Sometimes you've just gotta hit the road!

I had a few people ask me to post a notice here. I am hitting the road on a tour around the USA in my Mom's
DeLorean. The trip started today and I am already looking for your support. I had the battery poop out on me yesterday and after a jump it was fine and charging. This morning when I left I noticed the voltage was at 10.5. I turned the key off and on and it was back at 13 volts. The alternator is a new one from Hervey I bought last year. To me it feels like a relay and looking at the diagram it would be the main one maybe. Any suggestions? If you want to follow the road trip, I am blogging it at HaveDeLoreanWillTravel.com. I am presently headed out to West Texas to Ft Davis and McDonald Observatory, after that I am off to New Mexico and maybe Colorado depending on the fires up there. I hope you enjoy it.

Ian

Did your alternator light come on when you saw 10 volts. If not, you have and intermittent connection or bulb in that warning circuit. I think you can change the bulb without pulling things apart. But check the connection (wire in the plug) at the alternator.

Man, the plot gets thicker with your car everyday! Did Phillipe get you squared on the LC-1? This could be an expensive road trip! Then again, plan it right and maybe you can leap frog from Delorean owner's house to Delorean owner's house and string together 2 months worth of tech sessions and get all the bugs out!

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Originally Posted by Bitsyncmaster

Did your alternator light come on when you saw 10 volts. If not, you have and intermittent connection or bulb in that warning circuit. I think you can change the bulb without pulling things apart. But check the connection (wire in the plug) at the alternator.

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No the light did not come on. I will check the connection at the alternator. Thanks for the suggestion.

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Originally Posted by Bitsyncmaster

Did your alternator light come on when you saw 10 volts. If not, you have and intermittent connection or bulb in that warning circuit. I think you can change the bulb without pulling things apart. But check the connection (wire in the plug) at the alternator.

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That was it. The light gave up on me. Fixed it and I'm back in business.

His blog can be found at www.havedeloreanwilltravel.com

I spoke to Ian yesterday. He was close to Yuma. Today he plans to be in San Diego.

Does he plan to visit the upper Midwest On the Great Circle tour of the US. Would love to meet up with him for Beer N Brat's and share D stories if the Timing is Right.

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Originally Posted by DMC5180

[SNIP]

Would love to meet up with him for Beer N Brat's and share D stories if the Timing is Right.

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I think the timing must be right. Otherwise, he would probably have less performance, poor gas mileage, and black carbon out the exhaust, and probably would want to get it fixed before continuing his trip.....

What? You don't mean the DeLorean's timing? Oh! Ooooooooooops, nevermind ! :)

(Sorry, couldn't resist! I was going to make a BTTF joke about TIME-ing, but I figured the mods would ban me for sure this time).

...

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Originally Posted by DMC5180

Does he plan to visit the upper Midwest On the Great Circle tour of the US. Would love to meet up with him for Beer N Brat's and share D stories if the Timing is Right.

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I do plan to Roos the top of the US so let me know where you are. I should be there mid August sometime.

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Originally Posted by citizen

Sorry, couldn't resist! I was going to make a BTTF joke about TIME-ing, but I figured the mods would ban me for sure this time.

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"This time"??? I'll have to check into that -- I thought Steve was the only one on the short list.

Hey, where in the world is Ian?

He's out there, somewhere! But we haven't heard from him in almost a month. He's in our Texas club, but I haven't heard any of the Texas members mention his whereabouts. Shannon, aren't YOU supposed to be keeping track of him? Anybody?

IAN, WHERE ARE YOU? Time to check in, bud.

Thomas

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At his last photo in the blog where you can see the wind turbines in the distance on top of that mesa, my dad and I were there just two years ago on our trip. He took this on my camera while I was driving. Those wind turbines were everywhere. We saw a few that weren't moving.

Attachment 12289

I think Ian is in Vancouver BC right now. He should be back in the lower 48 any day now.

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Originally Posted by lazabby

I think Ian is in Vancouver BC right now. He should be back in the lower 48 any day now.

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Where's Ian?

Two months later ... any update?

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Originally Posted by Rich W

Where's Ian?

Two months later ... any update?

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He was in Europe and was suppose to return last weekend. I've tried calling him in the last couple of days but haven't been able to reach him. Perhaps he met a French madamoiselle?

Europe??

Aahh. Did he get the new iphone 5 with Apple Maps?

The plan was to stop by my place this weekend to get his dome light unit working. I emailed him last night but no reply yet. Maybe he did get the i-phone 5.

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Originally Posted by Bitsyncmaster

The plan was to stop by my place this weekend to get his dome light unit working. I emailed him last night but no reply yet. Maybe he did get the i-phone 5.

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Dave, while you're at it, please take a look at the Megasquirt and EFI and see if you can figure out anything regarding the questions we've had.

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Originally Posted by lazabby

He was in Europe and was suppose to return last weekend. I've tried calling him in the last couple of days but haven't been able to reach him. Perhaps he met a French madamoiselle?

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Europe?!?



...and now, a pictorial log update of what may have happened.... by Michael Cole


<scratching sound> scratch, scratch, scratch, scratch </scratching sound>

POOF! A hint of bright light finally hits Ian's eyes after traveling oh-so-far for soo very very long.

http://wespenre.com/graphics/light-a...nnel032111.jpg



He decides to take a look for himself.

http://www.cryosites.com/shared/img/h/hole_nnfsm.jpeg

Ian: "FINALLY! Texas! The LONE STAR STATE! Where the stars at night are BIG and bright!!!"

Ian dusts himself off, takes in a deep breath, looks to the left, then looks to the right.... and notices this:


http://www.visitingdc.com/images/big-ben-picture.jpg


Ian scratches his head, goes back down and pulls up his map...


http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-xlvAKWzBkJ...mexico-map.gif


Ian: "Hmmmm...."


Ian studies his map further....



http://www.centerforneighborhoods.or...tudyingMap.jpg



Maybe I should have taken that right turn at Albuquerque!!"



http://bloodofkittens.com/rantinemin...heend031_0.jpg

He is in Maine now. Now the plan is to stop by my house next week.

I need to keep up better. From what I've read, he left Texas, when through NM, then to CA, then to Vancouver BC, then to Europe, then to Maine, all the while driving his DeLorean. Something's not right here.

Wow, I knew the latest models could fly, but geez!

...

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Originally Posted by citizen

I need to keep up better. From what I've read, he left Texas, when through NM, then to CA, then to Vancouver BC, then to Europe, then to Maine, all the while driving his DeLorean. Something's not right here.

Wow, I knew the latest models could fly, but geez!

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I wasn't sure how Europe fit in their either... lol

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Originally Posted by Mike

I wasn't sure how Europe fit in their either... lol

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1 - park at airport
2 - get on plane

Ian showed up today. Turns out his LED dome lights have capacitors on them. Ian said they are supper bright units not polarity sensitive. Why they have caps is a question. All you would need to make them work both ways are some diodes. Anyway we got it working by adding two resistors over the front dome light but they do not dim off normally. The dimming looks very quick. So do not use those LEDs with my dome unit.

We also charged his AC. He has a slow leak but it took a little more than one can to charge.

I looked over the wiring of his EFI ecu and could not see any problems. Really need a lot of time using a Oscope to find the noise issue.

His cruse control is also giving problems. I suggested you use shielded wire for the speed pickup coil (the magnet sensor).

Hopefully Ian was able to use the "EFI gaze of hypnoticizm" to pull you (Dave M.) over to the dark side of EFI!!!!!!!!!!!! With all of the control that we can have over fueling levels and spark timing, it is an electronics gageteer's wonderland! The issue seems to be one of figuring out why our little cars pollute the Megasquirt units in some cases but not others.

I'm running as contented as a clam buried in the warm mud of a nudist beach, but poor Ian and Shannon are having issues with their newer 3.57 boards. Figure out what is giving them their problems and we have a stock-looking, ready to go EFI upgrade for any Delorean owner out there that wants to dump their K-jet or carb.

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Originally Posted by Spittybug

... EFI upgrade for any Delorean owner out there that wants to dump their K-jet or carb.

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Fortunately carburetion is as happy as a clam buried in the warm mud of a nudist beach with any/all DeLorean wiring so there's no reason to dump it, no matter how badly PO'd your car may be (all you need is ignition and 12v to the choke heater -- the rest of the electrical system is optional).

Ian is still having alternator issues. I tested that the alternator case was grounded to the engine block, it was OK. His voltage will jump around mostly when the AC kicks on or off. No battery charge light comes on but both the dash gauge and real voltage bounce from normal 14 to 12.5 volts rapidly.

Dave, I was hoping you'd be able to waive the magic wand and solve the EFI mystery. I guess it'll have to be the wizards at Megasquirt in GA. My bet is that there's an issue with the box and not the car.

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Originally Posted by Bitsyncmaster

Ian is still having alternator issues. I tested that the alternator case was grounded to the engine block, it was OK. His voltage will jump around mostly when the AC kicks on or off. No battery charge light comes on but both the dash gauge and real voltage bounce from normal 14 to 12.5 volts rapidly.

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Clean the bulkhead feed-throughs and the ground below the header bottle.

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Originally Posted by lazabby

Dave, I was hoping you'd be able to waive the magic wand and solve the EFI mystery. I guess it'll have to be the wizards at Megasquirt in GA. My bet is that there's an issue with the box and not the car.

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That's my thought also. The VR input circuit needs to have more ability to deal with minor voltage variations.

Ian got his alternator fixed by replacing the plug going to it with a new one. Maybe it will fix some of the noise issues.