Learned a new trick

Bill Siegle · Nov 29, 2002

Well Thanksgiving at the in laws went fine till I decided to check the oil on the way outa town. It was low so I had my wife pull into a gas station and wouldn't you know it... I left the oil cap sitting on the manifold when I had checked it earlier and now it was gone. We drove on back to where it was lost but in the dark and fog it was a waste of time. I was POed!!!!! Felt dumb as a bag of rocks for setting the situation for disaster. I decided to buy some spare oil and roll some cloth in duct tape to seal the fill spout when my lovely and intelligent wife walked in the store and suggested aluminum foil

I bought some and stuffed a ball of foil into the hole and it molded to the threads. Held all the way home( a 2 hour drive) and tomorrow NAPA will have a replacement for me. I was really glad my wife was thinking cause I was blind with anger at the prospect of not making it home that night. Anyway all is well again. I just wanted to let you guys know about another good reason to have some foil around.

psy-ops · Nov 29, 2002

funny!

I was recently blind with anger at my truck. It seems I drove my wife to work at 7am and left the fog lights on, then when I had to go to work guess what....it wouldn't start. We just had the battery recharged the day before so I thought it was a faulty job.

After all it couldn't be me.

so I got out and mentally pictured the battery and kicked that exterior part of the truck, and put a huge dent in it with my boot print right on it.

my wife didn't get as pissed as I thought she would have.

Now I have a daily reminder that I too one day can be on "COPS" or win a "Darwin award"

grommit · Dec 1, 2002

I used to get frequent dead batteries. There are quite a few of us using the van all at once, and as people forget things and run back out to check, clean, put, etc. various overhead lights would get left on for overnight or days. We got a Priority Start to preserve the battery. Unfortunately the old battery was already so shot from the constant deep cycling that we had to replace it a couple of weeks later. The Priority start had indeed kicked in, but there was so little reserve left on that battery that it was toast. We have not had a dead battery since.

What's a Priority Start? a low voltage disconnect for the car battery. It senses the battery voltage, and if it drops to a predetermined point (that supposedly would still support a cold start), there is a servo of some type that opens the connection mechanically. When you return to the car, any resistance change like stepping on the brake or even the dome lights trying to come on when you open the door will signal the thingy to reconnect the battery.

There are other LVDs on the market. Most require you to open the hood and hit a reset button. The wife did not agree to that.

coyotlviejo · Dec 1, 2002

We once punctured the gas tank on a remote mountain road. (The tire went up on a mud-covered rock, then slid off the side, ramming the rock into the tank.) We discovered the "gusher" about a half-mile later when we stopped to take in some scenery. So we patched it with bubble gum! The gas kept eating through the gum, so we all kept chewing and applying (I was the designated applier - YUCK!) We finally just hopped back in and took off down the mountain. I guess the air flow over the gum caused the gas to evaporate fast enough that it caused it to create a laquer instead of just eating the gum away. When we got to town to buy some insta-weld goo stuff we still had a half-tank and no leak!!! The gum stayed on for months until they finally replaced the tank. So our SNAFU was not so bad after all and we all learned a lot about gum, gas and laquer...

dartanyon · Dec 2, 2002

I had a similar thing happen to my petrol tank and found it when I was told of something was leaking from my car. Sure enough there was a jet of fuel squirting out of a hole. I remembered a tip from a travellers survival guide and the tip was to use soap to make a doughy mixture with water and press it into the hole. I did this and it worked. The soap reacted with the petrol and hardened and no leak. It started raining ....... I checked the patch anf found it missing. Once again I got the soap out and pressed it round the hole and drove very carefully. Later I repaired the fuel tank by screwing a stainless steel self tapping screw with a leather washer into the hole. Fixed. My car started running very badly. I traced the fault to a fuel problem. I removed the fuel pump and carburettor to find the small jets and valves clogged with little globs of paste. These I worked out to be ......... soap.
Moral of the story is to keep soap and sugar away from your fuel unless you have no other option.

Normark · Dec 2, 2002

Hey Bill...

You lost the "710" Eh !!!

My wife lost the "710" before....

That sucks!!!!

According to my wife Heres the "710" she lost...

Just kidding.. Got that in a joke email,,but thats roughly how it went...

ttyle

Eric...

Diligence · Dec 5, 2002

I haven't posted for ages, but here's a couple of other ideas..

If you are out in the boonies, carry a small can of ground pepper with you. Then if you get a hole (small of course) in your rad, dump in the pepper and it will eventually fill the hole - at least long enough to get you somewhere.

I've also heard of guys getting larger holes in the rad, taking a green poplar branch, making sure it's sharp - then pound the sucker right through the rad....it will swell under the heat....again, a last ditch repair.

I'm sure that "momma" wouldn't be too impressed if you just tried this for the helluv it.

csp20108 · Dec 5, 2002