'89 Cutlass Supreme with problems!!!

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allison28 - 17 Dec 2004 00:05 GMT

I have an '89 Olds Cutlass Supreme with problems.When I got the car 6 years
ago the digital instrument panel would go out after 30-45 mins. of
driving.When you turn the car off and back on it would light up again.This
got progressively worse until the dash only lit up for mins. at a
time.(Just long enough to see how much gas I had.)The heater would get
hot but wouldn't change from floor to vent or anything. The mechanic got
the heater to change(vacume line).Then the ignition went out.To make a
long story short,I had to replace the steering colume.The dash came on
about 3 or 4 times after the colume change .Now the dash doesn't come on
at all (never know how much gas I have or how fast I'm going).The heater
does not get hot and the a\c fan blows all the time.The mechanic said it
was the wiring.He said something about an actuator.I have no idea what
this is.ANY HELP would be greatly appreciated!!!

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Bob Bailin - 17 Dec 2004 10:01 GMT

> I have an '89 Olds Cutlass Supreme with problems.When I got the car 6 years
> ago the digital instrument panel would go out after 30-45 mins. of
[quoted text clipped - 9 lines]
> was the wiring.He said something about an actuator.I have no idea what
> this is.ANY HELP would be greatly appreciated!!!

You have 2 distinct and unrelated problems. It's usually better to discuss
them separately, otherwise it seems like you're piling on.

1. Digital instrument panels do go bad after 15 years. Sometimes it's just
solder joints on the printed circuit boards that crack and lose their
conductivity. One solution is to go to a junk yard and get a replacement
panel. Make sure there's some sort of refund policy if it doesn't work.
Or, you can remove your existing panel, open it up and touch a hot
soldering iron to each solder point (there are lots) and see if that might
fix things up.

2. For the no heat problem, you might have a clogged up heater core.
Check the two heater hoses that run from the engine to the firewall
(not the A/C hoses). When the engine is hot (the upper radiator hose
is hot to the touch) these two hoses should also be just as hot. If not,
the heater core is clogged. Since this happened recently, you might
be able to get it backflushed out, otherwise you have to replace it,
which is a time-consuming job on these cars.

Bob

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allison28 - 17 Dec 2004 14:22 GMT

Thank you for the info.I will try your suggestions and let you know the
results.

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allison28 - 11 Mar 2005 15:06 GMT

I finally took it to Pro Automotive and the fix for both problems was a
simple fuse.The fuse worked both the instrument panel and the temp.
control door on the heater.The instrument panel still blinks on and off
but at least it does come on now.Most people I asked about it went
straight to the vaccume lines or thermostat and never thought about a
simple fuse. .At least that is all it was.As for the instrument panel,I'll
have to do the joint thing to see if that helps....Thanks again

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spidermonkey - 18 Jan 2005 13:06 GMT

Are you sure that you don't have my car?Same exact thing when it comes to
the panel,I really like the help ideas,sounds like I may be able to do
that my self~what do I have to loose? now how do through the panel to the
board,to souder?something to look up online.....One can do this?On another
note my car has 140000 miles and came with no thermastat,I broke a
hose.....that was really scary.Now the car is making noise,near the drive
belt,I believe there is issues with the water pump.I see a particular leak
far back under the car and my boyfried stated it was coolent,I have had to
top the coolent chamber off but I thought that was because mu car was
acting worse when i put a new thermastat in the car it caused a particular
smoke and smell.Overheating..........This engine was a prize now it's
falling apart....and I'm really sad

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