Jim

Go back and get the pump/motor the pressure switch and the accumulator. (one assembly ) Cut the rubber line on the back of the pump, disconnect or using some pliers or a adjustable wrench break the steel line on top and disconnect or cut the wires. Remove the one 7/16 bolt that holds the assembly to the side of the master cylinder. The accumulator will probably be no good but you will have a spare pump/motor and a spare pressure switch. I sell quite a few of these so having a cheap spare is a good idea.

On the '88-89s the CPS does have to be moved out of the way and on the '90s they put an SIR module in that location which needs to be moved out of the way.

I would not buy a used unit from a junk yard unless you want to take a chance on the amount of work that needs to be done to R&R it. I have passed up many of them because I do not know the condition. I have some good used units and before I sell one I do several tests on the car including a panic stop to make sure the pedal is not hard and that the car does not pull to one side or the other. These problems can arise under a panic stop when otherwise everything seems normal. If you did get one from a junk yard you would have to remove the four #15 nuts under the dash, including removing the panels under the dash and then remove the brake pedal lever. You will need some long extensions with a swivel socket or adapter. Under the hood you need to remove the pump/motor assembly so you can get to the three lines that attach to the valve body. On the junk yard car you can just cut the lines but on your car you will need some tubing wrenches to get the lines loose from the valve body. You can then remove the unit from the car. Then you would do all this to your car removing your unit and then reverse the process installing the junk yard unit on your car and then fill it up and bleed the lines. You can then do some tests including a driving test and then you will find if the unit is good or no good. If it is good, great, if it is no good you have wasted a lot of time.

Prior still has a web site and they list Teves on the home page. Car Power Brakes and Truck Power Brakes from Prior Brake Products

I have some good used windshields but will not ship one. Delivery sometimes or pick up. Your location?

If the person who started this thread does not have a rub strip, I do and can be reached at jfinn@cpinternet.com Please include the color of your rub strip and your zip code.

I am off to the golf course right now, the joys of being retired. I haven't received any calls from you that I know of. Linda usually checks the caller ID and would have told me of any from you. I will try calling you later also. Jim

Gee, I wonder who might have those panels?

I guess I am ready for the old folks home. I went and looked at the two master cylinders I have on the shelf and see one of the main valves is gone. The only person that could have removed that valve is me but I absolutely do not remember doing it. The other valve is still in the other master cylinder and it is just held in with a snap ring. I didn't take it out but it looks like all you would need is two small screw drivers to get the snap ring out and then just pull the valve out of the master cylinder.

I learned something thanks to Padgett. I was looking at the schematic in the Teves manual and it looked like the main valve was part of the valve block but in looking closer I see the lines did not include the main valve and the main valve is indeed at the end of the master cylinder. I also remembered there were only 6 valves in the block and with the main valve that would have been seven. I have a couple of broken valve bodies in the shelf and sure enough there are only 6 valves in the block. I do have on my shelf two master cylinders by themselves and so I do have two main valves available. This is also known as a main valve solenoid. I didn't look closely to see how it is attached to the end of the master cylinder but am guessing it should not be hard to remove.

There might be a part number for the whole unit but it would be really expensive from GM and regular auto parts stores would not have the complete system. I think Prior in Texas is still rebuilding these Teves units but believe the price is up to about $ 750. When I get in a parts car I take the car out on the road and to a brake test to make sure the unit is working correctly. One of the tests I do is to get the car up to about 20 MPH and then do a panic stop. If the car stops straight ahead and does not have a hard pedal the unit is probably good. This tells me all the valves in the valve body are working as they should. Many years ago it was figured out that it is VERY important to change the brake fluid about every five years. The reason is brake fluid naturally attracts moisture and this moisture will corrode the valves in the valve body. On many occasions there will be no indications of a problem until you have to make a panic stop and then it might be too late. About a year ago my wife's car was pulling to the left on sort of hard stops so I changed just the valve body and now everything is correct. It is not real easy to change the valve body as you have to remove the pump and motor to get at the lines on the bottom of the valve body. The body is on long studs and then the EGR valve gets in the way. Very often I see complete units in junk yards but do not buy them because if I cannot road test the unit I will not sell one. I don't guess we will be seeing any more or less of this in the future as because the cars are over 20 years old the problem has been around for about 15 years. The key is CHANGE YOUR BRAKE FLUID ABOUT EVERY 5 YEARS.

Got my vote. Jim

Going with Barney on the headlight motor is the best way to go but I do have to disagree with Padgett on the ECMs and BCMs. I sell quite a few of them as they do go bad. Recently, well actually it was a year ago, the one failed in my wife's convertible. It was causing some ignition problems. Changed the ECM and put in her original PROM and that cured the problem. I have good ones available but also on my shelf I have two or three that I have marked "do not sell" as I have experienced problems with them. I keep them because I can use the for moving parts cars if I need to.

Nick, I wasn't there but am guessing you would be better off posting this on the Buick General forum.

Dave, Good luck getting them out. Last week I was at a u pull it just across the IL border from WI and there was a really clean well cared for Reatta there so I tried getting the sensors. No luck. I could turn them but couldn't get them to come out of the knuckle. From experience though, turning them does not mean they are actually turning in the knuckle. Very often the outer sensor covering stays put and the internal part of the sensor breaks loose.

Andy, Send me an email with an offer on a pair and I will probably accept your offer. I also have good speakers that could go with those mountings. Jim

I would have to check but am pretty sure I do not have a complete blue '89 interior but might. I do have lots of blue interior parts.

I just got home from picking up a Reatta parts car in Palos Hills Il/Chicago. Now why anyone would want to live amongst all that stopped traffic I cannot figure out but anyway that is for a different discussion. In the U pull It yard on Washington and US 41 in Wadsworth/Gurnee are two Reattas One is a really nice red/tan '89 hit in the front and the other is a '90 burgundy/burgundy in average condition. The red '89 has a good looking sunroof on it. I got a lot of the parts including the '90 headlight switch with the seal still on it but there are a lot of good parts left.

Two days ago I replaced the rear struts on my wife's '90 and yesterday I replaced one of the fronts. The other front I will get to today. All four years had the same mountings front and rear and I know of no adjuster kits. They do try and sell you a "kit" but all it is, is a bolt and nut. New struts do not come with the rubber bumpers/mountings/cushions at the top but fortunately because I have parts cars I was able to add good cushions and dust sleeves as needed. I did get mine from Rock Auto for $ 59 each for a total of $ 258 with shipping. I like to buy American and local but the cheapest price I could find at a local auto parts store was $ 82 and $ 89 plus tax. The ones I got and the local ones were all Monroe made in the USA

Ronnie, I do currently save all my in and out PMs but prefer direct emails as I then have a record of everything that was discussed right on my email program and can quickly look back at my sent email, sort by person and see what we discussed. My email program is on my computer so everything is saved forever unless I delete it whereas some programs like AOL you have to specifically save it in a short time or they delete it. I have saved all my sent Reatta correspondence and most of my inbox emails all the way back to 2000. Recently I just looked at and quoted from an email sent to me in 2003. You are right sort of though as I do get PM notifications almost every time but on occasion they go to my spam filtering and I do not see them for maybe a week. An odd thing happened just a few days ago, I received an notification of a PM and fortunately the message was with the notification because the actual PM is not in my inbox PMs on this site. After posting the above, I went to my spam filtering and there were two PM notifications. What I will do is go to my filtering and put in the changes necessary to permit all correspondence from this forum to be sent to me.

Sounds like very good ideas. I have always tried to follow your number 3 and fully agree. I do prefer however direct emails as I don't always check this site so I might miss a PM. I do check my emails several times daily.

OK we have beat the headlight switch controversy again and gotten no where. You like to sell parts to high rollers and I like to do a service. Moving forward and changing topics. You posted you sold windshield gaskets. I was under the assumption that the windshield did not have gaskets but the outer trim is bonded to the glass and that is just a trim. The glass is urethane glued to the body providing the seal. Were you referring to the strips on the side of the glass or have you figured out something to make the trim around the glass look nicer?

Mike, You started your post by saying "here are the simple facts" The facts are that you, by your own admission several times, are a "car salesman" Enough said about that. Steve is an out of work pilot who scrounges junk yards and has posted he does not know much about electronics. I do have an electronic background. 30 years in that industry. I always enjoy your posts and what I really enjoy is your statistics. Like when you posted a few months ago that you were selling about 210 IPCs per year and the really high number of tops you are selling per month or one that I really got a laugh at was you posted a few years ago that your friend was selling about 20 ( guess as I don't remember exactly ) Chrysler TC tops per month. At that rate every TC would have had it's top replaced about 3 times. A while back I was reading one of your statistics and had my wife read it and then my 12 year old grandson. I then asked him what he thought of those numbers and he replied that it must have been an error. I just took a headlight switch and operated it and released it and it took about 3 seconds to do this. 3 seconds times 400 is 1200 seconds. 1200 seconds is 20 minutes. Where do you find the time? Are you telling us you spent 20 minutes operating and releasing a headlight switch? Did you have it in a car or just in your hand? You said you throw it away if if fails once. Maybe that one failure in the 20 test minutes was because your finger got tired and you didn't press hard enough and then you threw away a $ 250 switch. If it was in your hand that doesn't tell us if it actually worked and if it was in a car the total test time would have to be maybe 8 seconds per operation so you can see if the headlight open, the high beams change to low beams, the tail lights work and the interior lights come on and dim. These are some the tests I do when I reassemble a switch and thank you to the folks who posted saying they are very happy with the parts and service they get from me. I am adding this actually after posts 11 and 12. I had to run to the Post Office and then thought I would add this---- I received an email from you back in 2003 and you stated in part---------- "this business is certainly not a hobby for us, or something we do to kill time. our facility now sits on fifteen acres, with all inventory contained within a 10,000 square foot, climate-controlled building. as our inventory increases, we will expand the building. at the present time, we have almost $700,000 ($682,000 to be exact) invested in property, fixtures, and inventory. we will be adding electric lifts, at a cost of $2200 each, within the next six months, to allow us to double our stocking capacity within the present building's size." I think you were in business for a year or so before that. I have been selling parts since about 1999. For all these years there has been very little controversy. You have run your business your way and I did mine as sort of a hobby. Everybody got along pretty good. About a year ago you sent someone to me who was looking for a part and on occasion I have given out your name. We got along OK. What has changed? The last year or two we have had an agitator among us. Someone who likes to start controversy and then let the chips fall where they may. That persons reputation is in the tank and maybe is dragging others down with him. I am not naming names but if I had a friend like that I would ask him to think before he writes. Again, if you can get big money for your parts, go for it and I wish you well. I will continue to help out those who maybe cannot afford the high quality items.

Steve, You bring this up about every three months and I explain with my electronic background what I do to these switches and that when I am done with them they are as good as new. The following is taken from my post in the buy/sell forum. "I disassemble them, clean all contacts, replace any worn or broken or missing parts, reassemble them with nice appearing buttons and then fully test them in my personal car." I fail to see how this can cause problems but thank you for giving me the opportunity to explain what I do. Jim