New Overheating Issue and Growing Laundry list of Frustration

[Boxbot]

Regarding the Wings A Loft door locks module, do you have any of the documentation that might have come with that kit?

The reason I ask is that it looks like there may be a termination on that circuit breaker that's not there. I have a slightly different version of the Northwest door locks kit (actuators kit that replaces heavy original solenoids) and mine has a thin gauged wire terminating on the one side of that circuit breaker but it also has the original, thicker red wire on it too. Perhaps if someone else on the forum knows better how that kit is to be wired, they could confirm?

Here's a pic. The smaller wire in my case is bright yellow. You can see the brown power wire on the one side of the circuit breaker and the other red heavy wire on the same side of the circuit breaker as the yellow one.

Attachment 59463

Your otterstat looks quite nice, really. In good shape anyway. To do a simple test of whether that otterstat wiring will turn the fans on, you can jumper it right at those two connections. What you do is disconnect both of those wires right at the otterstat (those black female plastic connectors should just unclip from the otterstat) and then using a short length of wire with male spade connectors on both ends, plug that jumper wire into the two black, plastic connectors.

This is telling the car that the otterstat wants the fans to turn on. You don't need to turn the engine on, but with the ignition key turned to accessories and that jumper wire in place, you should have both cooling fans come on up front. You can visually check them (as well as hear them or feel the air blowing). If that works, then we go to the next step to having them work as intended.

I'm with you. Thanks. Will try that to diagnose tonight and let you know results. I'll see exactly what was ordered from Delorean NW re: the lock solenoids and electronic unit. The doors don't automatically open, so maybe I'm misstating the name of the product. I don't recall seeing any instructions, though.

[David T]

I agree the cooling system should be job 1. First you must get it so it doesn't leak. If you still have the original radiator or header tank, they should be replaced. Once you can get it leak-tight you get all of the air out. Next you have to figure out why the fans didn't come on. Could be the "O" switch, circuit breaker, wiring, fan fail, Bypass, etc.

If the car is not used you should use a Battery Tender to keep the battery fully charged. Once a month for a day. Test the battery and if it is bad or over 5 years old replace it.

Check the date codes on your tires. If over 7 years old replace them

Till you get the doors sorted out, disconnect the electronics so you don't get locked in or kill the battery.

Fix the speedometer. Could be something really simple and easy but you have to figure out what is wrong.

This is the order I would start, leaving the cosmetic stuff for later. All of the stuff you mention is normal and common in Deloreans not sorted out.

As for the DMA event, they do adjust torsion bars, they do NOT open the doors and do internal adjustments. Takes too much time. Be sure to get the overheat problem sorted out before driving from PA to NJ.

[dn010]

Just a few things that may help-

I think it took a week or two of sitting prior to my EFI conversion for the battery to drain completely. Now I can let it sit for a month or two before it is completely drained. Before hunting all over the place in the car, take your battery to a parts store and have it tested regardless of its age. It is not unheard of for a new battery to be bad and these days I'm happy to get three years out of a new one.

You can try to adjust for the door by removing the inner door seal, unscrewing the t-panel and raising/lowering it to where it makes things look even.

I had to tap on my one side marker for years in order for it to turn on. I cleaned up the socket and installed LEDs, got rid of some broken and corroded wiring and now the problem seems to be gone. Tail light issues could also be from those garbage bulkhead connectors, I think black is tail lights - check the condition of it.

Your washer pump is probably shot due to corrosion; water and debris like to collect in the housing around the washer bottle. Many people drill holes in it so water will drain (removed so you don't drill into the washer bottle). It is a pain to remove that housing and you'll probably be met with at least a few spinning riv-nuts. In my opinion the whole washer system is s--t. Even with a good pump my sprayer hits the top of the windshield and over the roof.

[Jonathan]

I'm with you. Thanks. Will try that to diagnose tonight and let you know results. I'll see exactly what was ordered from Delorean NW re: the lock solenoids and electronic unit. The doors don't automatically open, so maybe I'm misstating the name of the product. I don't recall seeing any instructions, though.

Will look forward to hearing how that test goes.

No worries on the terminology for the door locks unit. Sounds like it is the keyless remote one as opposed to the kit that will actually make your doors open with the fob too. The only feature I got with mine was just to replace the old, original and heavy metal solenoids with lighter, new, plastic actuators. And some of the wiring that went with that change. I suspect some of the battery drain if due to the door lock kit is because of it needing to stay 'on' so to speak for receiving the keyfob button press to unlock the doors.

Perhaps one more thing when you do the cooling fans test tonight... when you turn the ignition key to accessories, please make note of any and all of the instrument cluster lights that come on. And those that don't. On the right side, you should see the oil warning light come on showing low oil pressure (simply because the engine isn't running) and you should also see the battery warning light come on. The battery warning light coming on, at least initially, will tell us if the charging system is ok or whether there is a problem with it. That battery warning light bulb is the one in the cluster you should NOT change to an LED. Just want to rule that out for you is all.

Although there could be other wiring issues under there as you mentioned the door buzzers and door ajar lights aren't working correctly. That could be something like the two main connectors are just plugged into each other instead of the board the relay and buzzer is mounted on. That's this board shown here: http://dmctalk.org/showthread.php?10...l=1#post152175

It might be hanging down in the driver's footwell if not clipped back up into place. Might explain wiper problems, although with the delay rather than the fluid pump. That connection for the pump is hanging up under the front left corner by the reservoir. Could just be a bad connector or dirty or unplugged. The common ground wire connection for a few things up front is located at the base of the lefthand side radiator bracket. It might be worth checking on too and confirming it's clean and tight.

[Jonathan]

Did you get a chance to do anything more with your car? Some of the troubleshooting stuff that was mentioned here?

[Boxbot]

Your otterstat looks quite nice, really. In good shape anyway. To do a simple test of whether that otterstat wiring will turn the fans on, you can jumper it right at those two connections. What you do is disconnect both of those wires right at the otterstat (those black female plastic connectors should just unclip from the otterstat) and then using a short length of wire with male spade connectors on both ends, plug that jumper wire into the two black, plastic connectors.

This is telling the car that the otterstat wants the fans to turn on. You don't need to turn the engine on, but with the ignition key turned to accessories and that jumper wire in place, you should have both cooling fans come on up front. You can visually check them (as well as hear them or feel the air blowing). If that works, then we go to the next step to having them work as intended.

Sorry. Life got in the way of my car - I've been dealing with a sick relative.

Anyway, back to business. I connected a jumper to the otterstat wiring. Both fans kicked right on and stayed on several seconds after being disconnected.

I jumped the battery (completely dead, generic, and kind of under-sized at 525 cold cranking amps). The car took a while to warm up under idle. The fans kicked on several times once the needle got close to the middle of the temp gauge, but the needle continued to climb into the red even with the fans on. After it continued to climb past the first red mark, I turned the engine off, then left the car in "on" position with the heater on. I noticed that the "cooling fan fail" light was flashing three times. It did this at least four times that I noticed. As the temp came back down below the red line, it stopped flashing.

[Boxbot]

Will look forward to hearing how that test goes.

No worries on the terminology for the door locks unit. Sounds like it is the keyless remote one as opposed to the kit that will actually make your doors open with the fob too. The only feature I got with mine was just to replace the old, original and heavy metal solenoids with lighter, new, plastic actuators. And some of the wiring that went with that change. I suspect some of the battery drain if due to the door lock kit is because of it needing to stay 'on' so to speak for receiving the keyfob button press to unlock the doors.

Perhaps one more thing when you do the cooling fans test tonight... when you turn the ignition key to accessories, please make note of any and all of the instrument cluster lights that come on. And those that don't. On the right side, you should see the oil warning light come on showing low oil pressure (simply because the engine isn't running) and you should also see the battery warning light come on. The battery warning light coming on, at least initially, will tell us if the charging system is ok or whether there is a problem with it. That battery warning light bulb is the one in the cluster you should NOT change to an LED. Just want to rule that out for you is all.

Although there could be other wiring issues under there as you mentioned the door buzzers and door ajar lights aren't working correctly. That could be something like the two main connectors are just plugged into each other instead of the board the relay and buzzer is mounted on. That's this board shown here: http://dmctalk.org/showthread.php?10...l=1#post152175

It might be hanging down in the driver's footwell if not clipped back up into place. Might explain wiper problems, although with the delay rather than the fluid pump. That connection for the pump is hanging up under the front left corner by the reservoir. Could just be a bad connector or dirty or unplugged. The common ground wire connection for a few things up front is located at the base of the lefthand side radiator bracket. It might be worth checking on too and confirming it's clean and tight.

Re: dashboard - all lights replaced as LED except brake light and trip odometer. I will take some photos of the various unconnected wires I see. Off to buy a new battery now.

[Boxbot]

Sit rep:

Battery situation: Purchased AC Delco size 78 battery (800 CA and 110 RA) to replace undersized and 4 year old size 70 battery (525 CA and 70 RA). Car turns over much more quickly now. I will order a battery cutoff as several people have recommended.

Cooling situation: As mentioned above, when let idle, car eventually got into the red and I got the flashing cooling fan fail light. I took it out for what ended up being an hour long drive in mixed conditions. On the highway, it is as happy as a clam. The temp gauge holds steady below the first quarter mark on the gauge. In stop and go traffic, it will creep up at stop lights, but never went above the mid-point line. When I came home, I let idle for a good 10 minutes. The fans kicked on and stayed on. The gauge went to the first red line and settled in just below it for about 5 minutes. So now I don't know what to think.

Window and lock situation: I still have my passenger door torn apart and can not repair either the window or the lock issue.

[Jonathan]

Life can and will get in the way. Ain't that the truth. No worries. One thing at a time.

You said you replaced the instrument cluster light bulbs with LEDs. The battery warning light CANNOT be an LED. It MUST be a normal incandescent bulb. The charging system will NOT work with an LED in that location. Yes, it is kinda dumb for that to be the case, but that's how it is. I believe it is to force a driver to know when the alternator belt is gone. This is actually more important for engine cooling because if that belt goes, your water pump stops and no coolant is flowing and you'll overheat and damage the engine. So that bulb must work for the charging system to work and it cannot be an LED. If it is an LED, you need to change it back to a standard bulb.

You mentioned your cooling fans stayed on even after you turned the car off. I would suggest inspecting the fuse and relay area behind the passenger seat and specifically the spot in the lower left hand corner that is for that fan fail. Cooling fans staying on like that might be a few different things, but one of them might be some melting going on in that relay receptacle. Check it out and report back. Take a photo or two of that area as well if you can.

Hard to say what effect your cooling fans are having on the engine temp with what you've experienced. The car will do a good job in keeping itself cool just from the wind blowing by at highway speeds. And more so on cooler days, not the hot days of July or August. Maybe those fans aren't working as well as you think or it could be a blockage in the coolant lines or it could just be a gauge issue and nothing more. I would start with inspecting the relay area first. And that LED bulb has to go.

EDIT: sorry, forgot you added photos earlier in this thread. Still inspect them as Dave mentioned earlier. You should be able to wiggle that blue cube out as well as the two individual fuses in it. What can happen is the wires connecting underneath those relays (or this blue cube thingy) can push out and then they aren't connected to anything. They're just hanging there out of sight. Make sure that hasn't happened. You need to be a bit of a contortionist to get a good look or feel in that spot, but it's necessary.

[Bitsyncmaster]

You have my solid state fan relay and fan fail unit. My fan relay is why your fans will stay running an additional 20 seconds if you shut the engine off when fans are running. If your seeing the fan fail light flashing a sequence of three flashes then the fan fail unit is overheating.

For the fan fail to overheat you must have OEM fans that draw to much current. Keep your fuse box cover off and see if that keeps the fan fail unit cooler until you can replace your high current fans.