I'm going to tackle this question by inserting comments between your lines: > Hi Guys, > > This one has got me stumped, so I'm asking for any help. Took my "D" > out for a spin yesterday and was running beautifully for about 30 > miles. Then it started developing a miss in the engine. It > continued to get worse and after 5 more miles, I pulled over in a gas > station. I topped off with fuel and it ran good for about 5 more > miles and then it went to shit. If you had a hole in the fuel suction line then topping the tank off should put the fuel level above the hole and your symptoms would go away until the fuel level dropped again. Since you only made it 5 miles, it wasn't a hole. > I pulled into another station and at idle I could hear the fuel pump, > very loudily. I had my tools with me and a spare fuel pump, so I > comenced to changing it on the spot. After I got it changed, I took > it out for a test run and it did great, for about 20 miles, then it > started missing again. At this point it sounds like you only had a fuel pump going bad. But since a new pump didn't solve it then I would say you have a restriction in the fuel suction hose. Maybe it got soft and collapsed or maybe the fuel suction screen is clogged. > I then decided to head for the barn and reversed direction. I > discovered that if I shut off the engine for 5-10 minutes, it would > drive good for about 5-6 miles and then start missing, very badily, > and lose power. If the hose was collapsing then maybe giving the car a rest would give the hose time to straighten out. > The closer I got to home, the less milage I could complete between > stops, until the final mile, and this took no less than 4 stops and > many weird stares from passerbys. That reminds me of the first day I owned my DeLorean. It started to overheat, so I pulled over to find out why. It was a touristy area out of town and until I got back on the road I had what seemed like an endless line of people asking questions about the car. > On arriving home, I noticed the fuel pump I had installed was making > a hell of a racket, just like the old one. Fuel pumps tend to be noisy anyway, but not "hell of a racket" noisy unless the fuel in the tank gets hot from lots of driving. Topping the tank off with cool fuel stops that. But since you have mostly a full tank at this point then hot fuel isn't your problem. Your problem sounds more like a restricted fuel suction line. > Only one other thing of note, when I pulled the original pump, the > return line was rotted almost in two at the clamp connection. I cut > off the bad part and reconnected it, although it was almost too short > and not in the best condition. If you had a hole in the fuel suction line just below the pump AND the level of fuel in your tank stayed above this hole then a collapsed fuel suction hose wouldn't matter. My experience with fuel suction hoses is that once they get soft enough to tear at the connection to the pump then they are also soft enough to collapse as well. Some people fix this by installing a screen door spring inside the hose. I tried this to fix a noisy fuel pump that was cavitating from hot fuel. I thought that maybe the hose was going soft when it got hot enough, but this was a new PJ Grady hose that wouldn't collapse anyway. > So, what do you guys think?? Do I have a fuel problem, pump problem, > line problem, or is it something totally different. The fun thing with old cars is that you could have other problems contributing more symptoms which make diagnosing any single problem a real pain in the ass. > I don't > understand the exact purpose of the in-tank rubber return line, since > the gas is going to go back into the tank, whether it is connected or > not. The output end of this line is supposed to be clipped into the fuel baffle. If all is well then even when the fuel level is low the return line will keep the baffle spilling over with fuel. This prevents the fuel pump from sucking air as the fuel sloshes. > For history, I bought the car last fall and drove it from Indiana to > my home in Memphis, with no problems, except for running out of gas > within 10 miles of my house. Till yesterday, it was limited to > drives around the neighborhood about once a week, while I worked on > all the cosmetic stuff. It has 8000 miles on the odometer. Mike, I suggest you siphon your tank empty, clean everything out, make sure everything is in place and go from there. If you replaced your pump with the tank full of fuel then it is next to impossible to make sure the other end of the suction line isn't kinked and in the right place. Particularly with soft hoses it can be difficult to get the pump in there without twisting the suction line. A fun thing for you to try is to disconnect the fuel suction hose and fill the tank with enough fuel to keep the level well above the bottom of the pump. If you still have the same symptoms then you know the problem is somewhere else in the system. But if you are going to siphon the tank anyway, then over-filling it isn't going to make the job easier. Consider that you may have a restricted return line or a problem with the warm up regulator. I know that the new fuel suction hoses from PJ Grady are pretty much bullet proof to newer fuel additives. The DMC/Texas ones probably aren't bad either, but I haven't heard what they are made of like I have with the PJ Grady hoses. As for the fuel suction screen, I don't like the ones that John Hervey & PJ Grady sells. I think they are too restrictive. I haven't seen what DMC/Texas sells. The one I'm using in my car is one I bought from PepBoys and modified to fit the DeLorean. I've talked to another owner who did the exact same thing. Let us know what you find, Walt Yahoo! Groups Sponsor <http://rd.yahoo.com/M=251812.3170658.4537139.1261774/D=egroupweb/S=170512 6215:HM/A=1564416/R=0/SIG=11ti81skc/*http://www.netflix.com/Default?mqso=6 0164797&partid=3170658> <http://us.adserver.yahoo.com/l?M=251812.3170658.4537139.1261774/D=egroupm ail/S=:HM/A=1564416/rand=516815042> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: DMCForum-unsubscribe@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to the Yahoo! Terms of Service <http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/> .
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