New Owner

[TheStoot]

Hey All, just picked up my new to me DeLorean #4328. Picked it up in Mississippi and drove 1300+ miles back to Massachusetts over the weekend. No major issues. Lost the speedometer at about 1300 miles right before I got home. Driver side door lights don't work for some reason. No A/C, might need some gas. She's a five speed Oct. 81. Sat in a museum since 93. So 27 years sitting, she got new fuel lines, fuel filter, fuel accumulator, fuel distributor, warm up regulator, idle speed motor, idle speed ecu, new battery, tires, struts all around except the driver door for some reason. Found out the cooling fans don't work at all, not sure if it's the fan motors, the otterstat or what. There were no jumper wires where the fan relay should have been either so I gotta fix that. Overall a great little car that needs a bit of work just like they all do when coming back to life! I'll keep everyone posted on the progress, pictures to follow when i get some uploaded.

[orangecrrrush]

Wow... Drove it home after sitting 27 years. I think you got lucky. :) Welcome to the forum. Lots of great people on this site.

Adam

[er1c]

Congrats, that sounds like a brave drive, but from the sounds of it you know your stuff.

I drove 140 miles back when I did my purchase and I am not sure what to say other than I had to wring out my shirt by the time I was home :)

[Nioreh]

1300 miles, wow! I drove mine home 200 miles. I had AC, but one of the hoses sprung a leak the weekend after. I got lucky, because that drive home would have been hell without the AC. It's really needed in this car.

[frenchyozy]

You are so lucky [emoji3060] congrats

Sent from my AGORA XI using Tapatalk

[JSzabo]

Welcome. And congratulations.

[dmcerik]

Welcome! 1300 miles home with no real issues is pretty great. I drove mine home about 200 miles and looking back, I'm surprised the frame didn't snap in half.

[MrChocky]

Door lights are likely a relatively easy fix. My wires had been chewed by mice; pop off the rubber bezel and take a peek inside and check the bulbs.

[Kukem]

Congratulations on your new purchase! I remember when I picked up my 1st DeLorean, we drove from Virginia up to New Brunswick, Canada. The East Coast was a nice drive. We lost taillights during that drive. Welcome to the club!

[Domi]

What a trip to go home, congratulation.
Can't wait to see some photos on your way home if you took some?

[BladeBronson]

Congratulations on your purchase and on your maiden voyage. I'd test that your torsion bars are adjusted correctly before buying gas struts. Support the door well and remove the gas strut. Carefully lower the door and let it hang. It should hold itself a few inches from closing. If the door closes, then you'll want to adjust the bar before worrying about the struts.

[Rich]

Do you say this because you know the pass. door strut is new and the driver door strut isn't? Or do you say it because the pass. door stays up and the driver door sags?


.... she got new fuel lines, fuel filter, fuel accumulator, fuel distributor, warm up regulator, idle speed motor, idle speed ecu, new battery, tires, struts all around except the driver door for some reason....

a. Try Christian's recommended test (post 11) on both doors.
b. And swap the door struts L/R to see if the problem swaps sides when the struts are swapped.

These tests take <10min and will reveal something about both of the gas struts and both bar settings.

Best practice is to only adjust either of the torsion bars after determining the situation with two known-good struts installed. Preferably two new ones from same vendor at the same time.

[TheStoot]

I figured out the doors, they just needed new gas struts. Got em from PJ Grady and they work awesome! The driver door lights ended up being a loose connection at the door plunger so that was an easy cleanup and fix. Since I've gotten back home I found that the car is always running in open loop. I've replaced the o2 sensor, did a tuneup with new plugs and wires and upgraded all the relays and fuses but still can't get into closed loop. No buzzing from the frequency valve. Gotta check the Lambda ecu next. Replaced the shift boot, led lights in the doors and bonnet, re did the melted wiring to the reverse switch. Re did all the corroded connections to the original power antenna so that and stock radio and speakers now work. Re sautered my passenger side tail light board so both my brake lights work. Removed my headliners to get those ready to re line. Got new inner door seals and floormats for both sides. Adjusted rear parking brake pads on both sides so emergency brake works. New stainless steel muffler shield to replace the old asbestos one that was warping and rubbing. Put a new engine cover hold up bracket on so i don't need a 2x4 to hold it open. New convex mirrors cause i couldn't see out of my old ones! new rear brake pads. gas cap and header bottle cap were replaced. Been busy so far in just a few weeks of ownership but I love it. Been to a few local car shows and joined the North East Region DeLorean (NERD) club! My son absolutely loves the car too! The only thing of concern now is trying to get it tuned correctly, she is running quite rich cause she's tuned to run in open loop which i heard can be quite common with some peoples cars but the wife hates when i come back inside and smel6482564826l like exhaust

[TheStoot]

Dont' know why it uploads my pics sideways

[Citizen]

Dont' know why it uploads my pics sideways

Probably you used a cell phone camera to take the pictures. If so, some try to "help" you by storing which way is up, but it can get confused when you turn the camera sideways while tilting it vertically too far at the same time. Happens to me too, very annoying. Sometimes (in fact often), with technology, wise guy programmers try to "help" you too much. Wish they'd just stop and let us figure things out for out for ourselves sometimes. End of rant.

Anyway, fixed it for ya, here ya go...

64827

64828

...

[David T]

It's running in open loop because it is too rich. Get it leaner before you foul your new O2 sensor.

[TheStoot]

I can lean it out till the engine just about sputters and dies but no where in between there can i get the frequency valve buzzing at all. I think I may have a bad dwell meter also because the needle doesn't move at all from connecting it to the motor to disconnecting and everything in between...ughhh

[CFI]

I can lean it out till the engine just about sputters and dies but no where in between there can i get the frequency valve buzzing at all. I think I may have a bad dwell meter also because the needle doesn't move at all from connecting it to the motor to disconnecting and everything in between...ughhh

You won’t notice a dwell change if the Lambda ECU is commanding a fixed value. Have you run the Lambda tests in the Tech book? If the Lambda ECU receives a grounded signal on the O2 wire it will command 87% regardless of your mixture setting.

Two things you could try:
1) apply 12 volts directly to the FV to see if it works at all
2) borrow a Lambda ECU from another owner

And if you haven’t already, download a copy of the Tech book and run the Lambda tests.

[Bitsyncmaster]

I can lean it out till the engine just about sputters and dies but no where in between there can i get the frequency valve buzzing at all. I think I may have a bad dwell meter also because the needle doesn't move at all from connecting it to the motor to disconnecting and everything in between...ughhh

If your meter is working and the lambda ECU is powered it should read a dwell reading all the time. Are you checking dwell on the orange wire that goes to the diagnostic connector and the meter is grounded to the engine?

Most common cause of no lambda power is the wrong relay is installed in the "main fuel relay". But another common cause is the RPM relay output #2 is not working.

[NorthEastJBD]

Nice having another DMC in Mass.

Looks like you have been busy since you bought the car.

You picked the right place to get information. These guys are great and informative.

[Tom_hd02]

Nice car. I hope to get one in the near future if a good deal comes along. Let me know if you ever go to a local car show. I'd like to check it out. I'm in the north shore.

[TheStoot]

I go to whatever shows I can find. There is a local one I try and hit up every wednesday night at the liberty tree mall parking lot in Danvers. I only live a mile away so that one's easy. There was a cars and koffee in Andover last Sunday that was awesome, prob around 80-100 cars showed up! If the weather is decent tonight i'll be at the mall with my son!