rlpeck

Yes. I speak from experience with a walnut dent in the middle of the hood. Local paintless dent guy pulled it out in about 15 minutes and, even years later, I couldn't tell it had happened.

This morning I saw a Mustang yellow (?) Reatta coupe headed south on I-55 just south of Springfield, IL. I was northbound, so didn't get a good look. It had the nose painted white with with a design a bit like flames. Not curved, but straight, long points tapering back to about the leading edge of the door. First reaction was that I was appalled and revolted that anyone would do that to a Reatta. But, having said that, it looked pristine and, beyond the fact that I don't like yellow--or flames--on a Reatta, it was not unattractive. Has anyone else seen this unique beast?

I had an RKE problem with symptoms similar to yours. Turns out that the end of the antenna cable that plugs into the RKE module was loose on the terminal end. I crimped the terminal to the cable again, plugged it back into the RKE module and all was well. Not difficult, but disassembly of the panels to get to the module is a bit fiddly.

Several E body cars used the same rear suspension. I replaced a bent rear control arm (don't ask) with one from a junked Olds Toronado and put in new bushings from AutoZone. Not a big job--a pain, but not challenging. The shop wanted that price because the replacement part is the whole assembly--much more than you need.

From empirical data I have personally gathered, Reattas do, indeed, show up well on police radar.

Three or four years ago, I found an electrically conductive epoxy at AutoZone that was specifically made for this repair.

Replacing weatherstripping might well help, but you should be aware that this has been problem with Reattas from the beginning. My '89,which I bought new, leaked for the 14 years I owned it, despite the best efforts of a team of factory technicians. The design decisions involving the frameless windows and the lack of rain channel above the windows are the main issues. Great styling, but with some practical drawbacks. I understand that some people have had some success with adjusting the front quarter windows. Tweak it until you can live with it and then chalk it up to one of the small frustrations of owning a magnificent, albeit quirky, machine.

Preserving the rubber is an admirable goal considering the increasing difficulty of replacing it, but don't expect that to solve your water problem. They leaked from new. I had a factory team work on mine several times with no appreciable improvement. A couple of design decisions (frameless windows and no rain channels), made for asthetic and wind resistance considerations, contribute to this problem. I finally gave up and avoided car washes and normally didn't drive it in the rain.

The rear suspension assembly is effectively common to the Reatta, Olds Toronado, Riviera, and Eldorado. Check your local junk yards.

About 10 years ago I picked up a bottle of "Fine Cut Plastic Polish" by the Wax Shop at AutoZone. I use it on the Reatta taillight lens about twice a year, five minutes work, and it stays showroom shiny. I also use it on plastic headlight covers, rearview mirror housings and other stuff. If it ever runs out, I'll probably blow another four bucks to replace it.

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My window went down two or three inches, then stopped and began chattering. It was the motor. Replaced that and all is well. Once you have the motor/regulator assembly out of the door, you can easily see if the gears are stripped or not.

Having just done one a week ago, I can understand your confusion. It isn't altogether clear, even with the FSM, until you go through the process. It isn't necessary to bolt the regulator together until you remove the regulator and motor assembly from the car. You will need to immobilize the mechanism before you remove the motor from the regulator, but you can do that on the bench. Drill and bolt (or wire, clamp)the part of the regulator that the motor is attached to to the sector gear immediately below it so the two parts that are under spring pressure cannot move. Then replace the motor. Once that is done, you can free up the regulator and replace the assembly in the door.

My '89 did that from when it was new. Did it a lot early on, but I haven't seen it in several years now. Could well have been a bad ground somewhere that got fixed in the process of fixing something else. In my limited experience, cars rarely "heal" if there is an actual malfunction. Try cleaning the main electrical ground cluster behind the battery under the red plastic cover.

E034 is Mass Air Flow Sensor Frequency Low. E043 is Electronic Spark Control System Failure. You seem to have dealt with that one. The C553 and B552 are module "keep alive" messages. Don't worry about that until you get the other fixed, then clear the codes and they probably won't return. Better to get a factory service manual as throwing parts at it can get expensive and frustrating.