Emergency "TIPS AND TRICKS" to get home

Topic: Emergency "TIPS AND TRICKS" to get home (Read 2127 times) previous topic - next topic

Emergency "TIPS AND TRICKS" to get home

April 11, 2009, 11:34:41 PM

Well, my bird has tried to leave me stranded many times but i've always figured it out before the tow truck got to me.

When the car still hadn't hit 100K miles yet.. i parked the car and got in a friend's. i was like 17. well i say later, get in my car, and i go to change the gear. i cant remember if the button pushed in, or it was impossible to push. prolly pushed it and it didnt unlock. so i figured i couldnt fix it so i called the tow truck.. 45 or so min out. well i crawl under the car.. start fiddling around and i found the tab that lock the shifter. i took a zip tie and zipped it open perminantly. i havnt fixed it b/c i cant find the parts. This actually opened gear selection. i could go between D and OD (3-4) which really helps in traffic. you could drop it in 1, and go through the gears. of course you have to let off for OD. i wouldnt recomend it though, painted those lemons gold.

Also, if you're over heating... dont stay on the interstate. i had a cap go bad.. it wouldnt open causing the steam and water to come out of the blow off bottle or whatever its called. resivour. so when i inspected the car.. it just looked normal. i got a new cap, and i was on the road again. this isnt a how to like before.. but it's advice when the car wont stop over heating. it could be a lot of things but dont try to drive through it.

but what i want for this post, is some storys about coming up with temp fixes to get you home. share a story and how to fixed it. even if you had it toed, worked on, what was it? i think this would be interesting with all the great minds on the forum.

stuff like looping a hose for a cracked heater core too. little stuff like that :burnout:

Emergency "TIPS AND TRICKS" to get home

Reply #1 – April 12, 2009, 12:29:33 AM

Well, one time, me and a buddy were cruising around the back roads in his '70 LeMans (GTO conversion) when the thing started knocking. He had a buncha tools in the trunk, so we pulled into a state park, jacked up the front, blocked it up with two dead trees we drug up, jacked the engine up, dropped the pan, pulled the rod/piston that was knocking, buttoned it all up, and limped back 27 miles to his house. Sad thing was, it sounded like shiznit, idled like a helicopter missing a rotor and just generally sounded like shiznit, but still ran pretty hard, lol.

That engine was a 400 I think...wish he still had, and I bet he does too...

Then there was a time when I got my old Jeep CJ stuck way up in my property..had an old "carry all" on the back of the only tractor that ran at the time, so after I pulled the jeep out, I just chained the front end to the carry all, and raised it up, and drug the jeep home. Wasn't nearly the only time a Jeep got pulled home either.
Also had a '74 J-10 truck that the TH400 tranny never liked to live long in...seemed that thing got more miles on it by being pulled home than it did under it's own power. And it was a real bitch to pull the trans too, what with full time 4 wheel drive, and those things were'nt designed to be taken apart every 2 or 3 weekends either.

As far as my Fords...when it's time for a chain or tow strap..you know you done tore something all the fluck up. Rods thru the pan, for my white Tbird, blown head gasket and cracked head on the first one I ever had. The only one that hasn't ever let me down was the ex-wife's '89, and the TC, but the TC didn't run when I bought it. (probably would have if it hadn't had the gas tank cut out by a bell end at the JY I used to work for. .

Emergency "TIPS AND TRICKS" to get home

Reply #2 – April 12, 2009, 07:53:01 AM

Once I sent a friend 1000 miles to Florida to pick up a car for me. broke down once about 3 hrs away home and needed a solenoid, fuel pump relay and a quick fix paper clip to hold a couple of parts together. Other then that. It made it home.
Oh, and the drivers window wouldn't go back up for 7 hrs of the trip. it was about 40 deg out. (good thing the heater worked good)

Emergency "TIPS AND TRICKS" to get home

Reply #3 – April 12, 2009, 08:23:52 AM

Way back when I had my 66 cyclone "miss that one", got on the washington belt way hit second gear and was holding the shifter in my hand, Put a visegrip on, that was a short shifter for a while. another time i used bubblegum to stop a radiator leak, that worked so good I never did fix it.

Emergency "TIPS AND TRICKS" to get home

Reply #4 – April 12, 2009, 09:49:24 AM

Car was overheating.
I'm in Hazleton PA and need to get to southern WV.

I took off the upper radiator hose
I felt around down in the tstat housing and could feel the tstat.
I shoved a small screwdriver down into the tstat forcing it open.
now water can circulate, no chance of losing the screwdriver.

car ran in mid range temps all the way home.

Ended up being the fan clutch although i couldnt actually tell at the time.

Emergency "TIPS AND TRICKS" to get home

Reply #5 – April 12, 2009, 09:54:07 AM

car smoking out my rear view mirror

Found transmission tail shaft seal is leaking

Calculte miles to get home,, 400 more.
car was not smoking 60miles ago from the hotel.
fluids were fine at the hotel.
transmission will take about 8qts at the least doing a filter change.

so,, i purchase 12 qts
drive car
watch the smoke in the rear view mirror

when i ran out of smoke,, that told me to add fluid.

36 qts later, im home.

Emergency "TIPS AND TRICKS" to get home

Reply #6 – April 12, 2009, 10:27:13 AM

Quote from: FordTruckFreeek;266981

dropped the pan, pulled the rod/piston .

how do you pull a rod/piston from the bottom and clear the crank?

Emergency "TIPS AND TRICKS" to get home

Reply #7 – April 12, 2009, 10:51:06 AM

Quote from: jcassity;267017

how do you pull a rod/piston from the bottom and clear the crank?

F'n magic

. LMAO.

Emergency "TIPS AND TRICKS" to get home

Reply #8 – April 12, 2009, 11:19:11 AM

Oh, have I got a "tips and tricks" story for you guys, all of the breakdowns being on the same vehicle while on a trip. Gather 'round and pull up a chair while I tell you the woeful tale of my family vacation gone wrong...

'Bout 20 years ago it was when we went on this vacation. The route brought us through ME, NH, VT, upstate NY, north into Ontario to Pembrooke to visit an old friend of my mother's, then south to Petawawa where my brother was stationed, then south to Niagara Falls, NY, where my mother's sister lived, then into southern NH to visit another relative, and finally back east to go home.

The trip was not without its perils. We were driving a 1979 Chevy van that my father and I had turned into a camper. It was a really nice camper, but it was still a '79 Chevy van. Being the young aspiring mechanic that I was (I was 16 or 17 years old) I was charged with keeping the van running. The first sign of trouble was when we crossed the border from NY into Ontario - I forget the exact crossing, but I remember it was a big Indian reserve. It was about 100 degrees out and the van started losing power, bucking and spitting and stalling. We barely made it across the bridge between US and Canada, and were stuttering along when we pulled into a garage, where the van stopped and would not restart. Some quick tests proved the fuel pump at fault. Problem was, we were in the (very unfamiliar) boonies, miles from an auto parts store, it was Sunday so no stores were open anyway, and nobody spoke english (we were close to the Quebec border and everyone was french). We somehow managed to communicate with teh locals that we needed an SBC fuel pump, and one of them disappeared and turned up a few minutes later with a very dirty, very well used, SC fuel pump that he had taken off a junked truck. Dad paid him $50 for this pump (brand new ones cost $25 but we were in no position to argue). I had my trusty Craftsman tool set, so I set to work. I ran into a slight problem: No gasket. The locals had abandoned us, so we were stuck. I decided that any relatively thick paper would do in a pinch, so I grabbed a paper plate, roughly cut it into shape, and installed the pump with my Royal Dalton gasket. That got us going again, and solved problem #1.

So we're back on the road, and make it to Pembrooke. All went well there so we continued on to Petawawa. At some point between Pembrooke and Petawawa the brake pedal went soft and one of the rear wheels started making sing/grinding noises (if memory serves, it happened at the exact moment we came across a cow running down the middle of the road). I jacked the van up and took the wheel off, to discover that the drum had come apart - the was still where it should be but the ring where the brake shoes contact was no longer attached to it. The wheel cylinder blew apart, and the shoes were mangled. Again, we were in the middle of nowhere, so I only had one choice: I removed all of the brake hardware for that wheel and pinched off the brake line to it, just to get us to Petawawa. Once we got there my brother took me on the back of his motorcycle (a Honda CBX 1100) into Ottawa to get parts. It was the fastest I'd ever travelled, an indicated 160 MPH. Scared me silly, but eventually we got back and I got the van back together.

The next leg of the journey was Petawawa to Niagara Falls. Shortly after leaving Petawawa the left rear wheel started making a "squishing" sound. We stopped and checked it out but could find no problems so we continued. The squishing sound didn't get any worse, but it stayed with us for several hours, until we were outside of Toronto on the Queen Elizabeth Highway just in time for evening rush hour. My father was driving, and he was going about 80 MPH (140 kmh), which was pretty much the speed of traffic. Suddenly there was a loud BANG, and the rear of the van dropped and started swaying violently. Dad fought the wheel to keep the van under control, but the brakes had gone soft again. By the time he got it stopped it had touched every one of the seven or eight lanes before making it back to the breakdown lane. A quick inspection revealed that the tread had separated from the left rear tire and wrapped itself around the rear axle. It pulled the brake line apart, which is what caused the brakes to go soft. The flapping tread also hit the tail pipe and drove it up a good 8 inches into the rear quarter panel.

So I'm out there working with my back to rush hour traffic inches away whizzing by at 140 km/hr. It's a real mess: The steel cords from the tire are all tangled up, and I'm trying to get them away, my hands and arms cut to shreds, when an OPP officer pulls up behind us. He gets out, walks up, and says "You're not allowed to park here". He'd meant it as a joke, but the stink-eye my father and I both shot him showed we failed to see the humour. He then explained that he was going to back his car up and sit in it with the lights flashing until we were finished, and filled us with joy when he said that on average, any vehicle in the breakdown lane lasts 15 minutes(!) before somebody hits it. Needless to say I worked extra-fast. I finally got the old tire disentagled, pinched off the brake line (again), got the spare on, and we were on our way. Once we crossed the border into Niagara Falls, NY, dad bought four new tires and I put a new brake line on.

The visit to my aunt in Niagara Falls went well mechanically speaking, but my father got drunk and tripped over a crack near the pool and broke his ankle. Having all this bad luck drew on our spirits, and we were anxious to get home, but mom insisted on visiting her relative in southern NH, so we were off again. We're almost there when we stop for a bite to eat at a roadside restaurant. After eating we go out to the van and it won't start. An attempt is made to boost it, but still nothing. I get under the van with a screwdriver and short the terminals on the starter solenoid, and it starts. This was to be the first of many trips under there with the screwdriver to start the van - in fact, it is now the only way to start it, so we only shut it off when absolutely necessary.

We leave southern New Hampshire and head for Maine. At some point on Route 2, in the middle of some national forest, we hit a bump and again hear a bang, then a frantic, high speed sing. We stop, I get out and look, and find the gas tank half hanging out, touching the drive shaft. A passerby with ATV's on his trailer kindly donated a ratchet strap, so I hoist the tank back up and we're on our way again. We make it to Bangor, spend the night, then prepare for the final leg of the home journey to Halifax. Any Canadian who travels to the states knows that before you go back to Canada you fill your tank, as gas is about 1/2 the price in USA. We stop in Calais, ME, with just that intention. I'm pumping the gas, and pumping, and pumping, and pumping. The pump is showing near $60 (gas was 99 cents a gallon). I'm beginning to wonder where it's all going, when I suddenly see my answer as a large pool of gas starts running out from under the van. It seems the gas tank sustaned some damage from its drop and was g fuel out as fast as I was pumping it in. Now I've got a huge puddle of several gallons of highly flammable gasoline sitting under the van. Remember, it's still running (the aforementioned starter problems made us reluctant to shut it off, ever). I stick my head in the window, tell mom to move the van, and I go inside to pay. We left that station without ever saying a word about the gas spill. The gauge is showing full, so the hole must be on the top.

So we get to the border, only a few minutes from the gas station, and Dad goes through the formalities. He did not tell them he had bought new tires, and unfortunately he should have, because you could still see the labels on them. That's right: After driving over a thousand miles from Niagara Falls, NY through southern NH and up to Calais, ME, the paper labels they stick to the treads of new tires, which the tire shop neglected to remove, were STILL THERE. They weren't readable, of course, but they were obvious enough to show that the tires were new. This lack of disclosure on my father's part prompted a search. The search didn't last long though: The stifling heat, the van's lack of A/C or even basic ventilation, and the still strong smell of gas, removed any desire from the heart of the border officer to look too deep into the van. We crossed into Saint Stephen, New Brunswick, and continued on our journey home. I am glad to say that this last leg of the journey was uneventful... except for my mother, who was driving the last bit and was a little too anxious to get home. She got a speeding ticket about 5 miles from home...

Emergency "TIPS AND TRICKS" to get home

Reply #9 – April 12, 2009, 12:48:03 PM

My belt was squeeking really bad on my 87 bird. I made it to work thursday night, and only had to last till friday morning for payday. When I got back from work on friday morning, I decided to start my car and let it warm up alittle bit. While I was inside finishing up some paper work, My car died. I'm not sure how long but my headlights were on and so was the radio and heater. When I came outside, I tried to start the car, and the starter was not able to start the car. I popped the hood, pulled the belt off, started it up, and went straight home. I made it about 10 miles with no problems. Untill the next day when I tried to drive it to autozone.

The car broke down while I was the left lane pulling up to a light. I got out, and popped my hood and stood there with a set of jumper cables. I waited for a light or two. I guy in a work truck pulled up intfront of me. His hood popper was broke and he wasn't willing to try to force it open. If he did it would have matched the rest of the truck. He askep me if I had a tow rope. I didn't, but I did have a 250lb weight rating rope in my trunk from work. I pulled it out, tied it to the sway bar on my car, and looped it around his tow mount. Then I grabbed all the rest of the slack, and threw it under the hood of the car and hopped it. The robe didn't break, even though I wasn't exactally nice to the rope.

Emergency "TIPS AND TRICKS" to get home

Reply #10 – April 12, 2009, 01:41:25 PM

Not a car, but I've used a pair of needle nose pliers to pinch the rubber fuel line, to the carb of a Olds 455 in in a friends ski boat... Float kept sticking, so I'd watch it and when the fuel would rise up into the vent. I'd kill the flow(not good to have a bilge full of gas LOL)... That thing was a monster when it was right though, we'd had a lot of fun with it(that was it's last outing, he sold it)... A 4bbl 455 powering a 21ft boat through a Berkeley Jet drive... She'd about stand straight up, when you gaged the throttle...

Also the older Fords used to have a lot of headlight switch problems(whats new eh?)... I've unplugged one headlight so the breaker would not keep tripping... If it was fairly cool, opening the floor vent also usually worked, as long as you could keep it above 35mph...

I'll think of some more...

Emergency "TIPS AND TRICKS" to get home

Reply #11 – April 12, 2009, 02:14:37 PM

duct tape FTW! that is all.

Emergency "TIPS AND TRICKS" to get home

Reply #12 – April 12, 2009, 03:47:17 PM

I was on my way to a meeting for work on the day before Thanksgiving in 2007. It was around 9:00 and I was driving my turbo '86.
As I was scooting up the on-ramp to merge onto the highway, I went to shift into second gear and felt the clutch pedal drop straight to the floor. I immediately knew I had broken the clutch cable. Without investigating (bad idea), I got a ride from a friend and bought a new clutch cable at Auto Zone. Looking back, I'm amazed they had one in stock.
I finally made it back to the car and began working on it. I started by disconnecting the linkage at the pedal, followed by unbolting the unit from the firewall and frame rail.
After jacking up the car and sliding underneath, I discovered that the clutch cable was fine. What had broken was the intermediate cable, or "dogbone cable," for the clutch fork. It was only about two inches long.
Without going into too much detail, I was a little annoyed when I made this discovery while laying in dirt, gravel and broken glass while the ambient temperature was around freezing and I was missing my meeting.
After getting another ride, I bounced around the parts stores for the intermediate cable with no positive results. I ended up buying a length of cable and two cable u-clamps. Back underneath the car, I was trying to accomplish several things at once. For one, I had to pry the clutch fork back while fully tightening my makeshift cable. Each clamp had two 8mm nuts for the u-shaped piece, so I needed two hands for that.
I ended up using my legs to pry the clutch fork back using the lugnut wrench for leverage while tightening down both clamps.
Back in the car, I found that the clutch would disengage about 1" from the floor - good enough to limp it home. For fear of breaking the new cable, I performed most of the shifts by matching the RPM with vehicle speed.

We've all been MacGuyver at one point in time with these cars.

Emergency "TIPS AND TRICKS" to get home

Reply #13 – April 12, 2009, 04:34:28 PM

Quote from: jcassity;267017

how do you pull a rod/piston from the bottom and clear the crank?

I'm glad you caught that, I was so tired

I forgot to mention him pulling the timing gears and undoing the the other rod ends...

I also remember it was right after that he rebuilt it the right way, since it was cobbled up to all hell when he bought it.

Emergency "TIPS AND TRICKS" to get home

Reply #14 – April 13, 2009, 12:29:18 AM

Quote from: FordTruckFreeek;267086

I'm glad you caught that, I was so tired I forgot to mention him pulling the timing gears and undoing the the other rod ends...

I also remember it was right after that he rebuilt it the right way, since it was cobbled up to all hell when he bought it.

I wasnt catching nothing,, i was just curios because that isnt the first time Ive heard someone say they just droped pistons out the bottom. I had a look at a 460 bottom end and couldnt figure out how it could be done,, not possible on a 302. I just wish there was a way then in reality , you would never need to pull the motor to do a rebuild.

I suppose you could drop the crank, but that theary is shot cause you have a flywheel problem.

I did whitness a guy doing a complete set of bottom end bearings after the timing chan was taken off. The crank hung down about an 1/4'' which i suppose was being offered by any slope in the torque converter. He never got the pistons out though.

now i wonder if stroker piston skirts would clear all the mess ,,,>?