Preventive Maintenance

[David T]

Prevailing "Good Practice" was to replace parts on a scheduled basis. Because so many parts are made in China and other places and not made to the original standards of quality, that is no longer such a good idea. In fact, the part you replace with a new one may not last any longer than your older, good, working part. For instance water pumps, fuel pumps, spark plugs, bearings, alternators, starters, among others, are being reproduced and oftentimes they are bad right out of the box! The best advice today is to try to buy from a reputable vendor that actually services Deloreans and uses the stock that he sells to also install into the cars he services. That way you know the part will fit and be of the highest quality. If you find the part elsewhere for a substantial discount be wary of it, it is most likely a cheap knock-off. You cannot trust the packaging either, especially when it comes to bearings. There are some parts you MUST change out like tires after 7 years, batteries after 5 years, coolant after 5 years, motor oil and filter every 1,000 miles (if you don't dive the car a lot), and brake fluid every other year. Do an annual inspection and any worn or broken parts should be replaced.

[r00b]

I would say try to get parts from a reputable manufacturer. Some of the parts the vendors sell are just same part you can get on alibaba or amazon but with a huge markup. For example the idle speed motor
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1
the vendors sell the exact chineseum part for between $130 and $200. I've seen them on one of those chinese sites for much less then on amazon but I won't buy from there. Problem is it's the only replacement part available, so you have to put it in if you need it.

As for things like alternators, I just installed one from autozone, it's better to buy them locally. Quality doesn't seem to be an issue, but when it does fail you get a free replacement forever. The vendors don't manufacture their alternators, they get them from the same sources, you pay much more and when it goes out you have to buy a new one. Same thing with the new fuel pumps, if you want to pay double or triple for the same part that's up to you.

I do like when the vendors make new parts in stainless to replace the old mild steel version. Some vendor made parts like the dashboard came out very bad. In that case they wanted to keep the price down but the final product ended up being terrible, now their stuck with a slowly moving product, and owners that don't want the interior to look like cheap junk have to pay over 1k to have their dashes redone professionally. They should made something of higher quality with a higher price, even at $800 it would have been cheaper than the alternative.

"motor oil and filter every 1,000 miles", I would say every 3,000 miles or around every 6 months if you don't drive that much. Every 1000 sounds wasteful.

I got some chinesium door struts off ebay in 2019, they're the best door struts I have ever had and are still working fine. They've lasted far longer than any of the struts I got from the vendors, I didn't expect much when buying them because the price was so cheap. They are the right size with the door closed but they don't extend the open door as far as other struts, but not by much. I couldn't get the cotter pins in to then ends when on the doors ball joint, I replaced the ends with the ones from my previous struts. They threaded right on without problem.

I also got a clutch slave for around $25 from ebay, I've had in the car around 7 years without a problem. I would like the buy the stainless steel version when that becomes available from one of the vendors.

[Michael]

[David T]

The 1,000 mile recommendation is for owners that don't drive the car much. It can take a couple of years for some owners to put 1K miles on their car. I understand that some of the vendors do resell the Chinese parts but believe it or not, not all Chinese parts are terrible. Some are better that others but generally they are not of the same quality as OEM parts used to be. I would hope the vendors are using the better Chinese parts but who knows. Anyway the main purpose of my original post is to say it is not worth taking off a good, functioning part just because it is old. The new part may not be any better! We saw what happened to the Bosch parts when they stopped making them in Germany. The quality went into the toilet! Every owner must use their best judgement in deciding what to replace and when. Of course if you have a failed part you have no choice but to replace it. Just try to buy the best part you can, the cheapest is usually not the best but don't overpay either. "Back in the day," when you took a new part out of the box, you didn't have to wonder if it would work or how long it would last.