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DeLorean Mailing List - 1/15/96
Subjects:
Re: Dead battery
Dead battery after sitting
Frederick Embden id
Dead batt!
Dead Battery
tie rods and back-up lights
Cross reference for rh water pump hose/Surveys
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Subject: Re: Dead battery
Sent: 01/12 3:45 PM
Received: 01/12 8:58 AM
From: Knut Grimsrud, Knut_S_Grimsrud(AT)ccm.jf.intel.com
To: dmcnews, dmcnews(AT)goodnet.com
Chase Clark, stormrider(AT)socketis.net writes:
> OK guys (and any gals out there) here's the situation:
> My non-running DeLorean (bad fuel pump) has been sitting for about
> five weeks and I just discovered that the battery is completely dead.
> I inserted the key and nothing worked. The gauges didn't move even
> a millimeter so it must be 100% drained, even though it was about
> 90-100% charged five weeks ago.
There are a couple reasons the battery goes flat like you describe and
I have seen 2 of these cases in several cars I have encountered (some
people just put a battery kill switch on their car rather than correcting
the actual problem).
The first cause is the engine compartment light not getting turned
off due to the plunger on the engine compartment switch not getting
adequately depressed (often due to it not properly aligning with the
little metal tab it strikes against).
The second cause is the marker lights around the doors not getting
turned off because there is insufficient travel on the door switch
strikes to adequately depress the switch. I have seen some people
(including myself) put a small piece of tubing (or rubber cap) on
the end of the door switches to make them depress far enough to turn
off reliably. Incidentally, with the doors closed, it is often not
obvious if your door marker lights are on.
A less common ailment stems from the door locks getting activated
repeatedly during storage due to a crappy lock mechanism. I have
had a case or two where the lock was left misaligned when I removed
the key such that the contact from the key switch to the impulse
unit was not broken. The impulse unit then pulses the door locks
every few seconds repeatedly until the battery drains or until
you wiggle the key a little.
Knut Grimsrud
DOA Chapter 41
Subject: Dead battery after sitting
Sent: 01/12 3:45 PM
Received: 01/12 8:55 AM
From: Mike Griese, magriese(AT)vnet.IBM.COM
To: dmcnews, dmcnews(AT)goodnet.com
From: Michael A. Griese RCHVMP3(MAGRIESE) T/L 553-1853
2C6/114-2 Rochester, MN
Subject: Dead battery after sitting
Dead batteries come from a number of sources - the clock in the
console (earlier models), the lamps in the doors or glove compartment
(check the switches in the forward door jambs (replacements are
available)). I usually disconnect the battery if my car is going to
sit for a couple of weeks.
Subject: Frederick Embden id
Frederick - I have been trying to reply for a few days now and it
seems that your notes server is down or has changed. Please let
me know if your address has changed.
Mike Griese, Subsystem Development
Just a pixel in the big picture...
*** Reply to note of 01/12/96 07:55
Subject: Dead batt!
Sent: 01/12 11:11 PM
Received: 01/15 6:09 AM
From: awolf(AT)pacific.telebyte.net
To: dmcnews, dmcnews(AT)goodnet.com
My car just barely has enough (and sometimes doesn't) to turn over
the engine after sitting from 2 days onward...
Welcome to another problem...
Two things...You can either get a kill switch to wire to the
battery like me...or you can start it every day...or you can jump it and
take it for a good run on the freeway to recharge it...or you can ask me
later when I create my killswitch idea that will be wired to the ignition
using a battery powered solenoid...or you can go to an electrition and
have
the slow drain found and plugged (Most likely you have a component or 3
that's slowly radiating the energy away, and this can be found and fixed)
Ok ok ok...So that was more then 2...So sue me!
Wolfie
Subject: Dead Battery
Sent: 01/14 7:42 PM
Received: 01/15 6:09 AM
From: otoupali(AT)chaph.usc.edu
To: dmcnews, dmcnews(AT)goodnet.com
Chase,
We have also experienced a drain in the battery. In fact the batteryu can
be drained from a fully charged to dead in 2-3 days. And this is even
with
a new DieHard battery. One of the propblems was the lights in the
passenger
door refusing to shut off. Another problem is the clock on the 81's and
82's (untill they moved it into the radio).
The simple solution to this problem is to buy a thing called the "battery
buddy." This is an accessory that cuts off the current from the battery
before it is drained. Thus, you can still start the car when you need to.
This eliminates the task of manually disconnecting the battery between
usage. Of course this is only necessary for the non-daily driver. AS our
DMC is one of the very first, it mainly sits in the garage, so it is
almost
always dead if the battery was not disconnected.
You can most likely get this battery buddy from various sources. The one
that I know about is a mail-order house named Heartland America. There
phone number is 1-800-229-2901.
Bradley J. Otoupalik
Associate Editor
All Auto Online Magazine
http://www.cs.umanitoba.ca/~gdueck/aao.html
e-mail: otoupali(AT)scf.usc.edu
Subject: tie rods and back-up lights
Sent: 01/15 3:15 AM
Received: 01/15 6:09 AM
From: Clark Stevens, crs(AT)echo.i-link.net
To: dmcnews, dmcnews(AT)goodnet.com
Anybody have a crossreference for front end tie rods? Also where do you
look for the switch that activates the backup lights? Thanks .
Subject: Cross reference for rh water pump hose/Surveys
Sent: 01/15 1:15 AM
Received: 01/15 6:12 AM
From: James Espey, mikasa(AT)goodnet.com
To: dmcnews, dmcnews(AT)goodnet.com
Anybody have a crossreference for the RH water pump hose? This would be
the approxiamtely 14" hose illustrated in the DMC parts manual, section
1-3-1, number 9, part #108676. Thanks! Also, some of the surveys have
started to come back in fro the DeLorean parts/service facilities, see
the web page for more details.
James
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End of DMC-News Digest #062
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