Sketchiest fix you've done to get home?

[01rangerxl]

This of course happened on my unreliability unicorn 94 Ranger...the bushing on the clutch pedal just broke apart in my neighborhood. The clutch pedal came off the rod and I had to push it back on and drive very carefully back to my house. That truck always had some kind of weird, stupid problem to throw at me.

 

[FT92]

metal brake line broke, rusted thru,,,bent the metal line over on itself a few times, hammered it flat and drove home about 50 miles

 

[joekingcorvette]

The clutch or linkage went out on a Ford straight truck with a 3208 Cat engine in it. I drove it to the warehouse where I worked and would stop at a light and have to start the truck in gear and shut it off at every stop light. Not really a fix but I was able to get it to the warehouse without a tow.

 

[RDY4WAR]

When I was a kid, our '79 Ford station wagon (460 BBF) broke a belt. My dad had my mom remove her panty hose to tie together and use as a belt to make it home. It worked.

 

[Dave P.]

On a '72 Cougar, I broke the throttle cable return spring at the carb away from home. Attached a length of wire to the throttle linkage and ran it under the hood so I could control the "return" with my left hand. It was winter so even with a glove, I froze my hand pretty good.

 

[PontiacHO]

Some of these tall tales reminds me of hearing this old guy at the barber shop talk about being stranded because of a busted piston. He said that he “carved a piston” from a hickory tree knot. Drove home. Must had one heck of a sharp knife and the magic to press that kickory piston on the wrist pin. Same story about using his leather belt for a rod bearing “insert”.

 

[PF52]

I stopped to investigate a clunking noise every time I hit the brakes. I found one caliper flapping back and forth - one of it's mounting bolts had gone missing completely, and the other one was super loose so the caliper would "rise up" on one end every time I applied the brakes. I didn't have any tools - or a spare bolt - but I did have some tie-wire (the kind they use to tie rebar). I used it secure the caliper at each end so it mostly would stay in one place. I drove home VERY gingerly after that.

 

[Urshurak776]

Does it have to be car related? 23 year retired submariner here. Had a valve in our CO2 removal system (CO2 scrubber) fail. Used a screwdriver to create a makeshift stem to be able to throttle the valve. We were on station (at sea) so couldn't leave, but it got us to a friendly port to get the part needed. About a week.

 

[Aichiguy]

I was out on a date and steam was coming from under the hood. I "repaired" the upper radiator hose with a box cutter and a dime. My GF was very impressed. And several exhaust hanger and what not repairs.

 

[Dave Sherman]

Fuel vent hose broke off in the MG's trunk, fell down into the fender well and was siphoning gas into to the trunk. Happened where I was working and the strong gas fumes permeating the cabin led me to find out what was wrong. Knew some golfers among my colleagues, and asked if anyone happened to have a golf tee handy. Managed to borrow one, jammed it into the hose remnant until I could get home and replace the hose.

 

[TexOne]

70's Dodge Duster delivery vehicle. Front right torsion bar ripped out of the frame under the passenger floorboard after hitting railroad tracks too hard and stuffed the front right tire up into the fender well. Jacked it up, wedged a 2x4 from the trunk into the front control lower arm and drove it back to the office about 30 miles away. It was a stiff as a brick but it made it!! I think my old boss actually sold it as is and never had it fixed.

 

[Hootbro]

1988 Dodge Dakota with less than 12K miles and the Alternator mount bolt decided to let go. Happened on a weekend while I was in the middle of nowhere making out with my then girlfriend. Got creative with a coat hanger wire to get me through until Monday when the dealership opened.

 

[ChiTDI]

Fire in the hole !
Wheel bearing puked on a corn country rural road in central IL on an ‘84 Voyager. Little smoke, some flame apparently, and for the next 200 miles I stopped every four to five miles to throw snow on the hub. Kept things cool and seemingly under control at a constant 40 mph.
Next morning the techs had a lot of fun teasing me with fire extinguishers, ladders and axes.
I was alone, drove in the right lane, and had one hand on the door ready to abandon ship.
Repair was minimal, surprisingly, new bearings, race and no fire damage to any other parts. The fuel line was in my thoughts, and fortunately stayed there never meeting reality.

 

[vwmaniaman]

I broke some wooden pencil pieces to put between the brush spring and the brush to get to Vegas from Reno. No mans land Nevada. Had just put that rebuilt generator on the car 300 miles before that happened. My 59 Edsel took 2nd place at the show for Edsals in Reno. Can't recall the year but may have been 50 years ago.

 

[AlanKY]

The Maintenance Manager at the Dana factory where I worked years ago found himself in the next state with a carburetor problem. I don’t recall the specifics but he ran a hose from the carb to the passenger side of the interior where his buddy held a coffee can, and a pump that a veterinarian would use to pump medicine down a horse’s nose, and the pax kept the coffee can full of gasoline. Whenever the engine would stumble, a few strokes of the pump would bring it back to life.

 

[raaizin]

The brake line that ran across the back axle was rusted 1996 explorer when I hit brakes it burst and I lost right rear brake. With my vice grip I clamped the brake line so I still had left rear caliper and front brakes. As luck would have it it happened by auto parts store. I filled up master cylinder and drove home using caution.

 

[svtrit]

A friend of mine had a beater late 70’s Dodge van. It even had green shag carpeting!

We were cruising around it in when an outer tie rod end broke. Since it had a double pulley alternator/fan belt set up, we cut one off and tied it tight enough to get it to my parents house a few miles away. He got a new tie rod end a few days later and fixed it.

 

[Tim_S]

Back in the mid 70's was driving my Dodge Challenger heading east on I80 at night in eastern South Dakota. Was following a semi that had straddled an old rusty paint can in the middle of the traffic lane. I had no choice but to straddle it as well. Heard the noise as it made contact with the vehicle under body , but as it didn't sound bad, continued to drive for another few miles to a gas station on the interstate. While there, noticed a steady leak of gas coming from the fuel tank. Clearly the paint can took it's toll.
It was late, around 11 PM, but called from a pay phone (remember those?) a 24 hour repair and towing place. Guy on the phone said to avoid the towing bill, if the hole wasn't too bad, I could stuff some soap into the hole and drive to his shop.
Grabbed a bunch of small soap bars from the mens room and did that. The fuel tanks on cars back then were metal. Was a slit-like puncture in the tank from the paint can. Was lucky the puncture didn't spark and cause a disaster. Surprisingly the leak stopped. Refilled the tank only to the half way mark and decided to see if I could make it home to the east coast and fix the tank there, rather than pay for someone to do it.
Had to stop more frequently since I was only filling half way, but the soap held all the way to eastern PA, where I had to stuff more soap into the hole. Once home, drained and removed the tank, and after cleaning it, soldered the hole and good to go.

 

[greenjp]

My now-wife had 2000 Civic, Honda was still putting distributors in those things (my '92 Saturn had solid state ignition). Anway 3 of the 4 bolts holding the cap on were busted (their little head's snapped right off with slight force on a 1/4" ratchet), the whole thing was plastic so instead of drilling them out and trying to replace, I just put a worm drive hose clamp over the whole thing to hold it together. Drove it like that for years, it never came off. I put a screwdriver in the car and showed my wife how to tighten it in the event it worked loose.

jeff

 

[1uz_4me]

None, I just drove it broken .

Cliff's Notes - I break it & drive it home anyway because it's already broken.

Grenaded 3rd gear in the T5 in my foxbody tooling around late one night. I just & drove it home making all kinds of noise. Fixed that issue with a T56.

Clutch cable snapped in the same car. Drove it home by rev matching & spinning the tires from a stop to get going.

Went to a car meet up near Disneyland (I lived in San Diego at the time). On the way home the gas gauge was moving fast & I could smell gas. Pulled over to see fuel leaking from the hose. A few days before I had changed the fuel pump but didn't tuck the flexible line back in to it's channel along the tank & it slowly melted from tail pipe contact. I filled up & drove home.
Same drive as the fuel line meltage, about 20mi from home the AC stopped blowing cold. I laughed, put the windows down & then noticed the AutoMeter temp gauged was pegged well past 250°. (No idea if it was actually that hot, but I'm guessing the steam was). I was already irritated from the fuel line so I just drove until it shut off. Well it didn't shut off & I made it home. I could hear the coolant boiling in the reservoir when getting out of the car. Next day I went out & it fired up like normal. Few minutes later it was hot again and I figured I popped a head gasket from possibly going lean from the fuel leak & then me continuing to drive it home. Or gasket was going to eventually leak & the extra heat finished it off. Pulled the heads (aluminum, about 100k mi on them & the stroker) & was going to have them rebuilt....gaskets were perfect . Took the heads to be rebuilt anyway. While staring at the short block & turning the waterpump pulley out of boredom, it was making noise. Laughed again & thought the pump bearings were bad. (Less than 6 month old Stewart Components pump). Pulled the pump & it made noise without it being spun. Turns out the impeller sheered off the shaft & that's why it over heated. It came back faster as I had the hardware on the heads upgraded & replaced timing chain since we were half way there. Degree'd the cam slightly different & the car would do rolling 2nd gear burnouts. That was both fun & annoying .