Repair Shop Nightmare

[krs09]

So, I finally pick up my D from the repair shop that i've had it at for about 2 weeks now. In the past two week span I never got a call from the shop at all, although I did call them 3 times and talked to an assistant who knew very little and always told me to talk to the owner for updates and he'll call you back "he's knows more than me" I heard every phone call. I should mention that the appt was made to check out a starting issue hot and cold and a coolant flush while It was there. The owner assured me that that will be no problem and he quoted me about 230 fee to check out and "we'll go from there" so imagine my suprise when the next time I actually hear the owners voice is to tell me that they have a "good idea" on what is goin on with the car and my diag fee was now 1,090. Now they did do a little work 2 new belts, injector connector and battery cable terminal repair, all of which I never authorized. Little work for a 1,090 bill if you ask me. After a lot of arguing back and forth I got the bill dowm to 500 bucks just by stating the fact that I never authorized any addintional diag. Just a pain in the ass day , what a nightmare. So now im really back to square one and am going to find myself doing a lot of the work.

The one real question I have is what do you guys think of Special T auto?? Im going to need a lot of parts and the rebuilt parts look right up my alley. Worth the time or money? What do you think?


Vin#4870 - Custom interior sweet fuzy dash and stock everything else

[WelmoedJ]

I guess you caught one of the guys / shops that claim to know it all but actually only know about how to drain your wallet!
You didn't mention if you have any experience doing things yourself, but a lot of us started that way.
If you know how to change a belt, spark plugs etc. you're on the way up.
Even changing coolant would not be too hard to do it yourself: did those guys do that for you or "forgot" about it?

As there is only a few electronics in the car and most of it is mechanical stuff with mechanical issues, you should be able to figure out what's going on with the help of the more knowledgeable on this forum.
The electrical systems of the car are British (Lucas) and one saying is "Be home before dark".
That should give you a hunch where to start in case of electrical problems: connectors, fuses, relays.

As you mention a hot start problem: there are many sources this problem can origin from.
Usually the majority are vacuum or fuel related: think of vacuum leaks, non operational switches (ThermoVac, Idle switch etc) or fuel (mixture, pressure, accumulator, injectors etc).
If you search this forum for "hot start" issues you will find many threads and ways to resolve it.

Regarding Hervey's products the feelings are mixed, some have good experiences with his products (both new or rebuilt), some had bad experiences.
My personal experience is one of: most of his products worked for me (his baffle setup, 3 legged fuel pump bracket, stainless fuel lines and more).
The final decision where to purchase what you need however is always yours.

You have not mentioned your location, so its hard to tell you where to go.
However since you obviously didn't go to one of the DMC service points I presume they're not very close to you.

This may not be of much help, but I hope this will give you a point to start from.

[Delorean Industries]

So, I finally pick up my D from the repair shop that i've had it at for about 2 weeks now. In the past two week span I never got a call from the shop at all, although I did call them 3 times and talked to an assistant who knew very little and always told me to talk to the owner for updates and he'll call you back "he's knows more than me" I heard every phone call. I should mention that the appt was made to check out a starting issue hot and cold and a coolant flush while It was there. The owner assured me that that will be no problem and he quoted me about 230 fee to check out and "we'll go from there" so imagine my suprise when the next time I actually hear the owners voice is to tell me that they have a "good idea" on what is goin on with the car and my diag fee was now 1,090. Now they did do a little work 2 new belts, injector connector and battery cable terminal repair, all of which I never authorized. Little work for a 1,090 bill if you ask me. After a lot of arguing back and forth I got the bill dowm to 500 bucks just by stating the fact that I never authorized any addintional diag. Just a pain in the ass day , what a nightmare. So now im really back to square one and am going to find myself doing a lot of the work.

The one real question I have is what do you guys think of Special T auto?? Im going to need a lot of parts and the rebuilt parts look right up my alley. Worth the time or money? What do you think?


Vin#4870 - Custom interior sweet fuzy dash and stock everything else

I would highly recommend consulting myself or one of the DMC vendors on part quality and if a Special T part will work. There is a reason why most of will not install the majority of his components due to warranty and fitment issues. I know coming from a vendor it sounds one sided but you truly get what you pay for.

[thirdmanj]

I would highly recommend consulting myself or one of the DMC vendors on part quality and if a Special T part will work. There is a reason why most of will not install the majority of his components due to warranty and fitment issues. I know coming from a vendor it sounds one sided but you truly get what you pay for.

Agreed. If I could go "back in time", I'd have sent 1258 to Josh. He's one anal-retentive bastard, and one really wants that in a Delorean specialty shop.

[Michael]

Special T will NEVER NEVER NEVER NEVER see another dollar of mine. I will sell my car before ever buy anything from him.

If you need parts call up Julee at DeLorean Midwest. I have never dealt with Josh at DPI but I have read nothing but great things about him too. In fact I wouldn't hesitate to bring my car to him based on his reputation and other owners recommendations alone.

[Kenny_Z]

I like the parts I bought from SpecialT but shipping can be slow. I've got the clutch master/slave/stainless line and I've put about 3k miles in a year on them with no issues. I've got the fuel baffle change which works well. I did have an issue with the plastic coupler missing but John made good on that when I called him. I'm not sure about that baffle set up in a low fuel sitation on a hill though, it's all flat here. I also installed his fuse/relay kit.

I've purchased parts from DMCH and I think I got my accumulator fuel lines from DPI. No complaints from either vendor. I think Red had some work done at PJ Grady in the past (like pre-2001) because of some notes and parts I found. That might account for her overall good condition.

[Delorean Industries]

Let us know if we can help. We will be dropping a car in Philly next week at the latest and can offer pick up services or stop for tech support.

[DeLorean03]

As always, I will give SpecialTAuto praise in terms of their parts. In the nearly 9 years I have done business with them, they have been stellar in terms of parts quality. Shipping has been a bit slow lately, but man, 1 week for a part seems like next day shipping lately with some of the vendors, and I'll leave it at that. I'm just glad I live in the MidWest.

If you're going to order parts from SpecialTAuto and do the work yourself, you should be gold and good to go. If you're going to send your car to SpecialTAuto, I have no experience there, so I cannot comment.

If you send your car to a vendor or a specialty shop that services only DeLoreans but is not a subsidiary of DMCH, remember, you're getting what you pay for. It's not going to be a "catch all shop" at a low rate like most shops; DeLorean shops work on pretty much ONLY DeLoreans - there's a price on that kind of service.

Good luck to you with whatever decision you make!

[Delorean Industries]

As always, I will give SpecialTAuto praise in terms of their parts. In the nearly 9 years I have done business with them, they have been stellar in terms of parts quality. Shipping has been a bit slow lately, but man, 1 week for a part seems like next day shipping lately with some of the vendors, and I'll leave it at that. I'm just glad I live in the MidWest.

If you're going to order parts from SpecialTAuto and do the work yourself, you should be gold and good to go. If you're going to send your car to SpecialTAuto, I have no experience there, so I cannot comment.

If you send your car to a vendor or a specialty shop that services only DeLoreans but is not a subsidiary of DMCH, remember, you're getting what you pay for. It's not going to be a "catch all shop" at a low rate like most shops; DeLorean shops work on pretty much ONLY DeLoreans - there's a price on that kind of service.

Good luck to you with whatever decision you make!

So by grady and I both choosing not to join dmch owners get what they pay for by coming to us? Please correct me if im wrong in reading your statement.

[rothsean]

I think that if a shop can't diagnose the exact problem then there should not be any fee, period.

I will never take my car to a shop again either. I am not a mechanic but I am fairly smart and I have done a better job diagnosis and repairing my D than any shop, including DMC, has done. Any my price is right!

If you have a mechanical brain you can get enough info from this board and google sites to do all of your own repair work, assuming that you have the time.

I have had success just posting questions here and getting some good info.

Remember, most of these repair shops are just $15-$20/hour employees that jump from job to job, and at least half are drug users. If they can fix it, I definitely can, and better!!