2003 PONTIAC BONNEVILLE Owners Manual

Following Distance
Stay at least twice as far behind the vehicle ahead as
you would when driving your vehicle without a trailer.
This can help you avoid situations that require
heavy braking and sudden turns.
Passing
You’ll need more passing distance up ahead when
you’re towing a trailer. And, because you’re a good deal
longer, you’ll need to go much farther beyond the
passed vehicle before you can return to your lane.
Backing Up
Hold the bottom of the steering wheel with one hand.
Then, to move the trailer to the left, just move that hand
to the left. To move the trailer to the right, move your
hand to the right. Always back up slowly and,
if possible,
have someone guide you.
Making Turns
Notice: Making very sharp turns while trailering
could cause the trailer to come in contact with the
vehicle. Your vehicle could be damaged. Avoid
making very sharp turns while trailering.
When you’re turning with a trailer, make wider turns
than normal.
Do this so your trailer won’t strike
soft shoulders, curbs, road signs, trees or other objects.
Avoid jerky or sudden maneuvers. Signal well
in
advance.
Turn Signals When Towing a Trailer
When you tow a trailer, your vehicle may need a
different turn signal flasher and/or extra wiring. Check
with your dealer. All of the electrical circuits required for
your trailer lighting system can be accessed at the
left rear lamp connector. This connector is located under
the carpet on the driver’s side in the rear corner of
your trunk compartment. The arrows on your instrument
panel will flash whenever you signal a turn or lane
change. Properly hooked up, the trailer lamps will also
flash, telling other drivers you’re about to turn,
change lanes or stop.
When towing a trailer, the arrows on your instrument
panel will flash for turns even
if the bulbs on the trailer
are burned out. Thus, you may think drivers behind
you are seeing your signal when they are not. It’s
important to check occasionally to be sure the trailer
bulbs are still working.
Your vehicle has bulb warning lights. When you plug a
trailer lighting system into your vehicle’s lighting
system, its bulb warning lights may not let you know
if
one of your lamps goes out. So, when you have a trailer
lighting system plugged in, be sure to check your
vehicle and trailer lamps from time to time to be sure
they’re all working. Once you disconnect the trailer
lamps, the bulb warning lights again can tell you
if one
of your vehicle lamps is out.
4-40

Driving On Grades
Reduce speed and shift to a lower gear before you start
down a long or steep downgrade. If you don’t shift
down, you might have to use your brakes
so much that
they would get hot and no longer work well.
On a long uphill grade, shift down to
THIRD (3) and
reduce your speed to around 45 mph
(70 km/h) to
reduce the possibility
of the engine and transaxle
overheating.
Parking on Hills
You really should not park your vehicle, with a
trailer attached, on a hill.
If something goes
wrong, your rig could start
to move. People
can be injured, and both your vehicle and the
trailer can be damaged.
But if you ever have to park your rig on a hill, here’s
how to
do it:
1. Apply your regular brakes, but don’t shift into
2. Have someone place chocks under the trailer
PARK (P) yet.
wheels.
3. When the wheel chocks are in place, release the
regular brakes until the chocks absorb the load.
4. Reapply the regular brakes. Then apply your
parking brake, and then shift to PARK (P).
5. Release the regular brakes.
When YQU Are Ready to Leave After
Parking on a Hill
1. Apply your regular brakes and hold the pedal down
while you:
* start your engine,
shift into a gear, and
0 reiease the parking brake.
2. Let up on the brake pedal.
3. Drive slowly until the trailer is clear of the chocks.
4. Stop and have someone pick up and store the
chocks.
4-41

Maintenance When Trailer Towing
Your vehicle will need service more often when you’re
pulling a trailer. See the Maintenance Schedule for more
on this. Things that are especially important in trailer
operation are automatic transaxle fluid (don’t overfill),
engine oil, drive belt, cooling system and brake system.
Each of these is covered in this manual, and the
Index will help you find them quickly.
If you’re trailering,
it’s a good idea to review this information before you
start your trip.
Engine Cooling When Trailer Towing
Your cooling system may temporarily overheat during
severe operating conditions. See
Engine Overheating on
page 5-29.
Check periodically to see that all hitch nuts and bolts
are tight.
4-42

Section 5 Service and Appearance Care
Service ........................................................ 5.3
Doing Your Own Service Work
......................... 5.3
Adding Equipment to the Outside
of Your
Vehicle
...................................................... 5.4
Fuel ................................................................ 5.5
Gasoline Octane
............................................ 5.5
Gasoline Specifications
.................................... 5.6
California Fuel
............................................... 5.6
Additives
....................................................... 5.6
Fuels in Foreign Countries
............................ 5.7
Filling Your Tank
........................... .......... 5.8
Filling
a Portable Fuel Container ..... .... 5.11
the Hood ............................. .... 5.12
Hood Release
.............................. ........ 5.13
Engine Compartment Overview ...................... -5-1 4
Checking Things Under
Engine Oil ................................................... 5.15
Supercharger Oil .......................................... 5.21
Engine Air Cleaner/t-llter
................................ 5-22
Automatic Transaxle Fluid .............................. 5.23
Engine Coolant
............................................. 5.26
Radiator Pressure Cap
.................................. 5.29
Engine Overheating
....................................... 5.29
Cooling System
............................................ 5.32
Power Steering Fluid
..................................... 5.40
Windshield Washer Fluid
................................ 5.40
Brakes
........................................................ 5.42
Battery
........................................................ 5-44
Jump Starting
............................................... 5-46
Headlamp Aiming .......................... ...... 5.52
Bulb Replacement .................................. -5-56
Halogen Bulbs
.............................................. 5.56
Headlamps
.................................................. 5.56
Front Turn Signal and Parking Lamps
.............. 5-57
Taillamps, Turn Signal, Stoplamps and
Back-up Lamps
......................................... 5-59
fiepiacement
Euibs 3.w - ^^ .......................................
5- I

Section 5 Service and Appearance Care
Windshield Wiper Blade Replacement ............. 5-61
Tires .............................................................. 5.62
Inflation
.. Tire Pressure ................................ 5.62
Check Tire Pressure System
.......................... 5.64
Tire Inspection and Rotation
........................... 5.65
When It
Is Time for New Tires ....................... 5-67
Buying New Tires
........................................ 5-67
Uniform Tire Quality Grading
.......................... 5.68
Wheel Replacement
...................................... 5.69
Tire Chains
.................................................. 5-71
Accessory Inflator
......................................... 5.72
If a Tire Goes Flat ........................................ 5.72
Changing a Flat Tire
..................................... 5.73
Compact Spare Tire
..................................... 5-81
Appearance Care ............................................ 5.82
Wheel
Alignment and Tire Balance
.................. 5-69
Cleaning the Inside of Your Vehicle
................. 5-82
Care of Safety Belts
...................................... 5-85
Weatherstrips ............................................... 5.85
Cleaning the Outside of Your Vehicle .............. 5-85
Sheet Metal Damage
..................................... 5.87
Finish Damage
............................................. 5.87
Underbody Maintenance
................... ...... 5.87
Chemical Paint Spotting
................................. 5.88
Vehicle Identification ..................................... 5-90
Vehicle Identification Number (VIN)
...... ., ...... 5-90
Service Parts Identification Label
........ ...... 5-90
Electrical System ............................... ...... 5-91
Add-on Electrical Equipment
................ , ...... 5-91
Headlamp Wiring
.......................................... 5-91
Windshield Wiper Fuses
................................ 5-91
Power Windows and Other Power Options
....... 5-91
Fuses and Circuit Breakers
............................ 5-92
Removing the Rear Seat Cushion
................... 5-95
Capacities and Specifications ........................ 5-100
Normal Maintenance Replacement Parts ......... 5-101
GM Vehicle Care/Appearance Materials .......... 5.88
5-2

Service
Your dealer knows your vehicle best and wants you to
be happy with it. We hope you’ll go to your dealer
for all your service needs. You’ll get genuine GM parts
and GM-trained and supported service people.
We hope you’ll want to keep your GM vehicle all GM
Genuine GM parts have one of these marks:
Doing Your Own Service Work
If you want to do some of your own service work, you’ll
want to use the proper service manual. It tells you
much more about how to service your vehicle than this
manual can.
To order the proper service manual,
see
Service Publications Ordering Information on
page
7-9.
Your vehicle has an air bag system. Before attempting
to do your own service work, see
Servicing Your Air
Bag-Equipped Vehicle on page
1-55.
You should keep a record with all parts receipts and list
the mileage and the date
of any service work you
perform. See
Par/ E: Maintenance Record on page 6-26.
5-3

You can be injured and your vehicle could be damaged if you try to do service work on a
vehicle without knowing enough about
it.
Be sure you have sufficient knowledge,
experience, the proper replacement parts
and tools before you attempt any vehicle maintenance task.
Be sure to use the proper nuts, bolts and
other fasteners. “English” and “metric”
fasteners can be easily confused.
If you
use the wrong fasteners, parts can later
break or fall
off. You could be hurt.
Adding Equipment to the Outside of
Your Vehicle
Things you might add to the outside of your vehicle can
affect the airflow around it. This may cause wind
noise and affect windshield washer performance. Check
with your dealer before adding equipment to the
outside of your vehicle.
5-4

Fuel
The 8th digit of your vehicle identification number (VIN)
shows the code letter or number that identifies your
engine. You will find the VIN at the top left of the
instrument panel. See
Vehicle ldentification Number
(VIN) on page
5-90.
Gasoline Octane
If your vehicle has the 3800 V6 engine (VIN Code K),
use regular unleaded gasoline with a posted octane
of 87 or higher. If the octane is less than 87, you
may get a heavy knocking noise when you drive.
If this occurs, use a gasoline rated at 87 octane or
higer as
soon as possible. Otherwise, you might
damage your engine.
A little pinging noise when you
accelerate or drive uphill is considered normal. This does not
indicate a problem exists or that a
higher-octane fuel is necessary.
If you are using
87 octane or higher-octane fuel and you hear heavy
knocking, your engine needs service.
If your vehicle has the 3800 Supercharged V6 engine
(VIN Code
I), use only premium unleaded gasoline with
a posted octane of
91 or higher. In an emergency,
you may be able to use a lower octane
- as low
as 87
- if heavy knocking does not occur. Refill
your tank with premium fuel as soon as possible.
Otherwise, you might damage your engine.
If you are
using
91 octane or higher-octane fuel and you hear
heavy knocking, your engine needs service.
5-5