New to me Reatta with many issues

[lent0n]

Hi all,

Brand new Reatta owner here and brand new to the forum, so don't hesitate to let me know the ins and outs, I've read a fair bit already so I'm trying to do my best for forum edicate!

I recently acquired a 1989 Buick Reatta with 295km on the odometer for $2300, the guy I bought it from owned it for about 3 weeks and bought it out of a barn. Thankfully I took it off his hands as he wanted to attach a ski rack to it and make it some kind of off road abomination.

The ownership history as I understand it, is that I'm the 4th owner.

1st owner purchased new
2nd owner was an older lady who died and the family lost the keys and it was stored, the engine bay is covered in dust and there's a number of odd impact points to the body which indicates to me it was stored long term in a garage/barn. The coolant tank also has some kind of algae in it (will be flushing and cleaning)
3rd owner bought it out of the front yard and trailered it to a mechanic to get a new key made, owned it for 3 weeks and sold it to me, however I did find a sticker for a shop in San Antonio on the inside door, so it may have been US originally.


The downside is, he absolutely tore apart the interior in the short time he owned it as he was trying to sell the interior on ebay so there's a lot of broken plastic and when I got it, it was already half disassembled.

I'm in the process of diagnosing a number of issues and trying to find the common threads so any help is massively appreciated. I'll write out the oustanding issues in point form and then provide background below

- Sunroof inoperable (see photos, may just be missing fuse)
- CRT screen is off (was on before without any issues, no dimming or flickering)
- Park lights are on continuously unless I unhook the battery
- Trunk unable to open from outside
- Ignition Cylinder was replaced improperly need to manually push a piece inside the steering column forwards and backwards to start (likely source of many issues)
- Cruise control light came on but wouldn't set speed
- Codes/errors prior to CRT going out
- B448
- E063
- Check doors (even when shut)
- AC Coolant extremely low
- Rear defog non functioning
- Engine sensor harness unattached with an aftermarket MAF (see photos)
- A number of interior pieces missing or broken including latch to trunk from inside, console latch, window buttons on center console, exterior trim pieces missing
- Missing Cabin light?

- Light open and retract system issues
- Leaking Roof

Sunroof
When purchased the owner said it wasn't working and he was going to remove everything, I pulled down some trim to observe, there is a harness still and it looks like it's missing a fuse, I can't seem to find online what fuse belongs in there, it also looks like they've possibly stuffed additional foam around the sunroof? it doesn't seem trimmed correctly.


CRT
When I bought it, the CRT was working fine and worked for the whole drive back to my house (2 hours). When I got back I went to my friends house and we poked at it for a sec noting that there was a harness in the engine bay that wasn't plugged in and an aftermarket MAF, upon touching the wires the engine RPMs dipped so we left it alone for the time being.

When I got back in the car the CRT was out, I still have the physical buttons working and light up on touch but the CRT has been out since that point. I still have console lights

Park Lights
This was an issue the former owner didn't seem to be aware of, so possibly was not an issue prior to purchase, in an attempt to turn them off he almost smashed the button in which I stopped him from doing (an ongoing theme is him using brute force instead of assessing the situation). From what I've read this is a RAP issue and likely linked to the ignition cylinder

Trunk
Interior button doesn't open trunk, doesn't seem to be an exterior latch option or if there was it's been removed

Ignition Cylinder
The only work the previous owner did aside from an oil change and new battery was have a mechanic replace the ignition cylinder, this will need to get redone as they didn't rekey any of the doors and the door cylinders do not match the key. The key can turn almost freely forwards and backwards but I need to stick my finger in to move a square piece forwards or backwards to start or shut off the car, assuming this may be related to park light/CRT issue.

Cruise Control
Cruise control light was coming on at time of purchase but wouldn't set speed, later in the drive it would not light up. Upon looking inside the fusebox the fuse is blown, so that may be remedied there, may also be linked to engine bay harness issue.

Prior to the CRT being out I had these error codes B448 and E063, it also said to check the doors being shut which I assumed had a lot to do with this guy ripping out the interior, I also can't turn the park lights off so it remains parked with the battery unhooked when I'm not working on it.

Engine Sensor Harness
Honestly this one is a bit baffling, I'm not sure what these belong to but I'm sure they're not meant to just be hanging out. The aftermarket MAF lines are extremely shredded as well. The duct taped line is a vaccuum line that was just sucking air so I figured it's best to just close it off.


Light Opening and Retract Issues

When I open the lights they pop up right away, however the right headlight motor can be heard running continuously for an extra 10 seconds with some clicking seeming to test resistance, I dissassembled yesterday and greased up everything as it all was quite dry and tried tightening things up but still persists. Also the retract button only works if I shut them off first, is this the norm?

Leaking Roof
The day of purchase it was raining sheets and I ended up getting soaked driving home anytime I had to stop. I'll assume that this is more a matter of replacing the seals around the sunroof, as all the window and glass seals look well, they look 35 years old and unloved. However it does present the risk of water touching electronics

In the time I had yesterday to work on it, I managed to get the seat controls working again as they were non functioning at time of purchase. However if anyone knows anything about the orange/black harness under the seats and if it serves and purpose that would be helpful.

End goal with this vehicle is to have a fun summer car alternative from my pick up truck, I fell in love with these cars because of the dash so it's definitely a big priority to get that back running. A full restoration seems unlikely as there's been much interior plastic broken and the exterior needs a lot of love and possibly a whole repaint but I'm a handy/tinkering personality so I don't mind working on things as I go. 

Appreciate all help!

[2seater]

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.

[Ronnie]

4 hours ago, lent0n said:

Brand new Reatta owner here and brand new to the forum, so don't hesitate to let me know the ins and outs,

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.

[lent0n]

53 minutes ago, Ronnie said:

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.

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!