1998 PONTIAC BONNEVILLE tow

Towing Your Vehicle
Try to have a dealer or a professional towing service tow
your vehicle. See “Roadside Assistance” in the Index.
If your vehicle has been changed or modified since it
was factory-new by adding aftermarket items like fog
lamps, aero skirting,
or special tires and wheels, these
instructions and illustrations may not be correct.
Before you do anything, turn on the hazard
warning flashers.
When you call, tell the towing service:
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That, if you have the SSE model, your
vehicle cannot be towed from the front with
sling-type equipment.
That your vehicle has front-wheel drive.
The make, model and year
of your vehicle.
Whether you can still move
the shift lever.
If there was an accident, what was damaged.
When the towing service arrives, let the tow operator
know that this manual contains detailed towing
instructions and illustrations. The operator may want to
see them.
I A CAUTION:
To help avoid injury to you or others:
0 Never let passengers ride in a vehicle that is
0 Never tow faster than safe or posted speeds.
0 Never tow with damaged parts not fully secured.
0 Never get under your vehicle after it has
been
lifted by the tow truck.
0 Always secure the vehicle on each side with
separate safety chains when towing
it.
0 Never use J-hooks. Use T-hooks instead. being towed.
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A CAUTION:
A vehicle can fall from a car carrier if it isn’t
adequately secured. This can cause a collision, serious personal injury and vehicle damage. The
vehicle should be tightly secured with chains or
steel cables before it is transported.
Don’t use substitutes (ropes, leather straps,
canvas webbing, etc.) that can be cut
by sharp
edges underneath the towed vehicle. Always use
T-hooks inserted
in the T-hook slots. Never use
J-hooks. They will damage drivetrain and
suspension components.
When your vehicle is being towed, have the ignition key
turned to
OFF. The steering wheel should be clamped in
a straight-ahead position, with a clamping device
designed for towing service.
Do not use the vehicle’s
steering column lock for this. The transaxle should be
in
NEUTRAL (N) and the parking brake released.
Don’t have your vehicle towed
on the drive wheels,
unless you must.
If the vehicle must be towed on the
drive wheels, be sure to follow the speed and distance
restrictions later
in this section or your transaxle will be
damaged.
If these limits must be exceeded, then the
drive wheels have to be supported on a dolly.
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Front Towing (SSE and SSEi Only)
NOTICE:
Do not tow with sling-type equipment or
fascidfog lamp damage will occur. Use wheel-lift
or carcarrier equipment. Additional ramping
may be required for carcarrier equipment. Use
safety chains and wheel straps.
Towing a vehicle over rough surfaces could
damage a vehicle. Damage can occur from vehicle
to ground or vehicle to wheel-lift equipment.
To
help avoid damage, install a towing dolly and
raise vehicle until adequate clearance is obtained
between the ground and/or wheel-lift equipment.
Do not attach winch cables or J-hooks to
suspension components when using carcarrier
equipment. Always use T-hooks inserted in the
T-hmk slots.
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Front Towing (SE)
Attach T-hook chains on
both sides in the slotted
holes
in the bottom of
the frame, behind the
front wheels.
These slots are to be used when using sling-type
equipment or when loading and securing to
car-carrier equipment.
Position a 4" x 4" wood beam across sling chains
contacting bottom
of the radiator support. Position the
lower sling crossbar directly under the front bumper.
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Rear Towing
Tow Limits -- 55 mph (90 M), 500 miles (800 km)
3 Attach T-hook chains to
slots in the bottom of the
floor pan directly ahead of
rear wheels on both sides.
A 4” x 4 ” wood beam is not needed.
Attach a separate safety chain around the outboard end
of each control ann.
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If No Steam Is Coming From Your Engine
If you get the overheat waming but see or hear no
steam, the problem may not be too serious. Sometimes the engine can get a little too hot when you:
0 Climb a long hill on a hot day.
0 Stop after high-speed driving.
Idle for long periods in traffic.
Tow a trailer.
If you get the overheat warning with no sign of steam,
try this for a minute or so:
1. Turn off your air conditioner.
2. Turn on your heater to full hot at the highest fan
speed
and open the window as necessary.
3. If you’re in a trafEc jam, shift to NEUTRAL (N);
otherwise, shift to the highest gear while
driving
-- AUTOMATIC OVERDRIVE (@)
or DRIVE (D).
If you no longer have the overheat warning, you can
drive. Just to be safe,
drive slower for about 10 minutes.
If the warning doesn’t come back on, you can
drive normally.
If the warning continues, pull over, stop, and park your
vehicle right away.
If there’s
still no sign of steam, you can idle the engine
for two or three minutes while you’re parked, to see if
the warning stops. But then, if you still have the
warning,
turn oflthe engine and get everyone out of
the vehicle until it cools down.
You may decide not to lift the hood but to get service
help right away.
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If a Tire Goes Flat Changing a Flat Tire
It’s unusual for a tire to “blow out” while you’re \
driving,
especially if you maintain your tires properly.
If air goes
out
of a tire, it’s much more likely to leak out slowly.
But if you should ever have a “blowout,” here are a few\

tips about what to expect and what to do:
If a front tire
fails, the flat tire will create a drag that
pulls the vehicle toward that side. Take your foot
off the
accelerator pedal and grip the steering wheel firmly.
Steer to maintain lane position, and then gently brake to
a stop well out
of the traffic lane.
A rear blowout, particularly on a curve, acts much like a
skid and may require the same correction you’d use in a
skid. In any rear blowout, remove your foot from the
accelerator pedal. Get the vehicle under control
by
steering the way you want the vehicle to go. It may be
very bumpy and noisy, but you can still steer. Gently
brake
to a stop -- well off the road if possible.
If
a tire goes flat, the next part shows how to use your
jacking equipment to change a flat tire safely. If
a tire goes flat, avoid further tire and wheel damage
by driving slowly to a level place.
Turn on your hazard
warning flashers.
‘A C ‘JTION:
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Changing a tire can cause an injury. The vehicle
can slip off the jack and roll over you or other
people. You and they could be badly injured.
Find
a level place to change your tire. To help
prevent the vehicle from moving:
1. Set the parking brake firmly.
2. Put the shift lever in PARK (P).
3. Turn off the engine.
To be even more certain the vehicle won’t move,
you can put blocks at the front and rear of the
tire farthest away from the one being changed.
That would be the tire on the other side
of the
vehicle, at the opposite end.

5. Raise the vehicle by rotating the wheel wrench to the
right (clockwise). Raise the vehicle far enough off
the ground so there is enough room for the spare
tire to
fit.
6. Remove all the wheel nuts and take off the flat tire.
7. Remove any rust or dirt
from the wheel bolts,
mounting surfaces and
spare wheel.
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A CAUTION:
Rust or dirt on the wheel, or on the parts to
which it is fastened,
CM make the wheel nuts
become loose after
a time. The wheel could come
off and cause an accident. When you change a
wheel, remove any rust or dirt from the places
where the wheel attaches
to the vehicle. In an
emergency, you can use a cloth or a paper towel
to
do this; but be sure to use a scraper or wire
brush later, if you need to, to get all the rust or
dirt off.
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