ChrisWhewell

Ignorantly, I thought I needed one of these for my '90 and drove 25 miles to a parts yard only to find upon returning that its not compatible connectorwise with my 90, and then figured out how to repair my existing one with a simple solder technique. So, I have this extra Low Side Temperature Sensor from an 88 that I'll likely never use. Is $20 asking too much ? I'll guarantee it works, I measured the resistance and its right where it needs to be and changes with temperature appropriately. Not high tech, just a thermistor material and probably good for another 20 years. Alternately, if you want to trade me for a mounting plate from an AC Delco ignition module, we can do an even trade maybe ? I want to convert the ignition module in my 90 to an AC Delco setup, instead of the Magnavox, I need the base plate and really don't want to take another trip to the yard.... Or, if you have a Delco module baseplate but no interest in this sensor, let me know I'll buy it off ya for a reasonable amount. thanks alot

Try driving it in regular D (drive gear, NOT overdrive) ? What does it do then ? My first thought was TPS but you already have that handled. It sounds like cruise control circuit, obviously, maybe, since its apparently been halfway on the fritz anyhow. Is there such a thing as a cruise control module somewhere ? Wish I could help more

Ya'all, thanks for the help, it turned out to just be a vacuum hose that'd come loosed under the passenger knee panel. I've saved this thread however for future use, so your help was not in vain. Thank you all again.

Ain't she sweet t ♪♫♪ See her rollin down the street ♪♫♪ I ask you very confidentially ♪♫♪ ain't she sweet ? But, her name is still Sybil

I'll try that,stay tuned. Meantime, its 99 degrees here today. After half an hour of driving, the tach and temp gauge quit their intermittent tantrums, and are steady. So, another clue is that apparently when the car heats up, some sort of "expansion" or other of a part, or something, is going on that is heat-dependent that makes it work normally. I'll check the raw data, thanks alot.. (ps, I had the windows tinted last week with the 70% IR blocking film, got the AC to cycle properly, and just fixed the vent issue, it was just a loosed vacuum hose under passengers knee panel. Plus my cam magnet is back on - NO CODES !! She runs like a champ. Pulled up next to a couple in a new LeSabre, they were eyeballing my baby. My 90 reatta, IMO is better than a new one. Why ? Because of the know-how of all on this forum and ROJ (thanks Ronnie!!) and others - we have 95% of the bugs figured out, whereas the folk with the newer cars, their mechanics are still on the low slope of the learning curve

Yes, it looked like that. I have a good AC Delco module and one coil out in the shop. I'm thinking, all I need are two more coils, a baseplate and six screws.

I'm still trying to hunt down, why my tach display and temp gauge display on the IPC intermittently go out. They do not go out simultaneously - the tach stops reading first, and if the tach keeps on not reading for more then 2 seconds, then the temp. reading disappears also. If on the other hand the tach reading goes out but comes back on before two seconds have elapsed, the temp gauge remains constantly lit and reads the correct temp. So, I pulled the connections from the ECM and doused them with contact cleaner, followed by a generous blast of compressed air. No help. The grounds are all clean up by the battery, and also the ones on the manifold behind the tensioner. I came across this info: http://www.alarmsellout.com/support/diagrams/vehicle/BUICK REATTA 1988-1991.pdf It says there's a purple/white wire on the ignition module. So, I pulled the connector out. Yuck, it was like, all gummy with some tenacious adhesive like bubble gum on a blacktop parking lot in the sun. Sprayed and cleaned those contacts, but did not solve the intermittent tach issue. Some have suggested its the IPC and maybe it is, but I might as well, at least exhaust all other options. I'm wondering, whether something faulty in the ignition module could possibly cause the tach on the IPC to intermittently quit ? I'm thinking probably not, but who knows....

$50 would be a good deal, for all that know-how. anybody is free to download all of it, but it would certainly take time to do. One might think, "oh, I'll just get what I need for now", not realizing that 10 months down the road they'll need some other little fix ---- and nothing lasts forever, like what if all the servers go down, or other weird thing happens where its not accessible on line ? Same could go for this forum too. we have a lot of knowledgeable and friendly people and the info is very valuable IMO. Maybe solicit pre-orders and if enough people sign up, pull the trigger on it. Hire a student to do it on the cheap maybe ?? I'm so glad I put that magnet on my cam sprocket, I love the pep of this car. The short wheelbase makes me think I'm going faster than I really am.

Success !! For the first time since I bought her last September, Sybil (my 90) isn't throwing an 041 !! Plus, she's a little peppier. Next is to install some Bosch III injectors.... Thanks for the link Guest of You All Here, I'll try to keep her running below the Curie temperature of that magnet !!

No problem, thanks alot Ronnie. That ground on the manifold gets exposed to a lot more moisture and heat obviously, than the body-mounted ones and the contacts were definitely looking oxidized. I pinch a piece of sandpaper between my thumb and forefinger with the ground wire connector sandwiched inbetween and rotated them all back and forth a few times, got a lot of aluminum oxide off of them. Have a great day. Oh, one more think, if you took the entire contents of ROJ and put it on a CD, I'd be willing to pay $50 for it and I bet others would too, as a way to keep ROJ funded a little maybe ? just a thought...

Thanks a bunch

Quick question, just curious.... Do you think the magnets of today are stronger than the ones from back in 1990 ? On my car, the face of the magnet holder is what failed and inspecting the sensor, it appears the old one was maybe contacting the sensor slightly. So when I put the washer around mine as in the photo above, I located that washer so the magnet will be about one millimeter farther away from the sensor. I seriously doubt it will matter, but in any event we'll find out tomorrow about this time. What I didn't like on the stock magnet housing are those two little arms that locate it. Tiny little arms, I just felt better putting that nylon washer on there. Its pretty light weight so I don't think it'll have any impact on the overall balance.

You got it !! Hey Padgett, that was a pretty slick fix you came up with on that magnet, thanks sooo much. I epoxied (JB) a thin layer over the exposed portions of the magnet, and also over the hole in the back. The old plastic magnet housing was all crumbly, embrittled. The new one will be subject to chemical attack by hot oil on its exterior surface, I sealed the holes to prevent oil from entering around themagnet itself - that would mean the plastic would be subject to attack from the inside and the outside. This way, only the outside sees the oil. Will it matter ? Maybe not. Or, maybe.

Humor is definitely the best medicine. Your post brings to mind that old song by the band "Queen" , titled "I'm in Love with My Car" Well, a good day for me so far, I finally got around to putting that cam magnet back on. 24 hours from now, she'll be a little more sequential, instead of operating in batch mode !! Have a good one man.

I was going to do a custom grind, barb it so it'd push in from the sensor access hole akin to how they push in from the backside of the sprocket, but ugg, no reason to. Some enterprising American other than myself might make a mould to enable that and sell a few, there's a lot of 231 V6's out there that would pay around 25 bucks for a pop-in piece. Not a life-changer invention but worth a little and would help a lot of folk out. I'd pay 25 for one

She's telling me she wants to live in a colder climate

She's been mean to me lately, so I thought it best she be grounded

So, once this first round of epoxy is cured, I'll just degrease the sprocket hole area, and goop up the back of that washer and push that sucker in.

Being half blind and half concerned about dropping the normal cam magnet quick-fix, I decided to first JB a little nylon washer about Mr. Magnet. Having noticed the mode of failure of the last magnet that was in my '90, it appeared the face of the plastic atop the magnet was wiped off, I adjusted the position of the nylon washer so the magnet face is about 1.5 - 2 mm backed off from the face of the sensor. The washer permits more JB weld to be present at the interface of my little device and the cam sprocket. Not that it matters, as many others have had long success with the other method. My goal was to just have an easy insert and the extra surface area afforded by the presence of the narrow washer, just felt right, FWIW

Thanks. Maybe I'll duct tape a long strip off a cardboard box across the top of the dash as a deflector, adhere some of that vinyl wood-grain to it for visual effect. Fortunately I'm in Texas and there's few zoning laws and it'll draw positive comment from some of the other rednecks !!

Sybil. My '90 finally confessed to me her name is Sybil after I've by now discerned 16 separate and distinct personalities in her. After finally getting the AC to cycle again (O-tube, dryer, sensors, switches, fixed the non-responsive buttons on the climate control) I had a blend door issue,. I disconnected the lever from the blender door motor behind the glove department and piano-wired it in place so she has no choice but to blow only cold air. Three days later, in her attempt to sh*t test me, Sybil has now decided to go into defrost mode only - all that good cold air I finally got, is now exclusively directed onto the hot windshield. Is there a lever that's reasonably accessible that I can wire or JB weld in a position sufficient to cause cold air to be expelled exclusively from the vents in the front of the dash ?? I'm pondering cutting a hole in the roof and strapping on the AC unit from my RV on top, and I told her that. But, I love her and really don't want to take the sawzall to her roof

I've seen quite a few posts about cleaning the ground connections up by the battery, but in all my reading didn't see any for the one in the photo, that is located atop the engine, just behind the belt tensioner pulley, and thought I'd share it. I admit I don't know which circuits these grounds are for, but I cleaned them as a matter of course. Of course.

Still stumped on this. Maybe a clue in the link below, the person had same problem, even changed cluster and BCM to no avail. What is interesting is the expert John's reply, mentioning a ground he called "G103" underneath the alternator ?? I've seen a few threads about the grounds up behind the headlamps and at top of fender adjacent to the battery, but never saw anything about any "G103". From what I can decipher from the OP's last post, is that a new ECM was the answer. eek, maybe I'll try an ECM.... if I can find one .... http://www.justanswer.com/car/130qt-90-reatta-shop-electrical-problem.html

Whatever its worth, and maybe a clue..... the tach stops first, then half a second later the temp gauge quits. Sometimes the tach goes out and comes back on so fast, the temp guage doesn't have time to stop functioning. So, the both don't fail simultaneously, it might seem as if the temp gauge failure is predicated upon first the tach reading stopping

Is there a security system ? My 98 Riviera did the same thing, intermittently. I installed a push switch in the cigarette lighter that I ran to the starter solenoid. Turn the key to "run", and hit the push putton switch and voila. Sometimes using the key fob to lock and unlock the doors worked. Also, manually insert the key in the door and lock and unlock, that worked a couple times too.