PaulP117

I didnt seem to find anything on here for this sort of radio issue, The closest i could find was the locked radio thread but the solution found then didnt end up helping me with this. A family member has been driving my reatta for a few weeks now and while at work they left the headlights on draining the battery almost completely. I jumped the reattas battery for them and when i started the car the radio kicked on for a few second normally and then all sound just stopped suddenly, none of the crackling i normally hear or anything. The radios screen still functions and show the time as well as the volume level. The power switch functions properly and changes the screen properly as well. However the volume button no longer works, the scan button no longer works, the tune and seek buttons also no longer work. and the SET or either of the FM/AM buttons change the screen either. I checked both fuses and they are good. What else could be going on? Its a very nicely refurbished radio from one of our trusted sources so i dont see how it could be any of the internals this soon. (pictures and/or a video will be posted later in the day if that is at all helpful)

Huge thanks to Jim Finn, he was able to get me a good set of lines and now I’ve finally got some cold air in my car again.

interesting yeah so they call it a muffler in the service manual, i was able to find it with that keyword. It doesnt seem like a part anyone sells aftermarket nor can i even fine the OE part anywhere. How hard would it be to just bypass it i wonder

Hey y'all, back for more AC fun questions. I found one of my ac lines has busted open when i was re charging the system 2 weeks ago, the line that busted open is one of the rubber lines that is connected to the drier assembly that sits next to the compressor, and to me it appears these lines are connected to the drier itself and cannot be disconnected and replaced? and i cannot for the life of me find a part number for the entire drier assembly or any aftermarket ones that look like the one from the 91 Reatta. Any idea? And also something else i cant find an answer for, when re charging and filling the Reatta's AC system should I be filling it from the high side or low side or does it not matter? Because I'm able to use an actual r134a shop machine and it allows me to decide if i fill the system from the high side port or low side port OR both. I have a feeling that me filling it from the high side is what caused the line to pop to begin with. Picture posted below of busted line >

Went ahead and bought the blower control module and upon taking one of the connectors off I think I definitely found the exact cause of my smoke haha

I do wonder if I've overcharged the system with bad math, My High Side service valve is pushing some air out after i charged it using a GM r134a machine at 1.9lbs of r134a and 8 oz of PAG oil. Either that or could just be a bad valve core.

also i was just curious if anyone knows the correct math for the pag oil and refrigerant capacity on the 91 Reatta for r134a. R12 says 2.38 lbs of r12 which would equate to i think like 1.9 lbs of r134a? and the r134a pag oil should just be 8 ounces i think?

yikes, that sounds like it would be incredibly annoying to deal with ! Ill defintely scoop that module up, it will be extremely nice to have air again for the rest of this summer and the ability to defrost my front windshield again haha.

I just tried this as soon as i got back home thanks to you Ronnie. I fed the blower motor voltage and it kicked right on. I don't see any of the damaged wiring within the engine bay, so now i think it all makes sense. Id think that the blower motors power wire must have shorted and burnt up at whatever length it did inside of the vehicle when i was driving and the smoke just happened to rise at that spot on the column where i spotted it. Im gonna chase down the wiring and check it out. Would you happen to know where the blower motors wiring leads to inside the car?

Had the same effect, no air from any vents when its on ECON and high fan. But something i just noticed, I can feel wind coming through when driving highway speeds on ECON mode with the fan on high.

Also probably worth mentioning, when my A/C first went out last year and stopped blowing i saw smoke rising from in between the steering column and the steering wheel, but the smoking stopped after turning the car off and back on again and then I had the car checked out anyways at the time fearing for a fire hazard. We saw no burnt or visibly damaged wiring and the smoking stopped so had not much of a choice but to ignore it and keep driving as it was my only vehicle at the time. As far as i know there isnt any wiring thats close enough to the steering column to cause smoke to rise there if it melted apart right?

I ended up needing a new compressor so i figured id just go ahead and commit to converting to r134a since its more readily available to me. I also replaced the receiver dryer and condenser. And now after going through and getting the system vacuumed and oiled and filled i did notice that i have a small leak around one of hoses where i can see the dye leaking out, however i expected the car to at least blow some air for a minute or even at least a few seconds before throwing the b448 code again and killing the compressor. But i made sure the code was cleared, and i could hear the compressor turning on for a few minutes and cycling on and off before the b448 code killed it. But during that small amount of time where the compressor was running for a fact, and the A/C was on Bi Level at the coldest setting and max fan setting i did not feel even a small gust of wind from any of the vents inside the car or the defrost vents. Leading me to believe on top of that small leak, i am having an electrical issue with maybe the blend door not moving? Anyone have tips on what would be the best place to start?

when digging out the plastic remnants of the cam interrupter where do these pieces go? Should all this plastic junk just make its way into the oil pan or should i do my best to pull these remaining plastic parts out of the cam sensor hole

Does anyone know where i can even find that cam interrupter magnet? Its out of stock everywhere i can see. (Searched EBAY and found quite a few, not sure how many are legit but ill take a chance)

So i finally got some time to check things out again and despite the fact i know 100% for certain the cam magnet itself was intact when the problem first arose it does now appear to be missing, Based on the pictures on the Reatta owners journal i truthfully must have touched it or bumped it when i first replaced the cam sensor causing that last little bit of strength the magnet had to crumble away haha. So now i think its time to replace the magnet and go from there! Its a very delicate part it seems

Replaced the ICM after the low reading and the car is still reacting inaccurately. I tested both circuits for high resistance and proper voltage and according to the 91 service manual everything I have should check out but the car still has a very noticeable delay on acceleration with the sensor plugged in. However now the car does operate a little bit better when the sensor is disconnected. Still waiting on a new proper cam position sensor to install so I’ll just have to hope when it arrives that’ll do the trick, because my cam magnet looked good when I pulled the cam sensor just recently.

Went ahead and checked the two pins on the outside and one is reading at about 6.6V while the other is around 11V. I’m willing to bet it’s the splice leading to the ICM. I had one ordered on suspicion it might be that so once it arrives I hope that’ll be the case. Just to be sure I’m gonna try and find the proper diagram to determine which wire color it is that leads to the ICM so Ill actually know which one is the one with the low voltage.

Interesting so the car appears to run the exact same with the cam sensor disconnected. In that case i would think it’s pointing to the ignition control module going out despite not externally looking like it failed. I did spark plugs and plug wires very recently and the car ran phenomenally for a few weeks before the e041 code popped up. and I did coil packs about a year ago so I’d have to think it’s just the ICM? Since it’s the one remaining component in the ignition system I haven’t replaced

Oh and I’m also curious, I couldn’t see if anyone else asked for a way to see the cam signal in the reattas onboard diagnostic. Just to verify it has a signal at all. Is there a ECM Data reading for the cam position sensor signal?

Hey y’all. A week or two ago my reatta started throwing E041 at me intermittently and would often not see an engine light for it unless I was cruising at a steady RPM and then it would go away upon accelerating or feeding the car a little bit more gas. Like other forums have said around here it could be things like the cam magnet itself, the cam sensor or the ignition control module. Since the fault was random and not a steady problem I ruled out the CAM Magnet since I know that issue wouldn’t heal or get better regardless of driving. And the ICM isn’t leaking any green goo so I figured I’d try the CAM Sensor. I got a new cam sensor and put it in this morning and the car is running WORSE! The E041 engine light is now consistently turned on and It idles a slight bit more rough (no stalling) and accelerating from a stop has a delayed response now. Could I have just gotten a bad CAM position sensor ? I figure that is most likely but why would the issue be worse now with another broken cam sensor compared to the other broken cam sensor. What do you guys think is most likely?

Oh thank you for checking that out! Yeah that's perfect then for making my junkyard search a bit wider, incase i cant find any L27 engines around near me now i can look for the LN3 as well

Ill defintely have to try and shoot Jim an email and see if he can help with that part. Worst case scenario yeah like Barney was suggesting ill just have to go hunting for all the other make and model GM cars that had the 3800, and i do belive while searching for the part it was different on the older reattas but i could always be mistaken since i dont have the older service manual on hand just googles documents on them.

Hey AACA, so while working on my 91 Reatta i ended up foolishly bending the outlet pipe (labeled pipe #2) for the water pump causing it to crack where the rubber seal sits on the pipe and no matter what i tried i couldn't get the pipe to fit snug inside its slot again or simply stop leaking. At this point the old pipe is just beyond usable, unless i were to grind the end back to being flat so it fits flush inside the block or something. Either way i am desprate for some ideas of what i can do to either try and find this part (there are no buicks with the 3800 in any junkyards near me) or if anyone has any ideas how i can work around it, or some kind of aftermarket pipe or fitting maybe that would fit and i could connect right to the rubber hose the outlet pipe connected to previously. I am just at such a loss trying to figure it out if yall have some ideas it would be greatly appreciated. Oh and i did manage to find a part number for it, but still using the part number yielded no results. Heater Outlet Pipe - 24503161.

After i remove these pinstripes i think that's exactly my plan now, so all that is gonna come in handy! After 180,000 miles (miracle my trans didn't need to be rebuilt just yet) on this car I'm very impressed by how well GMs paint held up so far. The only places that i've been wanting to do touch ups on are rock chips on the front bumper ofc and chips on the headlight covers (driver side headlight cover may honestly need to be repainted fully, the paint there has gotten so thin)