I purchased my car last fall under the impression that it "needed nothing," but anticipated I'd have to do some minor things. After purchasing, I learned the "new" door solenoids sometimes wouldn't unlock once locked - so I wasn't comfortable taking it places as I couldn't reliably lock it. Today, after a few weeks of not using it, I charged the battery (another problem) and let the car idle for a while. Looking over at the dash after a few minutes of messing with the passenger door mechanicals, I saw the temp was at the top of the gauge and noticed that the fans hadn't kicked on. I immediately turned the car off, then put the key in accessory position w/heater on to try to dissipate the heat. A small bit of steam started to come out of the coolant reservoir, but hopefully I caught it in time before doing damage. If not, I guess I'll have to add head gasket to my list of problems. PO apparently replaced fan fail relay and put new fans on - but I'm finding a lot of stuff that was "done" was not done properly, so who knows. I had already ordered all coolant hoses and clamps with new water pump and gaskets because it had developed a significant coolant leak. Now I'm ordering a new otterstat and thermostat from DPI following this incident, but feel like I'm just throwing darts. Is there anything else I should be looking at?
I'm starting to get really frustrated as it seems like problems are constantly popping up and a lot of the stuff I thought was done has to be redone. Some other problems (more for venting than diagnosis, I guess):
1. Driver's door is slightly convex on roof - not so bad that it's noticeable in the front, but it is in the rear where it meets the T-panel. Concerned the torison bar might have been over-torqued or something.
2. DeLorean NW Wings A Loft remote door locks and solenoid were installed by PO, and will always click when key turned or fob button hit, but will sometimes not unlock on driver's side and sometimes not on passenger's side. Once they won't unlock, I cannot open from inside or outside and it requires removal of door panel to pull on rods to open the door. They don't seem to be sticking/not resetting at common trouble point I read about and the length of the rods appears to be taught, so I am not sure what the issue is.
3. DeloreanGo window regulators installed by PO. Passenger side is jammed in the up position. Motor and tube will react and move slightly with switch but window will not go down. Pushing it up causes the tube to bend out towards the outside of the door. Not sure if ruined or can be adjusted. When I took apart door, I found the tube between the motor and the window was being held in place with duct tape and a piece of wood so obviously something wasn't set up/aligned right.
4. DeloreanGo external LEDs installed by PO don't seem to have a good connection. One rear tail light and now one rear side marker flicker and require tapping the plastic to turn on.
5. Windshield washer pump doesn't work. I have ordered a new one.
6. DMCH angle drive and dust cap were replaced by PO but speedo doesn't work. I have ordered a new kit from DMCH and a one piece cable from DeloreanGo to bypass Lambda counter.
7. Dome light and rear light when door open setting and seatbelt light/driver's door ajar light not working and are probably disconnected for some reason, but I can't find the wires. When buzzer is connected, it does not shut off so it remains unplugged.
8. Rear louvre not latching shut - doesn't seem to line up with latch.
9. Glove box light not working. PO changed to LED. I ordered new bulb from DeloreanGo, but still doesn't work. No idea why or see any indication that switch is broken.
10. Inner part of binnacle has completely separated from exterior part and is sagging all around cluster.
11. PO cut seal on rear panel (where speakers and seatbelt are). Driver's side fits well and there is only a very minimal gap. Passenger side has very noticeable 1" inch gap and I don't see any way to correct other than maybe drilling small holes through panel and into the tub and screwing in place, which I'm sure is a bad idea. I think I saw some vendor was selling replacement strips, but don't see them available anymore.
12. A/C has been converted to r134 but does not hold a charge. I'll have to take to a shop to sort out the leak, but I'm bracing for a worst-case scenario there too.
13. Battery drain - discharges at absurd rate. Unplugged door lights but that didn't resolve issue.
Annnnnyhow ... If anyone has any quick links that I should check out about any of this crap, or teach me some sort of mantra about ownership, that would be great - This overheating episode is just the proverbial straw as I keep getting further away from something that I can enjoy. Now, I can't drive at all for the moment for fear of overheating.