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I bought a new made plastic water bottle from delorean europe in march, i've been driving my car around for about a month, and today i came home, checked the water because my temperature guage stopped working the other day, and found a huge crack in the water bottle squirting out a jet of water.
i thought i could hear bubbles in the heater when i was waiting at traffic lights, so i drove home very gently checking the mirrors for steam but didn't notice anything wrong till i got home so hopefully my engine never overheated.
should i get a replacement plastic bottle or should i upgrade to a stainless steel one?
VIN #5380 - Oct '81
(LHD, Grey Interior, Manual, No petrol flap, Creased bonnet)
DOC #760
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I'd DEFINITELY get back in touch with Ed and tell him what's happened, and email him the pictures. He should send you a replacement (if you still have your receipt) and then you can see if it's an isolated incident or a design flaw if the replacement fails too. (Definitely get your temperature gauge working too!)
Rissy
(Forum Member 288)
(DOC Member 663)
May 1981 vin#1458 "LEX"
Grey, Flapped, Black
Chassis: #1073
Engine: #2839
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As Chris wrote, I'm sure if you get in touch with Ed I'm sure he will sort it out he's a very genuine guy to deal with. Hopefully this is just an isolated case. Did he supply the cap as well?
Chris
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I don't think these are Ed's own products but are one of the remanufactured DMC units?
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Hi, thanks fellas yeah I emailed Ed the photos too - he did supply the cap as well at the same time. I'll see what he thinks about it. I asked him if it's worth upgrading to a stainless one.
I'll let you know how it pans out. I think my temperature gauge is working now, but I can't test it without a header bottle.
thanks,
James
VIN #5380 - Oct '81
(LHD, Grey Interior, Manual, No petrol flap, Creased bonnet)
DOC #760
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I have a spare stainless bottle, and I am driving over to see Ed next Monday, so could return the broken one. Let me know if you want to meet up next weekend and swap bottles.
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On any car, If a temperature gauge suddenly stops working you need to investigate immediately. It can be a sign that the water is no longer in contact with the sensor. One of the few ways to wreck a DeLorean engine is to let it run out of water.
Years ago I had one explode in my BTTF car just as I arrived at the venue! The folk there all thought it was part of the show, as the engine bay disappeared in a cloud of steam! .....the AA took me home later.
Good luck with getting the bottle sorted.
Chris Parnham
Ex RHD Auto's etc.etc
Main Car.. Kia E Niro 4+
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Sorry Chris, but the delorean temp gauge continues to work with a bone dry engine because it is screwed into one of the cylinder heads - a very sensible place for it! I have experienced what you describe on my Skyline which had the gauge sender in one of the pipes. Daft!!!
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jamespi Wrote:I bought a new made plastic water bottle from delorean europe in march, i've been driving my car around for about a month, and today i came home, checked the water because my temperature guage stopped working the other day, and found a huge crack in the water bottle squirting out a jet of water.
i thought i could hear bubbles in the heater when i was waiting at traffic lights, so i drove home very gently checking the mirrors for steam but didn't notice anything wrong till i got home so hopefully my engine never overheated.
should i get a replacement plastic bottle or should i upgrade to a stainless steel one?
This is/was a known problem on a batch of these re-manufactured header tanks, I'm amazed some form of recall wasn't done especially as the consequences of a defective header tank could result in a huge amount of expensive damage.
I'm sure Ed will sort it ASAP, as i understand it they have now been tweaked to resolve this issue, but that's no excuse for not recalling them, not Ed in particular as I don't think he actually designed or manufactured these.
Classic cock up, the only reason people changed their oem ones was because of the risk of splitting/bursting then the new ones do exactly that! Whoops!
J
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stunned_monkey Wrote:Sorry Chris, but the delorean temp gauge continues to work with a bone dry engine because it is screwed into one of the cylinder heads - a very sensible place for it! I have experienced what you describe on my Skyline which had the gauge sender in one of the pipes. Daft!!!
I though the temp sender was in the top of the thermostat housing?
Maybe I'm thinking of something else?
J
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That's the thermo time switch which fires the cold start valve
The 2-pin sensor on the Y-pipe in the middle of the Vee is the idlespeed thermistor. The single pin sensor in the Vee is the lambda thermal switch.
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stunned_monkey Wrote:That's the thermo time switch which fires the cold start valve
The 2-pin sensor on the Y-pipe in the middle of the Vee is the idlespeed thermistor. The single pin sensor in the Vee is the lambda thermal switch.
Ahhh that makes sense, just looked on the parts pics online.
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Starglider - thanks for the offer but I live on the Isle of Wight so meeting up wouldn't be feasible.
VIN #5380 - Oct '81
(LHD, Grey Interior, Manual, No petrol flap, Creased bonnet)
DOC #760
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Ed has always been great with me, very helpful and obliging and I'm sure he'll have no problem exchanging this for you.
Richard Hanlon
Derbyshire
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1981 DMC-12 VIN 06126
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I think Ed might be on holiday as he mentioned something about being on holiday in an email a week ago and he hasn't responded to the email I sent him on sunday about this bottle. I hope I can get a new bottle before the 17th as it'll be my birthday and I'll have a lot of visitors that will want a ride in it 
VIN #5380 - Oct '81
(LHD, Grey Interior, Manual, No petrol flap, Creased bonnet)
DOC #760
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