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One of the rather interesting things about my
electrical system is that it has eaten three batteries already and has
yet to be on the road. Seeing as how I don't run the engine in the
garage much (I prefer to get my CO from cigars, thanks) I often place
the battery on an automatic charger. Well, last Saturday I woke up
thinking "what's that smell"? I searched my house and found that
1) I really needed to do my dishes,
2) I really needed take my garbage out, and most relevantly,
3) the battery on the D was boiling -- the acid smell was really
permeating my house.
The meter on the charger still read only 50%.
Checking the charger revealed that it actually DREW .75 amps when
connected but unplugged from the AC, so I've replaced both my charger
and the battery (which luckily, has a 24 month free replacement
program. Scratch one gremlin there, I guess.
With the new battery, I was able to start the car for the first time in
about a year. She fired right up and ran perfectly, until the idle
dropped and she stalled. I'm thinking the problem is in the warm-up or
idle systems. While still running just fine above idle, leaving up on
the pedal will result in a stumbling, sputtering engine. I'd like to
move the car outside soon and try warming her up sufficiently to rule
out one or the other... and burn off the 18 month old fuel (with fuel
stabilizer) to see if that will help as well. I guess there could be
problems with the flow plate piston gummed up in the fuel distributor
again, or maybe a sticking idle speed motor or leaky injector. I
suppose it's also possible that my newly installed O2 sensor may not be
quite up & ready, so simply disconnecting the sensor will be a good test
there. I guess even a cranky warm-up regulator may be at fault as well,
but since she runs fine at anything even slightly off-idle, a hunch
tells me that's not the case. If anyone can save me a step or two and
point me in the right direction, that would be appreciated.
I've also been investigating a couple of leads on a good used passenger
door, and have decided to use the original driver's door which only has
a couple of nicks. Hopefully those can be filled in with weld, ground
flush, and regrained.
Now that tax day is over, I'll also be dumping out the approximately
$3,000-4,000. I'm going to need to finish the project. On the
bright side, I may be the first person to be awarded a frequent flyer
ticket on my USAir Visa exclusively from buying DeLorean parts.
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