Sketchiest fix you've done to get home?

[paulo57509]

Made this trip (alone) several times while in college.

Spring 1988, traveling from Butte, MT to San Jose in my 1974 Camaro, 250CID I6. Climbing Monida Pass on I-15, the car wouldn't keep speed and eventually coughed like it was running out of fuel. Other than under high fuel demand, the car ran fine.

Pulled into the next rest stop in Idaho (which was nothing more than a shack with a hole under the "toilet"), I pulled out the ACDelco universal fuel pump from my emergency kit and spliced it into the fuel line feeding the mechanical pump. Jumpered it directly to the battery and was on my way.

Previous winter in the same car, I left Butte around 1AM (temperature on the bank marquee read -14F). Around Dillon, MT the heater no longer blew hot air, luke warm at best - stuck thermostat. No spare t-stat so I drove it to CA like this. Only thing was I knew where all my fuel stop were, but cold engine, more fuel consumption. Just made it to Reno on fumes.

 

[Encinoman]

Around a decade ago, I was driving a 2001 Volvo VNL Semi on a run when I started loosing Voltage. The alternator wasn't charging. This was winter in Ohio with temps right around 10 degrees, snowing, and wind chills below zero. A well known customer at one of my stops was kind enough to hook up a battery charger to my batteries and loaned me a vehicle to run to a nearby Dealership to pick up a new alternator. I swapped out the alternator in the gravel parking but it didn't solve the issue. I still had enough battery voltage to keep the truck running for awhile so I headed for my next stop 20 miles down the road. I crawled under the truck at my next stop and discovered a cable had corroded off the connection to the starter. I traced this cable to where it connected to the alternator. I really didn't have the time to source a new cable and properly replace it. I was late to my stops. Customers were getting anxious. Dispatch was constantly calling. I tried to come up with a quick field fix. I sourced some Jumper cables and hooked up to the starter connection, looped it over top of the engine and clamped it to the connection on the alternator. The alternator started charging. Using a variety of zip ties and Duct tape to try to keep the jumper cables in place, I set off again. I had to stop and reattach the cables every 10 miles or so, but I was able to complete my route and make it back to the shop over 100 miles away.

 

[robertcope]

Had to wire a generator to turn it into a motor to run the cooling fan. Made it far enough to be able and walk the rest of the way home.

Must have been a VW of some kind?

 

[Passport1]

Once a friend had a ratty bathtub 356 Porsche, long time ago. We were motoring along and the throttle cable broke. We stopped and I opened the engine cover so I could lean way back under the deck cover to the engine bay and manipulated the throttle linkage as he simulated the engine sound rising and falling while he shifted. Went down the road like that for many miles with him loudly humming air-cooled engine sounds and me with my ass pointing to the sky. He didn't do any double clutching.

 

[jkasch]

At age 18, buddy and I were coming home from Caseville, MI when his new 429 SCJ Mercury Cyclone Spoiler lost oil pressure. Luckily, it broke just outside a Ford dealer. With open-end wrenches, pliers and screwdrivers, I was able to find two or three bent pushrods. The dealer had the pushrods but no valve cover gaskets for that motor, so I taped a couple from another Ford engine together. Adjusted the valves by feel and we were able to get it to Farmington Hills (about another hour's drive) without losing pressure or damage to the engine.

 

[1 SX]

Blew a radiator hose on a 94 Saturn SL2… pulled over and duck tape the split with a half a roll of tape…. it got me home the 8 miles without blowing the engine!

On another Saturn vehicle I owned, this one being a 1999 manual SL1, (266k miles at the time!!) in 2008 ish, the clutch bushing in the shifter broke. And I thought I was gonna be stranded…. Until I tore the boot off the shifter, and manually put it in second or third gear to get home and honest 20 miles LOL. It was a $400 car I bought off craigslist when that was a thing, to learn manual, so I did not care about blowing the motor. It got me home at 4-6k rpm’s the whole time.

 

[zzyzzx]

My sketchiest fix to get home was to do nothing. I had the insulation on alternator wire burn up on my way to work (it was rubbing against something). Once it had completed burning up it formed a hard coating that was sufficient enough to insulate the wire for me to get home. When I got home I replaced the burnt up wire portion.