The jury is still in deliberations...

[Jonathan]

A handful of things have come up that some/many owners believe or subscribe to and others do not. Some are related to potential failure modes on our cars while others are more of a cosmetic/less functional nature. There does not seem to typically be a pile of documented history on these issues, nor known failures related to each. At least not a lot of statistics made public anyway.

I had been keeping a running total in my head, but putting pen to paper, these are the ones that come to mind:

- Original plastic coolant bottle should be replaced with a metal one as the plastic one is prone to failure.
- Fuse block cover should be removed and kept off to allow heat to dissipate.
- Original TABs are a known failure point and should be replaced and/or inspected frequently. Strength properties of the NLA Toby TABs are preference #1 for replacements.
- Air deflector plates underneath vehicle should be removed as they provide no benefit.

- Also potentially on a similar list would be the question of whether DeLoreans get stolen much or very often?

- And water cooler debates on what type of oil to use in the engine, what octane fuel should be used, whether you should/shouldn't bother having a fire extinguisher in the car with you, and how to store your car for winter.

Others?

[Iznodmad]

-Prime fuel pump with key before starting vs starting like any other car on the planet.

-place rubber tubing between torsion bar and rear hinge of door to prevent scoring of torsion bar. Also welding of broken torsion bars.

-don't "bounce" the doors (over torqued bars or improper strut power) or drive with doors open.

-Unplug door lock module power if all original to prevent solenoid "frying".

-Don't pull yourself out of the car by top
Edge of windshield or pushing off of steering wheel when exiting.

-don't jump start auto trans car, fear of governor damage due to electrical spike.

-dashmat use and browning or purple discoloration of grey interiors.

-What to do with rear tires in the case of a blowout and all things to do with spare tire use.

Are
These the types of things you were thinking of? Probably outside the scope of this thread to actually discuss the individual
Items themselves. But the very nature of this thread could lead to off topic discussions. Is the purpose just to brainstorm certain potential dogma versus reality?

[WelmoedJ]

Some more:

- Remove heat riser and replace by cold air intake hose (wax valve in heat riser doesn't always close properly allowing hot air to mix with cold air on an operational temperature engine).

- Replace the standard coolant by G12+ (designed for engines with light alloy engine blocks; less maintenance means longer intervals between changes, better freezing protection).

- Enforce the LCA so lateral travel (e.g. while braking) will be less and handling is better.

* On replacing of the original cooling system bottle: I prefer the metal (SS) version, but DMC EU has a reproduction plastic bottle for those who like to stay close to the factory design.

* On the air deflector plates: they belong to the car for whatever reason so leave them where they are.

* On fuel octane number: the car seems to be designed for what is now Octane 95 (in Europe Euro 95). My car ran - while in the USA - like crap on octane numbers below that 95.
Of course you can compensate by changing the ignition advance, but....

* On (long time, e.g. winter) storage: with the increasing ethanol percentage in fuel it's wise to see which preservation should be taken (draining or additive) to make sure your car will survive the wintersleep without issues. There is sufficient advise on this and other fora to combine into one winter advise.

* On fire extinquishers: yes, they are very usefull and if the user knows what to do and how to use it, can limit the damage caused by fire.
On the other hand I've always been told that a fire extinguisher is to be used ONLY fighting fires in other cars, not in your own car (hidden damages by fire often show up long after the insurance company has settled the damage).

[Jonathan]

These the types of things you were thinking of? Probably outside the scope of this thread to actually discuss the individual
Items themselves. But the very nature of this thread could lead to off topic discussions. Is the purpose just to brainstorm certain potential dogma versus reality?

Good ads to the list from both of you! You're right about the thread getting way off in the weeds in tangent discussions... definitely could be a lot of side discussions on pros and cons of each of these.

Funny you asked what the purpose of the thread was... I was trying to think of what that was when I wrote it! :) It might have been brainstorming, but could also have been sort of an "airing of grievances" a la Festivus style.

The main one that hasn't sat well with me has always been the TABs one. And not because it is or isn't a good idea to inspect your car or be conscious of weak points, it was because of the whole "urban legend" type failure stories that went with it. If any of these suggestions came with documented examples where this happened, great, but so few of them do. Kind in tune with not liking to spread gossip on your neighborhood street. This, to me, is kind of car gossip.

So, yea, maybe the thread was partly going to focus on safety/reliability failures or maintenance rather than the other stuff... but then I threw in the oil, gas, silly ones :)

... haha... just thought of another... how about the whole don't use WD40 mindset?? I mean in the locks that is... or, as a cleaner too for that matter :D

[Dangermouse]

If in doubt I subscribe to - WWDD. :approve:

[nullset]

Some more:
* On fuel octane number: the car seems to be designed for what is now Octane 95 (in Europe Euro 95). My car ran - while in the USA - like crap on octane numbers below that 95.


I don't believe this is correct. Last I saw on this forum, here in the US, octane 87 is what the car was designed for (low octane). I don't recall how that compares to European octane numbers, though.

[TheSmokingMan]

As far as TAB's go, if they are in good shape, I don't see a reason to replace them, just inspect them regularly. If they are bent like mine were, they should be replaced immediately. With the obvious risk of catastrophic failure, I don't think it's something to take lightly, nor do I think it's something to spend a lot of time worrying about.

[WelmoedJ]

I don't believe this is correct. Last I saw on this forum, here in the US, octane 87 is what the car was designed for (low octane). I don't recall how that compares to European octane numbers, though.

Octane numbers are a standard the world over.
No different values between the old and the new world ;)

The engine is a European engine and it was designed for the then available European octane numbers.
In the sixties octane numbers were often not mentioned on the gas stations.
We only had standard/regular and super gas.
However injection systems were designed to use lead free fuel.
Standard and super fuel at the time were both leaded, there were special pumps for unleaded.
I can't recall the actual octane number, but presumably (because of mainly 4 cylinder, small ccm engines) it obviously had higher octane numbers tha the USA.

[nullset]

Octane numbers are a standard the world over.
No different values between the old and the new world ;)

If only t'were true.....


Anti-Knock Index (AKI)[edit source | editbeta]
In most countries, including Australia and all of those in Europe, the "headline" octane rating shown on the pump is the RON, but in Canada, the United States, Brazil, and some other countries, the headline number is the average of the RON and the MON, called the Anti-Knock Index (AKI, and often written on pumps as (R+M)/2). It may also sometimes be called the Pump Octane Number (PON).
Difference between RON and AKI[edit source | editbeta]
Because of the 8 to 10 point difference noted above, the octane rating shown in Canada and the United States is 4 to 5 points lower than the rating shown elsewhere in the world for the same fuel. This difference is known as the fuel's sensitivity,[4] and is not typically published for those countries that use the Anti-Knock Index labelling system.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Octane_rating

[WelmoedJ]

If only t'were true.....


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Octane_rating

Again something learned!
Some like to change standards and create a difference.
It's like in the novel Watership Down: "all animals are eqaul, but some are more equal" ;)