[rev_les]

the parking lot repair got me to thinking about some of the things I've had to rig to get home.I think the best was a '98 isuzu rodeo my wife had.. the alternator went out and the battery died and left me on the side of 595 in ft.lauderdale. I stopped it on top of an overpass, luckily.. I tested the battery with my DMM ( I used to work out of it sometimes, pre-Astro)....dead.... I rigged up a cigarette lighter plug to back feed the system off of my 12V Makita battery,and pushed it over the crest of the hill... popped the clutch , got it started,and got about half way to the house and it started stumbling.. On the fly, I hit the clutch , let it die, unhooked the first battery, hooked the second one up,re-pop started it and made it all the way to my driveway before it died too. My neighbor/ buddy thought I was full of crap till he walked over and saw the battery pack back feeding the lighter. (Obviously I had the blower motor and radio off)

 

[remark123]

Stuck in the woods with my Astro during a PRO Rally, mashed the gas tank on a rock, gas pouring out, I probably wasn't going to make it the 20 miles to a paved road. desperate, I remembered that someone once told me that gas wouldn't dissolve bar soap. i rummaged around in the van and found a motel sized bar of soap. scraped that sucker on the gash, voila! It actually lasted over 500 miles 'til I got home. Good thing it didn't rain1 :bouncy:

 

[Jasen]

Barrowed a buddy's 72 F 150 flat bed with a 300 straight 6. He had told me a few times he always carried a pair of pantyhose in his rig. Well it's late at night, everything was closed back then in the day's before cell phones. It spit the fan belt, I remembered the pantyhose thing and sure enough behind the seat, there they were. I tied them around the pullies and took it easy on the 15 mile drive home.

 

[Mr_Bowtie]

Throttle cable snapped and I busted out some speaker wire to get me home. About an hour drive. Worked good. :lol:

 

[$uperJoe]

wheeling with a buddy that apparently didnt feel maintenance was important. we were about an hour into up and down rocks about 4 miles into where no one ever goes. his ps cap flew off. used a beer can in the back of his truck, ripped it in half used the bottom as a cap and cinched it on with some speaker wire. filled the pump back up with a mix of atf, brake fluid, and some gatoraid. took us all the way out and home. dont know what happened to it but with his record i bet it still is in there

 

[Big_kid]

.... I rigged up a cigarette lighter plug to back feed the system off of my 12V .... Makita battery

I did this with my jumper box a few weeks ago when the alternator in my mother in law's S10 went out. It worked ok, until the wire started getting HOT. I had to cut it off rather than have a fire.

Some "field engineered" repairs I've done:

Soda/beer/coffee/tennis ball can exhaust repairs

Wrigley's Spearmint on a pinhole in the high side of an AC system (back when freon was 79¢ in the grocery store). That repair was still holding at least 8 years later!

A customer came into the gas station I worked at with a tire he'd ridden on until it just could not hold air anymore. He had another tire that looked to have 10 miles less on it, and wanted it mounted. I pointed out the nail in the "new" tire and asked if he wanted it repaired, he said no. I asked if he wanted me to put some glue on the nail, he said yes. So I did.

I've taken needle nose pliers to a leaky radiator and cut the leaky pass, flattened it out, then rolled it back to seal it.

A buddy once used a bottle of Dr Pepper as a fire extinguisher when his carb went up in flames.

Don't remember if it was me or a buddy (think it was a buddy) used a pen to splice a vacuum line.

I knew a guy who bought an Escort EXP and found the valve cover was packed full of tampons to quiet the valve train.

I ran a wire from the battery to the back of the alternator on my wife's (then GF) Buick when her brother blew a fusible link.

Did I mention the E250 exhaust on my Astro? The spray foam fenders on the F150 I had?

Damn... Looking back I think I'm a ******* engineer! All that's missing is the can of Bud & a quick shout of "Hey y'all- check this out!"

 

[$uperJoe]

Damn... Looking back I think I'm a ******* engineer! All that's missing is the can of Bud & a quick shout of "Hey y'all- check this out!"

thats better than hold my beer and watch this :rofl:

 

[ihatemybike]

On vacation east of Rushmore in the middle of the night on some two lane highway with no traffic running through national forest land my 2000 was close to overheating. No lights, towns, houses, cell service, anything. We didn't even have a flashlight in the van. Used my cell to light the inside radiator to see nothing and we didn't have anything to put in it. It's cold, dark, and lightly misting. Let the van cool down, then drove till it was about to overheat again. Repeated this process three times before we found a county service building. Grabbed the two empty fast food cups that we had in the van and went to look for a spigot. No handle on the spigot, however I had pliers, unfortunately the water was turned off from the inside. Luckily the mist was enough to have water flowing down the downspouts, took about 15 minutes to fill the radiator, but it had us back on the road. The next morning I found the source of the leak, a small pin hole from the lower radiator hose sitting/rubbing on a suspension piece.

 

[Munken]

Not really a "get me home" repair. But I had an old Volvo 242 with a 1 ½ "crack in the radiator, it leaked a lot.
I poured a bag of cinnamon in the radiator, I started the engine to get a bit hot, and added a little water and it stoped leaking.
I drove 45km to a friend who had an radiator to change with, after the 45km run the radiator was still full of water.
Cinnamon in the radiator emergency repair works.

 

[bkn_1971]

79 dodge aspen replaced the igniton resister block with a bobby pin.
87 pontiac 6000 tied the parking lamp wire and the fuel pump wire together.(bad relay)
83 jeep cherekee clamped the leafs together with some radio brackets.(thin angle iron)
87 pontiac 6000 another one had to ice the fuel lines to get it to restart after stopping at the store.
98 pontiac trasport put visegrips on the brake hose after it started leaking badly.
Not too extreme but 2000 gmc safari tapped on fuel tank and got the fuel pump working.saved $225 on not towing.

The best one I have ever heard of is from my uncle;his x wife took his plug wires so he made some from coathangers and duct tape.LOL

 

[Mr_Bowtie]

Big_Kid thats some funny stuff! :lol:

 

[Big_kid]

Funny, true... but it all worked! :lol:
:chevy:

 

[dcsleeper]

Bump worthy

bump

• dcsleeper
• Oct 1, 2020

 

[AstroOafAdventurer]

I had an 89 Sportster a few years back, coming home from a buddies house the shifters forward control bolt came out of the connecting rod at the foot control.
Luckily it didn't catch on the ground but pulled into a service station that happened to be right there. Of course they were closed but scrounging around on the ground outside the bays I found a cotter pin the perfect size.
Not very extreme but about the best I got...

 

[Bossman]

My wife had a 78 Honda Civic yellow lemon back in '84 that quit and would not start. Her mechanic could not figure it out. We had just met, and I figured that maybe I could be her Knight in shining armor so on a hunch, I asked her for a paperclip. I got under the dash and found the low oil pressure switch that kills the motor if oil pressure is lost. The switch was bad. Jumped it with the paperclip and it ran for years like that. We are still married........

 

[Bossman]

Barrowed a buddy's 72 F 150 flat bed with a 300 straight 6. He had told me a few times he always carried a pair of pantyhose in his rig. Well it's late at night, everything was closed back then in the day's before cell phones. It spit the fan belt, I remembered the pantyhose thing and sure enough behind the seat, there they were. I tied them around the pullies and took it easy on the 15 mile drive home.

My wife once found a pair of red women's panties under the seat of my pickup.
I've been wearing them ever since. :dunce:

Mike

 

[N6KB]

Friend's Dolphin motor home, which is Toyota based was overheating due to stuck closed thermostat. It was a Sunday and no auto parts stores open within walking distance. Had enough tools to open up thermostat housing and remove thermostat, but no new gasket. Made a new gasket out of a Bartles & James wine cooler four pack cardboard. Worked great.

 

[Big_kid]

Did I mention the E250 exhaust on my Astro?

The intermediate pipe has been cut and spliced (I think) and the tailpipe is since gone, but that muffler is still in there 11 years later.

 

[sixsix]

We ran out of Evian in Jackson Hole years ago. It's very dry out there.

...and tall

 

[Sailing_Faith]

I probably should not tell this one, but here it goes... :roll:

I once had a fuel pump fail on my MGB about 3 miles from home. I was able to put my mouth up to the gas filler and blow just hard enough to force fuel into the float bowl... I could start and drive it for a minute or so... :driving:

It only took me 3 or 4 'blow jobs' to get home. :banana: :banana:

You do what you gotta do right? :rofl: