Breakdowns

[williamsc47]

Hi again all

Here we are on the very depressing/annoying topic of breakdowns

Who has suffered them and how often, is it something that should be expected or can it be prevented...are these kinds of issues any worse than any other 30 year old car?

I guess this question also relates to reliability...can a Delorean be a reliable car? For my personal needs it would become my only car, but it wouldn't be needed for work because I am within walking distance. It would only be for social/domestic use but I would still like it to be pretty reliable.

How do you use your care and how confident are you in it's reliability?

Cheers

[Chris Williams]

Difficult one, My old 'D' never broke down, the one I have just got back on the road I'm not so sure about :wink: But I do think it's a combination of un-known car/lack of use that causes most breakdowns especially for DeLoreans. Lots of people have good/bad stories with them but there no different to any other classic, indeed I have had a busy weekend dealing with lots of different classic makes broken down at the roadside, most have/are just coming out for the first time this year. However I dont think a well maintained DeLorean/or any make is any more unreliable than any other car on the road. So long as you have good breakdown cover everything should be fine anyway (I can do you a good deal on that as well :wink: )
Chris

[williamsc47]

Chris Williams Wrote:Difficult one, My old 'D' never broke down, the one I have just got back on the road I'm not so sure about :wink: But I do think it's a combination of un-known car/lack of use that causes most breakdowns especially for DeLoreans. Lots of people have good/bad stories with them but there no different to any other classic, indeed I have had a busy weekend dealing with lots of different classic makes broken down at the roadside, most have/are just coming out for the first time this year. However I dont think a well maintained DeLorean/or any make is any more unreliable than any other car on the road. So long as you have good breakdown cover everything should be fine anyway (I can do you a good deal on that as well :wink: )
Chris

Thanks Chris

I guess what it's going to come down to, is getting a good one to begin with and keep it that way....essentially I already knew that...the trouble may be finding one when I am eventualy in a position to buy.

Guess I may have to contact you about breakdown cover one day, although sadly not for some time yet

[Rich Hanlon]

It also depends how you define reliability.

In terms of ' has my car ever left me stranded', then no, it hasn't, ever, in about 7 years and 15,000 miles.

If the question is 'has anything ever goen wrong with it', then yes, it has. (eg window motors packing up, stereo, air blower motor etc.) But nothing that meant I couldn't get home.

For some people the idea of any fault developing with their car is the end of the world, and they're off to the dealership for a brand new one; to more pragmatic people, sometimes cars have niggles you can live with, and are often fixable by the owner who isn't afraid to read up on the job, 'have a go', and get some oil under their fingernails from time to time! Basically, left = loose, right = tight, that's pretty much the basis of all of it

At the end of the day, waiting a hour for a breakdown man won't kill you, but to some people that's the end of the world!

[williamsc47]

Rich Hanlon Wrote:It also depends how you define reliability.

In terms of ' has my car ever left me stranded', then no, it hasn't, ever, in about 7 years and 15,000 miles.

If the question is 'has anything ever goen wrong with it', then yes, it has. (eg window motors packing up, stereo, air blower motor etc.) But nothing that meant I couldn't get home.

For some people the idea of any fault developing with their car is the end of the world, and they're off to the dealership for a brand new one; to more pragmatic people, sometimes cars have niggles you can live with, and are often fixable by the owner who isn't afraid to read up on the job, 'have a go', and get some oil under their fingernails from time to time! Basically, left = loose, right = tight, that's pretty much the basis of all of it

At the end of the day, waiting a hour for a breakdown man won't kill you, but to some people that's the end of the world!

Yeah, I am mainly refering to being stranded....other smaller problems I would not be so bothered with, even a break down once in a while wouldn't be too much of a problem just as long as it wasn't on a regular basis

I am the kind of person who would be willing to have a go at a repair myself but would be nervous about doing more harm than good. I hope I would get past that with some time and experience but I am looking at things in a worse case scenario basis where I would have to get most if not all work done for me.

[Guinney1971]

when my De has broken down, its always been for summat stupid, and to be fair, the RAC (sorry Chris)
have always been brilliant, come straight out to it and got me going again/recovered with the minimum
of fuss.

I had to call the RAC out 2yrs ago, on the way to the MOT, as it wouldn't start after I'd nipped into my
local Post Office.

A few checks with multimeter eventually showed that the fuse to the fuel pump had gone. I had a spare,
we fitted it, off I went again quite happily and its been fine since.

Prior to that, I had a coolant hose (30yr old original) explode at 70mph on the M1 - I was on my way to
Southend to have a new clutch fitted, and the RAC recovered me from J15 (Northampton) and took me
all the way to Southend, where the guy doing the clutch had a piece of hose to repair the car. When I
got it back home, I changed most of the hoses for silicone ones, although I have had a '90 degree' hose
split (near the coolant bottle) a few weeks ago, but the car was on the drive, and the local car parts shop
had a new hose and new clips for less then a tenner.

The only other problems I've had to call the car out for, were in its early days in the UK, when it suffered from
overheating issues due to a duff thermostat and laterly a poor radiator.

Compare this to my 'daily driver', which in the last few weeks has cost me over £1200 due to the clutch going
and the turbo going.

The De may have a thirsty liking for the 'motion lotion', but its been a lot cheaper to maintain and repair then my 7yr old
daily driver that I've only had since February.....

[Rich Hanlon]

Until such times as you can afford your delorean, why not buy youself a lower-value classic of a similar age to get a feel for reliability and get yourself some experience of looking after an older car as a daily driver?

I've just typed classic car into ebay and selected 19080-1982 and there's a huge range of stuff come up. And it won't depreciate if you look after it, it could be free motoring for you for a couple of years - don't let a few mpg difference make you think that running a new car depreciating overnight is cheap!

http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/Classic-Cars- ... 981%7C1980

[Rissy]

The only time LEX has ever let me down, was last year. On my way to Warwick castle car show. Driving along the motorway at 70mph, and then the engine suddenly cuts out.....had to coast over to the side of the motorway where there was no hard shoulder. Sat there for a few minutes, puzzled, and then tried the key again, and away she went again, no problem. Pulled off, on my way again, carefully, then got up to 5th gear again, 70mph again, 2 mins later, same thing again.....no hard shoulder, coasted over, but this time, I couldn't get the car started. To put more pressure on, i'm not covered by anyone for breakdown cover, no AA, no RAC, no green flag.

Started going round the car, waggling cables and wires, and stuff, nothing to see, everything looked fine. Then i emptied the boot (trunk) and unscrewed access panels etc to expose the top of the fuel tank. Gave a few pipes and cable there a waggle, nothing to see, or feel. Everything was tight. Got back out the car, soaking wet, cause it was raining, and the splashing of the cars whizzing past at 70mph etc. Shrugged my shoulders at the g/f, and then leaned in the car, and tried the key again....BAM...she started again. Still shrugging, I hurriedly fixed the access panels back into place, and refilled the boot. Closed up everything again, and set off on my way. I made it into the car show grounds with minutes to spare before they were to close the gate. The car was fine the rest of the day. She got me home again no problem....

During that week, through some experimentation, I found the problem was with an intermittent loss of conductivity of the power cables to the fuel pump. Fuel contamination was to blame. Cut them all away and cleaned them up, and redressed them again. Been fine to this day....so far.

A bit of excitement, and worry, but more for the chance of missing the car show than for anything else. The rest of the time i've owned the car (about 3.7 years now), despite an average of 2 things going wrong per journey, she's always got me home.

[stunned_monkey]

Lex only ever failed on me once and that was the RPM relay on the way to Belfast in 2006. I wedged a bit of cardboard in the relay and bought a ne wone when I got there.

Only a month or two after buying Lex from me, the clutch finally gave way on Jay. Felt a bit guilty for never having got round to it - it always had made a funny noise....

Most breakdowns are electrical - coil or fuel pump feeds being the most obvious. Mechanical failures are rare.

[Rissy]

stunned_monkey Wrote:Lex only ever failed on me once and that was the RPM relay on the way to Belfast in 2006.

I'm not sure I would have been able to figure that one out, i'll admit. Especially at the side of a busy motorway.

[stunned_monkey]

When he car suddenly conks out - the first question everyone should ask is "is my fuel pump running?". There are only 3 points of failure besides the pump itself:

Inertia switch (nonexistent on Lex when I bought it)
Fuel pump connection (as you've discovered)
RPM relay - which you'll hear clicking even if the pump isn't working. As it wasn't clicking....

[Rissy]

stunned_monkey Wrote:When he car suddenly conks out - the first question everyone should ask is "is my fuel pump running?". There are only 3 points of failure besides the pump itself:

Inertia switch (nonexistent on Lex when I bought it)
Fuel pump connection (as you've discovered)
RPM relay - which you'll hear clicking even if the pump isn't working. As it wasn't clicking....

clicking repeatedly? Or just when you try to start it? I'd have to know which one that relay is too. My map of the fuse/relay area is still something i need to do for myself.