Repair Shop Nightmare

[krs09]

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.

No, of course im not really near anyone that really knows what there doing at least fora decent price. Im a service advisor at a chevy dealership so i knwo how service billing works and this shop just tried to screw me and i guess he thought he caould charge me whatever and id pay it. WRONG!.. Although a trip to PJ's(3.5 hrs away) may be in order down the road or anyone else i can find in the area. In the "diag" i did find out a few things i need

- fuel accumulator
- control pressure regulator
- new coolant hoses
- coolant pipe and otterstat switch (PO welded my pipe shut)
- all 4 calipers
- idle control motor
- thermotime switch
- throttle return assm (replaced the top large spring, looks like i need the attached to the arm closest to the switch)
+ a few other little things

Not too bad for a car that has been sitting for 20 years and was sold for a good price. It does runa nd drive but now i seem to have a overheaing issue and the shop said "they cant do a coolant flush". Great..

[krs09]

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.

You are the best. It would be a dream to have you look at it but with my latest fiasco im tight on budget right now. We will have to get together and I can become your best customer.. Where in Philly are you going to be around??

[Jimmyvonviggle]

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.

Sometimes it pays to just send the car down to a recommended vendor to take care of the more difficult things. Look at all the hassle and money you paid for these guys to play with your car and still nothing. They probably spent the 2 weeks driving it around and having fun.

I would take Josh up on his offer.

[DeLorean03]

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.

My statement was meant as a positive compliment towards any shop whose primary expertise was the repair and restoration of DeLoreans. I would assume yours and Grady's shop qualifies as such.


Given the following Grady has had and the one you're quickly gaining, I would be a fool to say something negative without any knowledge, background story, investigation, understanding, or history of either of your companies.

It's a positive compliment. Hope that clears things up.

[Ron]

It does runa nd drive but now i seem to have a overheaing issue and the shop said "they cant do a coolant flush". Great..

Man, this gets "better and better" -- A "mechanic" that can't do a coolant system flush (the right way), belongs in a Jiffy Lube...if that. You can't even trust the "diag" really...

It's getting me POed and I don't even know you...

========

Sounds like you have access to all of the tools you need, except maybe the right fuel pressure gauge -- jump on it, as said, the members will help (or I'll ban their arse ;-).

[Shep]

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.

Wait wait wait, where the hell did this "at least half of all auto mechanics are drug users" BS come from? This is quite frankly an asinine statement to make without anything to back it up, and this has not been my experience in the slightest. I'll agree that generic auto mechanics tend to screw things up more than they help, and have experienced this myself the hard way, but that's no excuse for making baseless ad hominem attacks like this. If you have some reliable research to back this statement up, I'll gladly concede, but I refuse to believe 50+% of auto mechanics use drugs without any evidence whatsoever. Some of my best friends are auto mechanics, so I find this statement quite offensive. (And for the record, none of them do drugs.)

No, of course im not really near anyone that really knows what there doing at least fora decent price. Im a service advisor at a chevy dealership so i knwo how service billing works and this shop just tried to screw me and i guess he thought he caould charge me whatever and id pay it. WRONG!.. Although a trip to PJ's(3.5 hrs away) may be in order down the road or anyone else i can find in the area. In the "diag" i did find out a few things i need

- fuel accumulator
- control pressure regulator
- new coolant hoses
- coolant pipe and otterstat switch (PO welded my pipe shut)
- all 4 calipers
- idle control motor
- thermotime switch
- throttle return assm (replaced the top large spring, looks like i need the attached to the arm closest to the switch)
+ a few other little things

Not too bad for a car that has been sitting for 20 years and was sold for a good price. It does runa nd drive but now i seem to have a overheaing issue and the shop said "they cant do a coolant flush". Great..

Considering they tried to charge you over a grand and did work you never authorized, yet still charged you $500 for the whole thing, I wouldn't trust a damn thing they say. I'm sure they forgot to mention you needed muffler bearings since those disintegrate after a few years Honestly, don't let them lay another finger on it. Get your D out of that hellhole, take it back home, ignore everything they said, and do your own diagnosis. The calipers aren't available anymore, and I find it hard to believe that it runs and drives fine yet still needs all four replaced. Pads or rotors, maybe, but the calipers? How the hell does it drive if none of them work, exactly? Or a better question: how does it stop? They're nickel-and-diming you, and considering their blatantly illegal behavior, I'm sure much of what they recommended is not necessary at all, but you wouldn't know the difference if they did it all at once because they got it running, so who's going to know?

If you want a professional other than yourself do to the work, there's two places near your area I recommend: PJ Grady's or DPI. If you want an official DMC dealer to do the work, DMC Midwest is another option, but they are further away from you than PJ Grady's and DPI are. I have heard great things about all three places, so I am impartial to each.

[krs09]

Wait wait wait, where the hell did this "at least half of all auto mechanics are drug users" BS come from? This is quite frankly an asinine statement to make without anything to back it up, and this has not been my experience in the slightest. I'll agree that generic auto mechanics tend to screw things up more than they help, and have experienced this myself the hard way, but that's no excuse for making baseless ad hominem attacks like this. If you have some reliable research to back this statement up, I'll gladly concede, but I refuse to believe 50+% of auto mechanics use drugs without any evidence whatsoever. Some of my best friends are auto mechanics, so I find this statement quite offensive. (And for the record, none of them do drugs.)

Considering they tried to charge you over a grand and did work you never authorized, yet still charged you $500 for the whole thing, I wouldn't trust a damn thing they say. I'm sure they forgot to mention you needed muffler bearings since those disintegrate after a few years Honestly, don't let them lay another finger on it. Get your D out of that hellhole, take it back home, ignore everything they said, and do your own diagnosis. The calipers aren't available anymore, and I find it hard to believe that it runs and drives fine yet still needs all four replaced. Pads or rotors, maybe, but the calipers? How the hell does it drive if none of them work, exactly? Or a better question: how does it stop? They're nickel-and-diming you, and considering their blatantly illegal behavior, I'm sure much of what they recommended is not necessary at all, but you wouldn't know the difference if they did it all at once because they got it running, so who's going to know?

If you want a professional other than yourself do to the work, there's two places near your area I recommend: PJ Grady's or DPI. If you want an official DMC dealer to do the work, DMC Midwest is another option, but they are further away from you than PJ Grady's and DPI are. I have heard great things about all three places, so I am impartial to each.

Your tellin me, I took the car home when I got them down to 500. Wanted to make sure they didnt do anything else with it.. Well they told me I needed rear calipers cus the parking brake wasnt working (the ratchets broke) and I discovered the front calipers where bad when I seen the front wheels smoking after about 10 min of driving (the wheels were soo hot and when I push the car in neutral you can hear a squeak up front) i bet there hanging up. Thanks for all your guys help.

[dmc6960]

An just to thow this in there as well... The parking brake is a separate assembly from the rear calipers. Oh, and the are no ratchets on the parking calipers. That is on the pull handle. AND odds are its not broke. More likely the cables have pulled out of the retainer. A quick removal of the carpet trim around it could tell you for sure.

[TTait]

As far as Hervey - his parts are as good, or bad, as whoever makes them...

If they come from Bosch or a bona fide parts manufacturer, they should be okay. If its something he has had rebuilt, or manufactured locally - run away. Hervey has no eye whatsoever for quality control, he does not offer instructions, and gets defensive if you even suggest something is wrong.

On the other hand, you will get really superior quality and service from Josh, Rob Grady, DMCMW, DMCNW and DMCEurope. Houston is solid too, but the aforementioned guys will really go out of their way to take good care of you and make things right.

Your local kick ass vendor is PJ Grady on Long Island - unfortunately he is more than 100 miles away so you can't get AAA to send the car up there for free. You could drive 50 miles or so north and then call AAA from the parking lot of an Amtrack station, have then take the car up to him the rest of the way and then head home on the train...

Tom

[dmc]

You already tried to take the cheap way out to fix a special car.
Maybe you need to reprioritize.