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is it supposed to drop a little further, and then continue sliding back? I wonder if it's a bit tight and getting bound up. Mine kinda pops a bit sometimes after i haven't used it in a while, but being this old if the motor is a bit weak i could see that stopping it

I had a buddy of mine take a look at my Lumina for the same issue, in the trunk opening and below the rear window. Seam sealer cracked and allowing water in. Also I can see it leaking/starting to rust underneath the taillights just below the rear bumper support. Seams of panels. Might want to look there. My body shop guy will probably sand blast it, reseal it, then paint.

Just open to vent and close I not sure if that helps. When it closes all the way the glass drops a little below the roof line. Like it does when it’s supposed to retract back. But obviously never does.

I'm putting together a comprehensive plan to stave off the rot out of the rear strut towers in my '88 GP SE 5-spd. Background Not sure how well known this is, or if this is a whole W-Body issue or something unique to the Gran Prix's, but this is what I've learned in my research. The factory seam sealer used on this generation was petroleum based, standard at the time, but over the years the petro chemicals leach out of the substrate, which creates micro-fractures in the sealer. These micro-fractures, through capillary action, soak up salt water and hold it tight up against body metal, thus accelerating body-rust in the exact locations the OEM seam sealer was meant to protect. Additionally, there's a void-pocket between the inner and outer sides of the strut towers themselves. Over time, condensation collects in those void pockets due to heating-cooling cycles and the resultant moisture has nowhere to go and thus sits in there and rots out the rear strut towers from the top-side down, while the seam sealer defect eats them from the bottom-side up. My Plan (Please Suggest Corrections) Drop the wheels and struts entirely. Power wash the wheel wells Wire wheel/brush the factory seam sealer away entirely Horizontal shelf where strut tower is spot-welded to the frame Vertical seams Circular seam where the strut mounting studs poke through. Spray wheel well side with Corroseal Use a 360 degree spray head to flood strut tower voids with Corroseal Allow 48hrs for Corrosel to fully react Spray Eastwood 2K Epoxy Primer. Apply from the wheel wells up Apply into the strut tower void from the trunk-side, down Wait 24-48hrs for primer to cure Apply 3M 08367 Urethane Seam Sealer to the same places in the strut tower that we'd removed the factory seam sealer from. Inject 3M 08852 Cavity Wax Plus into the strut tower void cavities accessible from the trunk side w/360 degree spray head Install a GM Buick "F-Bar", part 19417890, across the rear strut towers. Bead weld the "cups" to the "bar" for complete rigidity Unload the suspension by raising the rear of the car before installing the strut bar, so that it will be under tension immediately. That's my plan, it's entirely speculative based on a whole lot of research, so please let me know if you tink I'm going down a bad road, or if there's any avenues for improvement. From my personal research, this aside from catastrophic loss, this generation of Grand Prix's were more than likely to be scrapped out from this design flaw than anything else, so staving this off should help preserve my longevity, but please let me know what you think! Sincere Regards, AJM

right, but what positions does the sunroof go in relation? The switch and relay setup are separate

I ordered one to try. Thank you. I’ll keep you posted if I have questions about it.

It’s basically a rocker switch with two contact pin on the backside. Looks just like the windows switches

does this sunroof "close" in between the vent position and the slid back position, or open->closed->vent? Or is it closed->vent->open?

Hey guys, kind of sad to see this community fade over the years, but hopefully some of you have some thoughts on this. I bit the bullet and put a new engine in my ‘92 CS Convertible, 3.1L. Most of the top parts were transferred over to the new block. Old engine ran fine before, but blew out the LIM and hydrolocked. Runs and idles great now, but above say 30 mph I get sputtering/misfiring on acceleration under load. Any ideas? ICM and coil packs only have a few thousand miles on them. New plugs with engine install. Wires are almost new. Car sat for several months with 3/4 tank, Stabil added, but the fuel is about 10 months old. Swapped TPS. No difference. Vacuum looks good. Older fuel? Fuel filter? Bad injector(s)? MAP? I’m going to take it back to the mechanic if I can’t figure it out myself. IMG_7976.mov

Got another one for you. So wipers weren’t working figured out bad motor. Ok. Got new motor then it was a bad turn signal switch. Ok. So new motor and switch are working but only on high. Ok. So I swapped out the pulse relay thingy from old motor into new one. Ok. Great I have delay, low and high. But the motor is won’t turn off. As soon as I turn ignition on motor start spinning away. ?????? I left the pulse board in place from the old one, just swapped out the the contact pad with the relay and drive pawl. Thanks for any help!!

I ordered 2 spdt relays thinking I could possibly hard wire it to replace that circuit board. Maybe that control board is bad. I don’t know. Cause like I said retract does nothing. Not even trying to open.

I just mean that when I toggle the switch it only opens to tilt. It feels like it’s not getting any power to open up. However the relay box says Inalfa with two relays and the control circuit panel. I thought Inalfa was an aftermarket sunroof company. Both of those relays open and close fine. Which button usually retracts the roof, the front button? Or rear? Either way it does nothing. Except tilt.

what do you m ean by wont retract "fully"? When all the way back there's probably 3" or so iirc that doesn't fully go back into the roof

They're supposed to retract. They don't "fully" retract in the sense you no longer see them, but they're supposed to retract nearly all of the way. When I had my 92 Cutlass many years back, the sunroof didn't move properly. I believe the drive gear was stripped, and I ended up just pulling an entire sunroof unit from a car in the junkyard and replacing it. I also had the sunroof in my 2000 Regal break, to where it wouldn't retract properly, and would only tilt. I never looked into fixing it...but it acted similar to a power window with a broken track.

Ok. So I have 90 olds CS and I’ve been bagging my head trying to figure out why the sunroof won’t retract fully. It tilts fine. I thought it was an aftermarket sunroof but I checked the RPO code 5F3 which states it is factory. I was told that gm never made a fully retracting glass in those years. Is that true??? It’s just funny how they have a whole roof system with guide rails all the way back and only have a tilt option. Any insight would be appreciated. Thanks.

Here's the part number if it's the same unit as mine (which I think it should be) then it would be worth a try. I did have to cut the plugs from the old one and rewire them onto the new unit, but that took just a few minutes

I had this issue with my '95 CS convertible when I first got it in September 2018. I replaced the sensor and that solved the issue. I can't remember whether the part was OEM or aftermarket. I think I ordered it off of eBay, so it may well have been an aftermarket replacement. It was a pain to install without removing the radiator from the car. I had to use a hammer to lever it into place. I lost a fair amount of coolant in the process, so there was obviously plenty in the system.

Agreed. I always buckled up after closing the door. That said, I really liked the door-mounted belts for their better access to the rear seats. On my '95 convertible, the more traditional floor and ceiling mounted belts and shoulder harness become an obstacle to rear seat access. While I've never ridden back there, I have become entangled in them, and even had a couple of falls, when climbing in and out to vacuum the rear area. That's the one aspect of the updated interior that I don't like.

Please

What cars can you modify moldings, and which ones to work on a 92 Olaf’s cutlass convertible?

Greetings forum members! New member, so thought I'd take a moment to introduce myself. Last Spring (2025) I acquired a relatively pristine (54k miles) 88 Pontiac GP SE. I hadn't even known they made these with a 5-speed, so I hadn't explicitly been looking, yet lo and behold here we are. I've got it on good authority I'm only the second owner. It started life in central NY but spent the last 10 years parked in a sweltering hot garage in central Florida. It was never ever even registered in FL. So it's got some internal heat damage, which I've been repairing. The door upholstery glue had given up years ago. The stereo was a mess, but I replaced all of the capacitors on the amplifier boards and even plumbed in a bluetooth module to the cassette inputs. I'm not much of an auto mechanic myself, I do cybersecurity for a living, but I don't mind getting my hands dirty on projects like this. On the serious mechanical side, I've had it at a local "rural mechanic" who's did a flush on all of the fluids, changed out the master/slave cylinders, and replaced the brakes. I seem to have dodged the bullet of any serious rust or corrosion, but I know these are prone to rotting out their rear strut towers so I plan on installing a strut tower brace and blast the insides with as much cavity wax as they'll take. Any other "gotchas" tips, tricks, or suggestions for keeping something like this roadworthy? Google's AI guestimates, based on statistical analysis of scrap rates versus production numbers, there may only be 15-25 "roadworthy" versions of this model, trim, and transmission combinations left anywhere I didn't buy this planning on a super rare preservation "duty" yet here I am...any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Don't worry, despite living in the salt-belt, I don't plan on driving it in winter for that reason...I do hope to drive it during the warmer months though! An 88 GP was my very first car when I turned 16, so I'd always been looking for a decent one, "just for fun". I never planned on ending up with a bigfoot-riding-a-unicorn of rarity...something I'm not all together happy about...yet here we are!

Good call on that timing belt, over time they suffer age cracks; 15 years is a long time.

Great response!!! I appreciate your input. Do you know which type of relay module I could use?

I should check my timing belt again, its been a while. I know it has lower miles-ish on it, but I've owned it for 15 years now. My list for this spring is a new starter (gets heat soaked and doesn't wanna crank), and a new window regulator for the drivers side, and while in the door I may clean out or replace the power lock motors, not sure if they're weak or just old and gummed up Doesn't answer your question but it got me thinking haha

It's that time. The oil leak in the rear main seal of my 1994 Cutlass Supreme SL with the 3.4L motor has gotten so bad that it needs to come out for repairs. In addition to this being in need of replacement, I am going to have the oil pan gasket replaced as well, along with the 3 coils and the alternator while the motor is out of the car. In addition to that, is there anything else anyone can think of that should be replaced while the motor is out, as this would be a golden opportunity to get it done. The engine compartment will also be degreased to clean up the big mess this leak has been making. It does not need a timing belt, water pump, or any intake manifold work as this was all done 5 years and 10,000 miles ago and no issues here.