Re: 2 SUBJECTS: TRANSMISSION & CAR INSURANCE

["therealdmcvegas" <dmcvegas@xxxx>]

--- In dmcnews@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx, "Richard T. Herrick, MD"
<docrth@xxxx> wrote:
<SNIP>
> · BEING IN A NEW AREA I'M HAVING TO ADJUST TO FINDING A NEW
MECHANIC.
> 
> · WHEN THE TRANSMISSION STARTED TO GRIND GOING INTO
REVERSE - NO
> PROBLEM WITH THE ENGINE NOT RUNNING- I TOOK MY CAR TO A SHOP 
SPECIALIZING IN
> HIGH-END AND IMPORT CARS. THINKING THAT THIS WOULD BE A SAFER
AVENUE 
THAN A
> TEXACO STATION MECHANIC. THEY REPLACED THE MASTER CYLINDER
($225.00) 
AND
> THE SLAVE CYLINDER (139.15) PLUS $440 IN LABOR. ALMOST IMMEDIATELY
I
> NOTICED THAT THE CAR WAS RUNNING MORE POORLY THAN WHEN THEY
STARTED.  
I
> IMMEDIATELY RETURNED THE CAR. ALMOST 4 WEEKS LATER I GET CALLED
AND 
TOLD
> THAT THE REPAIRS ARE FINISHED AND THAT THEY HAD TO REPLACE THE
CLUTCH.  
THE
> ADDITIONAL COST IS NOW AN ADDITIONAL $1500.
> 
> DOES THIS COMPUTE?
> 
> 
> Dick Herrick
> docrth@xxxx

$1,500 IMO is way too much money, and 4 weeks is definetly too much
time. When I 
had my clutch replaced, my local garage dropped/reinstalled the
tranny, resurfaced 
my flywheel, installed a new Rear Main Seal, new Slave Cylinder,
flushed my clutch 
hydraulics, adjusted my shift linkage, AND even test drove my car.
And that cost me a 
little over $480 in labor, and about 4½ hours of my time.

When looking for a suitable DeLorean mechanic, you may not want to go
for "Exotic & 
Specialty" garages. Your safest bet for engine work may be in looking
for a mechanic 
who is experienced in "Early Volvo & BOSCH." K-Jetronic, Constant
Injection Fuel 
Injection isn't all that complicated, but it seems to really
intimidate a fair amount of 
mechanics, which in turn leads to you having to pay for someones
"on-the-fly" 
education in repairing/tuning the system.

A good idea though is to always first check a shop's references, no
matter what kind 
of car you plan on taking to them. Especially with specialty garages,
which almost 
always seem to take longer than normal garages, and are usually
priced higher too. 
Plus, feel free to question the garage too, and ask them questions.
After all, they're 
there to no only work on your car, but to earn your business as well.
How many other 
DeLoreans have they worked on, and just what type of work was
performed? Another 
good test is to ask whom will be working on your car. While some
garages may have 
mechanics that have specialties, such as rebuilding automatic
trannys, everyone there 
should be competent enough to work on your DeLorean equally. In my
experiences, 
I've found that when a garage tells me "We have a guy who works on
DeLoreans.", 
what I'm really hearing is, "Yeah, we've got a designated guy that we
trust to tinker 
with cars we're not 100% comfortable working on."

But just as the saying goes, YMMV...

-Robert
vin 6585 "X"