Saving Reattas from the crusher is a family project.

[Padgett]

FWIW I know of at least 4 different 89 Reatta ECM Proms: early fed & calif, late fed & calif. Main difference between early and late is late ones have a longer initial fuel pump shot. A few years ago I found that originals were not erasing properly to reprogram so had to buy new ones. 27C256.

[2seater]

After sitting for 16 hours, the red Reatta started up with no issues. I simply cranked the engine without waiting for fuel pressure or anything special. Double checked the TPS indication which is .40v at idle, no moving around without input like before. I don't know why changing the TPS would have corrected the extended cranking unless it randomly showed full throttle which would shut off the fuel for clear flood mode? Doesn't make sense and doesn't explain why after the initial hard start at the beginning of the day, it would start perfectly the rest of the day?? The only thing that was changed was the TPS which indicated .58v when I first investigated. That might tell the ECM the throttle is slightly cracked but I don't know if that might shut off the normal priming shot from the injectors? Good news if fixed but I think only longer term will tell if it is permanent.

[Ronnie]

17 minutes ago, 2seater said:

I don't know why changing the TPS would have corrected the extended cranking unless it randomly showed full throttle which would shut off the fuel for clear flood mode?

That would be my guess.

 

19 minutes ago, 2seater said:

Doesn't make sense and doesn't explain why after the initial hard start at the beginning of the day, it would start perfectly the rest of the day??

Perhaps the flood mode is disabled once the engine reaches operating temperature? I don't know if that's true. Just throwing it out there as something to consider.

[2seater]

Just a follow-up to the TPS replacement and extended cranking time. I left the car sit for one solid week and as before, it started normally without any issue and has been been fine ever since in daily use. I still do not know what combination caused this behavior, but the TPS being out of range was certainly not on my radar.

[2seater]

The continuing story of my sons cars, thanks to Daves89. The red car, which started this thread has continued to perform flawlessly since the TPS replacement, no error messages. It looks like this car will be repurposed to summer only duty with #2 son. It has almost brand new true directional snow tires which were purchased for the grandson when it was his daily driver. That changed too soon, which is a whole different story, but the black car will now become the recipient for the four snow tires when it resumes its winter duty, same as what it did for Dave. After the encounter with the deer last fall, the parts have been replaced with mismatched colors from my donor, but it just makes sense for it to resume winter duty, where it served Dave well. The rear suspension will not be repaired or replaced. It sort of boils down to: black car resumes winter duty with newish snow tires and the red car becomes summer only with new summer tires paid for by the trade of the winter tires. I'm glad I am not in the middle of that deal. The good thing is, we have plenty of spare wheels, so switching and swapping only takes a few minutes.🙂

[DAVES89]

That is an interesting story. Glad your son's saw value in two cars I was done with, and are making use of them. I think in about two more winters I will be done with the '88 and just have the Red for full time year round driving. Maybe you or your sons will be ready for another one...

[2seater]

It looks like the black needs a fuel sender. I donated/bartered a new fuel tank that was purchased for the red car and turned out not to be needed. Black developed a seep in the return line near the rear and investigation showed the fuel tank was getting damp near the seam as well. Not sure what happened with the sender but that was posted in its own thread

 

[Padgett]

Time for the kabanger and a dolly ?

[Ronnie]

16 hours ago, 2seater said:

It looks like the black needs a fuel sender. I donated/bartered a new fuel tank that was purchased for the red car and turned out not to be needed. Black developed a seep in the return line near the rear and investigation showed the fuel tank was getting damp near the seam as well. Not sure what happened with the sender but that was posted in its own thread

I looked all that stuff over while my tank was off. The fuel pump assembly and the inside of the tank all looked like new as well as the outside of the tank and lines. I could see the baffle inside the tank through the hole where the pump comes out and it was shiny like new. Donnie shined a light in the tank and said he couldn't see any trash at all in the tank so no cleaning was needed. The hardest thing about getting my tank off was that damn rubber hose that connects the filler pipe to the tank. It was almost like it was glued on. Donnie had to be careful prying it off to keep from damaging it. He put grease on it to make it go back on easier. Other than that everything came apart easy. I'm lucky that I don't have to deal with rust.

[2seater]

Minor item installed on the red car this last weekend. I had the undamaged cover for the strut brace from the donor car which finally made it to the red car to replace the one that was broken in two. It is now held in place by the new 3D printed twist fasteners courtesy of #1 son. It has a nagging loss of communication warning that pops up rarely. The last time was on the weekend where the engine ran like it had lost power, but didn't die. I am assuming it went into limp mode but of course it cured itself after stopping and restarting? I suggested all the accessible electrical connections from the front of the engine to everything under the dash be disconnected, sprayed with electrical cleaner and reseated. Essentially all of that was removed, swapped, replaced etc... when it was refurbished. It is going to sleep for the winter at the end of the month.

[Ronnie]

1 hour ago, 2seater said:

It has a nagging loss of communication warning that pops up rarely. The last time was on the weekend where the engine ran like it had lost power, but didn't die.

Same symptoms I had a coupe of years ago when a MAF sensor was going bad. Next symptom that popped up before I changed it with a known good one was rough idle at stop signs. Installing another MAF cured it.

[2seater]

Okay, thanks. I have spares so certainly worth a switch.

[2seater]

I resurrected this thread for a proper update. The red car slept all winter and was just taken out of storage. It started right up and ran perfectly but then stalled several miles from home. After being towed home to my sons place, we looked at it this morning. It proved to have no spark and since the crank sensor was brand new and the ICM and coil pack were the originals, we decided to change them out with a known good set from my car. That assumption proved to be incorrect. We walked through the excellent instructions in the help section of this site and concluded we had lost the 3X crank signal. We did not use a LED to indicate the pulsing but a good Fluke VOM proved to do that task just fine. Luckily I had brought along another new crank sensor I had purchased for the supercharged project which was the incorrect style for that application. Replacement of the crank sensor proved to be relatively easy and quick without even removing the right front tire. Having two people does make it easier plus I made the decision to leave that little damper shock and bracket off of the front of the engine back when I did the front of engine work last year. That was meant to be temporary but life sure is easier without it in the way. The engine started instantly after the new CPS was installed and I mentioned to my son the spark testers now indicated we had spark🙄

 

I have a suspicion some of the above erratic behavior may have had something to do with the flaky CPS. It seemed eerily reminiscent of the self healing crank sensor I had on my car several years ago.

[Ronnie]

15 minutes ago, 2seater said:

We walked through the excellent instructions in the help section of this site and concluded we had lost the 3X crank signal. We did not use a LED to indicate the pulsing but a good Fluke VOM proved to do that task just fine.

Good to know that someone is using those instructions. I started to delete them a while back thinking no one would bother to use them and had some concern that someone might use them improperly and get hurt. I might update the instructions to say some meters will work as well as an LED. The meter I had when I wrote the instructions wouldn't work. Maybe my new one will, although it's not up to par with a Fluke. Fluke makes a really good meter.

[DAVES89]

Do you remember the brand of the Crank Sensor? Just for conversation purposes as I have bought cheap ones and expensive ones and have had good service from all of them. I just replaced the crank sensor on my new Black because it was loose in the bracket and caused all kinds of issues. [When it was in the "right" position it ran great]. I also replaced the crank sensor on the old Black [the one 2seaters son now has] but never on the Red or the 'vert. I may have put a new one on the Red when I went through the engine rebuild, but don't remember. I did take a bunch of stuff off the 6ooo mile motor I bought so maybe I used that one. I know I used the intake manifold and throttle body as well as the MAF sensor.

Edited May 28, 2022 by DAVES89

[Padgett]

My 88 does not have the shock. Have a little analog meter and being able to see the needle twitch is often handy.

[2seater]

Short term followup on this subject:

 

I do not know the brand of the CPS we previously installed, but it still looked new without a mark on it. The replacement we just installed now is a Standard brand. My son just stopped over with his family and reported the car starts and runs but now shows a cam sensor code, and that was not there prior. He is going to install a new cam sensor but it received a new magnet in the cam sprocket when it got a new timing chain? i am beginning to believe we have a wiring problem, specifically that front engine harness that connects all the affected parts together. After I took a apart two of those harnesses, to re-loom, separated by many model years, and found hidden damage to both, I think this may be somewhat common. Maybe it doesn't show up until it is disturbed for work in that front engine area. Just conjecture at this point.

 

The Fluke meter was not mine, but my son received as a gift from his father in law. I have a combination of Radio Shack and good old Harbor Freight Centek meters🙂

[Ronnie]

4 hours ago, Padgett said:

Have a little analog meter and being able to see the needle twitch is often handy.

I have an old analog meter but it wouldn't read the signal from the CPS either. I don't know if the signal was too low or just too quick for my old meter.

[2seater]

Well, whatever gremlin we are chasing is still in residence. The car didn't even make it out of the driveway this morning and it quit, stone dead. It still cranks, but no spark, same as before. When I get back home in a couple days I will finish the refurbishment of the harness from the s/c donor engine and we will swap that in, probably next weekend. I am very curious if this is wiring issue that may explain some of the oddball troubles people experience but don't follow the normal repair pattern but I am assuming nothing at this point🙃

[2seater]

According to my son, the 89 does not have the separate small harness on the front of the engine, it is all mixed together with many other things. I was told previously that I was incorrect in stating that only the 90-91 had the small harness but it looks like I was correct and this will be a much bigger job than envisioned 🤨