How to maintain your Delorean for less than $500 a year and put 10,000 miles on it

[DMC5180]

I just got off the phone with the radiator guy. He said it is ready and its going to be $87.50 plus tax. I plan on picking it up tomorrow and I will update this thread with the total cost including radiator repair, anti freeze, distilled water, and tax.

Please post photos of the repair. I don't expect it to be perfect by any means. More curious to see what they were able to do with it.

[stevedmc]

Repair #1 (Radiator Leak) - January 7, 2012 - 44,079 Miles - Total Cost: $117.83 (including tax)


Removed leaking radiator and brought it to a shop for repair. I reinstalled the repaired radiator with Walmart brand coolant and distilled water. It took about 3 gallons to refill the system and I have about one gallon left which I will carry in trunk.

Cost for Radiator Repair: $95.50
Cost for 2 gallons coolant and 2 gallons distilled water: $23.33

[David T]

You do not keep a car in "concours condition". Too costly and if you do enter into concours you will still have to replace many things. Some things you would do for concours you would not drive the car on, some examples would be tires, fan fail relay, and door lock module. You keep it as nice as you can without going nuts and in preparation for the concours you would clean it and replace any parts mostly because of appearance issues. The only way to keep a car in councours condition would be to drain all of the fluids and stick it in a glass case. Sound vaguely familiar? The larger the sample the more accurate the #'s. Following the expenses of one car of unknown initial condition will not yield useful results. The other big caveat is that you can save some money buying cross-over parts or used parts. Are all of the parts going to "correct"?
David Teitelbaum

[stevedmc]

Repair #1 (Radiator Leak) - January 7, 2012 - 44,079 Miles - Total Cost: $117.83 (including tax)

Well, I drove the thing about 50 miles today and guess what! There is a small drip of coolant at the bottom of the radiator!

I stopped at Autozone on my way home today and got a pressure tester. I rented it for free. I'm going to put about 15 lbs of pressure on it and see if I can see/hear where it is leaking. Please don't let it be a hose and not the radiator!

Repair #1 (Radiator Leak) - January 7, 2012 - 44,079 Miles - Total Cost: $117.83 (including tax)

Apparently it was just a loose hose going into the radiator. I moved a clamp, tightened it back on, and everything seems to be fine. I'm going to leave the system under pressure for a little while to see if the leak happens again.

[Dracula]

Very interesting thread here. I picked my car up from DMCMW in June, when I returned from Iraq, and my expenses in 6 months of near-daily driving were a new alternator and one fuel line, So I expect you to meet your goal.

[stevedmc]

Total expenses to date: $142.77

Repair #1 (Radiator Leak) - January 7, 2012 - 44,079 Miles - Total Cost: $117.83 (including tax)
Repair #2 (Radiator Leak) - January 15, 2012 - 44,386 Miles - Total Cost: $7.40 (including tax)
Repair #3 (Replaced windshield wipers) - January 15, 2012 - 44,386 Miles - Total Cost: $17.54 (including tax)




Apparently tightening the clamps didn't fix my small coolant leak. I noticed a small drip coming from the hose again. I ended up replacing the hose going into the radiator, and I added a two extra clamps to the hose just to make sure everything is snug. I replaced the small section of hose with a section of spare hose I had laying around the house. I did the math and if I would have purchased it I would have paid $4.79 (with tax) for 5 inches of hose. I did purchase two clamps today. Those clamps cost me a total of $2.61 (with tax).

Since I was in a spending mood today I also purchased new Bosch #20 windshield wipers. I purchased them at Walmart for a whopping $7.97 each (plus tax).

[stevedmc]

Total expenses to date: $167.2316

Expense #1 (Radiator Leak) - January 7, 2012 - 44,079 Miles - Total Cost: $117.83 (including tax)
Expense #2 (Radiator Leak) - January 15, 2012 - 44,386 Miles - Total Cost: $7.40 (including tax)
Expense #3 (Replaced windshield wipers) - January 15, 2012 - 44,386 Miles - Total Cost: $17.54 (including tax)
Expense #4 (Oil Change) - January 21, 2012 - 44,643 Miles - Total Cost: $24.4616 (including tax)




Today I changed the oil with 7 gallons of Supertech 20W50 from Wal-Mart ($19.47 with tax) and a Bosch oil filter from Hervey ($4.9916 - It was part of a 6 pack I ordered last year for $29.95).

[robvanderveer]

So within a month you've already covered one 3rd of your yearly budget.

[stevedmc]

So within a month you've already covered one 3rd of your yearly budget.

Last year the lady at the inspection station caused my radiator problem. The radiator is the majority of the expense so far. I will meet my goal, even with this obstacle.

[jawn101]

...7 gallons of Supertech 20W50 from Wal-Mart

I think you may have overfilled.