New Reatta owner

[John White]

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

[Ronnie]

Welcome to the forum. Sounds like a great car. You have came to the right place for help with maintaining it. First step would be to go to Reatta.net and take the brake test there to find what condition your brake system is in. Then report back here for help. You will find a lot of people here willing to help. If you have the brakes flushed follow the instructions at Reatta.net for best results.

[jonlabree]

First, DON'T drive the car until you find out what the brake problem is.

Go to: Reatta.net and register, then take the brake test you will find there. and report the results back to this forum.

[Guest alex_houston]

Just about the anti lock issue, I have had Reattas and most all have the anti lock light on at one time or another. Personally I don't let it bother me. I don't like anti lock feature anyway.

Only worry is if the red light ever comes on. Then park it immediately.

[Barney Eaton]

Congratulations on finding a nice low mileage Reatta.

Welcome to the forum and please consider joining the Reatta Division of the Buick Club of America.

It sounds like you got some good service history records with the car.

After you do the brake test, you should flush out the old fluid and replace with new. Your car is 18 years old and probably has the original fluid. DOT 3 fluid absorbs 1-1 1/2% moisture per year, do the math. Moisture rust steel parts and corrodes aluminum. The moisture also lowers the brake fluid boiling point which can cause brake fade if you are in conditions that would be using the brakes alot.

On the door lock, you may only need to remove the door panel and lube the mechanism. Recently another Reatta owner had a similar problem and that fixed the problem.

When you have the door panel off, you can test the mirror, it may be just a poor connection. It is somewhat common for electrial problems to be nothing more than bad connections. Disconnect the connection, spray the connectors with contact cleaner/lube and plug and unplug a couple of times to clean the connection.

[DAVES89]

Sounds like everyone has answered your questions. Regarding your ABS light coming on occaisionally I will suggest you look at the ABS sensor leads that go to the front wheels. Mine were bad, [the insulation was worn] replaced and the light stayed off.

Good luck with your new car. Post some pictures when you get a chance!

[Guest tomt]

Before getting too involved with pulling wheels and testing sensors, you might just replace or have replaced, the master brake relay. It's a cheap thing to replace, and it can be tested by exchanging relays on the relay panel. There are three on the front of the firewall under the hood.Tests hinted at leads from the wheel in my 89, but replacing this relay fixed it.

Not to overpush using dealers, but Buick dealers have these in stock, and there is no labor involved to speak of to replace them.

You also should get a service manual. Others can help you here.

I excho the opinion of others to take the brake test, I do it every year.