Pre-purchase Checklist

Created: 8/29/2001

Last updated:

Author/source: Swingle

This is a very short list of things to take a look at when inspecting a car for purchase. These are the major items that can be used in negotiation, and if you're not careful will surprise you shortly after you buy the car. Be sure to look at the DMC Houston list as well.

This will not be a discussion of the obvious things like cosmetics or tire wear, but the things that may not be obvious or are peculiar to the DeLorean.

Frame - This is the make-or break part of the car. A terminally rusty frame usually = parts car. Everything else is repairable, it's just a balance of spending money up front or later. But a bad frame is usually indicative of a car that is too far gone. New frames are not available, although they can be had from parts cars (burn victims in particular!) and there is an aftermarket stainless frame available if cost is no object. It is very difficult to properly restore a complete frame since there are many boxed-in areas that you can neither clean up or re-paint. If you dip/strip the frame, these areas end up with globs of melted epoxy inside and no way to recoat the metal.

Frame rust usually starts with the corners of the welded-up parts of the frame. Some of this is normal in a car this old, and should be touched up with POR-15 as soon as you get the chance. Check around the area of the steering rack and around the engine for cracking or peeling epoxy. If the steel underneath is sound, plan on restoring it as soon as you can unless you are NEVER going to drive the car in the water. What you are looking for is structural rust where there are actual holes in the frame. If you can see any of this, there is guaranteed to be much more that you can't see. This is common on cars driven in the winter in the north where road salting is common. We've also seen it on low-mileage cars that have been stored improperly, e.g. outside or in a very damp garage. Another thing to keep in mind - if the frame is rusty, so are all the little fittings on the fuel and other lines. Overall a real pain when you work on the car later.

Cooling system - if you can get away with it, run a pressure test with one of those STANT pressure testers. It should hold 14 pounds for at least 15 minutes, and as a bonus this will force leaks to show up that otherwise you wouldn't notice. Look at all the rubber-to-aluminum joints for leaking, and around where the radiator side tanks join the radiator. Most common leaks seem to be the joints just behind the gas tank. You can get the same effect by letting the car idle until the fans come on. Once the car is running and hot, look under the water pump for leaking from the weep hole under the pulley and coolant running off the top of the block from the hoses behind the water pump.

Start the car and let it idle for a while. When the temperature gauge gets just above the 220 mark the fans should come on. Make sure that they both come on. It is normal for the fans NOT to run when driving the car, air flow from the moving car is enough to cool it until the outside temperature gets above about 80F.

Turn on the air conditioner. The radiator cooling fans should come on immediately and cycle with the compressor, unless "fanzilla" has been installed. This cause slight different operation, i.e. the fans come on and go off one before the other. This is a good thing. If the fans do not come on with the A/C, check to see if the compressor clutch is engaging. If it is not, the A/C system is likely out of freon.

Fuel systems - this is harder to check in the field. If the car is running, that is a great first sign. If the car has not been started in years, avoid the temptation to try it. Negotiate a good price and buy it anyway, and before you do anything else, take everything out of the gas tank and clean it. A good place to check is to remove one of the large fuel lines where they attach to the fuel distributor. Water will cause rust inside the banjo bolts, and if the gas has turned to goop you'll see it there.

Hydraulics - The brake hydraulics are actually pretty stout, I've never heard of them externally leaking. Common failure mode is internal leaks in the master cylinder, i.e. the pedal goes to the floor.

The clutch master will leak inside the car, very easy to check. Just find the place under the dash where the clutch pin goes into a small rubber boot at the firewall. If there is any sign of fluid there, it's leaking. It will leak for a long time, sometimes years, before it will fail. We've hear of people pouring literally pints of fluid into the clutch system without having any idea of where it goes. It ends up soaking the carpet! The clutch slave will leak and drip onto the frame, best way to check is is to reach behind the engine and feel for moisture around the pin that sticks out of the slave. This is very easy once you know where to feel for it. Do it before you start the car.

Electrics -

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