What's a DPO?

Article written by Dennis Rainey. Published on 2006-10-11
MG Experience Library – Frequently Asked Questions Section
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What's a DPO???

If you own an MG or for that matter any one of the various LBC marques, then there is a very good chance that you have one or more of these "DPOs". Is it a part or a collection of parts on your car that you haven't been able to identify and maybe always wondered what it was and what it does? Is it one of those funny little terms that the Brits use from time to time to make you listen a little closer?

If your first answer was "Democratic Party of Oregon" then you might be a politician. Or, if you said "Days Payable Outstanding" then chances are that you're a bean counter. You might have said "Why that's easy, that stands for "Direct Public Offering". This guy is a stock broker. How about "Delta Phi Omega"? Your probably a southern Florida college sorority student.

Okay, okay... I'm finally ready to let you off the hook. It stands for "Dumb Previous Owner". As I said, it's something that most of us have and we probably think of him or her from time to time when we are having to correct something they did to our car in it's previous life. You've probably used a few expressions to describe this guy, too, most of which are not printable. I'll bet terms like "What was this guy thinking?" or "What is this thing?" are often heard in the garage when trying to sort something out.

As an example of what I'm talking about, I found this interesting letter from a frustrated LBC owner and decided to share it with you:

Dear DPO,
Finally pulled the motor/tranny from the "B" I bought from you. Really strange that the darn thing didn't just jump right out onto the pavement. Why? Well, first off the motor mounts need more than 2 bolts each in them, and you should try to use lock washers in the future, preferably new.
Add to that, the tranny to block bolts...count the holes....2 starter bolts and 3 long bolts just isn't a good thing! Well, at least you used lock washers on two of these.
And what's with the thin threaded rod from the block to the tranny cross-member...if you are going to make a "Stayrod" at least make it from something solid...and fill in all the cross-member bolt holes...
Good to see you at least filled all the bolt holes and used lock washers on the drive(prop)shaft.
Have a good day, and thanks for letting me take this car away from you saving it from an early death.
BTW...since is it so thickly covered in grease and gunk...without using a pressure washer, what do you recommend using to clean the engine and tranny?

Sincerely, Me

I'm sure there are many of you that have your own "DPO" stories and this is an excellent place to share them. Some can be very funny and some sorta sad. But one thing is certain, this is a good place to learn from the experiences of others and hopefully avoid becoming a future "DPO" yourself.

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~ What's a DPO? ~

Article by Dennis Rainey – Published 2006-10-11

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Comments on "What's a DPO?" –

Comment by Larry Wyatt at 2006-10-12 10:56:25

Guess I'm lucky. Only DPO issue I faced had to do with the switch for the lights. DPO said ..."if they don't come on, just reach up under the dash and wiggle the wires...and be careful, because the wires might be a little warm." When I got the car home, I checked...found the main power wire haning by two or three strands. Switch, wiring insulation, etc., was so charred I don't see how it was working at all. New switch, new connectors on wires fixed that problem. Oh, by the way...great article.

Larry Wyatt

Comment by Harvey Stewart at 2008-05-24 02:18:03

Just think how things were for us that owned LBCs before Al Gore invented the internet: no quick checks on Ebay or V-B or Moss, we had to roam junk yards and then retrieve and pay a fortune for the used "bit".

Comment by Harout Hagopian at 2008-05-27 09:22:23

I had a DPO for my Celica, the previous owner put a switch in the foot well and I spent forever trying to figure out what it does so I took off some panels only to find that the wire's connected to the switch lead to nothing.

For the Midget all I know is they did a horrible wiring job on the after-market speakers they put in, but that will be an easy fix.

Comment by Larry Wheeler at 2009-03-30 15:28:35

My DPO broke the starter pull wire but instead of replacing it, he tied it to the radio bracket. "Yeah, just reach up there and pull on the wire . . . zzzzzt!"

Comment by Chris Osterhus at 2009-09-03 08:24:42

My MGB GT had a few DPOs. One of which, who, rather than fix some wiring correctly...decided to splice new wires into the harness, but left the old ones (still connected, BTW), with bare connections against the bodywork! Then there were the assorted "tape repairs" holding the seats, carpets, and several other things together...

Of course my now-gone Ford Tempo had a DPO. Let's just say that it had been wrecked before I got it, causing the driver's door to fly open if you hit the brakes. Needless to say, I wasn't sorry to see it go. In fact, it went rather spectacularly--the engine blew up, and as I was attempting to exit the vehicle (and remove it from the roadway), someone hit it, and wrote it off!

Comment by Milo Bookout at 2011-02-17 19:12:13

My car's DPO had put in an inch of bondo over whatever-came-to-hand backing to patch what remained of the sills. It weighed in the realm of 10 lb once removed.

I also noticed that the driver side seat rocked back and forth while taking corners (uh oh!). Removing the seats and rugs showed that two of the driver's seat bolts now gripped little rusted discs of the floor pan, and that a foot (size 9 and smaller) could pass through to the ground. One of the seat's bolts had been moved to a new location, where there had still been floor material at the time, but that hadn't lasted long.

These faults have since been rectified with metal and the car no longer creaks, groans and flexes like an old house when being lifted by a jack. In the DPO's defence, he did a bang up job rebuilding transmission!

Comment by Roger Sharpe at 2011-04-04 16:03:18

Roger Sharpe
Bought vehicle in Melbourne and it looked good and capable of handling the 2300km drive home. Half way, heard big noise and temperature started climbing. Lifted hood and noticed 3 blades of the thermo fan had sheered off. Closer inspection revealed that DPO had glued the blades on. Second incident occurred one week later. Went out to look at the car and noticed that it had a really bad case of acne. DPO had obviously sprayed the car in the dust or wet. Upside is that it's caused me to do a complete rebuild. Oh well.

Comment by Joel G at 2011-06-18 17:37:49

My DPO managed to break the vacuum advance mounting off the dizzy somehow, and attempted to glue the whole thing together again, resulting in a right big mess. When I first drove it (after purchasing of course) it flopped off completely and rattled around inside the engine bay for a bit, before I had to take the whole thing out. Waiting on replacement dizzy now.

Comment by Wayne Caldwell at 2012-01-20 16:29:14

The 'mechanic' my DPO used decided to not tighten any of the 4 bolts from the tranny to the prop shaft, but overtightened them from the prop shaft to the differential. He also chose to not tighten any of the 4 right-side lower control arm to cross-member bolts. It's been several instances of this nature I've come across in the past 2 1/2 years of owning my B.

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