PontiacBonnevilleClub.com

Well, got my new beast home yesterday, although the trip was anything but smooth. While the car has good bones and I picked her up for a very good price, there are definitely... issues. I'd like to hammer them out fairly quickly, as this is going to be my driver throughout the winter, or at least that's the plan.

The car is an '02 SSEi, pretty much completely loaded except for the CD changer.

-Wipers completely quit on me while headed back home in a rainstorm. Had to wait in a parking lot about 50 miles from home until things slackened off. I've read that this is due to water getting inside the control module attached to the motor. My question is two-fold: Is this relatively easy to get at myself, and is the part I'm linking to the one I need? http://www.partsgeek.com/catalog/2002/p ... motor.html (I'm looking at the top one, the new one for about $100). Also, what would I need to do to seal this one up to make sure this doesn't happen again?

- Window regulator on the passenger rear side is completely toast, and the driver's front is getting there. Is this also another 'why bother taking this to a shop?' job? I've searched around but haven't found a write-up on how to do this.

-Harsh vibration between 60-70MPH.... and I mean HARSH. It feels like the car is literally shaking itself apart. I can feel it in the steering wheel as well as the front body of the car. I've heard many, many causes of this issue from old threads, ranging from control arms to subframe bushings to misbalanced tires to CV axles. Right off the bat my rear suspension needs to be replaced; I had a closer look today and the left rear strut was broken in half. Someone down the line had unbolted the top portion and tossed the works away; I'm still in disbelief as to how anyone would see that as safe to do. Basically, I really don't want to throw a bunch of parts and labor at this thing in order to get it driving right. Are there common culprits I need to look at? The major problem is that I can't work under the car where I live; I park on the street and have absolutely no safe area to do so. Basically, anything suspension related I'm going to have to take to a shop. Any advice/input/experience would be very helpful; the speed range this car is shaking at is right where the local highway speed limits are.

Get a used good windshield wiper module from Harofreak00, and then seal it up when you get it. Definitely cheaper than new. I think you just need to remove the plastic cowl piece to access the module.

To replace a window regulator, all you need to do to access it is remove the door panel, which is no big deal. You might break some door clips at worst. Here is a good thread to read through:
http://www.pontiacbonnevilleclub.com/fo ... f=43&t=212

First thing I would do too address the shake is fix the rear suspension, and then get the car aligned and the wheels/tires balanced.

nos4blood70 wrote:Get a used good windshield wiper module from Harofreak00, and then seal it up when you get it. Definitely cheaper than new. I think you just need to remove the plastic cowl piece to access the module.

To replace a window regulator, all you need to do to access it is remove the door panel, which is no big deal. You might break some door clips at worst. Here is a good thread to read through:
http://www.pontiacbonnevilleclub.com/fo ... f=43&t=212

First thing I would do too address the shake is fix the rear suspension, and then get the car aligned and the wheels/tires balanced.

Sounds good. I've got a parts list going, but any money I can save would be great. I'm unsure if I should get the regulators with the motors or without? They seem to be working on my car.

I was able to get her out on the road for a more extended test in much better weather today.

Firstly, holy mackerel does she move. Pinning the throttle to the floor and with the mods she has is just a blast. No drama except some torque steer. She might be more powerful at this altitude than my V8-powered BMW, though I won't be getting on her otherwise until I get these issues taken care of. The trans shifts like butter, although I did notice that the front mount is trashed. I'm torn between between going new or pucking it.

Braking is another matter. The car's shaking violently under even mild to moderate brake pressure over 50. As in 'crap, it's about to fall into pieces on the road' bad. I'm actually feeling the vibration through the pedals.

The shimmy seems to be there between 60-70, but can be faintly felt at times as low as 40-45. As with the braking the pedals are vibrating. It'd be interesting to see if the rear suspension being completely messed up can throw all of that off.

I would suggest a shift kit and trans cooler for the transmission, that'll help keep it going for a long time to come.

If you go with an OEM style mount, you will tear through it quickly, even if you drive nicely. Even my tuned NA car is already chewing through this Anchor mount I installed a few weeks ago. The pucks will last forever, and the vibes won't be too bad if you put a sway bar bushing in there with it.

Looks like she's due for rotors as well then.

Sounds like your rotors are warped. The highway vibration is a common issue. When the cars were new. Goodyear made specially balanced tires for them because of this. These tires are no longer available. The best solution is to get the tires balances with a Hunter Road force balancer and put the two most balanced ones on the front. If you get new tires, try an all season high performance tire with a softer sidewall like the Continental Pure Contact DWS touring. The rear shocks only cost about $60 (They are air shocks) and are made by Monroe. They take just 30 minutes to replace.

bobgto65 wrote:Sounds like your rotors are warped. The highway vibration is a common issue. When the cars were new. Goodyear made specially balanced tires for them because of this. These tires are no longer available. The best solution is to get the tires balances with a Hunter Road force balancer and put the two most balanced ones on the front. If you get new tires, try an all season high performance tire with a softer sidewall like the Continental Pure Contact DWS touring. The rear shocks only cost about $60 (They are air shocks) and are made by Monroe. They take just 30 minutes to replace.

I would like to know more on these specially balanced tires? Not doubting you, but how can a tire be specially balanced? I would think that once properly balanced it shouldn't make any difference.

+1 above. I thought that balanced wheels/tires would be the end of it? Otherwise that sounds like some design flaw in the chassis that would be cropping up in other cars on this platform? I wouldn't think that the Bonneville's front suspension would be that different than the other G-body cars?

Anyway, here's the current parts list:

Dorman rear right window regulator with motor: $98.63.
Front left window regulator: $80.73
Manual rear shock conversion kit: $111.63 (after testing the rear compressor is pretty shot and I do remember seeing mention of these in other posts as a manual replacement if the air system is completely borked.)
Wiper Motor: Inquiry sent.
Centric brake pads front: $27.63
Centric brake pads rear: $23.38
Centric brake rotor front: $28.63 x2 $57.26
Centric brake rotor rear: $18.38 x2 $36.76
Oil pressure sender: @$35.00? (Unsure which exact one I need; I'm seeing a couple of different ones crop up. My gauge is pegged at 120psi)
Aluminum coolant elbows: @$10.00?

I also need to price out an LIM kit for a supercharged application, though I want to make sure I get the best parts available. Could someone point me to a writeup of what I'd need to get this job done? Mine aren't that bad at this point, but I'd like to get this done a little later on for added peace of mind.

Also, what swaybar bushing do I need to use if I want to do the hockey puck mount? Washers and a bolt are easy to get and I live in Colorado so I doubt I'll have an issue getting hockey pucks here... hehe. I just want to make sure I'm getting the right bushing.

I went with this for the oil pressure sender:
http://shop.advanceautoparts.com/p/bwd- ... ure+sender
Still going after 2ish years, despite being the cheapest option at the time.

Go with Felpro or Dorman for the LIM gaskets. There is a LIM gasket walk through in our TECHINFO for an NA motor, but the differences are minor. Only difference is you remove the blower instead of the upper intake. There are also plenty of write-ups online, as well as video walk throughs on YouTube.

Use a front sway bar bushing, I'd go with a new one. I used an old one and it eventually deteriorated and broke apart, leading to my motor flopping around like a fish.

nos4blood70 wrote:I went with this for the oil pressure sender:
http://shop.advanceautoparts.com/p/bwd- ... ure+sender
Still going after 2ish years, despite being the cheapest option at the time.

Go with Felpro or Dorman for the LIM gaskets. There is a LIM gasket walk through in our TECHINFO for an NA motor, but the differences are minor. Only difference is you remove the blower instead of the upper intake. There are also plenty of write-ups online, as well as video walk throughs on YouTube.

Use a front sway bar bushing, I'd go with a new one. I used an old one and it eventually deteriorated and broke apart, leading to my motor flopping around like a fish.

Thanks! There's actually an Advance within walking distance so that's a double plus.

I was able to poke around a little bit more and from what I can tell the car has aluminum LIM gaskets... I definitely wasn't expecting that. It looks like the plastic coolant elbows are leaking, which will have to be rectified. The car still looks like it received proper care in its life at least to some point, so I still can't complain too loudly.

Bumping after quite a bit of time... lots has been going on.

Very long story short, the transmission developed a massive leak. Thought it might be relatively minor so I took it to a local shop I have used quite a bit in the past for diagnosis with the instructions if it was relatively minor to install the brakes and rear struts that I purchased.

Three weeks later I get the SSEi back. The shop ended up installing the brakes/struts before looking at the transmission, which wasn't cool. Especially since the source of the leak was the seal behind the torque converter... which was shredded by a broken, out of balance flexplate. The car ran a bit rough, but I figured it was due to needing a tuneup. Apparently not. The car drives smooth as glass now, other than the highway speed vibration still being there. It's not as pronounced as before but still there. After the transmission went in the car was aligned and apparently my tie rod ends are toasted. I'll take care of it later, but I've gotta get this vibration problem corrected before this car is ready for prime time. It's beyond annoying, and I'm still very skeptical that out of balance tires could cause this much vibration. I do have a stability control warning on the DIC and I'm wondering if my wheel bearings might be in bad shape and if replacing them might be a good idea. There's also some vibration while braking from 55mph+ as well, which is very strange as my pads, rotors, and front calipers are brand new.

I took care of the wiper issue today; put in a good used control module with no corrosion. However, the intermittent wiper function/mist/washer functions are kinda funky. They'll stop in the middle of the windshield about 2/3s of the time, then continue back down. Low/high wiper settings work perfectly. I'm assuming that the motor itself might be damaged, so I'll be replacing it in due time. At least it works and won't leave me stranded if there's a sudden downpour or snowstorm... that's the important thing.

Finally, I'm going to tackle the window regulators tomorrow. Passenger rear and driver's front. However, I can't for the life of me get the rear window up. Just won't budge past halfway open. I'm hoping there's a trick to get it jammed in place so I can get to the bolts?

PM sent
Im in the Springs as well and would love to team up on improving our rides!!!

The regulators are no big deal at all, I've done about four on these cars. The first time should take you about 45 minutes.