Delorean Maintenance

My Delorean has been at DMC Florida since last week and should be finished this tomorrow. Costed a lot but i got everything i needed to get done, and got it done right. The car should be running great. I’ll report back tomorrow about what was done and how the car is running.

Will be doing the drive from Bonita Springs to Fort Lauderdale, about 125 miles.

A very large big-rig came to pick up my Delorean this afternoon to take it over to Delorean to get fixed. When the car arrived it was pouring raining. My dad, the driver and I had to push the Delorean in the rain ontop the lift then push it on the 2nd level of the truck.

deloreans looks really good when it’s pouring raining.

I should find out what needs to be done to the car sometime tommorow from Delorean.

Been out of town the last 3 weeks backpacking Asia. While I was out of town I found out my dad went to get my cars upholstery fixed which kind of scared me because I don’t like anyone driving my Delorean but me.

They couldn’t figure out how to open the bonnet and I went over there yesterday and opened it for them. The car will be ready today and I’m going to pick it up after work. I’d take some pictures but unfortunately my camera fell into the ocean on my backpacking trip but I will try to figure something out and get picks up right away.

One thing to note, the headliner boards were warped and the guy is having a problem fixing them. He is going to see what he can do but they might be warped to much to fix which means ill have to order new ones from Delorean.com

The breaks are not working as well as I’d like and will be ordering new stainless steel brake lines along with the clutch master cylinder and slave cylinder.

Driving down I-95 this morning on the way to work, I noticed that i’m having some problems getting it into the gear. I put it into 5th and drive the rest of the way to work.


Approaching the exit ramp I put the DeLorean into 3rd gear, which gave me a hard time but i didn’t force it. I pulled into a parking lot and checked underneath of the car, which looked fine. I checked the clutch fluid level and it was bone dry. Near the pedals I noticed the carpet had brake fluid which means I have a bad Master Cylinder.

I filled it up with Brake fluid and pumped the clutch to try to get rid of as much air as possible and its working fine now and got it home safely.  I’m going to buy a new Master cylinder and slave cylinder also today to get it replaced right away.

A week after I got the car I made a Delorean maintenance sheet of things i wanted to replace. Here is the updated version of that sheet.

Engine

• Bosch Spark Plugs + Wires
• Change Oil
  • Castrol GTX 20w50
  • Purflux Oil Filter
• Fix Oil Leak
• Replace/Bleed All Other Fluids

Brakes

• Front and Rear Brake Pads
• Bleed Brake Lines
• Inspect Rotors, Calipers, and Brake Lines

Electrical

• Relay Kit + Fuses
• Fix Headlights (ordering parts today)
• Fix Taillights (ordering parts today)

Air Conditioner

• Fix A/C  (fixed belt, still needs freon)

So far I’ve also replaced all the Delorean belts, and replaced the Delorean clutch line with a braided steel clutch line from SpecialTAuto.com. I’m going to order new lightbulbs for every bulb in the car and a couple packs of new screws. Here is my new Delorean maintenance plan.

• Replace All Bulbs
• Fix light in Instrument panel
• Replace delorean’s leather seats
• Replace Delorean’s headliner
• Fix Delorean’s eyebrows
• Paint Bumpers + all flat black items
• Add Freon To A/C

Today I replaced the Delorean clutch line. Overall it was not a difficult task but it was a major pain at the same time. The total time to complete the project was 3 hrs 10 minutes.  The hardest part was getting to the bleed screw and getting the clear tubing on the bleed screw. The bleed screw is just in a very ackward location and took us a very long time to get that part of the project done.

Brief Delorean Clutch Line Replacement Tutorial

Open the bonnet and remove the screws for the plastic cover near where you fill up your gas tank. This will give you access to the master cylinder where the clutch line is. The original Delorean clutch line is a black plastic hose. Unscrew it and brake fluid will pour out of it. Then have the car jacked up and pull the old line out and there is a few zip ties that need to be cut.  The slave cylinder is directly above the transmission. Have the car still jacked up from the back tire and come in from the rear.

This also took a fair bit of time to get the other part of the hose disconnected and new part connected. Connect new stainless steel braided clutch line, unscrew bleed screw put on the clear hose. Pour brake fluid evenly, pump clutch wait for bubble (need 2 people). Close bleed screw. Put the clutch line back into its cover a few zip ties will be a good idea. Close back up the panel in the bonnet.

 And it is as simple as that. I’ll update this post with some pictures.

After it was all done it felt like a new car. Shifts were so much more smoother with no grinding. This was a much needed upgrade.

Left a light on for a few days and it killed the battery.  There is a little juice left but not enough to start the car. My pal is most likely coming over tommorow to give me a jump and also replace my clutch line that has been sitting on my desk for the past 2 weeks.

The car should hopefully be good to go after that. Strongly considering trading the Delorean in for a Cayman. I’ll probably clean it up and just see what they want to offer, if they even accpt a Delorean as a trade-in.

My friend is going to walk me through replacing the clutch line this Wednesday. I will take lots of pictures and video of the process and post the results afterwards. I’m going to Pep Boys to buy some brake fluid today.

I may not need a new clutch after all. After some research it seems like it might just be my plastic clutch line that is causing the problems and i need to upgrade to a braided clutch line. A much cheaper solution.

Talked with mechanic he said he adjusted the clutch and put in fluid to make it work but it needs to be replaced soon. I looked up the parts on SpecialTAuto and it’s under $300 for the entire clutch. I will most likely do this ASAP but I am also thinking about selling the car and put it up on craigslist and a few message boards to see if anyone is interested.

The car came back from the mechanic today. I was only charged for labor and he did something to fix the clutch which i am not sure.

The problem is I wanted him to actually replace the clutch or whatever parts needed to be replaced and not adjust it. The car drives now. But it wants to grind 1st gear and I won’t drive the car like that at all.

I’m going to call the mechanic up and ask him what he adjusted to make it drive and tell him I am going to buy the part new and bring it to him to install.

On the bright side when I got the car back today it wasn’t grinding for about 5 minutes and the car was driving and idling great.

Exactly 50 days from when I reported the clutch problem I am finally getting around to fixing the problem. I called my mechanic and he told me he take it in right away so AAA just picked up the Delorean and is bringing it to the mechanic as i type.

I told the mechanic that I believe the clutch line or the master cylinder is bad on the clutch and also told him to install a box of goodies left in the passenger seat which include spark plugs, wires, brake pads, and an air filter and to inspect the car to see if there is anything else that should be fixed at this time.

Once it is fixed I’ll most likely be taking it to this place that does car interiors to get the headliner fixed and to see if they can make the seats look like new.

I am excited to be able to drive it again shortly.

While driven the Delorean home on Friday I noticed it was getting increasingly more difficult to switch gears and impossible to get it into 1st gear without it grinding.

 After some speculation, I believe the Clutch’s Master Cylinder needs to be replaced. Which i heard is not that expensive.

 This is really pissing me off. What else needs to break on the Delorean before the car becomes reliable? At least I got it home ok.

The Delorean has been parked for over a month now because of the alternator belt problem. I got it fixed today and will get to drive it again.

Fixed the belt along with a couple other small things and it costed $220 and used my AAA free towing.

I was considering selling it because it was just sitting for a month and i didn’t have a car but now i can’t wait to get home and go for a spin.

So as of right now I am not planning on selling the Delorean, unless the right buyer came along with like 18k cash.

 I’ll post a trip report later to see if the Delorean is actually driveable and not going to overheat.