Idle issue... Starts at about 1500, then up to around 2500.

[DMC5180]

Motorola and from the looks of it it's been on there for years. When you changed the harness did you make sure the brown/yellow small wire is connected at the alternator?


Dennis

[Ron]

I don't see the brown/yellow light wire...

See post in alternator thread.

[MacinTek]

I don't see the brown/yellow light wire...

See post in alternator thread.

It's mounted to a post on the top side of the alternator. Is there another post I haven't seen?

[DMC5180]

It should be attached to the small stud next to the large wire connection.

[PJ Grady Inc.]

1983 Deloreans that were delivered through the east coast prep center in Sommerville N.J. came undercoated with the same smooth finish as this alternator. It is probably the original alternator on the car if the chassis is undercoated too so it may be time for a new one.
Rob

[Jonathan]

1983 Deloreans that were delivered through the east coast prep center in Sommerville N.J. came undercoated with the same smooth finish as this alternator. It is probably the original alternator on the car if the chassis is undercoated too so it may be time for a new one.
Rob

I have that same finish on parts of my frame, mostly at the engine area. Anything else you can tell me about that from a history perspective? What it is or why it was put on or whether removing it is good bad or in between?

[David T]

I have that same finish on parts of my frame, mostly at the engine area. Anything else you can tell me about that from a history perspective? What it is or why it was put on or whether removing it is good bad or in between?

Many of the '83's were undercoated. Probably to hide cosmetic damage to the frames. Some may have been done by dealers as an up-charge, dealers make a lot of money (at least they did) doing an undercoating. Costs about $5 in materiel and $25-30 in labor and they would charge $100 or more. Usually done by an inexperienced guy and he would splatter it all over. It is also done to help sound deaden the car but it adds a lot of weight. Really should not get the stuff on the mechanicals like an alternator but it is hard to control where it goes, it isn't as precise as a paint spray gun. More like a large nozzle spitting it out in chunks. Really was not necessary on a Delorean, the epoxy protected the frame better than the undercoating ever could. IMHO you should remove it but it is a TON of work. A really nasty, dirty job. Eastwood makes a spray that will soften it up and make it easier (not easy) to remove.

[Bitsyncmaster]

My 81 has undercoating on the frame. From what I have seen, it is a pretty good job but it did get on everything under the car. I like the black color you see from the rear of the car so I painted my new muffler heat shield black.

[Jonathan]

Mine is an 81 too, and it also came in through NJ (a dealership there at least). They did an ok job, it's applied well and not all over everything in a sloppy way. It's really just on the rear half so not consistent from front to back over the whole car. I don't think my car had ever been very well cleaned underneath until recently, and when I got under there, I got back to the gray epoxy on a number of areas. Hard to tell if I was cleaning off grime or undercoating!! Some of it looked like that rust protection slop we used to see here in Canada when you would get the bottom of your car oiled for reasons I don't know. Messy is all I can think of.

[PJ Grady Inc.]

I have that same finish on parts of my frame, mostly at the engine area. Anything else you can tell me about that from a history perspective? What it is or why it was put on or whether removing it is good bad or in between?

Being an 81 yours was likely done by a dealer. The 83's received a very smooth finish undercoating that seemed to help with controlling rust better then the bare epoxy so there is no reason to remove it IMHO. It doesn't look as clean and they tended to spray electrical components which is not advisable.
Appling body wax to the interior cavities after scraping out any loose epoxy is the method I've been using to stop/control rust for many years and it's proven quite effective over time. For external rust I use a zinc rich primer followed by a two part polyurethane to keep a stock appearance. That is more effective at controlling rust than the original epoxy.
Rob