Hi, I'm new to this forum. I used to have a 1992 Bonneville se, and then a 1994 Bonneville se. I now have a 1996 Bonneville SSei that I bought a couple states away for $3800. It is Champagne color, I believe. It has 75,000 miles, and looks to be very tight and clean.

I'll get to know the forum a little before deciding where to post for help, but this car isn't running up to par. She'* strong, but the engine isn't smooth. Ceck engine light comes on sometimes.. more later..

Sam

Congrats on the purchase. You will definitely love that car.
Start with a tune up (plugs, wires, fuel filter, air filter, pcv valve, and clean the throttle body), but get the codes scanned first.
I suggest taking the car to a parts store (Advanced Auto, Champion Auto, NAPA, Checker, Auto Value, etc...) and have them scan for codes (find one that'll do it for free -alot of them do it for free and some do it with the stipulation that you have to buy the parts from them or pay for the scan). They will be able to help diagnose the problem(*) for free/cheap.

Thanks Blue eyes.
I'm fairly familiar with this body styled Bonnevilles. I had a 1992 that got destroyed when a lady ignored a red light and we hit. That car was very nice, and solid. It looked like a new car when I bought it. I put in a new tranny, strutts, brakes, springs, alternator, and a few other minor things, and I lost my shirt on that when the insurance evaluated the value at about half of what I had invested. I then bought a 1994 Bonne, which was another nice tight car. It wasn't as clean as the 1992, but it was a smooth runner. I sold that one for 2000 dollars last year, to my brother'* friend. That car is being abused daily by the buyer, who is about 19 years old, and a little on the wild side. It had 161,000 miles on it when I sold it to him, and it ran great, idled smooth, and still had no leaks. Today that 1994 has 170,000 miles on it, and I must say it'* been a very hard 9000 miles since he bought it.

I now have the 1996 SSEi, and I am more than impressed at the power this thing has. It'* not running perfect , but it sure has a lot of backbone even so..

As for the code reading....I believe I heard locally that our Autozone might do that for free. I'll have to check into it.

For future reference, I'd like to know if there are any programmers available to tweak our cars. My brother just bopught a 1997 Bonneville SSEi, and he wanted me to find out about a programmer for us. I became interested in programmers a short while ago when I bought my Caprice Classic LS 9C1. As it turns out, most programmers don't do my specific car.

I can't think of anything else to add here. I'd like to make it easy for you guys to help me when needed. I have never done any mods to my former Bonnevilles, but I might like to do some on this one. I'm hoping this forum has info relating to some easy, free or cheap mods to get my feet wet.

Thanks again... Sam

Sorry to here about the 1992 -had about the same thing happen to my 1992 SE (was rear-ended by a Jeep with only rear brakes ....a 60 mph impact speed.

Sorry to inform you that as far as I know, there are no programmers for the 1996 year due to the 1996 having a 4T60E trans, and the 1997+ have the 4T65E trans.
For your brothers 1997 you can check out www.intense-racing.com or www.digitalhorsepowerinc.com . There is no specific tuner program available for the Bonneville owners to program themselves as far as I am aware of, but the two sites ^^ are pretty well known and have good track records.

I have a 1997 pcm your brother can use for the core if he'* interested in buying it. PM me about that.
TTYL, and be sure to keep us updated here on BC -we're always willing to give experienced advice and alot of knowledge is to be had here.

Are there any other differences in the 4t60e and the 4t65e, besides the programability?

I can't help but think the "65" is a better built one.

It seems the higher numbers were better built tranny'* when I was into the caprice/impala forums. Just curious.

I'll mention the pcm core to my brother.

The difference between the 4T60E and the 4T65E is that the 65 is electronic and the 60 is vacuum. I see alot more of the 65'* taking a puke than the 60, but then again there aren't nearly as many 60'* attached to modded (mild-heavy) as there are 65'*.
I had the 65 in my 1999 SSEi take a crap on me less than a week after I bought it, which was less than 12k after it had been rebuilt @ 132k. It was rebuilt again by the same builder (apparently they used 60 parts in the 65 from what I could tell by the reciept from the first rebuild) and now, 14 months and 35k later it'* still working like a Rolex watch.

WELCOME!!!!!


Glad ya' decided to stop by............

[quote="OLBlueEyesBonne"]The difference between the 4T60E and the 4T65E is that the 65 is electronic and the 60 is vacuum. I see alot more of the 65'* taking a puke than the 60, but then again there aren't nearly as many 60'* attached to modded (mild-heavy) as there are 65'*. quote]

Are you sure about that? You sound like you know these cars inside and out, but upon searching around the web, I have found that the 4T60E was used in Bonnevilles from 1992-1997 and the 4T65E was used in Bonnevilles from 1997-2004...or so... http://www.gmgoodwrench.com/resource...on%20Chart.pdf


I have also read online that the 4 indicates the number of gears...thus...4 speed tranny.... the T indisctes Transverse ......the 60 or 65 indicates relative torque capacity and the E indicates Electronic .

This would lead me to believe the 1997 my brother has could be either transmission, and my 1996 is a 4T60E. It also leads me to believe mine is electronic and not vacuum operated. This makes me wonder why the 1996 doesn't have available reprogramming, but the 1997 does.

I do believe the 4T65E is a tougher tranny, or at least is built to higher torque specs...

http://www.gmgoodwrench.com/resource...tification.pdf

The 4T65E is supposed to be an improvement on the 4T60E, but it just can't match the 60 for reliability. If you have the 4T65E, and are thinking about major upgrades, it might pay to think about an upgrade to the 4T65E-HD, which corrected almost all the shortcomings of the 4T65E.
The 4T60E seems to be pretty much bulletproof, though.

Thanks for the info..

I believe during my quest for a Bonneville SSEi, I ran across your car on e-bay. It was in your location, and it looked like the pic in your avatar. Are you the seller? or are you the new owner? If that is the same car I saw on e-bay, it sure is a nice looking car... That'* a sexy car...