DCS ride home

[Bitsyncmaster]

Had an interesting ride home.

The Good News:
Left at 6:15 am so did not need my AC then. At about 10:00 am the sun was heating things up so I set the AC to MAX and used fan speed 1. But that was to cold so I had to keep shutting it off. On the way out I had problems running NORM at low speeds and think it iced up. But today I was getting 32 degrees from the center vent and even all the way home the max vent temp was 38 deg on fan speed 2. Even that was to cold so I had to point the vents away from me.

I also got a real good MPG of 28.63
My measured miles were 994 miles (total was another 150 miles but I did not fill up yet).
Total gallons filled were 34.72

The Bad News:
I hit a pot hole so hard it jumped out of 5th gear and I hear a grinding noise. That really scared the shi….out of me but I finally got it back into gear and all was good.

Then I got on the beltway.

(I-495 is an 8 lane highway that encircles Washington DC. Know by locales as the Beltway. Four lanes go clockwise around DC called the iner loop. The other 4 go counter clockwise called the outer loop. So depending where you get onto I-495 you can not depend on north, south, east and west to know which loop you need.)

At the place where there is always traffic backup (near the Mormon temple) I was in traffic moving 5 mph to 10 mph so I was doing a lot of shifting. Then my engine died. It would not start. I was directly across from the accident on the other side (outer loop) which is why my side (inner loop) was backing up (rubber necking). Anyway, all I could do was turn on my four way flashers and wait for the cops. Could not open any doors since traffic was going by both sides (was in lane beside far left). So finaly some of the cops saw me and yelled “are you stuck”. I say yes and need help. So four of the cops jump the center cement wall and stop the inner loop traffic so they could push me off to the shoulder. One cop first asked “did your flux capacitor go bad”. Then when I was pushed onto the shoulder the same cop yelled “do you want me to call Doc Brown”.

So first thing I did was take the air cleaner off and press the air plate to see if I had fuel pressure. It felt normal so I put the air cleaner back on and tried to start it again. Still no start but I saw the tach was not moving when it was cranking. So I installed a spare ignition ECU and that got it running normal. The ECU I was using was one I modified a long time ago replacing the output transistor with a 300 volt MOSFET. I guess I should have used a 400 volt MOSFET. I will just keep running the stock ECU since I don’t want to stall like that again.

[JRNY13]

Glad everything worked out for you in the end. That can be a nerve wracking experience. Nice to see the cops can have a sense of humor. Question: Are you running R12?

[jmettee]

Yeesh, that sucks! Glad nothing happened while you were stranded.

For comparison, I had 6 fill ups along the trip using 89 octane due to my cams & timing set at 17 deg. There were frequent fillups mainly due to the caravan we were in & stopping more often & just filling up 'while we were there'.

My trip was 997 miles round trip & pretty much ran 70-75 mph on the interstates for 98% of the trip. For the 6 tanks, I had a low of 25.6 & a high of 29.9. The average for the trip was 27.0 MPG. Not bad for a 33 year old "sports" car! Awesome trip!

[Mike F]

Yikes! That IS an interesting ride home. Glad you ended up getting it going again.

On a side note, it was nice to finally meet you in person this weekend!

[Rich_NYS]

Wow, that sucks...glad it turned out OK.

My speedometer broke before I left the parking lot, but everything else held together. A/C was A-OK all the way home.

Good to meet you, BTW!

[PB Co]

What a terrifying place to be stuck. Glad it worked out ok.

[Bitsyncmaster]

I'm running R-134. It's been flushed a few times. I think it's finally clean and working it's best.

[Jonathan]

Wow, glad it all ended well Dave. I had a little adventure on the way home and wanted to mention it here if that's ok. It sort of sounded similar because of how relieved I was when the flashing blue lights of the trooper's car pulled up. Boy, I hope there isn't so many of us with stories that we need an "official DCS ride home adventure" thread!!!

I think I was only on the road for 30 minutes and was still just at the top of the Dayton city limits and on I75 North. I swear about a millisecond before it happened I thought to myself, "man, the car feels great!"

The initial thing that happened or I noticed was pressing on the gas pedal wasn't keeping the car at speed. I got thinking it was throttle spool related as I have been fiddling with adjustments or what not for a sticking throttle at times. The car keeps slowing down and so I make my way to the shoulder (I was thankfully already in the right lane). As I just about got stopped, I pass a sign right there that says "emergency stopping only." Ok, yea, check.

So here I am on the side of the interstate on the shoulder that is just about as wide as the car. The driver's side is only about a foot or so from the edge of the highway and the passenger side is right near the edge of the grass and guard rail. And the transports are going by at 60 mph and I'm thinking there's a real chance one could get killed right here. All of a sudden that expression "don't panic" keeps going through my mind.

Car is shut off, saw the battery light come on but no other warning lights. I get out when it was safe (there wasn't that many cars yet as it was Sunday morning) and look in the engine bay and under the engine for anything I can see. Nothing obvious and I think I focused on the throttle spool as this was what came to mind after playing with it recently. I check the fuse relay area for any signs of trouble there doesn't look to be any.

I got back in and tried to start it. No luck. You also couldn't hear anything with how loud the highway is so troubleshooting gets trickier cause you won't hear whether certain things are buzzing or running.

At that point I am still trying to run through what might be next all the while literally repeating to myself "don't panic" and "you can do this" oh, and, "try not to get killed." Then I see the puddle of gas under the front. Ok, let's have a look.

So here I am taking all of my Tetris puzzle packing of things out of the trunk and putting them down on the grass beside the car to get at the pump area. Spare tire comes out and I fumble with my universal screw driver to get the access cover's 10 screws off. Those screw drivers are great but total crap in a rush compared to your proper ones at home in the garage.

When I get the cover off, I realize that the fuel hose replacement I did month's ago (replacing the orange hoses we've talked about) left the clamp on the pressure side going to the hard line not tight enough. It wasn't completely off, but the hose had wiggled free enough to spray fuel out instead of down to the engine.

It was at that time I saw what had happened and pretty much thankfully almost because the solution appeared to be relatively easily just tighten the clamp back up, that Ohio State Trooper Davis and his terrific blue flashing lights on his cruiser pull up behind me. What a relief. Not because he was going to help me replace a fuel line, but because of that law I now understand how important it is where if you see an emergency vehicle in the right lane you get the heck over or at least slow down.

So while his car was shielding us, I'm head first and waist deep in the trunk tightening clamps (from the passenger side!). He looked in while I started it and sure enough, no more leaks!! I did check it several more times that day and you can actually get a good view of it from the passenger wheel well so you don't need to keep emptying the trunk.

It almost turned into a nice moment as I was really thanking him for showing up. Just the reassurance a couple minutes into the breakdown that I wasn't going to get killed today. I chatted with him about the car a little, he asked if he could take a picture with his phone which of course I said no problem. And it was really a nice ending.

Pretty crazy moment that I bet wasn't more than 15 minutes. I get the stuff back in the car any way I can and go to the next exit 3 miles away and pull into a gas station to just relax for a few minutes and finish checking things back out. The rest of the 600 km back home was pretty great once I stopped wondering when it would go loose again. Not a nice thought thinking about what would have happened if I lose the gas pedal in one of those construction zones where there is no shoulder. I felt like there was something watching over me that day that's for sure :)

Great weekend guys. Really enjoyed talking to many of you I hadn't met before... Justin, Rich, Steve, Bill R., Josh, Chris Burns, Brandon, Patrick, Darren (congrats on the Best in Show award btw!!) and many, many others. Thanks for having me!!

[Bitsyncmaster]

You also couldn't hear anything with how loud the highway is so troubleshooting gets trickier cause you won't hear whether certain things are buzzing or running.

Exactly the problem on my adventure. Could not hear the fuel pump over the highway noise and even starting the engine, you had to use the Tach to see when it started.

[Andrew]

Hey Dave, glad to hear that the trip back was uneventful, aside from the pothole!

What AC condenser are you running in your car? I have a tube and fin in mine and couldn't get much better than 52 on the way home. I'm thinking of trying to find a used stock condenser or swapping to a parallel flow.

It was great meeting you and so many other DeLorean owners who attended this year!

Take care,

Andrew

[vps3922]

The ECU I was using was one I modified a long time ago replacing the output transistor with a 300 volt MOSFET. I guess I should have used a 400 volt MOSFET.

Does this mean that you will release a new version of your ECU?

[Bitsyncmaster]

Hey Dave, glad to hear that the trip back was uneventful, aside from the pothole!

What AC condenser are you running in your car? I have a tube and fin in mine and couldn't get much better than 52 on the way home. I'm thinking of trying to find a used stock condenser or swapping to a parallel flow.

It was great meeting you and so many other DeLorean owners who attended this year!

Take care,

Andrew

Still have original Condenser and evaporator. SD5H14 compressor, new hoses, accumulator and orifice (stock type).

I wish I could reference what the outside air temp was but that is less important when you run MAX because you just recycle the air in the cabin. What is important is how much sun your in. It was a clear sunny day all the drive home.

[Bitsyncmaster]

Does this mean that you will release a new version of your ECU?

The ECU that went bad was the ignition ECU. I have never sold any modified ignition ECUs.

[vps3922]

The ECU that went bad was the ignition ECU. I have never sold any modified ignition ECUs.

Ah, ok, I missed that.

[NightFlyer]

Glad that both Dave and Jonathan knew their cars well enough to be able to effectuate repairs on the side of the road to get them and their cars home safely :thumbup:

It was a true pleasure meeting both Dave and Jonathan at DCS - looking forward to seeing both of you again some day :smile: