Jim

Nic, Only four? I have been sitting on these Reatta wheels for quite some time now. My local junk yard has a pile of tens of thousands of aluminum wheels just sitting there. Oops, if someone looks close there are four Corvette wheels in that pile.

It appears there was a mid year change. Some '89s had the antenna fully horizontal in the blacked out area at the top of the glass. This must not have been ideal as some '89s and all '90s had a loop antenna bonded to the glass similar to the rear window defrosters. The button connectors are similar to that of a 9V battery but both are the same and they are soldered to the black area on the glass. I am attaching some pictures of the loop style. The early, I am guessing, is just two bars going away from the buttons. They appear to be not a loop but an antenna going each way and not connected to each other. The loop style on the late '89s and '90s appear to be a loop. The last picture is of the length of the "wires"

That is a thought but would be pretty difficult. How much would you bend it and which way. Then you have a problem testing to see if you got it right. This could be done with the tank out of the car and with a known amount of gas in the tank and then a temporary extension assembly of the wiring so you can plug it into the car and use the IPC to get the gauge to read correctly while bending. All this having been said, I am guessing you would might be able to get it near correct at maybe the low fuel end but then the full tank would be off my more. The BCM and IPC are designed for a variable range of about 200 ohms.

I agree with Ronnie, nice car and it is actually a pretty rare early car with the 16 way suede seats. The '88-89 Reattas had steel gas lines all the way from the tank to the engine. If you find the leak in an accessible area you can using some high pressure gas hose, cut out the bad area and replace it with hose.

Bleeding the brakes. I believe you can also find this same info on Ronnie's site. 1. It is HIGHLY recommended that all the fluid in the whole system be changed with new fluid to eliminate any built up moisture in the system. 2. Any time the brake hydraulic system is to be opened the brake pedal should be pumped 25 times with the key off to bleed off the 2600 pounds of pressure in the accumulator. 3. Siphon out as much of the old fluid as possible from the reservoir and refill with clean fluid to the top. Another good way is to cut the rubber hose that comes from the reservoir right where it attaches to the ABS pump and let all the fluid in the reservoir run out. Then remove the piece of hose still attached to the pump and reinstall the rubber hose. It is long enough to do this. I like to cut it rather than try and remove it because the hose sticks really hard to the plastic fitting and you might break the fitting trying to take the hose off. Doing it this way you get all the fluid out of the reservoir before putting in new clean fluid. 4. When doing the rear wheels only let out about a half of a cup and then refill the reservoir. This is to make sure you don't take out too much and get air into the system. 5. To bleed the front brakes have the key off and bleed in a conventional method. Have someone pump the pedal a few times and hold it down while the other person opens the front bleeders. 6. To bleed the rear brakes A. Turn on the key and allow the system to pressurize B. Have an assistant slightly depress the pedal and hold it. C. Open each rear bleeder, one at a time, and hold open until clear fluid comes out. (The pump and motor will do the bleeding) When you are done there are high and low marks on the reservoir and after the system pump and motor has run and the lights are out the level should be at the low mark. When you have pumped the brakes with the key off 25 times the level will be at the high mark.

Dave, Interesting you mentioned your gauge is now off. i am sure you are correct that that is the reason for the different part numbers. A while back I was getting some sending units from other Buicks and noticed the resistor that the slide rubs on was different on different models. I remember one was about 350 ohms. The correct resistance for all year Reattas is about 200 ohms so it must be that Cadillac probably using a different BCM and definitely a different instrument cluster will require a different value resistor on the sending unit.

Thanks everyone for the thoughts. It was the TPS. First I tried adjusting it and naturally I went the wrong way. I went the other way and still .058. Adjusted it more and the reading went down to .018 and the idle went right down to normal. I then tried adjusting it up a little but it went right up to the .058. I then replaced the TPS and after a couple of adjustments I now have .038 and a nice idle. The '90 manual shows it should be between .033 and .046. My ED21 and 22 were out of spec but now with a good TPS they fell right into place. There is an asterisk/foot note saying if the ED20 is 150 it is a fuel code but it says there could be bad ground at the ICM. I do have good grounds there and the car runs fine so I am going to just ignore that reading. The car was warmed up and in closed loop. A little side note on what I learned is the IACs are '88-90 and '91 is different. The MAS also '88-90 with '91 different but the TPS is the same '88-91.

Heading back out now to look further into the problem. I should have looked at the ED codes first as that would have saved me some time previously. I did change the PS pump and no difference. I disconnected the PS pressure sensor and no difference. I then did the EDs and have multiple issues. I do have a too high ED01, TPS mine is reading .058 I have an ED20 Block Learn Memory of 150. That supposedly means I have a bad ground at the ignition module. I took off the module, cleaned all the surfaces and put on a different module and still 150. Need to trace this ground. My ED21 Air Flow is supposed to be 4-7 and mine is varying 86-90. My ED 22 IAC supposed to be 10-50 mine is 71. I did last week replace the IAC but I am thinking if I fix the ED01 then this code might get better. My ED23 MAT says it varies but mine is on 0.

Ronnie, You may have hit the nail on the head with your link. I do have too high power steering pressure. When I drove the car a few years ago the steering was too easy. At that time I was worried I might blow a hose or seal or something but nothing ever went wrong so I left it. The steering is still way easier than any other Reatta I have ever driven. Padgett, Thanks for the EDxx settings. I have not looked at how to get them for a long time but will refresh my learning and look at them but I think first I will look at the power steering situation and see why my pressure is too high causing the steering to be too easy and probably the cause of my high idle. Thanks everyone. Jim Follow up 15 minutes later. I need to get on this high pressure problem asap as I just remembered yesterday I had to add some PS fluid. This means I definitely have a leak and hopefully if I lower the pressure right away the leak will not get worse or maybe hopefully will stop. The last thing I want to do is change a rack and pinion on a Reatta. I have a spare on the shelf but this is not an fun/easy job.

The convertibles have a much more involved circuit for operating the trunk solenoid. You almost have to have a factory shop manual. One big item is the tonneau cover has go be down before the trunk solenoid will operate. My_Youth----- If yours is not working, open the tonneau cover and then sort of slam it back down and see then if your trunk will open.

I have been driving a '90 for the winter that sat for about 3 years. The idle is about 1400 RPMs in park. I don't remember if I had this problem when I was using the car 3 years ago but suspect not. Very good vacuum. Changed MAS Changed IAC. Changed EGR. ( thought this was going to correct the problem as there was no gasket there but replaced EGR and a gasket, still high idle. ) No codes. I may change today the TPS but am not hopeful. ( it is nice to have lots of parts cars. ) Any suggestions? Jim

The solenoid gets its ground by the two bolts holding it to the trunk lid. These solenoids do go bad but sometimes can also get a little out of adjustment and the small switch mounted to the solenoid can get out of adjustment. Very often if you either use your keyless remote or the key in the rear of the car and at the same time push down on the trunk lid the solenoid may operate. If you do not have a remote and the key cylinder on the back of the car is corroded and does not work, which is common then have a helper push the button in the glove box while you push down on the trunk lid.

The leak in the braking system is almost for sure a rusted brake line which is common in northern cars but it also means the gas lines, which were steel, in the '88-89s are also probably getting thin. Replacement of the brake lines with standard bulk or precut tubing is not a bad job but you need a double flaring tool. If this car has rust issues unless you are buying it pretty cheap, under $ 1000, might be the parts car you could want and find a car with lesser rust issues. The parts you might want to have spares of are the IPC CRT and brake pump/motor, pressure switch and accumulator. Keep in mind the accumulators and pressure switches are '88-90 but the pump/motor on the '89s is the same as the '90s but the '88 pumps were different. I wouldn't go out an buy the parts as spares but if you come across a parts car or can find these parts in a local junk yard they are nice to have on hand.

There are some parts suppliers with very high prices but I usually have most parts available at reasonable prices although if you can find a parts car at a low price it is always good to have one. You would want to find an '88 or '89 and preferably with a tan interior. The last ten or so Reatta parts cars I have bought all were under $ 500

Fine with me. Jim

On the red reflectors. Years ago I used to break lots of the studs holding the red reflectors. I then came on a way to not break them and have successfully removed MANY since then. Using a propane torch or a heat gun will work, I heat the plastic stud for about 2 seconds with the torch, maybe a little longer with a heat gun, and then remove the nut. Comes right off easy. After doing this, the stamped steel nut, coming off, makes better grooves in the stud so when putting it back on the nut is not so tight and goes back on easy without the chance of breaking the stud.

I used to buy a lot of Interstate batteries but now that they give money to Toyletota loving Joe Gibbs I haven't bought one in years. I get all my batteries from a local large junk yard. I go over there and for $ 25 I get batteries less than one year old and always get high cold cranking amp batteries.

Fuel pressure good? I had one Reatta that would act like PTTs. Checked the fuel pressure and was 39 PSI. You would think that was enough but changed the fuel pump and no more troubles. I think off hand the book calls for 43 PSI.

We are off of Reattas here but Oh well. That Split window '63 FI tanker would be worth a LOT of money today. My story is we bought my current '63 convertible for $ 1900 in '68 and sold it for $1900 in '69. Bought it back in $ 1980 for $ 8500. ( convertible w/2tops, 340hp 4-speed with 411s ) That car back then was my nickel and dime car always something minor wrong. After selling the '63 I bought a '65 convertible w/2tops 300hp, 4speed 323 gears and never had a bit of trouble. With those gears that car, several times, hit 140 MPH One time we were traveling along the freeway in South Dakota with the '65 and a 68 Camaro came down a ramp, passed me, and accelerated. He got up to 135 with me following and when I could see he could go no faster, I passed him. Young and very foolish back then.

I would put a charger on the battery for a while to bring it back up to the normal mid 12s voltage. At 15 degrees the car should have no problem starting. After you get it running recheck the voltage to make sure your alternator is working.

Perry and Dave, You don't know what cold is. Here is a picture of my Reatta on the way to church on Sunday and the second one is this morning. This is not that phony "wind chill" but actual.

The seller is Michael Blackstock in Bad Axe MI Ronnie, The split window coupes were in '63 so if you can find a '64 split window it would be worth more than a Select 60 emblem. I have a '63 convertible w/2 tops. The emblem in my picture did come off an '88 with the X22 code. I was delivering a CRT many years ago to a lady in Denver and she said she had an '88 Reatta but when walked up to it I noticed it had a larger emblem and in looking closer it was the S60 emblem. I then checked and indeed she had the X22. A few years later I ended up buying the car and it is currently somewhere in northern WI but without the emblem.

It is going to take more than a couple of bottles of warm air. Here is a picture of my dash on my way to church last Sunday morning and it is supposed to be that cold from now until next Tuesday.

You will have to ask booreatta. They are buddies.

I recognized the sellers Ebay name and he used to buy parts from me but have not heard from him since 2015.