John White

I took my 89 in to the dealer last week to try to fix the problem with the AC. They found that the refrigerant was not low, so no leak. They had it for 2 days and could not get it to do any thing but run as it should. As I stated before it only acts up on long trips. So it looks like I will have to make a trip somewhere and try to get it in while it is not working.

Thanks for all the input on this. I hope to go in next week to see if they can find leak. Of course I won't know for sure if it is fixed until I take another longer trip. I'll let you know what happens.

TexasJohn, Evaporator freeze up sounds logical for the symptoms. I'll suggest this when I go in. Thanks Harry, I said the same thing you did. But they insisted that they couldn't just top it off. They said that the only way to add to that system was to evacuate and recharge.

I have an 89 with 40,000 miles that has an AC problem. I'm hoping someone here can offer a solution. I rarely drive it more than 15 to 20 miles and the problem happens on longer trips. The first time it happened was about 4 years ago. The alert showed that I had low refrigerant level. I went to the dealer here and ended up converting from R-12. A year ago I had the same alert on a 100 mile trip. I took it to dealer and was advised that refrigerant was just slightly low. They evacuated and filled the system, but could not find a leak. Well, last week was the first long trip since and I got the same alert. Strange thing is, when the alert comes on the air blows warm. After getting home driving around town AC works fine and no alert. It seems to me that this has to be a problem with a sensor or some other electronic device as opposed to refrigerant actually being low. I talked to the owner of the dealership and he said that with the problem being intermittent it would be hard to diagnose. He said if I could give him an idea of what is causing this, he would take care of it. So, I'm hoping that one of you folks might have had this problem and has an idea of how to solve it. Thanks, John

Matthew, My interior is tan. Also, with regards to brand, these are Firestone. If I was to do it again I would go with Goodyear. I had them on a '93 T Bird and the white cleaned up better.

I see what I was afraid of happened. How do you post a picture that fits the screen?

I have always liked the looks of whitewall tires, all the way back to my first car which was a '48 Olds that I put port-a-walls on. I searched through all the pictures of Reattas I could find to see how they would look, but never found any. So, I had a set put on and I'm posting a couple of pictures in case there is someone else out there interested in seeing how they look. This is my first try at posting a picture, so I hope it works.

SEM is the brand and it comes in a spray can. I found it at a body shop supply store.

My 89 had scrapes on both corners of the front bumper. I sanded entire bumper with 400 grit sandpaper and painted with SEM trim paint in gloss black. Looks great. Just do several thin coats and don't rush it .

I want to thank you all for the support and suggestions. I checked with a couple independent shops with good reputations and would only save a couple hundred dollars. The dealer here has a lot of experience with Reattas as the owner has owned one since new. I didn't think that for the limited savings it would be prudent to take it to a shop that had no experience with Reattas. I want to thank TommyH for the tip on the actuator and mirror. I bought the actuator and have a bid in on the mirror. The shop rate is $98/hr and they estimated 1 hr for each. So I am going to try to install myself when the door panels are off for the speakers. I think the initial shock has worn off and when these items are done I will be able to enjoy the car and keep it running more economicaly with the help of this forum. Thanks

I think I made a big mistake when I bought this Reatta. I knew a car 18 years old with 27,000 mi. would need some work, but I had a rude awakening today. I took it in today to get the fluids drained and flushed. The estimate was about $750. The speakers went out on the way to the shop and I still had the problem with the drivers side lock and passenger side mirror, so had those checked. So far I need about $3300 worth of work plus after market speakers, tires, and whatever it costs for the exterior. When I made this purchase I thougt that about $1000 to $1500 for getting things in shape plus another $1000 or $1500 for the exterior would have the car in real nice condition.Right now I'm pretty much in a state of shock. Some of the things that need fixing are: Door lock actuater $285 Mirror $464 Strut bar $84 Oil pan gasket $260 Clean intake $690 Hoses $395 I'm not really able to do this work myself, so I'm about to the point where I wish I could take a thousand or so loss and just for get it.

Just found another problem. There was fluid around the top of the reservoir so I looked under the car and there was quite a bit of fluid on the floor so I think its time for a trip to the dealer.

I am doing the brake test and found the fluid level to be above the line after test 2. I assume that I need to remove fluid to the line before proceeding with the test. Am I right in this assumption? Thanks for the help. John

I am doing the brake test and have found the level to be above the line after test 2. I assume that at this point I need to remove fluid to the line before proceeding with the test. Is this right? Thanks for the help. John

I just purchased a 1989 white Reatta with 27,000 miles and am sure that I will be picking the brains of you folks who have owned these cars and are familiar with most all of their common problems. To start with, this car appears to have had nothing ever done except for 3 batterys and oil changes. I would appreciate any advice on what I should have inspected, etc. I was thinking I should have transmision, radiator, and brakes drained, flushed and replaced. There are a few problems that it has. The driver door lock slide only works about 20% of the time. The right side mirror will go up & down but not sideways. And the anti-lock light comes on and stays on about every third trip. Any advice on these items would be appreciated. I've read a lot of the posts on this forum while looking for a Reatta, and found it to be very informative. John