The DeLorean Owners Club UK Forum

Hi all.
After neglecting my D a little in the last 3 years, I decided I want to re-live the dream once again. 

To car was last tested in October 2013, driven back to my unit, and not turned a wheel since.

However, you may remember I renewed all the fuel tank pickup, return pipe, question mark hose etc shortly after laying it up, so the car has also not had fuel in it until last weekend.

I brought the battery home to charge, and being a 2004 battery, it was well past it's sell by date, and almost split out of the casing... it would not charge at all, and 4-5 volts was the only output I could get.

I also had another battery, which was the smaller Numax some of you have been buying, but I wasn't happy putting that back on either.... that was bought in 2008, and I realised then just how fast the last 8 years have gone.... frightening!

I made a discovery on the Tanya batteries website, and managed to get as close to an 096 as possible, but with side terminals and a 4 year warranty. 

Here are some pictures...








This is my old battery, and you can see how it's swollen from storage. The amperage and CCA figures are slightly higher on the old one, but this is as close as I can get, that will fit in the tray. 



This is the other old battery, the same as I've noticed a lot of you buying.... however bigger and better is available with side terminals....


https://www.tayna.co.uk/75-60-Numax-Side...P3141.html

Yes it's cheap, but it's not really man enough, and it only has a years warranty...

Get this....



https://www.tayna.co.uk/75-70-Enduroline...P8472.html



Anyway, after nearly 3 years, a fuel tank components refurbish, and about 2 minutes of short burst cranking, she started... runs perfectly.

And it becomes apparent a new battery is good for these cars, because all the lazy components, IE central door locks, odd bulbs, starter/solenoid etc all work straight away first time.

I've now gotta run it around the industrial estate a few times to get to trust it again, and loosen everything up.... 

I will take it for a test in a few weeks all being well!

:-)

---

As I can't edit my last post, I will just note this battery has a handy carrying handle, a charge indicator, and is delivered in less than 48 hours. It comes extremely well packaged.

A good battery is essential.

 My window motors and other electric components felt out during long traffic jams.
A new battery helped calm down my state of mind in times when blood pressures may rise.

I'm one of the people who's been feeding his car on the NUMAX 75-60.

I have to say I think it's a terrific battery, so much so that I just replaced it again with the same one this year.

The first one lasted 5.5yrs, but I only replaced it because it was showing minor signs of giving up, and this could have been brought on by my dad allowing it to go completely flat over winter time!  I had to revive it the best I could, but it wasn't the same after that, so I replaced it.  I can't help but wonder how much longer it could have gone on for if it wasn't for my dad's mishap.  Maybe i'll find out with my replacement?

I saw the Enduroline one 6yrs ago, and again this year, but I presumed that it is a Tayna own brand battery, so I put my trust in a more widely found branded one instead (being the Numax), which I also bought from Tayna on both occasions.

It'll be interesting to see how you get on with the Enduroline now for comparison, as I know no-one else who's tried them out.

Keep us informed in about 5yrs time or whenever it does die, so we can have a side by side comparison please. 

Hi Rissy

Funny thing is, they actually do the Numax in this size, it's just a couple of quid cheaper and with just a year warranty. 

:-)

---

Here you go...

This one fits the recess better, and has more oomph....

Just a lesser warranty...

https://www.tayna.co.uk/75-70-Numax-Side...P4403.html

Phill had a Numax battery on Sorbet, absolute pile of cack, its dead already (purchased less then a year ago) and reading on the website, the warranty is worth less then the paper its written on.
Glad to see you back again Ben, hows the family?

(10 Aug 2016, 19:29)Guinney1971 Wrote: [ -> ]Phill had a Numax battery on Sorbet, absolute pile of cack, its dead already (purchased less then a year ago) and reading on the website, the warranty is worth less then the paper its written on.
Glad to see you back again Ben, hows the family?

Hi Claire...

Yes, family is great, thanks for asking! 

I didn't want to to say that about the Numax battery, but that's exactly the reason I didn't buy another.

It seems some may have got a marginally good service life (subject to being connected to conditioners most of the time), but I found myself actually going back to the old battery on occasions.... in fact I think the Numax battery was partially responsible for frying my old starter motor solenoid due to to poor amperage. Other electrical items did not operate the same either as they did with the old battery. It was smaller in the battery tray, and it lacked oomph when left connected to the car for 3 weeks plus without a run.. 

I now use that Numax battery as a 12v supply for small 12v items, I won't be putting it on the DeLorean again anytime soon! 

As far as the Enduroline batteries go, I can't comment. You are right about the guarantee, although for the sake of about £3, I'd rather take my chances with an Enduroline battery with a 4 year warranty, than another Numax with a 1 year warranty. 

If you get a good battery, and use a conditioner, you may even get 10 years out of it.... after all, Sprattys battery was 16 years old before it totally gave up....

I couldn't find anything anywhere with the same CCA or A/H ratings though.... not without doing a terminal conversion anyway!

Letting any battery go flat permanently reduces its future effectiveness…..every time you do it, its performance gets even lower.

So i'm a fan of battery isolating switches and smart trickle charges.

I have one of the Enduroline battery's in LJH. Had no problems with it for the last 3 years.
LJH now at Chris N's for a new roof construction.

Nick H

I've got an RAC battery with a 5yr warranty on my car after it rather embarrassingly failed on me whilst doing a wedding 2yrs ago lol

It was all cool though, I got the groom to the church, and the RAC turned up and did the job before the happy couple emerged as
man & wife ;D

Hi Folks.... 


Well Vin #16327 passed the MOT test today with no advisories! 

Nevertheless, i'm still having hot start/fueling issues. 

She does not want to start that easily when hot, and when she is started, she ticks over ok, but if you floor it under load, it bogs down like its starving of fuel.... Its not spluttering at low revs any more though which it was doing before the pickup screen etc was changed. 

I'm going down this route.. Bear in mind all the components in the tank are new or good except the pump which is probably tired. 

New fuel pump and check valve.... My pump doesn't seem to have an external valve so this could be the problem... 
New accumulator and fuel filter..... 
Poss fuel distributor o rings, but that's worse case scenario.

Any advice appreciated as usual!

I blame your battery.  Should have bought a NUMAX. 


(sorry I don't have anything more helpful to input)

Could be the small o rings in the fuel distributor, these ones:
[attachment=148]
A dam good run and some injector cleaner may work wonders too!
Chris

Dave Howarth swears by injector cleaner and a good fast run. Mine wasn't holding pressure (test by pushing flap after its been standing 15 mins) I ended up putting another non-return valve on top of the pump. fine now. I'm also into fuel stabilisers during winter lay ups.

Thanks guys... I will get some injector cleaner and drop it in the tank... after all if the fuel tank has been clean and empty since 2013, what was left in the pipes and fuel distributor plus injectors has probably varnished slightly. Something's screaming check valve at me, plus the pump is quite old. There is nothing clear to say I have a pump with an internal valve, yet there is no external one. Maybe if it's internal, it has gone bad?  I'm also not 100% sure if I have the pump situated too low in the boot possibly restricting fuel to the pickup, or kinking the question mark hose, but they are both new items.

 

I noticed a made a similar post in 2009, and that turned out to be electronic related... 
I have not done any remedial cleaning of ballast resistor terminals, coil and ht lead connections, or other usual suspect connectors.

I have noticed though my temp gauge wasn't going up as far until the fans cut in. 



Just goes to show these lay ups do the cars no good at all. 

I've bought a Ford Focus RS in May this year, and done less than 100 miles in it.

I'm a fool unto myself and see my fleet as more of a display item than an operational mode of transport. 

Thanks for the replies chaps.

the hot starting problem is often down to the accumulator.  Can also be down to the CPR.

Ballast resistors have caused issues before on mine, but cured it by cleaning the connections up.

Hope you get it sorted ok - and I know what you mean about having a fleet of cars, we've just sold our
Talbot Samba Cabriolet on eBay because we'll never get around to finishing it due to all the other projects
we've got on the go.