I'm not admitting defeat thread( bodges that got you home)

Blue850

Anyone got any breakdown/ bodge it to get it home stories?
In 9 years my Fiat 850 has never failed to get me home but its tried my patience on a few occasions. Coming from the Terenure show a few years ago I had to cable tie the dynamo into place after its mounting bolts sheared, wouldn't have been a problem except the water pump belt runs of the dynamo pulley. 35mph was top speed though, after that the fanbelts would jump off.
It also snapped the throttle cable in the middle of Ennis, got it connected back together using an electrical wire connector, little white block with brass screws. Used a vise grip to hold the clutch cable onto the pedal from Edenderry to Galway.
My brother's nail of a Wolseley Hornet snapped it exhaust in 1/2 in Roscommon , cut the 2 ends of a soft drinks can, slipped it over the pipes and connected it back together by clamping the can with big jubilee clips, got it back to Galway noisily:D

peasant

Similar story with exhaust on my camper once ...except I used the bottom of a tin of tobacco instead of drink cans.

Also broken lever mechanism at the bottom of the accelerator pedal meant no gas pedal. Opened engine compartment (in the rear), fitted washing line to the lever at the injection pump, threaded it through the interior of the van and the catch of the pop-up roof, so it was hanging down near my shoulder ...drove 5 miles to the nearest harware shop with hand gas to get a bolt to fix it properly.

Bitten & Hisses

Ah, my old 1.6D Mk2 Golf was a superb soldier, but not without incident. One time she burst a radiator hose in spectacular fashion around 10 miles from home. Turned out that the heater matrix had corroded badly and the debris in the system blocked the little hole on the top of the radiator leading back to the expansion vessel. Anyhoo, much driving along and coasting with the engine switched off eventually got me in the gate at home, much to the bemusement of my passenger, who had to get a lift to his own house, a further 10 miles away.

Then there was the time the clutch cable snapped on Sunday's Well Road in Cork on a Sunday morning. I then drove her the 60 miles home without a clutch, matching the revs all the way to change gears. (I had years of practice driving a Massey 165 with an iffy clutch ) Luckily, I didn't have to come to a complete stop at any junction. I got home safe and sound and swiped a cable off a 1.3 I had for parts.

maidhc

2 incidents with my mondeo:

1) Intercooler pipe came off on the m50 (150 miles from home). The jubilee clip holding it on failed, and no DIY shop in blanchardstown seemed to sell what I needed. I settled on buying a bit of garden wire and a vice grip and holding the pipe on with that. It got me home perfect.

2) Accelerator cable snapped 20 miles from home. I jammed the throttle open with an empty scrunched up paper coffee cup and drove home in 3rd.

biggus

i never finished a rallycross event without using cable ties Duck Tape or a hammer/sledge hammer.

(rallycoss car is now a Classic)
Some other fixes On the road
used string through the window as acelerator,

hand brake when brakes failed,

Starter motor instead of clutch cable , start car with first gear engaged and clutchless gearchange.

Starter motor with car in second or reverse to move from junction.
Deoderant as starter fluid

Goggles as windscreen

Max_Damage

One of the radiator pipe's burst on my Micra before, spraying water all over the exhaust manifold. As a result of this, there was steam everywhere. Anyway, a bit of insulating tape worked to get me home.

Another story, not from me, but a mechanic I know, he told me a few years back that he had a Ford Cortina, anyway, it started loosing water (can't remember weather it was a burst pipe or a blown head gasket), but he told me he pissed into the radiator in order to get him home! The high salt content in the urine wouldn't be good for the engine block!

biggus

Oh and boiling water over a dead battery in winter got me going on a deserted caravan site in winter... very useful

Hagar

I once used an electrical connector block to hold together the snapped ends of the accelerator cable on and old Skoda Sports. Got me home from Belfast to Dublin.

ocj

I had a Mk2 Golf once and the previous owner must of repaired the exhaust himself, because i filled the petrol tank one day and was driving up a hill when i noticed a trail behind me. Pulled over and saw that it was petrol. Somebody had replaced a piece of the exhaust for a straight piece of pipe right along side the petrol tank and it had melted a hole in the tank.
I was about 30 miles from home so i chewed alot of gum and plugged the hole.
It got me home.

DannyBuoy

An allegro I was driving many moons ago started missing, turned out it was a plug lead. So I used a bit of speaker wire bared at both ends and tucked in under the plug lead, got me home!

trevorbrady

The throttle cable broke on my bug on Dollymount strand one Valentines day. I'd bunked off work in Waterford and gone to meet my then girlfriend for a day out. Anyway, after a nice walk on the strand we hopped back in and the pedal sank to the floor. The cable had broken at the pedal end and I was able to pull the cable all the way back through to the engine bay (about 10' of cable). I had to get under the car to thread it through a grommet into the cabin but with a lowered car, a jack that was no use on sand all I could do was use the starter to reverse the one of the rear wheels up onto the spare wheel to thread the cable in. Once tied to the handbrake bracket, I was able to operate the throttle by hand to get me home.

Incidentally, despite being pretty pissed off on the day, the girlfriend soon got over it. She's my wife now

MercMad

Only ever had on incident where I felt I was going to be stranded. Collected my 1964 230SL from a Classic Auction in the UK, east side, and started out for the trek to Hollyhead in the pitch black.

The interior light didn't work and prior to purchasing I had spent all my available time under the car checking the structure and the machanical bit. The interior looked good so I spent no time inside.

When It was time to go I couldn't see a thing, eventually found the ignition keyhole, then after about 5 solid minutes i got the headlights. I drove to the nearest garage forecourt and bought a scredriver and visegrips which i used to repair the door stryker (had to hold the door closed with one hand) then repaired the sticking seatbelt.

Anyway out and eventually found my way onto the M1 and with trepidation I started to get her up to motorway speed. As I am sure many here will know, in an old car you are constantly listening for any odd noise, or smell, and trying to identify it. With a "new to you" old car its worse.

So after some time I began to smell petrol. I stopped ASAP and checked everywhere I could, decided I was imagining it and drove on only to stop again convinced this time there was a leak, and there was, but only obvious with the engine running.

I had nothing to patch it with so drove to the next filling station, and the next and the next. It was 10.30PM in Winter and I couldn't believe nobody sold fuel pipe. Anyway I pulled in yet again and whilst the guy went off looking for fuel pipe I nicked the rubber pipe from his Super Sir Gas heater !!!

Fitted perfectly and got me to Dublin where at the first factor I encountered I bought replacement pipes !

capedcrustacian

blew the head gasket on my old car, was gonna cost a fortune to fix and it was over heating and leaking oil like nobodies business so i decided to use it as a trade in for a new car.

I had already picked out a new car so it was just a matter of the dealer seeing my old one and giving me a price for it.

the night before, i parked my car at a friends house a 2minute drive away, the next morning i put ice cold water in instead of coolant, drove it round the corner to the garage, he checked it over,ran the engine, said it was grand and gave me €4,500 off the new car for it.....I bought the old car for €3000 2 years earlier lol

Redrocket

thats not a bodge its a screw

BeardyGit

Redrocket wrote: »

thats not a bodge its a screw

Yeah. I'd be banned for calling you what you really are. So, let's just say it's to do with sucking cock.... And you'd probably like it.

And, on topic, snapped the accelerator cable on a Citroen BX19. Stuck her in neutral, opened the bonnet and shimmed the throttle arm with 2p coins until she was somewhere around 2500-3000RPM or thereabouts. Drove just fine after that!

Okay, so she may not be a 'real' classic, but the fix certainly was :-)

Anan1

Gil_Dub wrote: »

And, on topic, snapped the accelerator cable on a Citroen BX19. Stuck her in neutral, opened the bonnet and shimmed the throttle arm with 2p coins until she was somewhere around 2500-3000RPM or thereabouts. Drove just fine after that!

Okay, so she may not be a 'real' classic, but the fix certainly was :-)

That's got to be my favourite so far! Although peasant's washing line accelerator coming in through the sunroof runs it a very close second.

carchaeologist

Isopon as a silencer repair(still going strong)
And a friend with a 74 cherry had a front brake stick on,freed it out and clamped the pipe with a visegrips so it wouldnt stick again on the way home..i dont know how he drove it.
Not exactly a get you home bodge,but who has tried the cork/sawdust in the diff trick....
Iv seen an anglia that was so rotten the A pillar was barely connected to the sill,the owner shaped a bit of metal to fit in the floor so the water wouldnt come in(just placed in,no welding)..and thats a true story.The days before the NCT were great,im sure everyone has a story to tell of superbodging and structural filler!!

Max_Damage

The accelerator pedal broke of my uncle's Citroen BX back in the 90's, so he used a vice grips as the pedal instead! It's still on the car to this day (the car itself now rests in the corner of a field).

golfbgud

capedcrustacian wrote: »

blew the head gasket on my old car, was gonna cost a fortune to fix and it was over heating and leaking oil like nobodies business so i decided to use it as a trade in for a new car.

I had already picked out a new car so it was just a matter of the dealer seeing my old one and giving me a price for it.

the night before, i parked my car at a friends house a 2minute drive away, the next morning i put ice cold water in instead of coolant, drove it round the corner to the garage, he checked it over,ran the engine, said it was grand and gave me €4,500 off the new car for it.....I bought the old car for €3000 2 years earlier lol

What goes around comes around......not even close to being funny....Would you like to be the next owner?

ianobrien

I've an oil leak onto a clutch in an AX GT. It was starting to judder and slip. The cure was:

1. Open the Bonnet
2. Go into the shop and get the bottle of coke
3. Return to car, shaking the 2ltrs of coke on the way
4. Open the bottle of coke, and directed the spray into the clutch housing, via the inspection hole.
5. Throw the bottle in the bin, close the bonnet and drive off.

Job Done, in a Petrol station in Killarney this May!

Oh, I did the job in the car wash, and washed away the coke that fell on the ground......

(speaking of that bloody car, I didn't drive it for 2 months, and now the clutch is stuck solid, ie clutch disc stuck to pressure plate (discovered this last week). I think it's time to get it on to a quiet road, start the car in gear, press the clutch and start dancing on the accelerator. Hopefully, the horseing will free the clutch. If I've got to take the clutch out, I'll change the crankshaft oil seal then)

Eric318

I recall running out of brakes on a dirt road in Zimbabwe way out of there in the bush, with a Land Rover SIII, while carrying friends who were due to fly back to London a few hours later...

The copper pipe going to one of the rear wheel cylinders had snapped. Rebuilding the tulip shape at the end of the pipe with the front bumper as bench and a few stones as hammer was... interesting. It worked very well, the friends caught their plane and the repair held.