My boyfriend has had this car for 2 years now and I'm not sure if we should fix it or get rid of it (he likes it, I don't think it'* worth fixing) and if these are common problems that we should expect should he buy another Bonneville instead of fixing his.

The car is a 1997 SSE, 3.8L non-turbo, fully loaded. It was owned by his mom'* boyfriend'* late wife, who was in her 50'*. The car was maintained well. After she died it sat in the garage for about 2 years. It currently has 180,000 miles on it. It does not burn any oil, and the engine seems to have a lot of power and life still in it. We were told the transmission had been replaced at least once, and that there was some problem in which the heat wouldn't stop even when the air was on, but that the shop put a valve in to block the heater core off in the summer and that fixed the problem. (I thought it sounded like a thermostat problem but the shop insisted it wasn't and that the valve was the only way to fix it)

Here'* the problems:

1. It has the digital climate control which works fine to turn the rear defrost on, or change where the air should come out but blower will not work, no a/c, no heat. I tried wiring it directly to the battery with a toggle switch and fuse and it still won't turn on, but it works fine in my Grand Prix. (We live in Wisconsin)

2. In snow or rain, when coming to a stop it will suddenly start making this loud grinding noise and the brake peddle will pulsate very hard at your foot. While this is happening the brakes do not seem to be stopping at all. The front brakes were replaced in March 06 (rotors & pads)

3. When trying to start the car the security light will go on and the car won't even try to start. After a few minutes the light will go off and then we try again, sometimes it will start and sometimes it will keep doing it. A few times it wouldn't start for days. We replaced the starter and it continued. We tried trading batteries and his continued with problems with my battery and my car had no problems with his battery.

4. When stepping on the gas to go uphill or taking off from a stop the car makes a sort of whining/groaning noise. The car has traction control, so I'm thought it might be that but I don't think traction control would kick in going uphill on dry road. If the hill is steep enough you have to step on it hard enough to make it down shift to get it to go.

I am not a mechanic, but I am by no means a dumb girl who knows noting about cars. I have worked on plenty of them, including rebuilding my 3.4L DOHC in my Grand Prix, but I've never seen a car with such strange problems. Are these common to the Bonneville or is my boyfriend'* just possessed? I've been told the Bonneville'* go through transmissions like other cars go through tires.

1. Try posting this in the Electronics section
2. Heh, that'* your ABS, the sound is normal but you might need new tired
3. Clean off the chip on the key
4. Check your transmission fluid

1. It may be a problem with the ECC (Electronic Climate Control) Unit. They can easily be obtained from junkyards for cheap, I'd start there, but it could very well be just about anything else. It seems to be electronic. I dont understand how you SWAPPED it with a gp'* climate controll, I could have swarn they are very different.



2. I'd be thinking about the wheel speed sensors having issues, possiibly a problem with the ABS, low fluid level etc. Do the ABS brakes work? IE...when you slam on them do they lock or do you feel the same sensation.


3. This is a problem with the PassKey2 system in the car, you need to clean the keys and possibly replace/bypas the system, there should be instructions here about it in TECHINFO at the top left.


4. This could be bad. I'm not even going to start throwing ideas about that.


but yes it seems to be possessed

Well, first of all, let me welcome you to the Bonneville Club...

Welcome to BC!

OK. Now with that out of the way (if you want more welcoming, start a thread in Introductions), Let'* start addressing your issues or should I say his issues that you want to fix?

I don't have a lot of time right now, but will get you started and others will chime in, I'm sure.

1) On this one, the quickest thing I can say is to do a bit of searching here on this forum...search on "ECC". There are a number of threads, some of them pretty recent, that address the conntrols and can get you back up and cooling and heating again. Here'* an article in TECHINFO (above) to get you going:
Electronic Climate Control Diagnostics

2) I'm going to throw out a suggestion that this may just be your ABS working for you to try and keep the wheels from locking up during a stop. However, you may have soime adjustment issues that I will let more qualified folks help yuo with (or those who have more time right now).

3) This is not an uncommon problem, but since I don't have security, I have no experience. IIRC, you may have a VATS issue, but again, there are those here that can help resolve this.

4) For this one, I suggest you start a new thread in this forum and try to provide a bit more info if possible. I don't think we have enough to go on to provide a diagnosis right now, but It'* very likey we'll be able to walk you through a diagnosis, provided you work with us. The first question I would ask, is are you sure of the brake adjustment, even though the brakes were just done?

Good luck. I'm sure that you'll get some good help. See you Monday.

I swapped the blower, not the climate control. I unplugged the wiring harness on my fan and stuck wires into the ends of the clip then touched them to the fan (my harness is slightly different so it won't just plug in) and the fan turned on and even changed speed with my climate control setting it. Then I tried hooking the blower up to the battery with a toggle switch, to check if the climate control unit itself was bad and the blower wouldn't do anything.

If they are slammed on when the weather is nice the ABS seems to work fine, but in the snow when they are slammed on or just used normally it just does what I described. The fluid level is fine, and I did bleed them and the abs when I changed the front although it was doing this before I changed them anyway. Is there a fuse for the ABS that I can pull to see if that'* the cause? I have ABS in my Grand Prix and had it in my last car and know many others with it as well and I've never heard another car make these noises, and the way the brake peddle pushes back up if it was normal I think there would be a great deal more accidents.

I'm guessing the system needs to be replaced or bypassed then, I got a new key made and it didn't fix it. If the PassKey is bypassed will that just stop the starter from being disabled or will it stop the car alarm from going off as well?

Thanks for your quick responses and help.

The brake pedal is supposed to pulsate when the tires loose traction (like slamming on the brakes in the rain or snow) which allows you to still steer and help with stopping. That is the ABS system and it sounds like it'* working fine. Maybe better tires?