ductune

Funny, all this time I thought it was but you're right, it only has one accent color on the service label. Mine is a 1990 and I've had it since 1992. The added red between the factory black is painted on and makes the pinstripe kind of pop.

Didn't your car come with two colors for the pinstripe? Mine came with red bordered with black.

Thanks Barney, The part is the outer one. It's called the Cover Blower Case # 52455957. I've found a few but they were in bad shape. I'm thinking I will end up using some stick-on heat shielding as the plastic cover's only function seems to be insulating the evaporator from heat and noise. I found a 1990 Reatta at the local salvage yard but forgot to get the VIN for the database. Will go back soon.

I decided to replace my evaporator today and discovered the plastic cover is not reusable. It cracked and came off in pieces. It was very soft in some places and just crumbled in others. I think the oil from the leaking evaporator may have helped to break it down. It's had a slow leak forever and I was getting away with just adding R134 to it when needed. Does anyone know of a source that is replicating these covers? If not I'll try to find a good used one. Thanks

It looks like a re-work ticket. I'm guessing there was a repair loop for door panels.

After I posted I started wondering as I too haven't seen any ethanol labels recently. I guess they passed a law awhile ago to only require an ethanol label when it's over 10%.

When did Michigan go ethanol free? Last night??

Based on these numbers it appears it is not going into closed loop. Is the integrator changing value or is it stuck on 128?

"Body in white" was a term used to describe the body as it came out of the elpo dip prior to being painted. The term may have been used differently from plant to plant but that was the definition we used at the Fisher body plants. Some defined body in white as prior to the elpo dip but in any case it was the steel body prior to any assembly operations in the "trim" shop.

Pull the EGR valve off and check for carbon. A piece of carbon holding one of the pintle valves open will cause these symptoms. The integrator is trying to compensate.

You need to put a dab of RTV at each "T" joint. Just like it shows in the instructions. "T" joints are the interfaces, or junctions of the three surfaces; as in oil pan, block and front cover. Production tolerances usually result in a mismatch where the pan rail of the block meets the front cover and rear seal carrier. They are called "T" joints because the sealing surfaces of the three parts form a T. The four spots in the picture calling out RTV are the "T" joints. The rest of the surface should be dry.

Sorry to hear about the cam failure. I've only seen this one other time on a 3800. The likely root cause is a seized cam bearing from lack of lubrication. Once the bearing seizes, the cam gets twisted and fails. Hope someone here buys it and puts an engine in it. Repairing the old one would require line boring the cam bore to prevent a repeat.

None of the valves would be moving if you lost the timing chain. You mentioned some are moving. My guess is you broke a cam so the front cylinders still have function but the cylinders rearward of the point of the break in the cam are not. Never seen this happen but that's one explanation. Another could be bent push rods.

Does anyone know what RPO code R7M is? It is a sales item code but what is that and what actual content comes with it? I used Compnine (non subscriber) to search rarity and discovered this code makes a big difference in rarity. I did a search but no luck.

If you take out bolt "3" on both sides the stabilizer bar will swing down enough to allow the tank to come out.

Yes, you will have to remove it and take the top cover off to clean the optic. I wouldn't try sticking a Q tip thru the slot. I didn't have much luck with the CD cleaning disks but I've never used the type that Corvanti described that uses cleaner applied to it. The one I tried simply had a small brush that is supposed to knock the dust off the optic. It didn't work for me.

Mine was doing the same. I took the cover off and cleaned the laser optic and it works fine now. Try some isopropyl alcohol on a Q tip. I left the cover off, plugged it in and tested it and it worked better so cleaned it again. Be gentle with it and let it dry before trying playing it. The Q tip should just be damp not soaked with the alcohol. Use 90% pure. Should be able to find it at any drug store or even the grocery store. Good luck.

Changed bulb for the cornering lamp, driver's side. Got dirt in my eye. Since sitting in the garage for years, I decided to start driving it again. Been doing lots of little things, like squeaks and rattles. Now I can really hear the brick bouncing around in the converter. The exhaust is original so I've been putting it off but it's time.

I read: he had a bad experience with a sales person over how to buy a demo. Now he won't buy a Buick but thinks people here on this forum are cool. Or, like Buchwack said, he ran out of beer.

Are you sure the rpm isn't dropping when you slightly step back into the throttle? That would be normal. If you step into it harder it should keep the torque converter clutch disengaged but if you slightly rest your foot on the gas after letting off the TCC will unlock but reengage causing the rpm to drop.

This is a strange one but I think you're on to something with the TCC but it sounds like the TCC is staying engaged instead of unlocking, as you said is normal. The TCC unlocking would raise the idle instead of it dropping. Maybe it is engaging and disengaging sporadically. Mine normally unlocks on deceleration and reengage if I step back into it very slightly. If I step into it harder it stays disengaged longer. I would try going into diagnostics and watch the status light for the TCC to see if it coincides with the rpm change.

My car had been stored in my garage for the last 5 years and had sluggish door locks when I parked it. When I started driving it this year the door locks would not lock or unlock the doors electronically. They tried but couldn't do it. I had to manually lock and unlock. After spraying the latches as described in my post they work just like they did when I bought the car 20 years ago. I agree it makes sense to replace the actuators if you are inside the door but if the only problem is sluggish door locks, five minuets with a good spray penetrating oil is a good first step. Worked like a silver bullet for me.

Easy fix. You don't have to take the door apart to fix it. The latches just need a little lube. There is a rubber trim piece at the top back corner of the door above the latch that allows you to squirt some lube on the latch and linkage where it connects to the latch. Don't take the rubber trim piece off. Just pull it back enough to shine a pen light inside to see what to spray. I used a spray penetrating oil. The linkage from the lock button and manual slide switch to the latch is easy to get to by taking off the plastic piece behind the inside door handle but that usually isn't the problem area.

It is more complex but from what I remember building the prototypes, during deactivation both intake and exhaust are commanded closed. The exhaust first then the intake. The spent exhaust gas stays in the cylinder and gets compressed every stroke for the duration of the deactivation period. The cylinders act like accumulators in a sense as the lost power compressing the air is partially returned on the downstroke. The big improvement since the old Cadillac days is in the ability to control the system.

Active Fuel Management is what GM calls it now and it's been around since around 2005. It's a completely different system than the old Cadillac design and works very well. The ECM activates solenoids that control oil pressure to 8 special lifters on 4 of the cylinders, locking and unlocking pins in the lifters. In deactivation mode the lifters "float" so the valves do not open. It works in 8, 6, or 4 cylinder mode depending on load. With both the intake and exhaust valves staying closed on the deactivated cylinders. No air is pumped and the injectors are commanded off. It's very seamless and there must be hundreds of thousands of them on the road now. Saves about 5% on fuel.