Took out the DeLorean for the first time...

[davidc89]

I took out my car for the first time. I must say it is a blast to drive! I have to say I have a couple of bugs to work out, but all in all it was a great experience and I am happy to be a part of this wonderful community!

Current issues I noticed while driving:
Speedometer was working perfectly then all of a sudden quit. Oiled the cables and it fluttered a little that. Went back to zero.
Oil pressure gauge read high but still fluctuated. Will need to hook up gauges. I am hoping its just the sensor.
Smells of coolant but not leaking while running. Coolant level is fine.
Noticed that it has a small cold leak after it had sat for a few months in colder temperatures. Left side of engine. Leaks onto muffler. Leak by exhaust manifold??? Couldn't really see down there.

More to come soon! :)

[Henrik]

I took out my car for the first time. I must say it is a blast to drive! I have to say I have a couple of bugs to work out, but all in all it was a great experience and I am happy to be a part of this wonderful community!

Current issues I noticed while driving:
Speedometer was working perfectly then all of a sudden quit. Oiled the cables and it fluttered a little that. Went back to zero.
Oil pressure gauge read high but still fluctuated. Will need to hook up gauges. I am hoping its just the sensor.
Smells of coolant but not leaking while running. Coolant level is fine.
Noticed that it has a small cold leak after it had sat for a few months in colder temperatures. Left side of engine. Leaks onto muffler. Leak by exhaust manifold??? Couldn't really see down there.

More to come soon! :)

Welcome to the world of the Ds, David! Yes, there will always be things to fix but you will find that this community is invaluable to get you back on the road.

[Bitsyncmaster]

The rear end of the valve covers is the common leak. Need good sealer when you instal new gaskets.

[Jonathan]

Congrats! Glad you enjoyed your first drive!

- the oil pressure gauge in the dash being pegged close to the top is somewhat normal. The original senders weren't calibrated very well for the car. The replacements are better and will show the oil pressure mid-range (perhaps in the top 1/4 of range actually) when driving and you'll see it drop lower when idling at a stop. That oil sender is on the passenger side of the car, right near the oil filter.

- the leak on the left side of the engine that you mentioned possibly being near the exhaust manifold, that could be the oil sender for the warning light. It is smaller and threads in on the driver's side of the car, and is a little hard to see as it is tucked up a bit. They somewhat commonly leak and you can replace the seal only or the seal and sender. Replacements are less than $20 on the DMCH website.

[davidc89]

I did notice that the oil pressure sensor was leaking. I should have specified that the leak by the manifold is coolant, but it only leaks when it is about 30 degrees outside or colder. I also noticed that the fuel gauge bounces all over, it did have the sender rebuilt when I bought it. I am thinking that it is in the connections. I haven't dig into it much, because it has been cold and I don't have a heated shop :(. I am thinking a service manual would be good to have.

[dn010]

http://dmctalk.org/showthread.php?2866-Searchable-Workshop-Technical-Bulletins-and-Volvo-Engine-Manuals


I am thinking a service manual would be good to have.

[Rich]

Yes, a service manual is good to have.

DMCH sells the Workshop Manual in a nice. big binder. Part number there is P3113096.

For your speedo problem be sure the dust cap/drive inside the left wheel hub is not spinning loose in there and that the square drive fits into it snugly, not rounded off. The angle drive itself can go bad, too. Jack up the left front wheel and spin it forward. Then break into the speedo cable system anywhere along the way to see what's not spinning. Working forward from the speedo it has connections at the speedo head, the Lambda counter near the firewall and at the angle drive.

[David T]

Yes, a service manual is good to have.

DMCH sells the Workshop Manual in a nice. big binder. Part number there is P3113096.

For your speedo problem be sure the dust cap/drive inside the left wheel hub is not spinning loose in there and that the square drive fits into it snugly, not rounded off. The angle drive itself can go bad, too. Jack up the left front wheel and spin it forward. Then break into the speedo cable system anywhere along the way to see what's not spinning. Working forward from the speedo it has connections at the speedo head, the Lambda counter near the firewall and at the angle drive.

The coolant leak could be a leaky head gasket caused by corrosive coolant and it damaged the gasket. Try some Bar's Stop Leak. You get it in a large auto store. Follow the directions. If that doesn't work you need to replace the head gaskets.

[whocruiser]

If that coolant smell is more inside the car than outside it, you may have a leak in the heater core or associated valves. It's a MAJOR bitch to access, which is why when I recently had to have a new AC evaporator core installed on VIN 1150, we also ripped out the perfectly good, but still 34 year old, heater core and replaced it with a new one too, to avoid even the possibility of having to tear it all back open again any time soon.

[davidc89]

No, its only on the outside. Just smells like coolant when you walk around it. No visible leaks and it doesn't use any coolant.

[dn010]

No, its only on the outside. Just smells like coolant when you walk around it. No visible leaks and it doesn't use any coolant.

I am confused. I thought you said it was leaking coolant by the manifold?

[David T]

No, its only on the outside. Just smells like coolant when you walk around it. No visible leaks and it doesn't use any coolant.

You may have large leaks under the intake manifold and you will not see them. The top of the motor has pockets that can hold a lot and it will boil so you never see it on the ground. If you have to continually add coolant then you have leaks. If you smell coolant you have leaks. The header tank should be 1/2 full when cold. If you overfill it you will dump the excess when the motor gets hot out the overflow. If you add you MUST use 50/50 soft water and anti-freeze unless you buy the pre-mixed stuff with water already added.

[davidc89]

I am confused. I thought you said it was leaking coolant by the manifold?

I do, but only when it sits in cold weather for an extended period of time. Its not large but it does leave some on the exhaust. When you start it up for the first time after it gas sat, the coolant burns off that was on the exhaust. It doesn't leak after that or when its warmer than freezing outside

[dn010]

Maybe you've got some coolant seeping from one of the expansion plugs in the head behind the exhaust manifold. I've seen some of them get pretty rusty...

[davidc89]

You may have large leaks under the intake manifold and you will not see them. The top of the motor has pockets that can hold a lot and it will boil so you never see it on the ground. If you have to continually add coolant then you have leaks. If you smell coolant you have leaks. The header tank should be 1/2 full when cold. If you overfill it you will dump the excess when the motor gets hot out the overflow. If you add you MUST use 50/50 soft water and anti-freeze unless you buy the pre-mixed stuff with water already added.

Right, but I am not having to add coolant. Just kind of figured that's how it was. It doesn't smoke or anything. Only by the manifold after it has sat awhile in cold temperatures like previously mentioned.

[dn010]

Any leak, even the smallest, well get worse over time.

Speaking of expansion plugs, when I had my '67 Mustang, one of the expansion plugs had a small pin hole leak between the plug and the block. I didn't fix it and one day the whole plug blew out, the car looked like it was on fire with all the coolant blowing out all over the exhaust, I was also stranded (it was the days before cell phones were a normal thing)...

You know you have a leak, you can see you've got one somewhere and you can smell it burning when you run. Better to track down any leaks and fix them now before it causes more serious problems. If this minor leak turns major you might not know because the engine is behind you unless you happen to notice the temp gauge pegged and if you don't notice that, new engine time.

[DMCMW Dave]

A good test to see if the coolant leak is in the valley vs a water pump leak is to simply jack up the front end of the car. If the valley is full of coolant from a leak under the intake, it will run out somewhat dramatically. If the leak is the water pump nothing will happen.

[rdarlington]

DMCH sells the Workshop Manual in a nice. big binder. Part number there is P3113096.


Yeah, but they couldn't be bothered to buy a ream of drilled paper when they printed mine. $50 and I got to punch the holes. It's still better than any scan of the old manual you can find on the net.

-Bob

[DMCMW Dave]

Yeah, but they couldn't be bothered to buy a ream of drilled paper when they printed mine. $50 and I got to punch the holes. It's still better than any scan of the old manual you can find on the net.

-Bob

When did that happen? All the copies I have are in 3-ring binders and I've never seen anything else.

[rdarlington]

When did that happen? All the copies I have are in 3-ring binders and I've never seen anything else.

Order Number 114844
Customer ID 156099
Order Date 8/28/2013 2:29:14 PM

It was a nice 3 ring binder, and a shrink wrapped stack of pages that I had to punch to get into the binder. Talked to Sarah about it and she said:

"Would you like a different workshop manual? If so, let me know and we can include it with your order going out today."

I'm not sure how another one would be any different so I declined. It was extremely annoying but not a show stopper. I'd be interested in knowing if they're still doing that, although I'm probably never going to be in the market for another workshop manual (but ya never know)

-Bob

[DMCMW Dave]

Order Number 114844
Customer ID 156099
Order Date 8/28/2013 2:29:14 PM

It was a nice 3 ring binder, and a shrink wrapped stack of pages that I had to punch to get into the binder. Talked to Sarah about it and she said:

"Would you like a different workshop manual? If so, let me know and we can include it with your order going out today."

I'm not sure how another one would be any different so I declined. It was extremely annoying but not a show stopper. I'd be interested in knowing if they're still doing that, although I'm probably never going to be in the market for another workshop manual (but ya never know)

-Bob

Not sure. The ones on the shelf here are punched, shrink-wrapped, and in the binder. Someone messed up at the printer.

[davidc89]

I took my car to its first car show. It went better than I expected. I had a lot of Back to the Future comments and the typical questions you get asked. Surprisingly, I don't have any comments to add to the "Stupid DeLorean Comment of the Day" thread. There were a lot of "car" people that had no clue what the car was though, that did kind of surprise me. But, all in all it was good to see people enjoy the car as much as I do.