Jim

I have been in that area several times and there isn't any yards in the Ft Myers area that I know of. There is a couple of them near Bradenton. None in Naples either although there is a local junk yard on the SE side of Naples but you have to watch the guy. He wanders around with no shirt and a beer in his hand and gives you one price before you pull the parts and a higher price later.

I have a good working and appearing headlight switch available. I have been selling Reatta parts for about 11 years and can be reached at jfinn@cpinternet.com Please include your zip code for shipping purposes.

Of course. Senior moment or prealzheimers?

Over the years I have sold several battery and ground cables. The problem is there are three cables that come together at the battery and they are crimped together and then the they are insulated in those big red or black casings. About the only way to find out if the crimps are bad is to remove the insulation and with some vise grips or something similar recrimp the connections. This of course ruins the originality of the cable. If you can catch the problem when it is acting up you can also pull or push on the cables at the battery and see if the problem goes away. Other places to look for a loose or dirty connection is the two ground studs right in front of the battery and in the red and black boxes just behind the battery on the fender well. I have good used battery and ground cable available and can be reached at jfinn@cpinternet.com.

I didn't notice when the post was entered but am wondering how it got posted now? I am NOT trying to move in on someone's sale of a part but I do have good used pressure switches available for a lot less than new price. jfinn@cpinternet.com

GRM, are you listing this part for sale?

If you find someone to look at it be sure and have them look underneath. NY like IL and MN have snow and salt issues. The Reattas were made very well and the outsides will look good but the undersides can be rusty. This is not a huge problem but the brake lines, gas lines on the '88-89s, transmission cooling lines, fuel tank and filler pipe for the gas tank can rust out. Ed Farnell and I have been working with a nice lady in the Carolinas who bought a very low mileage Reatta off Ebay from Ohio. When she got it home it was just terrible underneath. The seller strung her along until after the feedback system had run out and then ignored her complaints. I sell parts but about 50% of my parts come from southern cars I have brought in. ( preemptive note ).

I cannot add anything more than what Mongeonman and Ronnie posted other than to wipe the area clean and try to find the location of the leak. I do have parts available if you find something cracked or broken and can be reached at jfinn@cpinternet.com

Nic, Why are you worrying about headlight adjustment. I saw on the news this morning Richmond is getting bad weather. Stay inside and be warm. From Google---- Getting Set Up: Park so that both the left and right headlights are precisely 25 feet from the wall. Using your tape measure, find the exact middle of both the windshield & rear window and mark them with strips of tape, creating vertical center lines, front & rear. Standing behind the car, now sight along those center lines, as if you were lining up sights on a rifle in a carnival shooting gallery. When center lines are aligned, you can locate the headlight centerline on the wall. Mark this with another strip of tape. Now measure the distance between the headlight lenses, center to center. Divide this distance in half and measure that distance to the right of the centerline on the wall. Mark it with a vertical strip of tape. Do the same on the left side. Finally, measure the distance from the ground to the center of each headlight lens; mark that distance on the wall with a horizontal strip of tape. You should now have two crosses on the wall, with centers that correspond exactly to the center of each headlight lens. Testing Your Beams: Turn your headlights on low beam. The left edge of the bright spots on the wall should just touch the vertical bars of the crosses in the lower right quadrants. The top edge should just touch the horizontal bars. On some cars, you can adjust the headlight aim yourself by turning small set screws at the top & sides of each lamp. For our cars the out side Torx is used to aim up and down, the inside is for left and right. If you cannot do it yourself, a mechanic can adjust your headlights at a garage or dealership. Aligning your headlights does not substitute for any required state inspections.

Please enlighten me. It is OK to put in a used switch but not OK to put in a used switch with used parts. Not only that, I have said twice, in the '90 switches the the only parts that need replacing are the extension on the slider and a good looking button. Now I need someone to tell me how a nice looking button and a plastic slider extension will cause a fire. I also mentioned sometimes the slider switch that is soldered to the circuit board sometimes goes bad but at this point I have two of these switches on my shelf that need this repair but I have never sent one out yet that has had a new slider soldered in. Quote from post 20 They don't have any new parts. If you wish to risk a fire in your car go ahead and put in a light switch that has been cobbled together in someone's garage. If cheap is irreisistable then buy a so called rebuilt. The risk is yours. Someday somebody may reproduce this switch but in the mean time the only real solution is to buy a good used switch which will extend the life of the car.

Ahhh, Padgett hit it right on the head. He mentioned a loose contact will create heat and melt wires or connections. He is right and dirty contacts will do the same thing. This is typical on the '88-89 window switches. I have disassembled probably 25 of these window switches. You can tell almost instantly if an '88-89 window switch is bad by simply operating the rocker. If you hear a click it is good. If you do not hear a click the internal rocker is bad. What happens is there are some white plastic rockers inside with points on them. When the contacts get dirty, it creates a bad connection and makes heat. This heat melts the points on the white rockers. If the switch is a nice switch and the "windows, up, down, right and left" scripts show through nicely so the switch can light up, I will install a new white rocker and then test it to make sure it works. This is the same thing with the headlight switches. As I mentioned in my first post over the years I have given away about 5 sets of the wires and connectors ( some sell these, I give them away with a switch ) because there has been some melting either of the switch itself or the wires directly behind the switch but within an inch of the switch. I am not saying it cannot happen but because of the design of the '90-91 switches it is not likely. I have disassembled at least 40 of these switches ( no exaggeration ) and they are pretty simple with two rocker type contact surfaces. It is more likely in the '88-89 switches because of the complex arrangement of sliders and contacts. I have taken apart over the years at least 75 of these switches ( again, no exaggeration of the numbers ) and the problems in these switches is dirty and pitted contacts. The next time someone wants of try and fix their switch, disassemble it and look very closely at the contacts. You will see some displacement of metal from one contact to the other. With a small knife you can knock this metal off the contact. The '90-91 switches have these two rockers and in taking apart and putting back together these switches I have never seen any pitting of the contacts.

There is some misinformation floating around about the headlight switches in Reattas. The '88-89 switches were a very complicated arrangement of sliders and contacts. These switches can for some reason short internally and sometimes melt the contact area or melt some wires directly on the back of the switch. Over the last 11 years I have given away about 5 sets of connectors for the back of the switch. This very rare problem is not the result of "rebuilding" but a manufacturing defect or something shorts internally but definitely not a result of "rebuilding". Almost anything man made can be rebuilt or remanufactured or simply cleaned, and if necessary some new parts installed. To say a switch is NOT rebuildable is simply not true. The '90 and '91 headlight switches are a completely different switch from the earlier ones. The '90 switches are alone in that they have the fog light button at the bottom, different from the '91s. Because the '90-91 switches are completely different and do not have the sliders and many contacts like the earlier ones, over all the years the only three problems I have found in these switches is 1. they fall apart internally, 2. the slider extension breaks and 3. the slider switch soldered to the circuit board goes bad. I always have good appearing and tested working guaranteed '90 headlight switches available. I either take them directly from a parts car or take them in trade when I sell one. When I get one in trade I look it over and in every case in the last 11 years the only problems are the ones mentioned above. I replace any broken or missing parts, reassemble the switch, most of the time put on a good appearing headlight button and then test the switch. Unlike the '88-89 switches that need to be cleaned in many areas the '90 and 91 switches simply need putting back together with some new parts. Again to say they are NOT rebuildable is completely false. I also rarely post my prices but I sell '90 headlight switches for about $ 60 exchange plus about $ 8 shipping.

Nic does have my email address correct. I am not sure why you are having troubles. I do have very nice reproduction REATTA sill plate inserts available. I can be reached at jfinn@cpinternet.com After posting the above three lines, I clicked on my email address in line 3 and sent myself and email. It came through.

The headlight switches for the '90s are by themselves as they have the fog light button on the bottom. I have a good '90 switch available and can be reached at jfinn@cpinternet.com

From your picture I see you are also missing the insert. There is an insert that is held in with the bolt and then the cover snaps onto the insert. I have both pieces available new and can be reached at jfinn@cpinternet.com

I rebuild these headlight switches and have extra parts. Send me an email and I can send you the piece you are looking for. Jim jfinn@cpinternet.com

The car was not owned by a lady but by Josh Havron. He inquired with me about some parts 5 years ago and after buying the car at the salvage auction last month I emailed him at the last email address I had for him but have not heard back from him. He must not have gotten any offers for the car so he let it go to the insurance company and they consigned it to a salvage auction. I am guessing the girl in the pictures is his girl friend. Jim

Please see the AACA general buy/sell forum and look for the post titled. 48 hour Sale Reatta Convertible $3,000 I bought the car and am selling parts from it. I can be reached at jfinn@cpinternet.com

I bought the car but the girl did not come with it. Parts available for sale, Email me at jifnn@cpinternet.com

I have the letters available. I can be reached at jfinn@cpinternet.com

There was a storage box in place of the CD player. I probably do have one in one of my parts cars. I can be reached at jfinn@cpinternet.com

Both the '90s and '91s have a chime module mounted behind the LH side of the I/P. Left of the steering column. If you look in the '90 shop manual you will see the location on page 201-13-C If you look in the '91 shop manula you will see teh location on page 201-14-D

A few years ago I bought a '91 in Michigan that the same thing happened to. The lady was driving it and all four of the rear bolts broke and the cradle dropped down and pulled the steering shaft out of the column. The car was still driveable so I drove it straight up onto my car dolly and brought it home. I replaced the bolts and drove the car for several years. I still have the car and it is driveable. The problem is in northern climates the salt gets to the bolts where they go through the mounts and the salty water stays there and rusts the bolts. This also happens on the rod going forward on the lower control arms. I replaced the bolts with some used ones from one of my parts cars but I would think any hardened metric bolt would work. The insulators or bushings are actually called a "cushion" by GM and they are still available. The part number for the cushions is 1627359. The are found in the parts book in section 9.023.

Jack, Your number for the BCM I know is correct and I do have a good one. I can be reached at jfinn@cpinternet.com I would send you an email but in my files I have two Jack Cains. On in IL and one in NC Jim

I have a set of the woodgrain panels available. I can be reached at jfinn@cpinternet.com