, 2017 I didn't notice it being broke that bad when you were here. All I remember was a little cracking at the defrost grill. Did pulling the dash out make it worse or did it get worse slowly over time? That photo reminds me why I don't want to change my photocell. My dash is nice other than being slightly warped on the passenger side. I guess heat did that. I think it was that way when I bought the car. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DAVES89 Posted June 12, 2017 Topic Author Share Posted June 12, 2017 The diagonal crack on the left was from removing the pod and throwing it in the garbage, but the rest were there from before. That straight crack from the hlf round crack showed up sometime last summer. It was time to replace it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ronnie Posted June 12, 2017 Share Posted June 12, 2017 Glad you found a nice one to replace it with. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frogware Posted June 12, 2017 Share Posted June 12, 2017 That photo reminds me why I don't want to change my photocell. Ever since you guys started talking about the issues stemming from that photocell going bad over time and from excessive heat, I have been putting a folded microfiber towel over my photocell when I'm not driving it. Do you think it would help prolong the life of the cell or not? Would the computer think it is dark all the time and still wear it out ... I don't know? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ronnie Posted June 12, 2017 Share Posted June 12, 2017 I've wondered why they fail myself. In the case of mine, it didn't quit working completely. It just got out of range so far that it didn't dim or brighten the dash lights correctly. To compensate I added a resistor in line with the photocell that put it back in range where it worked better, although not perfectly. Now it has got out of range again. Just enough that it is borderline if the lights will brighten during the day on their own. It's not a real problem because I can brighten the dash lights in the daytime with the slider on the headlight switch if they don't brighten up on their own. I've been trying to figure out how to mount a nice looking photocell at the edge of the dash on the passenger side, in the gap between the dash and the windshield. and bypass the photocell in the original location. That way I won't be taking a chance of breaking the dash pad to change it when needed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DAVES89 Posted June 12, 2017 Topic Author Share Posted June 12, 2017 The dash pad removal is an issue all to itself, but what i did in regards to that narrow grill is I removed it, then laid it back in place to see where the 3 dash pad mounting screws are and then drilled holds in the vent to match. I then ground off the little square tabs on the back side of the vent [the side towards the windshield] and I can now remove the vent panel anytime I want without a concern of breaking the vent. The three screws do an excellent job of holding the went panel in place. Afrter the dash pad pulling tool was made I became less afraid of damaging the pad and edge of the dash then I was with breaking the vent panel. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frogware Posted June 12, 2017 Share Posted June 12, 2017 Wow sounds like a lot of work, I hope mine doesn't come to that but at least I will have the forum and you guys for help. So far my photo cell works great! I'm not sure how the other years work but the 90's when it senses that it is dusk or darker an idiot light (as I call them) will come on the IPC saying "HEADLIGHTS SUGGESTED". When I remove the towel the light goes out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kdirk Posted June 13, 2017 Share Posted June 13, 2017 The photocell degrades over time with exposure to bright light and probably due to heat as well. It is composed of a substance called cadmium sulfide (cds) that converts light into a resistance level. This resistance level in turn varies based on the amount of light input present at the lens. The issue is that cds, unlike most other semiconductor materials, is subject to drift from degradarion and then the resistance range changes substantially, or even goes open circuit. Since the BCM in the Reatta reads this resistance value to determine the outside light level, when the photo cell fails (and after 30 years nearly all of them have, save for low mile garage queens) the BCM no longer has a proper frame of reference to determine light level (or dark) and the interior switchgear lighting and VFD dimming malfucntion in turn, as the usual state of failure is to read as 'full light' rather than full dark. The BCM then interprets this to mean it is daylight out and does not call for backlighting or display dimming. Now, it would be trivial to relocate the stock photocell elsewhere with some minor wiring work, as it mounts like a 194 wedge base lamp. Finding an appropriate place that will not be influenced by shadows or ambient/oncoming light from traffic or streetlamps will be the issue . That is why the center of the dash pad was chosen for the factory locationm I'll concede that access to it is poor when service is required, and understand the desire to avoid going into the dash to replace it. Note also that the official GM photocell is an odd part with a proprietary range, virtually all off the shelf photocells I've found will cause the BCM to read out of range on the light level. Now, the system may still function depending on how far out of range it is, but it will throw a BCM code 119. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DAVES89 Posted June 14, 2017 Topic Author Share Posted June 14, 2017 Here a photos of the new dash I installed. I thought the dash turned out well. I did repaint it so it looks fresh Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DAVES89 Posted June 18, 2017 Topic Author Share Posted June 18, 2017 I went out to Gibson's today and thought I would get a new dash pad. This one is from a '93 Riv and will fit our Reattas. If you look carefully you will see that all the locking tabs are there. Also on the top side you can see predrilled counter sunk screw holes for the small vent panel. The three screws go through the vent panel then the dash pad and then mount the two panels to the dash. No more breaking vent panels as one now removes the 3 screws utilize the dash puller and off comes the dash pad and vent panel. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DAVES89 Posted June 26, 2017 Topic Author Share Posted June 26, 2017 Had a close call about a week ago. I was getting a noise from the engine for about 3 weeks [didn't drive the car last week because of it]. I thought it might be a bad alternator, and hoped it wasn't worse as I was getting a code e041c which as we all know is a cam magnet. It wasn't the alternator and when I took off the cam sensor for a look see I could see that something had ruined the cam sensor. I had a new cam sensor in inventory so I put that in checked the codes and still had the code e041c. Took off the just installed cam sensor and I had the same damage to it as the old one. I called Kendall my mechanic friend and he said to bring it over and he would take a look at it. He determined that a cam sprocket bolt had come loose and that I shouldn't drive it until it was fixed. We agreed to do the rework today. I was to get parts and we would start in on it. I was lucky as when we got the timing cover off we could see that I was less then 100 miles from a major engine breakdown. Two of the three cam bolts were out and just held in place by the sprocket. The last one was in place by less then two threads. All three cam sprocket bolts were badly damaged and could not be reused. The cam sensor was damaged [as mentioned before] and the cam magnet was damaged badly. There was grinding into the timing cover and it was only a short matter of time before I would of had total engine failure. We don't believe the engine builder tightened the cam sprocket bolts more then finger tight. There was no thread lock on them. So we found two bolts elsewhere on the engine that were correct and chased over to the engine builder who had one as well as two other bolts we could use to replace the two from elsewhere on the engine that were in a non critical area. All the replacement bolts are 8. hardened and are the correct length so I am sure we got it right this time. And yes we did install Red thread lock. We cleaned everything up got the shavings out of the oil pan, oil pan pick up, cleaned the timing cover well, installed a new crank seal, cam magnet, cam sensor, all new pan,water and timing cover gaskets and back together again. I have been driving the car and all is good and it is quiet again. Yes we checked the crank bolts prior to putting the oil pan back on. Also thanks to 2seater who also was there to offer assistance. Pictures to followas Kendall sends them to me as I don't have a smart phone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ronnie Posted June 26, 2017 Share Posted June 26, 2017 You dodged a bullet Dave. Lucky for you. I would have along talk with the engine builder. He made a big mistake. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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