Deloreans are still like frying bacon w/o a shirt. No issue record is over.

[JIMJAM]

D has been behaving but my health has been taking all my attention. Weekly drives to keep her happy. Yesterday I started her up and while allowing the engine to warm up while I checked the weather the engine shut off. Hmm, not starting I am accustomed to over 30 years but not just cutting off. Gas+, turn key can't hear pump which btw is a Special T aprox 8 yrs old/1000 miles maybe. Jumped the rpm. Nothing. Hit it with some starter fired right up then died. So engine is not getting fuel. I jumped the rpm relay/ign on and across the two terminals on top of the fuel pump I get nothing.
With file/sandpaper I proceeded to check the 345 thousand, 286 hundred, 821 grounds. Ballast, coil, fuse box, black upside down thingie with the pop up thingamajig.
Turned key and now the starter does even engage.:shock:
I have stepped away from it seeing I have encountered the cascading Delorean dominoes before. The only thing that kinda , maybe, possibly is the Optima redtop 2016 started losing it's charge overnight. I have been keeping it on a trickle for the last year. Going to replace it soon. The car was running so a sketchy battery should not kill the engine...
Haven't posted in a looooong time so there ya go. Ready to pay what it takes to get a lot of issues taken care of or sell it. :dunno:

[Iznodmad]

I’m gonna send you a PM.

[DMCMW Dave]

Before you sell it be sure to get yourself updated on current values. Things have changed a LOT in the past couple of years. Don't accidently give it away.

[JIMJAM]

I always vent when the D decides to start randomly throwing issues at you.
I am probably one of the few that actually drove a Delorean to see BTTF when it was released so I have a lot of history with this car.
Locally, nobody will touch it with a 10 foot pole. Even my last tire change I had to stop them 3x when they were about to damage the car. Having early vin dark grey wheels and seeing a kid grab a hammer to beat on weights will raise you blood pressure.
So yeah, gonna step back and who knows I might stumble across the issue.

[David T]

Get the battery tested and clean up the connections. If the starter won't work you can't begin to troubleshoot the fuel or ignition systems. Get it cranking. A "sketchy" (bad) battery can prevent the car from running.

[Michael]

Like Guru said, make sure the engine can be started BEFORE checking for problems!

[JIMJAM]

I plan to get another Optima red top in the next week. As far as starting, yesterday I hit it with a quick shot of starter fluid and she fired right up. Me= fuel pump died.

Why I suspect the fuel pump?. It is a Special T iirc about 8 years old. The garaged D driven 1-2x a week for maybe 20 miles has only one intermittant that popped up about 3 months ago. Sometimes if I really get on it from a stop the car would buck. I mean floored... Other than that the occasional hot start.

Question- rarely go into the fuse area except to clean fuses and saw this. Doubt it is related but just curious. The left breaker 19 in diagrams has one brown wire connected. Laying next to them are these 2 loose wires as shown in pic. Just curios what they are?
I have the Joe Cool installed, the door locks rear and rear defroster are not connected.

EDIT- The yellow is NOT one of the loose wires and is iirc a early vin jumper.

[Ron]

If it cranks over by itself, it's not the battery.

=====

WARNING: Splatters on intersect course...

The pic shows a Brown with Orange stripe, not Brown, on the breaker.

The breaker to the left is for the cooling fan (Labeled "193" in the WSM schematic, "A" in most Electrical compartment diagrams.) It uses a BO (Black with Orange stripe) wire and a NS (Brown with Slate stripe) wire.
But, I have seen early VINs with NO and BO instead.

Does the Brown wire between your fingers have a stripe?

[JIMJAM]

Tried calling you a few times months ago and also email. My phone has never worked well if at all getting to you up there. The emails... well not sure where they end up.

I am at the point where I simply cannot get under or lean over the car. My list was replacing the clutch master c and possible slave which I have. Some slight leakage at the pedal but the tank is contaminated with black fragments.

The car shutting off while idling surprised me. If it IS the fuel pump, I am game to install the DMC system but looks like they are been out of stock a long time. The starter stopping didn't surprise me as I had been around the car checking all connectors/grounds etc.

So the event was idling car just shut off. Starter fluid fires up. Checked all the usual suspects. Turned key and no starter.

Summer is when I drive it the least so its a good time to send it off or someone do it here. Good hearing from you.

Wires picture-BLK/ORANGE AND A SOLID BROWN unplugged
The right side has wired to it and the yellow jumper that runs across.

[dn010]

You can get a 909 fuel pump for under $30 on ebay to get you running in the meantime, provided you can get someone to install it for you while you're unable.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/164582882350?

[JIMJAM]

Thanks for the reply.... Most park their cars during the winter but here during the summer I drive it maybe 1-2x a week just to keep the car happy.

All I have done is peel of the pump rubber cover and look at the wiring. Looks very good. Not prepared to take it past that and get into the gas.
I might have done it wrong but I jumped the rpm relay/ign ON and check the +- terminals on the pump. I didn't get a reading.

[dn010]

The no power situation has happened to me once in the past and it was those lovely bulk connectors DMC used that corrode, it was located in the washer bottle box but you can retrieve it without pulling the box. Of course, verify you're testing it correctly first. Use a solid ground and then test the + post of the pump.

[JIMJAM]

Pulled all of the plugs passenger front engine bay, ran a round file gently in the o and spray out with elec cleaner. Same with the coil/ballast/connectors.....
I use bitsy's rpm relay but swapped it with a original and nothing...

[dn010]

I didn't mean bulkhead, I meant bulk as in the connector has like 20 pins and there are, if my memory is fine, two of them under the washer bottle box but again you can pull the wiring out without taking the box down. A lot of water likes to sit in that box if you don't have drain holes drilled or if the holes you did drill are filled with dirt.

[JIMJAM]

Car hasn't been wet in 10 years. Rain, washing or otherwise. Garage and fair weather car.
Took the washer bottle out long ago. That grounding area was taken apart yesterday, sanded contacts and cleaned. Super clean underbody and engine compartment.
That said.... I have hit bumps and things turn off. Hit another and things turn own. Hope thats the issue......

[Ron]

Tried calling you a few times months ago and also email. My phone has never worked well if at all getting to you up there. The emails... well not sure where they end up.

I am at the point where I simply cannot get under or lean over the car. My list was replacing the clutch master c and possible slave which I have. Some slight leakage at the pedal but the tank is contaminated with black fragments.

The car shutting off while idling surprised me. If it IS the fuel pump, I am game to install the DMC system but looks like they are been out of stock a long time. The starter stopping didn't surprise me as I had been around the car checking all connectors/grounds etc.

So the event was idling car just shut off. Starter fluid fires up. Checked all the usual suspects. Turned key and no starter.

Summer is when I drive it the least so its a good time to send it off or someone do it here. Good hearing from you.

Wires picture-BLK/ORANGE AND A SOLID BROWN unplugged
The right side has wired to it and the yellow jumper that runs across.
If anything at all electrical works (?) turn the key on and see if the AC blower works.
If it does, see if the AC blower motor breaker (the one on the Right in the pic) has four Brown wires going to it. If only three, note the loose Brown wire's terminal end is mangled/broke. Try touching it to the unused terminal on the Right breaker. (It feeds the blower and starter relay). Be careful! - Brown wires are hot at all times and some are unfused. If you don't hear the pump run (50/50 chance), have a helper turn the key to start.
If no luck, the loose Brown wire could be the feed for fuse #7 instead. (It's missing in your fuse block. It feeds the Lambda Relay & RPM Relay=>fuel pump.) You can check that by hooking a volt meter to Battery (-) and terminal 30 of the RPM relay (Red circle below). It should show ~12V (key on/off).

66259

P.S. I'll call you in the morning ;-)

[JIMJAM]

I have 2 appointments tomorrow and will be gone until the evening.
Thanks for the advice and I will stare at it later and try to track this down.

[DaraSue]

Obvious question is obvious, but you checked the battery cables for corrosion too, right? I had a nearly-out-of-the-blue total electrical failure a couple years ago (car was running normally and then nothing happened when I tried to start after a 5-minute stop at the bus station, only warning was that it had inexplicably died while idling for a smog check about an hour earlier) and the culprit was a corroded negative battery cable.

While that was going on I was able to get the car started with starter fluid and drive several miles but it died again when I exited the freeway 5 miles from my house. :ohcrap:

[DMC-Ron]

Also obvious (and you may have already checked), is the inertia switch. Unless you have bypassed the fuel pump ground thru the switch, it can prevent the pump from running. Could it have gotten bumped?

Ron

[Ron]

Good ideas, especially if there are two separate issues!

Also, I seem to remember it is equipped with a battery cut-off that was prone to shaking loose.

[JIMJAM]

Heading out the door but the bat cut off was removed for that reason. Over time "6 years old" the red top's drain over night got worse and worse but I have kept it going by trickle charging. Going to have it tested and or replaced asap.

I have never previously pulled or disconnected the inertia sw until days ago AFTER the car turned off and will not start. I pulled up the plunger thingie and pressed it back in. No luck so I then pulled it off, checked the connectors "good" and stuck it back in.

I cannot recall when the issue went from turning over and assuming no fuel because a hit of str fluid brought it to life to also losing the starter but I "assume" it was when I did a full car ground/ wire check.
Also, I cannot imagine wires falling off as in the picture but I have seen stranger things. Again, IIRC the right side as in the pic "drivers" breaker has 3 wires most striped and the left has only one.

Back later. I might be the one going in for repairs instead of my car so fingers crossed.

[JIMJAM]

I am back.
Seems a almost 30 year old kinetic injury has came back to haunt me requiring what amounts to a borescope ran in my wrist, up my arm and into my heart.
This is the 3rd time.
I would rather replace 6 Delorean window motors, answer 300 non stop questions asking "You gotta flux capacitor?, and dump chili into the valley of death and spoon eat it.

[Ron]

You have the odd early wiring...
Put the loose Black with Red stripe wire on either of the top two terminals of the left breaker.
Put the loose solid Brown wire on the empty terminal on the top of the right breaker.

[DMCMW Dave]

You have the odd early wiring...
Put the loose Black with Red stripe wire on either of the top two terminals of the left breaker.
Put the loose solid Brown wire on the empty terminal on the top of the right breaker.

Hmmm - Ron - we might have to do an intervention . . Columbia isn't all that unreasonably far from North GA or Greenville. . . . . .

[JIMJAM]

I learned to NEVER say "I found the problem" but I think we found the problem.

After sorting the wires in the picture we moved up the chain up to the =- terminals into the fuel pump. Nothing..... But then as my flashlight rolled into the wires the fuel pump came ALIVE.

The -= wires go a few inches and are crimped. I don't like crimped but yesterday I squeezed them hard and they felt solid. I suspect a cold solder, crap wire.

That would also explain the "bucking" I was sometimes getting when I really got on the gas from a dead stop. Just the movement was cause to pump to turn off for a micro second.

Tomorrow going to redo the crimps, replace the wires and get a new Optima battery.

I need a red led light that died on my pass side door facing the rear.

At any rate, you guys, this forum are invaluable to us. Once sorted and I ready to put a good bit into the car. Considering new exhaust, ac overhaul, brakes, clutch the works and just overall go through the car and make everything right. Brakes, clutch...... Jim

Dave......You moving to SC? Let me know when and I would like to meet you in person. Here is a recent pic. I need to get some sun and build up my cardio.

[DMCMW Dave]

Dave......You moving to SC? Let me know when and I would like to meet you in person.

Closed today on the house in Illinois. Closing in SC on May 14. It will take a while to get settled in. I have one problem to deal with, we're downsizing considerably and I don't think the new neighbors would appreciate a twin-post lift in the middle of the driveway.

[JIMJAM]

I live on Lake Murray Irmo not far off the interstate. I think there is a new Delorean owner nearby as I seem to told by people they saw me in a dozen places.
Greenville has great weather. My parents are as we speak up at the Biltmore Estate. You must visit it at least once. Magical place. Largest home in the US and former Vanderbilt owned iirc.

[Michael]

Closed today on the house in Illinois. Closing in SC on May 14. It will take a while to get settled in. I have one problem to deal with, we're downsizing considerably and I don't think the new neighbors would appreciate a twin-post lift in the middle of the driveway.

New neighbors don't appreciate many of the things I do, but they do learn to accept them.

[JIMJAM]

I have played guitar since a teen and survived the 80s hair band era.

Even now at 56, when I play music the neighbors listen also. They must like it because one threw a brick through my window so he could hear it better.

[Ron]

Hmmm - Ron - we might have to do an intervention . . Columbia isn't all that unreasonably far from North GA or Greenville. . . . . .
Hehe, he almost had me talked into it. I made the trip once before years ago (wife and I...had a blast. It was so hot that Jim didn't need a stove to cook the bacon.) But I think we got everything working (including the blower) by connecting the (odd) wiring as above, except for the pump. He seems to have found the problem from his last post...but you never know!

P.S. Hats off...!

==========

Jim, if you haven't already, check that the terminals/blades aren't loose on the pump...Some have weak rivets.

[JIMJAM]

Update
After a 3 hr chasing down wires and isolating power we got to the pump itself. From my extensive records it shows I replaced it 8 years ago and was one of John's later pumps. It has always had 2 wires pos/neg with eyelets which run to crimps and then on under the spare tire area. They have never been a issue and giving them a tug felt secure. Well when I put a specific lateral twist to one wire at the pump sprang to life. Release the pressure and pump dies. :jawdrop:
I cut out the crimp and temp twisted the wires together and the car started first turn.
So now I am back to the 1/2 dozen things on my need to do list but she is running and as we know nothing is worse than a old car sitting.

So to add to my list of Delorean wisdom learned the hard way....

Clean your grounds. All 344 thousand, two hundred and seventy eight of them.
If it ain't broke don't mess with it.
Do things one at a time and check for changes before moving on.
And the latest addition. Get rid of CRIMPS as soon as you can.
I don't care how hard you crimp and have stories about how long yours has worked, you are one pothole away from trouble. At a minimum, twist wires, solder and put on twist on connector.
Be especially tidy and don't skimp on the ballast. Basically ANY wire that if the connection comes loose will cause the engine to stop needs to be well done. I recall a older issue where my car would not start and I threw money at it only to later see that the brown wire on the rpm relay had push out the back when I plugged it in after cleaning.

Now on to a master c replacement, fluid and brake bleed. I cannot do this on my own now.
A/C recharge and a issue I thought was due to the fuel pump wire. 1-2ND gear under heavy acceleration the car bucks. Not every time and I really have to bury the pedal.
Thanks to all who replied.:)

[David T]

I agree wholeheartedly about not trusting the crimped type connectors, especially if they are subject to weather. They are subject to corrosion. The only ones I have seen that are better are wirenuts with silicone goo but they are a NONO for automotive applications. I like solder and heat-shrink tubing but it is a fiddly job and takes a bit of time but it is the only way to insure a permanent repair.

[Dickey]

I live on Lake Murray Irmo not far off the interstate. I think there is a new Delorean owner nearby as I seem to told by people they saw me in a dozen places.


I think that guy has been around for a few years. Every time I had mine out at Tobacco Merchant or British Bulldog, I kept hearing about another one owned by a doctor/dentist in the Ascot subdivision. Never met the guy though. I know I've seen one with dark wheels, that you weren't driving, pedaling around Harbison a few times over the years. A few weeks back there was a dark wheeled one up at Pro Auto on Bush River Rd getting an alignment. I assumed it wasn't yours because I thought you were out on the Lexington side of the lake.

[JIMJAM]

If you cross the dam towards Irmo and take a left I am just up that road. I have a early Delorean with dark wheels and 1-2x a week will drive it across the dam and back. When the temps everyday hover in the 90s I rarely drive it. The car loves the cold but summertime and heat brings out all it's issues. Right now I am trying to find how to recharge the a/c which I have done but forget.