What roadside repairs have you done?

[Nick1994]

My dad and I were heading out to the desert and the front left tire blew on the 18' tandem axle trailer. He forgot the spare at home but luckily he had extra ratchet straps. He used a really big one and used it to pull the axle up high enough. Finished driving it out there and all the way back to town on 3 wheels.

I wasn't with him, but my brother was driving down the highway in his 91 Jeep Cherokee. Threads pulled out of the castle but that connects the tie rod to the pitman arm so he all of a sudden had 0 steering. It veered to the left, luckily no cars in the way, and he stopped it just in time. He was only a foot or so hanging into the far left lane when suddenly a big pickup truck sideswiped him. He has some back problems since then, driver of the pickup was cited as at fault for the accident. My brother pushed the steering assembly back up through the pitman arm and cross threaded a lug nut onto it to hold it on. Had to put the spare tire on too since the front right wheel was mangled from the side swiping and the tire was ripped apart.

This one wasn't on the side of the road, but my brother was up in Montana a couple years ago in his 1996 Lexus ES300. He was up there for over a month, he was planning to come back on Sunday. Saturday evening he called me because it was overheating and leaking coolant. He thought it was the head gasket. He wanted me to drive up there and bring him home so I hopped in my 97 Camry the next day and drove straight up to Montana. After I looked at it I realized it was the intake manifold gasket. Was still a lot of work but I brought my tools and we fixed it and drove it back down. It was always an oil burner, took almost 4 quarts of oil in top up to drive it back down to Phoenix, we changed the oil the day before we left so it was totally full. That V6 still got 28.5 mpg at 80 mpg on the way down.

The alternator died on my grandfather's 86 Ford Ranger. We were at the dump and it wouldn't start. My grandmother came and gave us a jump, we let it charge for 30 seconds or so. It was enough juice to start it and I drove it back to their house 9 miles away with no radio, brake lights, turn signals, etc. and I pulled into the driveway and it died right then and there. New alternator and it was fine after that.

 

[Run]

My most interesting roadside repair would have to be the time the exhaust pipe broke looe on a F250. The pipe was dragging against the driveshaft. I could have put a strap to hold it up but where was the fun in that. Instead I ripped the whole system out with my bare hands and a crowbar. It was rusty so it would have to come off anyways. Boy did it sound good afterwards.

That happened a week after the heater core burst on the same truck. The cab was filling up with coolant. I had to bypass the core as there was no way you could drive that mess.

In the end the transmission broke and that was the end of that truck.

 

[Number_35]

In '81 I was driving my battered old '68 Impala out to BC to see my family. It was using a lot of oil and I had to stop every 150 km or so to make sure it was still on the dipstick. Anyway, one of these stops was at a roadside garage in western Saskatchewan, perhaps Chaplin although I can't remember for sure. While adding Gulf 10W-30 'Hydrotreated' oil (from a carboard can of course) to the tired old 307 I noticed the alternator was sitting at an unnatural angle. The bottom mounting bolt had broken. I always carried full tools with that car, and removed the alternator and the broken bolt. I asked the two old gentlemen who ran the garage if they had a replacement. They rummaged around in old coffee tins of loose nuts and bolts for a few minutes before finding one that would work. They charged me $2 for the bolt, which I was glad to pay.

I drove a '69 Imperial w/ factory 440 from '84 - '87, and its Achilles Heel was the factory Holley 4-bbl carb. The car would start to buck and lurch and suck gas until I pulled over. Invariably, the pin that held the float would have worked loose, causing the float to bind. Yes, now I would use a bit of thread-locker ... but anyway, I got pretty good at pulling carb halfway down by the side of the road.

The one I'm really proud of is talking my wife through a repair over the phone. Our old slant six Volare would start but stall as soon as she released the key. She phoned me at work, and I talked her through bypassing the ballast resistor with a piece of scrap wire. She did a great job, was able to use the car that day, and it was fine until I replaced the ballast resistor the next day.

 

[Number_35]

Originally Posted By: Kira
The alternator light came on one morning while I was driving to work.
1972 Toyota Corolla DeLuxe-you know-the one with the 1600cc engine (2TC), not the 1200 (3KT).
I loosened the pivot and adjustment bolts, undid the electric connections and removed the alternator.
I walked it 1/2 a block to the last starter/alternator shop on Manhattan;s West Side (9th Ave.).
Paid the guy the $30 and gave him the dead one.
I popped it in and wasn't even late for work.

THOSE were the days. Kira
I had a '71 with the hemi-head 1600 - loved it, and that 4-speed was heavenly. Still miss that car!

 

[eljefino]

I lost brakes on the highway, boiled fluid. I coasted off an exit ramp to a stop, removed tire, found a trash pepsi can in the ditch, filled it with ditch water, and poured it on my brakes, cooling that corner off. I then walked the 1/10 mile around the corner into town and found a Carquest with all my needs! Bought fluid, bled it, and had enough pedal to drive 2 miles to a Lowes parking lot where I rebuilt my brakes with CQ parts and some new Lowes tools. (I had some other tools with me.)

I blew a coil pack in my camry. Didn't have a scanner to see which one, but I did have a spare and 10mm wrench. Switched one for another all the way down the line until, wouldn't you know it, the last one was the dud.

Lost the muffler hanger on my corolla. Had some electrical wire in my tool kit. Also makes good hang-up wire.

Bought a saturn for $300 with a bad coolant temp sensor. Stuck a new one in on the spot, on the side of the road, in front of the seller's house, once I got my claws on the title. One of the spark plugs was bridged with carbon. I scraped that out of there on-the-spot, reinstalled, and drove the car home under its own power.

Lost a fuel pump in a 92 dodge dakota. Came back later that day, kicked the tank, it ran well enough to get home. Spec was 45 PSI but it made highway power wavering between 5 and 10 PSI.

Cutlass ciera window stuck down in the rain. Took the door panel apart and jumpered the window motor with a 9V battery. Dang it was slow!

 

[jkasch]

In 1970 (I was 17, then), my buddy and I were in a small Michigan town driving his 429 SCJ Mercury Cyclone Spoiler. Shortly after he did a WOT run, it lost oil pressure. Luckily, we coasted not far from a Ford dealer and pushed it to a spot across the street.

Using not much more than box and open-end wrenches, I determined that some push rods were bent. The dealer had the push rods but no valve cover gaskets. So I replaced the pushrods and spliced some wrong gaskets together with tape. We managed to limp about 115 miles back to his parents' house. Not a proper repair, but the engine survived and was later fixed right at another dealer. Felt pretty good about that.

 

[69GTX]

The Chrysler ballast resistor was a classic. After my first failure on one of those in 1979, it became standard fare to always have one in the glove box. And I had Mopars with ballast resistors and points until 2004. My worst "road side" failure ever on an old Mopar was when the ballast/voltage reg went up in smoke due to a short circuit caused by an old and bad ignition wire solder joint in the fire wall electrical plug. My car had just been awarded a 1st place trophy in class. And less than an hour later when I went to start smoke and flames came out of the engine bay. It fried a lot of the harness. That was beyond my skills to repair in place that day. A tow was needed back home. A completely new $650 wiring harness was needed for the front half of the car from door lights to head lights and everything in between. Took me a week of nights from 7 pm to 2 am to get the new dash harnesses all routed and functioning. That was quite tedious. 20 yrs later and I still have the old burned wiring harness out in my garage. It's not every day you get to see the first place trophy car go up in flames on a simple startup. At least I have good oil! Good times.

Changing points got to the point where you could do it in 15 minutes. It was rather fun back then to tinker with the springs and plates in a distributor to change the engine timing. Bought a jetting kit for my Carter AVS carbs and frequently changed jets, needle valves, springs, accel pump shots, etc. In the end, they ran better when just left stock. These days I stare at an engine compartment is awe knowing it ain't like it used to be...if only because of the lack of access.

 

[InhalingBullets]

Reading some of the storied reminded me of this...In about March, 1985 I was about 12yrs old, mom and dad took us kids on a camping trip about 3 hours from Ft Worth to Lake Palestine in the old 1977 Chevy Van. A few hours into our trip while sitting at a stop light in some small town the fuel hose busted and started a fire under the hood, which also came through the center console cowling near moms feet. Fortunately there was a parts store 1/2 a block away and the repair was made in the parking lot of a grocery store. FFWD four days later we are at the lake when the water pump goes out while dad is launching the boat. There is no one else in the park because a cold front blew in so Dad starts walking 15 miles to town. About an hour later some lady drops off Dad in the park with a water pump. Dad said he was walking along the Hwy when some lady pulls over and asked him if he needed help, he told her the details and she took him all the way to the auto parts store and back to the park, and wouldn't take a dime for gas money. People just dont/wont do that anymore. Of course none of these repairs would have been possible if Dad had not packed the tools.

 

[mister_two]

A couple of weeks ago, our first mini-snowstorm in NJ, I dropped off the kids Saturday morning and notice a flat tire. Put the spare on and plugged the leak, I always carry tire plugs in the car. Drove to a local Exxon station in Glen Rock which actually has free air and refilled the tire. It has a really nice air setup with a digital display, all you had to do was set the PSI and fill up the tire. The machine would beep when it reached the proper PSI. Check for leaks, looks good and put the tire back on. During Xmas drove 2k miles to florida and back. Plug is holding up fine.

 

[wrcsixeight]

Replaced my in tank fuel pump on the side of the road in Baja with the help of a local farmer.

Replaced my 1/2 open stuck thermostat on the side of I-10 in West Texas. The gasket blew away and I had to trek through the desert to find it. Saw a rattler.

Once Spent a while with Zip ties applying pressure from all sorts of different angles when the connector at my engine computer had fractured a bunch of solder joints and would cause stalling.

 

[jacky]

i called progressive roadside assistance and they sent a tow truck
does that count?

 

[jeepman3071]

Originally Posted By: 69GTX
I did get home though on Sunday morning without having to call a wrecker....driving along the Merritt Parkway and I-95 with no lights.


I HATE the Merritt Parkway. Such a terrible road, and driving at night like that with no lights? Lucky you made it home alive!!

I haven't had any roadside repairs knock on wood.

 

[Malo83]

Driving on a major highway cruising at 70 in my 74 Pontiac Grand Prix, my water pump blew on me, saw all the steam coming from the back in the rearview mirror and my temp gauge was moving fast to the red zone, pulled off the highway and popped the hood, water pump was toast, just so happened a farmer was on the frontage road checking his fields and saw me and asked if I needed some help, took me into town and we picked up a new pump and antfreeze, always carry a tool pouch in the trunk and in a couple hours I was back on the road, couldn't thank the farmer enough, wouldn't take any money, just a hearty hand shake and big smile.

 

[Ducked]

I had the throttle jam open in a Marina 1800 on the A9 in Scotland when my girlfriend was driving. Empty, fast road, plenty of time to decide what to do and explain it to her. I wasn't sure (never having tried it) what the effect of the engine braking would be (at high speed on a wet road) of simply turning off the engine, so I told her to turn off the engine and de-clutch "simultaneously". She de-clutched, but didn't turn off the engine so I had to do it. Not good for the engine, which of course raced its nuts off (tappets came loose) but not dangerous. Coasted to a halt and fixed it (in a snowstorm, unfortunately).

I was carrying ALL my tools with me, which I used to do in those days on trips in the Highlands. Nothing was actually broken but I only had a failing hand torch as a light source, which made it an awkward job. A 12V inspection light is a very useful tool to have along, since without light everything else is pretty useless.

I fiddled with the accelerator cable the next day but couldn't get it to do it again.

This incident is one of the reasons for my scepticism about the Toyota Killer Carpet story, and specifically the fatal unintended acceleration incident with a Lexus, where the driver was a California Highway Patrolman.

I've also had the pedal jam on the carpet. Think I kicked it loose (can't really remember) but if I hadn't, given time, I'd have turned the engine off, declutched, perhaps stood on the brake.

A CHP guy is presumably an expert driver. With an automatic (presumably) you don't have to worry about declutching/engine braking induced skids, IF that's even an issue (still don't know, still havn't tried it).

Sounded like software failure to me, and still does.

I suppose hacking skills, a network analyser and an anti-virus suite might be needed for future roadside repairs.

 

[CrAlt]

Drove nothing but old mopars for years. You just knew to carry a spare ECU,ballast resistor, alternator and voltage reg. It wasn't a matter of IF but when they would fail. You also carried a good selection of tools.

Had a Ujoint come apart on my Ram Charger's rear driveshaft. Good thing I had a spare..on the front driveshaft. Used a bottle jack and sockets to swap them.

 

[440Magnum]

Originally Posted By: Number_35

The one I'm really proud of is talking my wife through a repair over the phone. Our old slant six Volare would start but stall as soon as she released the key. She phoned me at work, and I talked her through bypassing the ballast resistor with a piece of scrap wire.


Win!

 

[Scout1]

Timing belt on a 1975 Pinto. Fortunately it broke just a few blocks from my apartment but I did the change there beside the road. Non-Interference motor so no problem, just the belt.

But probably the strangest was more recent. I was riding a 1999 Honda Valkyrie from Boise to Seattle and had a flat tire in Yakima. Strange, no nail! Turns out the 90 degree valve stem had a crack in the rubber base so I needed a new valve stem. Was around 6:00 pm on a Sunday so nothing open. I ended up using my tire plug kit to lay sticky tire plugs along the rim to hold the 90 degree stem upright slowing the leak. Limped the bike home that last 150 miles adding air at every town!

 

[Ducked]

Girlfriend phoned me from the motorway verge. Waterpump shaft had smashed its way through the pump housing and chewed a hole in the radiator. Total loss of coolant.

I got her to burst-run and coast engine-off along the hard shoulder to get it off the motorway, which she did without panic (Attagirl! she was tough, sometimes, being from Glasgow) or wrecking the engine (Lada's are tough, sometimes, being from the USSR).

She parked up near Grangemouth oil refinery and sketched the engineroom carnage for my future info. She was an art student. Sketch was quite good, like one of those Gaudier-Brzeska mortar bomb things. Wish I hadn't lost it.

Armed with this high level diagnostic my dad runs me out there and I fit a scrappie water pump and radiator and scrounge a drum of water from the refinery to refill. Level rises to top of radiator, level falls again. Hmm.. air pockets. Back to refinery for another drumfull. Level rises, run engine to clear air pockets, level falls.

No leaks under car. [censored]? Back to refinery, who are beginning to get suspicious.

Repeat. STILL no leaks, STILL won't hold level. [censored] squared??

I'm getting embarrassed and my dad is getting impatient.

Ah hang on, ses I. Maybe I didn't close the heater valve again after refilling and its leaking a bit? Open the door to do so and my boots fill with water. Car interior was well over a foot deep. I had to decelerate very gently on the way home to minimise wave-making.

One of (British) Top Gears shows tests for inclusion in Jeremy Clarkson's very very long list of Absolutely-The-Worst-Car-Ever-Bar-None (which I'm sure the Lada must feature prominently in) was to fill the car with water and see how much it leaks (before they chuck it off a cliff, of course. Yawn).

I don't recall them trying that [censored] with a Lada though. onder:

 

[Ducked]

Girlfriend phoned me from the motorway verge. Waterpump shaft had smashed its way through the pump housing and chewed a hole in the radiator. Total loss of coolant.

I got her to burst-run and coast engine-off along the hard shoulder to get it off the motorway, which she did without panic (Attagirl! she was tough, sometimes, being from Glasgow) or wrecking the engine (Attacomrade! Lada's were tough, sometimes, being from the USSR).

She parked up near Grangemouth oil refinery and sketched the engineroom carnage for my future info. She was an art student. Sketch was quite good, like one of those Gaudier-Brzeska mortar bomb things. Wish I hadn't lost it.

Armed with this high level diagnostic my dad runs me out there and I fit a scrappie water pump and radiator and scrounge a drum of water from the refinery to refill. Level rises to top of radiator, level falls again. Hmm.. air pockets. Back to refinery for another drumfull. Level rises, level falls.

No leaks under car. [censored]? Back to refinery, who are beginning to get suspicious.

Repeat. STILL no leaks, STILL won't hold level. [censored] squared??

I'm getting embarrassed and my dad is getting impatient.

Ah hang on, ses I. Maybe I didn't close the heater valve again after refilling and its leaking a bit? Open the door to do so and my boots fill with water. Car interior was well over a foot deep. I had to decelerate very gently on the way home to minimise wave-making.

One of (British) Top Gears shows tests for inclusion in Jeremy Clarkson's very very long list of Absolutely-The-Worst-Car-Ever-Bar-None (Jeremy doesn't really understand how superlatives work) was to fill the car with water and see how much it leaks (before they chuck it off a cliff, of course. Yawn).

I don't recall them trying that [censored] with a Lada though. onder:

 

[Ducked]

Oops! Apologies for the double post.