1994 bonneville

[dexteromo]

i have a 94 bonneville 3.8l not supercharged, it has run pretty well so far but latley there has been some trouble. about a month ago i put a new alternater in it, the old one slowly died. Now sometimes the car won't start period, i mean i get in no interior lights, power nothing. Sometimes after turning the car over 10-20 times it will all of the suden regain power and start. Other times there will be no lights or power, but it starts right up. when it has trouble starting and then does, everything is reset, my clock etc. also onece when it gave me trouble, i put it into drive and it stalled out, but started right back up.

another problem is that my stering wheel radio controls only work in the extreme cold. weird.

if anyone has any thoughts/ideas i would really apriciate it.

thanks,
dexteromo

[carnutcass]

I had a '96 Bonneville SE (non-supercharged) and had the exact same problems. I drive a GTP now, same 3800 Series II except that the GP is supercharged.

Anyway, Pontiac's are known for their alternator failures. I changed one on my '96, replaced the one on my mom's '93 Bonnevile twice, put two on my ex's '92 SunBird, and did one on a female friend's '90ish Grand Prix. Holy cow, that's six just on Pontiacs.....we wont talk about the Chevy and Mopar alternator's or we'll be here all night.

As for your second problem, had that one on my Bonneville too. A friend of mine had the same problem on his brand new GTP at the same time I had my trouble. He was totally pissed. His car had been back to the dealer four times in it's first 10,000 miles for the problem. Turned out to be the positive battery cable. Not the clamp, but the cable itself. I wouldn't have guessed that either but they changed his and the problem was gone. I thought, "What the hell" so I changed mine.......yup, problem gone.