Has anyone done an "on-the-site" repair to their vehicle if something suddenly goes bad? Plus to save on towing costs.
On some vehicles it's possible to change the starter motor on-site if it won't crank over and the electrical system has been ruled out.
On the site repairs
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I've replaced both an alternator and a starter on site, both on friend's cars that broke down. I think the key is to knock on the door of person who lives in the house right outside of the dead car, at least if it happens in the city... "hey, I'm gonna be working on my friend's car so I can get it out of here, I sure hope you don't mind the eyesore! I promise I'll be outta here quickly!". That seems to prevent any ill will before it even forms.
I was really close to installing a Heilicoil on site for a blown-out sparkplug, until the good folks on BITOG convinced me that I wouldn't destroy my engine by driving it 1/2 a mile with 5 cylinders.
in late 60s my dad, my uncle, and me, all had 1962 to 1965 chryslers with big blocks 413s, 440s. i had a big amo box, we put parts in it , to take on trips. water pump. ignition parts, stat, gaskets, sealer. saved our tales more than once. i dont even carry tools now, i should.
I did a starter once in my parents condo driveway. My mother drove me home when the car wouldn't start. The next morning, I returned after buying a new starter and various shapes of 15 mm wrenches to be able to do the job without lifting the car.
I repaired a badly damaged wire harness in a Toyota Land Cruiser in the mountains outside Tapalpa, Jalisco, Mexico (exact location). I was there for work, so I had a lot of wiring equipment with me. I ran the soldering iron off an inverter that I brought in my personal gear. It was not a flimsy field repair; it was a permanent fix.
Been there, done that..I changed out a dead alternator on an old Ford LTD I had back in the 80's. I did that one on the side of I-75 in the freezing drizzling rain in Atlanta, Georgia. I beleive it was Christmas Eve to boot.
Another year I was in the Georgia mountains not too far from Ellijay, Georgia and the water pump quit on an old Toyota Celica I was driving at the time. This also happened at Christmas time and pretty late at night too. I coasted it downhill to a country store in the middle of nowhere and my buddy Travis and I went back on Dec. 26th and swapped out the water pump and replaced the shredded drive belt in the store's parking lot. I was flat broke at the time, and Travis paid for all the parts I needed. He also bought me lunch that day too. Travis was and still is a very good friend.
Another time I was up in North Georgia near Gainesville, also at night but not at Christmas time, I was driving my old 1978 Audi Fox and the headlights went completely dead, it was pitch black dark, out in the country. I pulled off on the side of the road and found that the high beams worked (all four headlamps on at once) so I just disconnected the two high beam headlights and left the multifunction switch on high beams and went on home. I never did fix it properly, and I drove it like that till the day I traded it in.
I have done a few battery exchanges, light bulb replacements and once I R&R'd a bad heater hose on a friend's Honda Civic, all in the parking lot at an auto parts store. I saw a minivan ahead of me one time blow out a tire and come to a screeching halt on the side of the road once here in Florida. It was a two lane road, in kind of a rural area. I stopped to help, it was a woman who had no clue how to change the flat tire. I changed it for her but it did no good, the transmission had locked up which was what caused the blowout. I remember it was mighty hot on the side of the road that day.
I must say that I haven't done any side of the road repairs that are near as dramatic as some of what you guys have posted here. I do carry a pretty good tool kit and some good flashlights and rain poncho's in case I wind up on the side of the road again. I sure hope I never need any of the emergency tools I carry around with me.
I did a starter on my dads station wagon in the winter in a snow and slush grocery store parking lot more years ago than I want to admit. I uses some large cardboard boxes to give me some protection from the snow and slush.
Had the resistor for the ignition system in the glove compartment when the one on the car burnt out on my 1976 Volare with the 225 straight slant 6. Nothing but snow around as far as the eye could see. Popped the hood, pulled the connectors off the original part, and did not have tools to remove mounting bolt, so just let new resistor hang in the air on the connectors. Car fired right up.
Pulled the distributor from my Olds 50 miles from home when the pick-up coil wire broke, took it home and rebuilt the distributor only to find it did not work when I put it back in the car. Took it home again and connected it to a car battery to run it while I spun it by hand. Figured out the metal tabs that came with the new coil did not have a close enough clearance with the parts they aligned up with as the distributor turned. Put the metal from the old coil with the new coil and put that in the distributor and ran it on the bench and it worked. Returned to the car and put it in and it fired right up. Total distance traveled 200 miles.
Friends and I did a rear end on a friends souped up Dodge Dart in a convenience store parking lot years ago, but I did not do much on that one.
Soldered the pick up coil wire on my car when it went bad ( a different car than the one above) so it would work until I could replace the coil.
The last fix I did on my own car on the road was a fuel pump. The car would not start, and I had some model airplane fuel in the car, and poured a cap full down the carb. It fired right up and then died, so for me that confirmed that the fuel pump had gone. Called someone and had them bring tools and a new fuel pump. Put it in and it fired right up. This was a Olds 8 cylinder Rear wheel drive so the fuel pump was on the engine.
Replaced an alternator on my brothers car when he called me and was stranded miles away from home.
Brought my brother a tire because he was running on the spare and got a flat miles away from home.
Repaired the windshield wiper on my brothers car when he called me when he was miles away from home, on a rainy day, with the entire family with him. Actually removed a nut from my car in a spot that it would not be missed, and use that to fix his car.
I've done a few in the "field":
Replaced fuel pump in my old VW Beetle. At another time in another Beetle, I had to change out the clutch cable. In yet another Beetle, I had to change the entire gas/brake/clutch pedal assembly. This was all in the 70s and 80s when the Beetle craze was all in full swing, and I owned several models. Carb, distributor, gas pedal cable, even an ignition switch, I've done them in the field. Those cars were easy to fix. I always had the replacement parts and tools I would need in the trunk.
When I was in high school my buddy and I would sit outside the parts store and offer to install batteries, alternators, starters, etc. if the person would let us return the old part and keep the core charge. We made some good money for being two kids. After a while we even had people asking us when we would be out there so they could come while we were there.
The money funded all the stuff we broke on our cars, LOL. Gotta pay to play.
Originally Posted By: expat
Did a side of the road transmission change once. two wheels up on the curb, Taxi brought a recon tranny.
As a stupid teenager I was 'testing' the nitrous system on my 231 V6 Vega. A few miles away from home I decided that since the highway was empty, it would be a good time to come to a stop and try a clutch dump. This Vega still had the stock rear end... Anyway, since a destroyed rear end means you need a tow truck, and seeing as teenagers usually can't afford tow trucks, I ended up changing ring and pinion gears on the side of the highway that afternoon. That was after walking home to go get parts, tools and a ride back.
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I bought a $300 car that smoked and ran on two cylinders and redneck fixed it right in its on-street parking spot. There was a huge pile of leaves (late fall) stranded underneath when I took off.
It was a saturn with a failed coolant temp sensor and fouled a plug thinking it was 52 degrees below zero. That disabled its companion plug on the waste spark. Changed the sensor, scraped a plug clean with a razor blade, and drove it home on illegal plates. 
Then I later had to get a ride in for my daily driver. 
Bought another one where the guy was trying to change the alternator and went in from above, removing the PS pump, and snapping the plastic nipple from the reservoir. He gave up then. I brought the parts in and went to town, but didn't seal the high pressure hose right. At least it was something that would keep the belt on and aligned. Drove it home with "armstrong" power steering.
Co worker has a sunfire he beats on. Calls me all in a panic because he jump started it but it just died a minute later. "It's your alternator" I say in my best wizard voice. His car was parked downtown across from a bus stop and I go to work on it in a full set of I'm-full-of-myself blue mechanic overalls with my name monogrammed that my wife gave me. Bus stop patrons were giving me curious looks. Couple passers by (in cars) asked if I was okay. New Years morning, 17'F. While I did the job (35 min) I had his battery hooked up to my non-running car with jumper cables. Ran my car a couple minutes while I put my tools away and his battery had plenty of power to start it up. I had a big hangup of some casual passerby ripping off my tools as there were lots of people milling around but it was cool.
Then I later had to get a ride in for my daily driver.
Bought another one where the guy was trying to change the alternator and went in from above, removing the PS pump, and snapping the plastic nipple from the reservoir. He gave up then. I brought the parts in and went to town, but didn't seal the high pressure hose right. At least it was something that would keep the belt on and aligned. Drove it home with "armstrong" power steering.
Co worker has a sunfire he beats on. Calls me all in a panic because he jump started it but it just died a minute later. "It's your alternator" I say in my best wizard voice. His car was parked downtown across from a bus stop and I go to work on it in a full set of I'm-full-of-myself blue mechanic overalls with my name monogrammed that my wife gave me. Bus stop patrons were giving me curious looks. Couple passers by (in cars) asked if I was okay. New Years morning, 17'F. While I did the job (35 min) I had his battery hooked up to my non-running car with jumper cables. Ran my car a couple minutes while I put my tools away and his battery had plenty of power to start it up. I had a big hangup of some casual passerby ripping off my tools as there were lots of people milling around but it was cool.I just blew a trans line the other day. Pulled into my parking spot and the whole side of the truck was red!
Walked to AZ and got fluid, clamps, and a piece of hose. Fixed it and figured I did my trans fluid swap for a while.
We do TONS of roadside repairs as a wrecker is around 200 bucks minimum for our vans. They are too heavy to tow by the rear.
My brother and I rigged the exhaust on his Olds Silhouette when it rusted through, threatening to poke itself into the cabin. He found a convenience store with a sloped parking lot that dipped right where we needed to go under the van. I rounded up some tools and exhaust repair items. We fixed it via sectioning in a new piece of pipe, and exhaust clamped it into place. He's still not bothered getting it fixed more than that. The rest of the van is a basket case anyhow.
Originally Posted By: expat
Did a side of the road transmission change once. two wheels up on the curb, Taxi brought a recon tranny.
I saw a guy changing the fuel pump on a Chevy Express 2500 in the Auto Zone parking lot. Not an easy task since the tank has to be dropped.
Originally Posted By: JimPghPA
I did a starter on my dads station wagon in the winter in a snow and slush grocery store parking lot more years ago than I want to admit. I uses some large cardboard boxes to give me some protection from the snow and slush.
A few months ago, came out from breakfast with the wife and car wouldn't turn over. Good power, started fine before, etc. I open the hood and have her turn the key to see if I hear anything. Engine Relay is clicking like crazy so I know it's bad. Fortunately have a spare relay from the headlight harness I built that is a perfect fit. Total down time: 15min and she was impressed!
Before Xmas I was leaving work late one Friday evening heading for home (60 mile commute). A few miles up the Interstate, my battery light comes on. I knew it was the alternator; the light would go out if I kept the rev's above 3k RPM. I figured I'd have about 60 minutes of drive time before the battery died.
Fifteen miles from home, the headlights got so dim, I figured it was time to pull off the road. That and the remainder of my trip was through a sparsely populated area with NO services.
I pull into a Best Western motel parking lot. I asked the desk clerk if it was OK to leave the car over night (no problem).
I call my wife and she makes the 15 minute trip to pick me up. She had the foresight to grab my "emergency tools" out of the garage before she left.
Since she brought the tools, I pulled the battery out of the car and brought it home with me. I charged it over night and she brought me and the battery back to the car the next morning. I drove the car home the rest of the way without incident and replace the alternator in my driveway.
It's not really a repair and it really didn't save on towing charges - I have unlimited mileage free AAA towing. I just made an adventure out of it. I HATE waiting around for tow trucks to arrive.
Originally Posted By: TylerL
Originally Posted By: expat
Did a side of the road transmission change once. two wheels up on the curb, Taxi brought a recon tranny.
that why a got a Taxi back.
The job was all done by lunch time.
Oh to be young again.
BUT fast forward to 1986, Vancouver Island.
I see a VW camper on the side of the road, oil underneath, man sitting on the curb with his head in his hands, wife shouting and gesticulating at him!
Turns out, they were a couple (and two kids) from Yugoslavia that had bought an old VW to 'see Canada' and the Expo in Vancouver.
While on Vancouver Island the VW blew an oilway core plug at the transmission end of the engine. He had managed to disconnect the engine, and drop it, but could not get the engine out from under the Van (wife was a little upset!!)
I helped lift the van with a tree trunk as a lever, while he dragged the engine out. We then set off to get a new core plug, some oil and bits of 2x4 to help lift the engine back in.
Engine was back and running two hours later.
I got a big group hug. 
All on the side of the road!- Status
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