Gas problems

[Michael Pike <iqintermedia@xxxx>]

Nope, I didn't eat beans :)

Today was my bi-weekly "take the d car out, wash it,
and feel proud" day, weather was perfect,around 65,
and sunny.

My fuel gauge doesn't work, so after calling the folks
in Houston, he said to try and fill the tank up and it
might snap it into shape (it didnt, but thats not the
issue)...

I topped the tank off, held about 11 bux, or 7.9
gallons.... then the pump shut off...

I go to put the nozzle back on the pump, and my foot
slips, I look down, and there is gas running out of
the bottom of the car like a garden hose.

It's getting everywhere... quickly, I go in and wash
off the bottom of my shoe, go and get in the car, and
take it back to my storage garage, get out, and find
its not leaking anymore.... so, I continue on with my
plans... I drive approximately 35 miles into town and
get to Wal-mart where I am going to buy a chamois
(shammy) to wash it and then use some of the polish I
got from houston.... I go in the store for about 20
minutes, come back out, and the car won't start. I
try for about 10 minutes, pumping the gas, etc. until
finally the starter gets groggy sounding (low
battery), so I stop, call my wife, and she meets me
there. We go get some dinner, and I've concluded at
this point the car leaked all the gas out.. so, I go
back to walmart and get a gas can, goto a gas station,
get 3 gallons of gas, and head back to the delorean...
(and let me tell you, I never had a problem with the
gas tank being in the front of the car on the hood
until I tried to dump gas from a bottle in it.. got
ALL over me AND the car).. anyhow, I dump it in, and
sure enough, its running out of the bottom of the car
again....but it started.

Rather than call Triple A and tow it, I run the car to
the gas station, (I was going to fill it up again and
book like hell home).. well, the tank will only hold
83 cents, and the leaking started again, then stopped.
Car started, ran well all the way home (other than a
real strong gas smell which I am assuming came from
the big mess I made all over the hood)...

I called the former owner and he said that "oh!! you
never want to fill the thing up, I only put 5-7
gallons in at a time so I know how much is in there..
if you fill it up, the Delorean has an over-flow, and
dumps it on the ground.. when u filled it up, it was
spurting out the overflow)...

Ok - is this true? Is the over flow that bad it spits
it out of the bottom, before the pump shuts off? He
said the reason it wouldnt start is because I flooded
it... well, i did get it started again, and it held
.80 so that told me it was full...

Do I have a problem here, or was this a case of over
filling the car?

also, second question, the button to turn on my
headlights isnt working half the time.. I have to push
the button like 25-30 times before it will stay in the
on position... is this common, and if so, are there
replacements that are easy to go in?

This is VIN 855, an early car, and when I called DMC
in houston he said, "all I can tell you is look out,
thats an early model and they were experiementing with
them, I bet your doors don't quite fit right", and
he's right.. the car has little flaws (dont bug me,
makes it more original)... I'm wondering, this car has
a little over 4000 miles on it.... so I can assume it
hasnt had long enogh for most of the problems to occur
that others have had (it runs great other than what
just happened in this messagE)... would it be wise for
me to ship the car to say Houston, or DMC joe and have
the thing "upgraded" with all the latest fixes before
running into them one at a time? And if so, what
kinda cost would we look at? So far I have no brake
lights, no fuel gauge, and thats it.. but I've seen
nightmares regarding fuel pumps, windows, and other
things quite often in the news list.

When I bought this car I knew of the common quirks..
this car is my baby, so I dont mind the things that
come with it, but I'd prefer to fix it all at once
instead of piece mealing it, because I have to ship it
off to get it fixed...

sorry for rambling, I get to talking about delorean's
and I cant stop :)

Oh, and one other last thing, my car doesnt over heat,
but it was spitting out some serious anti-freeze at
walmart... is there a common place to look for a leak?

Thanks,
Mike
VIN 855


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