I Need Strength

[Quincy Cummings]

After spending nearly 400 dollars on suspension and other items, the alternator failed yesterday. I am thinking of selling this car after I fix the alternator, but before I do, I thought I would seek some inspiration to keep it from other Reatta owners.

Can anyone share some feedback with me?

[padgett]

Have four cars that use the essentially same alternator, I usually replace at least one a year and try to keep a spare around. Getting one with a lifetime guarentee is a good idea if you plan to keep it.

[Guest tempest68]

Quincy,

Please do not let a little thing like the Alternator make you sell it. I'd bet money you'll regret it if you do sell it. After all, any vehicle of these cars age will need these kind of repairs. Now, would you get the same enjoyment out of working on or driving something else as you get from this car? To this day, I would much rather own a Reatta than ANY Corvette. Not even a Z06! Sure, they're fast, etc, etc. But they're also like "behinds" ... everybody has one.

Cheer up. Enjoy what you have. And pray that this will be the last major/expensive repair for awhile.

It's cruise-in season again...we gotta keep the heads turning!

[Roadster90]

Quincy,

Padgett has an an absolutely marvelous and pregnant idea>>>>>give it birth by purchasing an alt (or anything for that matter) with a lifetime guarntee next time.....like an insurance policy. It works wonderful with me for some reason....everytime I buy a warranty or pay extra for a product with a lifetime guarntee I never use it. Wonder at times if it isn't a waste of $. Retailers are now getting greedy however. These services used to add an additional < 10% to the end price, but are now > 20 %.

[padgett]

Keep in mind that on these cars replacing the alternator takes about 10 minues and do not have to get under the car. Ignition module is about 15 because you have to R&R the coils. Starter is only easily replaced you have to get under the car for but a set of Rhino Ramps ($17.99 on sale around here right now) are all the lift you need, same as for oil change.

All of these come into the "lifetime guarentee" mode. Of course I tend to not sell cars very often and, except for the Judge, all are computer cars now.

Personally am of the belief that if you keep on top of maintenance and periodic replacement, at least for a garaged car in central Florida, it doesn't ever have to wear out. Even with the occasional crate engine or trans, the monthly cost on all five of ours is less than a new car payment.

Not saying I do not buy new cars, the Bonneville was purchased new, just that I do not see any reason to do it very often.

[Cargirl]

The guys are telling you the truth about replacing the Alternator. Recently my bypass hose sprung a leak and my friend and I replace it after having to remove the alternator to get to it. It was a very easy job and I was shocked!! I would recommend if you take the alternator off, you replace that hose as well. They had it in stock at Auto Zone (much to my disbelief) and the hose cost a total of $3.77. Keep the car! Good luck

[Don B.]

Dude, I spent weeks trying to get my Reatta to run.

It run for 5 seconds then die.

I change the coil pack, crank sensor, jumped out the fuel

pump relay still nothing.

Plugs were carboned up [never saw that before on 3800

I own 4], fuse connector for coil pack was loose.

Now the topper No D*&% Fuel. Gage read 1/2 tank,

checked at the start for fuel by pressing in the fuel

rail valve, ok. Check again sunday now just air.

I was ready to give up and buy some econo box or

electric car.

But I "Don't take not S*%t from no D#@n machine."

Never give up, you can't let the machines win.

[AMarx]

Some of these stories remind me of a Volvo I owned. Before I had to say goodbye to it, it had over 285,000 miles and ran well.

With maintenance and replacements (as necessary) a car can last a lifetime.

[Rawja]

My '89 replaced a leased '98 Audi A6, so I went from a $620.00 a month lease payment to a zero monthy car payment, that has made perspective on running costs very easy to swallow. Additionally, I can't recall ever spending any time on any Audi discussion forums, it was just a nice car, I had no attachment to it. I have a slight case of OCD when it comes to my cars, and maintain and replace components with a very methodical schedule. This of course leads to certain periods when my spending on a particular car is high for a month or two, followed by long periods where nothing other than oil changes occur. A big mistake a lot of people seem to make with older cars and Reattas in particular is you have a number of repairs within a short period of time and extrapolate that forward as an ever-increasing maintenance and repair "nut" you are going to have to cover in order to keep it on the road.

The $400.00 you spent on the suspension is a payment towards say, 50,000 miles of not worrying about that area.

New alternator means you should be golden as far as the alternator for ummmmmm...I dunno at least 3-4 years?

Another Thing that people do that I consider a death sentance for a car is defferring repairs on items they decide they can live without. The problem with this is that as more and more items become inoperative, it makes any even moderately priced repair seem like more money than it's worth. Who wants to spend $800.00 to repair a car with no air conditioning, a dash that sometimes works, clapped-out suspension, etc. Take the same car otherwise operating well with all systems operational, and then its: "well, I guess I'm gonna spring for that new transmission, 'cause she's a beautiful car that I enjoy"

If you work your way over the car, replacing all the consumables in a methodical fashion, and fix everything that breaks as soon as it does, you will find that while costs will "spike" occaisionally, overall costs should be fairly low.

Plus, I dont know about you, but I cannot walk away from my Reatta without looking back at it lovingly.

[Quincy Cummings]

Yeah okay ,you got me! I'll keep her.

Its been the only car I've owned that I want to hold on to.

I plan to put another alternator in it today and keep rolling.

Thank all of you for the support...hope I can provide the same to you.

Now if I could find some decent factory wheels...

[Rawja]

<span style="font-weight: bold"> www.aaarims.com </span> put the OEM rims on special a couple weeks ago, and after literally years of "shopping" I realized it wasn't going to get cheaper than this. They ended up costing $117 a piece plus 14.95 each for shipping. I received them last week, and mounted them last Sunday, and they are beautiful. If you are contemplating getting your wheels re-finished or replaced with OEM rims, I can vouch for the quality of the work done by this vendor.

Should you decide to get 'em, make sure you access the wheels via the "overstock sale" option on the web site, as if you find them through the regular "product catalog" option they will sell you the rims at a higher price.

Centercaps are still available new..<span style="font-weight: bold"> www.GMPartsDirect.com </span> has the best price ( Part # 1645004 )

[ESTAVER]

My repair costs still don't add up to anything near a car payment. Plus when you drive by a big plate glass window and see that beautiful, timeless profile, or punch the throttle and she jumps ahead, the Reatta is one hell of a ride worth keeping.

[Ted Davenport]

Ditto the new car payment feeling. $400 bucks could be 1 month payment on a new car.... Be strong.

[Guest imported_jim13a]

Greetings,

I've had my '89 for seven years now and unless she's totaled, i'll never part with her. Here's a rundown on the repairs I have made so far:

one reman engine, 4 used transmissions, 3 radio recievers, 3 water pumps, 2 heater cores, 2 a/c compressors, 1 radiators, 3 alternators, 1 p/s pump, 1 p/s hose, 1 fuel pump, 2 climate control modules, 3 sets of tires, 1 rear brake caliper, 2 front brake rotors, 1 starter, 1 photocell, 2 sets of headlights, 3 E L transformers, E L film for both pod switches and shift console indicator, 2 sets of p/w motors, MAF sensor, coil pack, ignition module, harmonic balancer, 3 tensioner pulleys, plug wires, 2 cam sensor magnets, 3 crank position sensors, 1 pigtail for CPS, 1 pigtail for a/c blower motor, 1 cooling fan motor, 1 oil pressure sender, 2 power antenna assemblies, 1 power door lock switch, 1 power trunk release solenoid, and 1 throttle position sensor.

There's probably more but at present I don't recall.

In any case, I still spent less than what a new car would cost. and even though the car still needs a few things (mostly cosmetic) its still a cost effective vehicle to own. And for the most part, most of the above parts will fail on any car regardless of age.

In a time when everybody wants to be part of the "in" crowd, those of us who are willing to stand out and be different is a refreshing feeling.

Jim

[Guest Greg Ross]

Ditto, and I've spouted my philosopy once or twice before. Going on 8 years now and showing 454,000 km (for my non-metric friends, that's 283,750 mi.) I have in lieu of a car payment I have systematically improved the car. Better used parts when they came available, new GM parts when I was into projects.

BB has been my main transportation for all this time and has only fauled to run twice. First failure was about 4 years ago-fuel pump. Next time was last July, Ignition Module kapuuttt. Ignition module had gone about 4 years ago but didn't fail completely, didn't strand me so doesn't count!

I average 25000 miles a year and whether you're forking over a car payment, a lease payment or planned maintenance/ improvements I'm more then happy with the performance of my Reatta.

If Betsy Blue does sell this Summer, what ever I receive will be a bonus on the offset of carrying cost and operating expense-and then there's been the Fun factor.

Have to agree, and sometimes feel a bit silly with the backward glance!

[Guest imported_jim13a]

I should probably mention that I purchased my Reatta with 64k on it and now have 187k on her. The car has never left me completely stranded, always breaks down in the driveway! The worst problem I ever had was 5 years ago while traveling all over the northeast and central us. The main wiring harness or "umbilical as it is sometimes referred to" drop onto the exaust system and was intermittently grounding out at least 27 wires causing the car to buck and sputter continously. I had no turn signals and the car would stall every 15 minutes or so. I drove over 3000 miles like that. Finally figured out the problem as I crossed the Fla state line. took a piece of rope and tied up the harness away from the exaust and the car ran like a champ. I had to repair the damaged wiring when i got home and haven't had a problem with it since.

I was pretty disillusioned with the car at that point but refused to part with her.

If that adventure doesn't prove "true love" than I don't know what does.

Jim

[LenHammond]

Had my 90 coupe for just about 6 months. Bought it to be a daily driver. So far I have had it running all of 3 months and put about 2000 miles on it. The rest of the time it hasn't run. Didn't leave me stranded anywhere but my own driveway. Had nothing but problems with it. I have always thought they were one of the best looking cars that GM ever put on the road. This particular speciman looks pretty good, better from a distance than up close. It had 127k on it when I got it and 129k now. I've put a third again into it what I paid for it. Getting frustrated with it. Still not ready to bad mouth the Reatta in general, just think that this particular speciman was not maintained well (or at all) for a long time before I got it. If I ever get it running again, I'll probably keep it a while. If it gets too expensive to get going, I may decide to part it out to keep a bunch of other Reatta's going for a while. Or may try to find a better one than this one and use this one for parts. Not sure. But, I, like others on this forum, turn around and look at it when I walk away, been a long time since I felt that way about a vehicle. Last time was when my '74 Land Cruiser was new and shiny.

[2seater]

I bought my '90 when it was three years old and 50K something miles on it. Purchase price was less than half of new, like $10,800 if I remember right. I've probaly put half of what I paid for it, into it, but mostly for my "improvements". I took out a perfectly good engine @ 92K, and have done other things mostly to make it better, not because it was really broken. It has never let me down in over 50k miles, and it someimes get used hard (turbocharged), but nothing has given up, and it's always a pleasure to drive. The alternator is a small problem. I had to change mine @ 100k miles and it took maybe ten minutes in the parking lot at work, and only three wrenches. The parts of the car that make it run are relatively plentiful and not terribly expensive, with the exception of the brake system possibly. The elctronics can sometimes be a problem, but the overall pleasure of driving arelatively rare car makes it worthwhile. If you perservere, you will win.