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Pontiac Bonneville Owners: Meet the Members

344 messages,  Last post on May 29, 2008 at 7:09 PM

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What is this discussion about? Pontiac Bonneville, Sedan

Messages Page 35 of 35

#341 of 344 1992 Bonneville SE; Hand Me Down by docdetroit

May 26, 2008 (4:52 pm)

Hi Folks...
 I'm Kev, and I just inherited a friend's 1992 Bonneville SE. It's seen better days, sure, but he took pretty good care of it...mechanically, anyway. Runs like a top. most of the amenities still work, all that nice stuff. It's in decent condition outside, although the interior looks like he used it for a tree surgeon's business or something. But I'm not too worried about that.
 Anyway, the biggest problem is the heater core blew up. Or did something that causes it to leak all over the passenger floor. And stink, of course. Keeping the heat off keeps the car drivable, but it naturally runs hotter than I would like it to and still burps a bit of antifreeze onto the carpet, even with the heat off.
 I plan to just disconnect the core for the time being, just running the outlet from the engine for the heater back into the inlet that's supposed to come from the core. It's summer, and I won't need heat for a LITTLE while.
BUT...Does anyone know what a horrible job switching out the core is in these models? I know it's NEVER a fun job on any car- I know first hand- but perhaps there may be some helpful tips out there? Any advice would be certainly appreciated. This has the potential to still be a great car with a bit of TLC, and I'm a poor guy, so if I can keep it alive without massive investment it would be great.
Thanks!

#342 of 344 hello just got a bville by jayout

May 27, 2008 (5:56 pm)

willie from houston, just got a used 97bville sse , even with 390 gas prices, i am enjoying the car. if somebody has a minute or two i do have a couple of questons.

#343 of 344 Re: 1992 Bonneville SE; Hand Me Down [docdetroit] by imidazol97

May 28, 2008 (5:17 am)

Replying to: docdetroit (May 26, 2008 4:52 pm)
>stink,
 
Is it the coolant smell you're talking about? Is there any chance the drip is because the drain for the AC water drip is clogged?
 
Taking the hose connections into the heater off under the hood requires the sideways plier like tool to get at the snap wires easily. Then the rubber is usually melded to the tubes of the heater core. I suspect most people replace the whole heater hose pair when doing a repair because they damage the rubber getting them off.
 
I'll take disagreement about the core being terrible to get out on these cars. If it's the same as the 95-99 models, the cover comes off the end of the heater box with two screws and then break loose the caulk sealer and remove the cover which has to prongs hold it into the other end. The unit is very nicely engineered for do it yourself--if you have a medium level of expertise with cars and time and enough body flexibility you can lie on your side and back to work under there.
 
I'll try to get a picture for you.
 
Edit: I put two in my carspace picture album. http://www.carspace.com/imidazol97/Albums/imidazol97%27s%20Album
 
Go there and you'll see apicture of the heater box with the programmer removed off the end. Then you'll see the box with the end cover opened to show the heater core. The entire dash has been removed by the person taking the photos--you do NOT need to remove the dash. It can be done by removing the hush panel above the passenger's feet and removing the glovebox which is 7 screws along the bottom hinge.

#344 of 344 Re: 1992 Bonneville SE; Hand Me Down [imidazol97] by docdetroit

May 29, 2008 (7:09 pm)

Replying to: imidazol97 (May 28, 2008 5:17 am)
Wow! Thanks for the help! I never expected pics and all that good stuff; very helpful. Thanks to some pretty hairy experiences in the past, I always like to know what the heck I am getting myself into. She'll really be one heck of a nice 'beater' car if we can get this ironed out.
There are other issues, too... 'Check engine' light (Big surprise there...) and airbag warning light, but let's just see if we can keep it from burning up first, right?
 As far as bypassing the core for the time being, you wouldn't know of any potential dangers of doing so, do you? Except maybe in the event of a sudden ice age or something, of course.

Messages Page 35 of 35

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