Not-so-excellent adventures

[DaraSue]

Post your worst D moments. I'll start:

Today, while returning home from the car wash, an SUV decided they really needed to be in my lane that instant. I tried to lay on the horn, remembered too late that it wasn't in the middle of the steering wheel, and ended up on the curb in an effort not to get smacked in the LFF, taking out a couple of wooden survey sticks in the process. I was about to get out and check for damage but then the other driver started to pull away (this was in the right turn lane at an intersection) and I just said OH HELL NO (only there were a few filthier expletives involved) and drove off the curb after them. I was honking and waving for them to pull over and when they finally stopped at the light just south of my house I jumped out and went to yell at them. I wasn't even thinking about the possibility that they might be a gangbanger with a Tec-9, I just wanted to rip them a new one and/or get their insurance info in case my suspension was trashed (in the moment, it was mostly the former, NGL).

It turned out to be a youngish woman who was apologetic about it so I didn't curse her out or anything but it turned out her insurance agent was a couple of streets up so we both went straight there. They were at lunch but we exchanged info and I went straight to the shop to get it looked at. With MW Mike on speaker we looked over the suspension & wheels and didn't find any glaring damage (and I got the impression she was a single mom so I might have just eaten it if it had been less than $500) so all's well that ends well, I guess. Still took about 10 years off my life, though. :swear1::eek5::mad1:

Maybe I should have bought a Bricklin in Safety Orange. If whoever was behind us filmed it and gets a million views on Youtube, I better get a cut of the profit...

[DMC5180]

That is a problem with this Low Profile car, I've been forced onto the shoulder a couple times over the years by people in taller vehicles that didn't see me in the Right lane. One was an RV and the other was a Semi.

Glad to hear no serious damage was found.


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[Michael]

Dash cam. Nuff said

[SS Spoiler]

Thats why I made a spoiler with 48 inches of brake
lights. Also two red flags from my CB antenna help
up the seeability for other drivers....

[Lwanmtr]

Only adventure Ive had was short... Had DMCNW do a make run on my car, driving it back I got 1 mile (roughly) and the left rear wheel fell off..and yep it was a heart stopping moment to hear a loud bang and feel the car tip unnaturally.

[AugustneverEnds]

Only adventure Ive had was short... Had DMCNW do a make run on my car, driving it back I got 1 mile (roughly) and the left rear wheel fell off..and yep it was a heart stopping moment to hear a loud bang and feel the car tip unnaturally.

Oh damn....

What caused that to happen?

[SS Spoiler]

How about losing your steering at seventy miles
an hour, or having three lug nuts break off or blowing
your head gasket or the door popping open at speed
and the list goes on......

[Drive Stainless]

Only adventure Ive had was short... Had DMCNW do a make run on my car, driving it back I got 1 mile (roughly) and the left rear wheel fell off..and yep it was a heart stopping moment to hear a loud bang and feel the car tip unnaturally.

What's a make run?

[NJP548]

What's a make run?

I believe they replace the parts necessary to get the car running after sitting for a while.

Thanks.

-Nick Pitello

[Nicholas R]

Shortly after my engine swap, I was still running the original LS1 intake manifold which has a large ~2" port for EGR (my current LS6 manifold does not). Since I deleted the EGR system, I had a large plug in the port to prevent any type of airflow. Unfortunately, while on a road trip between Florida and Ohio, that plug heated up, deformed, and got sucked into the intake. Luckily it didn't get into the engine, but it did create a massive vaccum leak, that mimicked a near full throttle condition. In the middle of nowhere Kentucky, while traveling at 70mph on I-75, the car began launching full throttle, and I couldn't get it to stop. Talk about needing a new pair of pants... After a couple moments of uncontrolled acceleration, I shut the car off and coasted to the shoulder.

This would have been scary with a PRV, but I'm confident that the brakes could have put up a good fight against the engine. With the LS1 though, it was downright terrifying because the brakes had little effect. Ended up disassembling the intake on the side of the road, recovered the plug, put together a replacement makeshift plug using what I had with me, and drove another couple hours home without issue! I later replaced that intake manifold with the LS6 manifold that has no EGR port to worry about.
5175551756517575175851759


Two years later on the same drive, I got to do some similar repair on the side of the road with replacing a fuel pump on the side of I-75 in Georgia. Luckily I was carrying a spare pump!

5176051761517625176351764

Neither issue kept me off the road longer than an hour. :wrenchin:

[DaraSue]

That is a problem with this Low Profile car, I've been forced onto the shoulder a couple times over the years by people in taller vehicles that didn't see me in the Right lane. One was an RV and the other was a Semi.

Glad to hear no serious damage was found.

It was pretty ironic, getting home from a 5000-mile trip in one piece and then almost getting creamed 5 minutes from my own house. Maybe my next project should be daytime running lights...


Dash cam. Nuff said

After that experience, I'm definitely looking into it! :nervous:


Only adventure Ive had was short... Had DMCNW do a make run on my car, driving it back I got 1 mile (roughly) and the left rear wheel fell off..and yep it was a heart stopping moment to hear a loud bang and feel the car tip unnaturally.

Man, out of all the problems I've had with my car at least the wheels have always stayed on. :ohcrap: Although it would have been iffy if I'd tried to drive straight home instead of having mine checked out at MW after I bought it...

How about losing your steering at seventy miles
an hour, or having three lug nuts break off or blowing
your head gasket or the door popping open at speed
and the list goes on......

Wow, sounds like you're lucky to be around to tell the tale! :eek5:

[Lwanmtr]

What caused the wheel to fall off? The lugs worked loose...to be sure since I hadnt done anything with the wheels, I didnt think about them..neither did Toby when the car was up there...luckily the only damage was some scratches on the rim cause I managed to stop before it did anything.

A Make run is is just getting the engine running...and correcting the PO's drug fueled random vacuum line routing. Also did a few other things.

Im looking forward to when I can have real adventures on the road....wait..lemme rephrase that...good adventures..hehe

[MML]

Went for a drive one Friday night, around 10pm. It was getting dark at this point.
Noticed the instrument lights getting slightly dimmer, and a strange smell coming from somewhere. I decided to turn around and head for home as quickly as possible. When I was around 2 miles from the house, the acrid plasticy smell got worse and worse, to the point it was stinging my nostrils.

I pulled off the main road into a backroad (a shorter, more direct route home) to assess the situation; I shut everything off, and opened the doors to get some fresh air.

I thought, "screw it, I'll make a run for it" and got back driving again. About 20 seconds later, I lost every single light in the car - interior, dash, headlights, the lot. I only had the high beams left, so I managed to use those to limp the rest of the way back, in total darkness, and get into the garage to find that the headlight switch had a meltdown. Obviously it melted in such a way that the high beam circuit was left intact while everything else was taken out.

It was incredibly fortunate I was so close to home!

51777

[MML]

Then there was the time when the car died in the middle of a dangerous twisty country road, in an area with no phone reception... on the way to its MOT! (compulsory annual car inspection)

Got trailered home, and it was later discovered that a badly bodged wiring job on the ignition coil fell apart... Thanks, DPO!

Oh, and I got penalised €20 for not showing up to the test...

[Lwanmtr]

Yeah, it seems undoing PO botches is an ongoing process...lol. I've found several nifty 'mods' that I had to roll back. When I get all the cosmetics done, I'll be having mine thoroughly inspected by Toby at DMCNW and have them get all the safety and reliability issues sorted at that time...including making sure the wheels are on tight..lol

[AugustneverEnds]

What caused the wheel to fall off? The lugs worked loose...to be sure since I hadnt done anything with the wheels, I didnt think about them..neither did Toby when the car was up there...luckily the only damage was some scratches on the rim cause I managed to stop before it did anything.

A Make run is is just getting the engine running...and correcting the PO's drug fueled random vacuum line routing. Also did a few other things.

Im looking forward to when I can have real adventures on the road....wait..lemme rephrase that...good adventures..hehe

Thankfully you didn't get hurt and your car was mostly unharmed.

Undoing someone else's stupid hack work is definitely the worst part of classic car ownership IMHO

[AugustneverEnds]

Went for a drive one Friday night, around 10pm. It was getting dark at this point.
Noticed the instrument lights getting slightly dimmer, and a strange smell coming from somewhere. I decided to turn around and head for home as quickly as possible. When I was around 2 miles from the house, the acrid plasticy smell got worse and worse, to the point it was stinging my nostrils.

I pulled off the main road into a backroad (a shorter, more direct route home) to assess the situation; I shut everything off, and opened the doors to get some fresh air.

I thought, "screw it, I'll make a run for it" and got back driving again. About 20 seconds later, I lost every single light in the car - interior, dash, headlights, the lot. I only had the high beams left, so I managed to use those to limp the rest of the way back, in total darkness, and get into the garage to find that the headlight switch had a meltdown. Obviously it melted in such a way that the high beam circuit was left intact while everything else was taken out.

It was incredibly fortunate I was so close to home!

51777

I had the switch start melting in 2012 as I was driving down a city street. The headlights would stay on if I kept the button pushed in, luckily I have an auto so I made it home intact.

I have heard a few details about MOT inspections in Ireland and the UK, that they are quite thorough, rigorous, and costly compared with most American states' inspections, but what an insult you were fined for missing it after your troubles!

[Lwanmtr]

Fined for missing the inspection..lol..did you ask them if it woulda been better for you to show up with smoke billowing outta the car and risking yours and other peoples safety?

[DaraSue]

Man, reading some of these responses makes me feel like the lucky one, heh...

[Spittybug]

>75 mph driving down a 5 line portion of highway 249 in Houston. All of a sudden the right lower ball joint snapped and the passenger wheel went wobbly without any steering. The car immediately pulled to the right but I had minimal steering control. I was lucky as hell that I had no one to my right at the time and was able to drift over to the shoulder and out of traffic. Hagerty insurance agreed that it was an outright part failure and covered the loss. Wheel damage, ball joint, lower control arm, alignment, towing, etc....

Scary as hell.

[SS Spoiler]

Five of us were on a cruise to the black hills from the
twin cities heading for Newcastle WY when I started smelling
something burning. We pulled into Wall Drug to check things
out and discovered my battery was overcharging big time.
It was vastly swollen and wouldn't start the car. I was advised
to get another battery and turn on every electrical item in
the car to try and stay ahead of the amps pouring into the
battery. We made it to the B@B resort so I could install
a voltage regulator I happened to have along. Great fun....

[sdg3205]

On one of the cars i restored I was driving to Seattle to have DMCNW recharge the AC and the car kept dying on the I5. Turned out that the fuse for the fuel pump couldnt make a decent connection and i didnt have any tools. I had to drive 2 hours with my fingers holding the fuse in place, moving my hand to shift when needed.

On my own car i had a slow dying issue where after an hour the car would loose power and die. I checked and rechecked every fuel component, shoved a spring in the pick up hose etc. It was nerve wracking being in traffic or on a bridge and knowing the car was going to die at some point. Turned out to be a bad coil.

Had a hose clamp come loose once and stopped when i hit 220F. Had to get bottled water to refill the car then bleed it from the parking lot. Luckily i had a bleeder at the rad. Still sucked.

Had 2 AC belts blow up and make a hell of a noise as they smashed the bottom on the engine cover. Now I carry a blade in the car.

To be honest, my DeLorean has been really solid. I'd drive it across the continent in a heart beat.

[Lwanmtr]

Basic important safety tip, always carry a spare car.....

[Stainless]

Back in 2011, I was driving down the freeway when the hub nut on the driver side rear tire came off. The tire diagonally wedged itself between the quarter panel and the road. It must have been quite the site as the hub assembly was scraping on the freeway while I attempted to pull over safely. I was in the fast lane of a 4 lane freeway and somehow made it to the median without further incident. It was determined to be a part failure and Hagerty fully covered the repair. The hub carrier was broken, which also broke the brake caliper, which broke the brake line. The lower link and shock were damaged, and the quarter panel needed to be repaired. For pics and a more in detail write up, you can see what I posted on my blog back in 2011 and read through the process of getting it back on the road later that year.

http://deloreanblog.blogspot.com/2011/06/disaster-strikes.html

[Lwanmtr]

Ouch! At least you didnt get injured or have worse happen.

I know before I drive mine (estimating sometime in 2027) Im gonna have all the mechanicals and oily bits gone over up at DMCNW, specially after reading alot of these stories and my own minor fun...lol

[SS Spoiler]

Has anyone ever been killed in a Delorean accident?.....