It’s Wrenching Wednesday! The Autopian Membership roll continues to grow, so once again we’re extending an extra-hearty welcome to our newest members–we deeply appreciate your support! Wrenching Wednesday is your opportunity to participate in an open forum about all things car repair/maintenance/modding related. Where the convo goes is entirely up to you, but it’s fun to have a prompt to get things rolling. So let’s roll!
Aw geez, would you look at that? It’s Wrenching Wednesday Evening. Clearly meeting deadlines isn’t my superpower, or even a regular power. I wouldn’t say my wrenching powers are exactly super either, but that doesn’t mean I haven’t come through in the clutch like some kind of stud sprung from the imagination of Stan Lee (or whoever Stan ripped off) when a mechanical malady threatened to ruin someone’s day. Is there a better feeling than effortlessly taking a situation from seemingly hopeless to heroically solved as if it were a plumbing leak at Pete Campbell’s house and you’re Don friggin’ Draper, adoring crowd and all? I submit to you there is not.
Now, I wish I could tell you I have sexier saved-the-day stories than the usual flat tires and dead batteries, but that’s all I gots. Not that the flat-tire and dead-battery havers thought my efforts were mundane; you’d think they had witnessed an incredible feat of skill or knowledge or strength. Do not be impressed, I always say, anyone can do this, and I’ll show you how. Does the lesson stick? Probably not. That’s fine. I’ll take the call, it’s a free pizza and grateful vibes. Pizza and grateful vibes can keep me going for a looong time.
Tell us about the times your wrenching skills saved the day. To the comments!
There is a three-apartment rental unit across my street. A few weeks ago, a woman and a man were standing down the street staring at her car’s rear wheel. It wasn’t turning, and their internet sleuthing told them the rear bearing had frozen. I just replaced mine, so I knew it wasn’t a repair you want to have done on a college student budget. It ends-up the woman hadn’t driven the car for two weeks while home for the holiday.
I had her crank the parking brake up and down and pump the power brakes while I hammered on the rotor and calipers with a mallet. After 10 minutes things seemed to be moving a bit. We put the wheel back on and she drove around the block without smoke or rubbing. I felt pretty good about that as she drove away without issue.
I also loaned them the 4-way lug wrench and a wheel block, which was also pretty helpful. We’re on a hill, so you don’t want to be kicking your wimpy lug wrench if you can avoid it.
I had a coworker lock the keys in his e250 van and was freaking out I grabbed a wedge and coat hanger and was reading for a long try of getting to the door handle ( no power locks). Then I had a thought I was driving a crown vic and was like screw it let’s see if my key works. I put it in and it worked like it was cut for the lock. I am not sure the chances of that but it was how I saved the day
My friends and I bought a 1976 Triumph Dolomite for $2500 off eBayUK to drive across Europe. It looked good in the pictures! Somewhere in France the RTV holding the thermostat housing came loose. (the bolt holes were stripped). It was hot and we were losing coolant by the bucketload. On the side of the road I rigged up this “proper bodge” using a couple of long and strong “Jubilee clips” to clamp it back together and keep most of the coolant where it belonged.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/xFJW6Yv5q18WHamq8
My ’71 CB350 throttle cable broke on the way home from work. Lacking a spare (who carries one!), I found a piece of cord and connected each end to the throttle lever on each carb and ran it up and over the gas tank. With my right hand under the cord I could lift up to apply gas to the carbs, and by twisting my hand I could balance out the carbs. Succcessfully got home, but without front brakes, who needs them!. Ride ’em cowboy!
Awesome! Yeah, my best story is when I had an old 70’s Audi wagon I got for $100! Ran & drove it for 6 months…so one time the throttle cable broke so I hooked up string/rope from the engine through the driver’s window & drove it all the way home on back roads
I saved rock and roll.
Remember the band Semisonic? Their hit was “Closing time”.
Years before that, circa 1991, most of the band was in another band called “Trip Shakespeare.” Excellent band, they had a drummer who had her kit set up in a pretty unconventional way, great bass player (John Munson? Definitely last name of Munson…)
They were playing at Rick’s in Ann Arbor. Had never heard of them before, but Ricks was a happening place for live music and fun. The band was stunning. We stayed the entire gig, and helped unload after.
Anyway, their van died. We spent entirely too long trying to diagnose the problem, when the signer said “I think it’s just a dead battery,” I lived just down the street, so I got my car and my jumper cables, and became the unsung hero of rock. Maybe even the fifth Beatle…
Great band. I was friends of friends of one of their girlfriends back in the day, got into a couple of shows on the guest list. Yes, John Munson, Dan & Matt Wilson, and Elaine… aw crap, it’ll come to me…
Apparently we were also once at the same party as Dave Pirner from Soul Asylum and Tommy Stinson of the Replacements, but I didn’t get to meet either of them.
I have been “Lois Lane” in this scenario.
I was changing the O2 sensors on my SVT Contour. There is not much room (read: none) in that engine bay for a big dude like me to get the rear sensor off. I had been bruising and cutting up my forearm on this job for over an hour when I see my neighbour come home.
My neighbour who was a small, lithe Class A mechanic.
“Hey Gunay! You have a minute?”
5 minutes later, the old sensor was out, and the new one was in and working beautifully.
As a young and poor married couple, my wife’s Lebaron from high school (we graduated in 2002) gave up the ghost. We were in a fix so we paid a neighbor at the married apartments at her college $500 for a 78 Ford Fairlane Futura (inline 6) that was a turd but got us through the next year. My wife really needed a good car so I took a chance on a $400 1998 Grand Cherokee Limited that had a hole in the block. I found a reasonably priced ($800) engine out of a V8 Dakota and it was almost a direct drop in. Crazy thing was it just took me two days to pull the bad Magnum and drop the new one in and my wife had what honestly was a very nice vehicle for us being young and broke! I will say, though, that the “info center” in that truck was a huge pain in the ass and always had something it wanted to tell you about.
At a Scout camp, someone locked their keys in the trunk.
Pull out the Swiss army knife and remove some dash panels. Found a coat hanger and jumped power to the connector for the trunk release button in the glovebox (80’s GM).
So Pete was able to make it back to the Phoenix Foundation in time for his meeting then, right?
Mom’s Suzuki Forenza blew a coolant hose at a flooring store parking lot. The big one at the bottom. Middle of summer in FL. Parts store didn’t have it in stock, but one of the universal ones on the back wall would work. Drove it up onto a curb and got to work.
Were you “flooring” the pedal? Ha ha
Probably had to since Suzuki
There’s wrenching stories, but I probably had the most impact last week when I talked an acquaintance out of buying a Ford Ecosport.
Good one!
I can’t recall any recent save the day moments, but used to regularly help friends and coworkers with their automotive issues. One that stands out was helping a friend who was getting ready to move cross country, another mutual friend had offered to go along and use his 1/2 ton Chevy truck to tow a vehicle and haul some stuff. I did a lookover of the truck and found all the brakes way past due for pad/disc replacement. Spent the night prior to their departure replacing those and changing fluids/servicing. They made the 1,800 mile trip without incident, I like to think I may have saved them from disaster along the way.
Helped a college friends roomie out with her old Chrysler 300 (1972ish?) convertible in Avocado Metallic with white interior. It was a cool car but one day she got home and the thing was draining water like nobodys’ business. She was seriously bummed out as it was her dads old ride and she used it to get to work and didn’t want to ride the bus or bike. Anyways, since all I basically wrenched was Mopars in the day, I said I bet it’s the water pump and it’s not really crazy expensive to fix. Took a look at it and told her, ‘it’s $75 for a rebuilt pump, maybe $20 for new seals, Permatex, thermostat, coolant, and takes about a hour, hour and half to swap out. And she’d get a little core charge back when she returns the toasted unit.’ Offered to do it for $10 bucks or lunch and she was super happy. Went and did it. Car ran like a champ. Gave me a kiss and took me to lunch. She was cute too. Nice girl. That memory serves whenever I get down.
Awesome!
I once replaced the starter on a friend’s Grand Am in -20F weather, three hours before she was supposed to head home for Christmas. She brought me back a whole tin of homemade cookies. Fair trade.
Back when I was in college, some friends and I were visiting my parents. When my friends went to leave, their Honda died in the driveway. It cranked but would not run. I was no one’s mechanic, but I quickly determined that it had spark. Removing two quick bolts and presto, the back seat was out, and I checked the fuel pump which was hiding there. It had no power, so I checked the fuse, which was burned. I felt silly for not checking the fuses first, but my mother was very impressed that I could check the engine, remove the back seat, diagnose the fuel pump as the culprit, and have it fixed in less than half an hour. I’m sure she thought that I would have to call a tow truck.
I can still remember her asking “How do you know how to DO these things?!”
Since my dad couldn’t even change a spark plug, I must have looked smart in comparison…
My parents Vibe GT (manual!) started making awful noises as they were driving out 600 miles to come visit me and go camping one time. I don’t know how they kept their sanity listening to what sounded like a vigorously shaken tin can half filled with gravel for half of that drive, but a quick diagnostic, trans fluid drain (surprise, there was none!) and refill fixed it with no apparent lasting damage. Turns out a slow leak from one of the drive axle seals for months has drained the trans, but it only started making noise on the trip out (or at least enough noise that they noticed anyway)
One other story is also the same former neighbour’s Subaru Forester.
He had a friend trying to install a new exhaust rubber hanger and being a new piece the rubber was a really tight fit onto the body and tailpipe. He had struggled with this for a good half an hour by this point.
I told him to hammer sockets into the holes in the hanger to enlarge the openings and it slipped right into place.
It’s a great feeling when you can offer a solution that works in seconds!
See, at the same time, we’ve all had the benefit of having seen your work – you’re the guy who built a functioning vehicle out of a pile of a 40 year old rust to basically humor a silly American. You should just be like “yeah, I’m that bloke” and the rest of us will pack this in right now. 😉
Yeah, that was great…I loved reading about that whole saga and we need more David “Rusty” Tracy stories like that again!
Thanks again Laurence
Not wrenching related, but car related.
It doesn’t take mad wrenching skills to save a strangers day. Sometimes all it takes is a little attention and the ability to toss your own apathy over your shoulder for a few minutes.
I once stopped in rush hour traffic to pull a mattress out of the right lane instead of going around it like the cars in front of me.
Does that make me a hero? Taking thirty seconds of my time to do such a simple thing to help everyone behind me.
No, it just means my mother raised me well and I’m trying to be more of a helpful human than a hindrance human. It made me feel like a hero though.
Sometimes just paying attention (seeing problems) and having the willingness to stop and help are all you need.
Eventually, if you stop to help enough you’ll find yourself with something of a Batman belt in the trunk of your car or truck box.
A few essentials to carry, off the top of my head:
•jumper cables
•tow strap
•road flares
•car break in kit (assembly from experience required. Wire, string, plastic wedge etc.)
•basic tools
•four way lug wrench
•air compressor
•gas can
•a smile
I’ve used all these things to help save someone’s day at one point or another.
Remember, Batman didn’t have a super power. Just a utility belt and some wonderful toys.
The real superpower is when you can stop yourself from thinking “not my problem” and simply stop and try to help.
Apathy is my nemesis. He’s a cruel villain.
So is it comfortable, right level of firmness for you, etc.?
It’s a little heavy.
Very true! I once stopped by a car with its hood open on a frequented back road, its owner pacing back and forth. I asked if I could help. He said that the transmission grenaded itself, and he already called a tow truck, but he was astonished that I stopped to help, said I was the only one. He was so sincerely happy, this memory has stuck with me ever since.
That’s what I’m talking about. Sometimes it helps just to stop and see. Even if all you have to offer is a smile.
A few years ago, my neighbour across the road had an early 2000s Subaru Forester XT that needed a new engine.
He had assembled a crew of apprentice mechanics, who were keen but hadn’t worked on Subarus of that era before.
I went over a few times to help them out, but I remember when they just about had it all buttoned up they were struggling with getting the factory intercooler installed as the hoses weren’t going over the Turbo and throttle body easily.
As I own a WRX of the same era, I had the intercooler installed in one swift movement. The look on their faces after having apparently struggled with this for over an hour was priceless.
I became romantically involved with the woman who became my first wife after replacing the alternator on her car (a manual early 90s Celica too!). She asked me to take a look at it since she’s seen me working on the RX7 in the apartment complex parking lot a bunch of times. After we got it all done in a couple of hours including trips to the parts store and I went back to my apartment, she showed up at the door with some wine as a thank you present and things got started from there
Brought my sister in laws car back from the dead when it had zero compression… Like, barely moved the needle in the test. Turns out that the ECU was failing, causing the injectors to randomly stick open and completely wash down the bores. This coupled with 200k+ miles of ambivalent maintenance less to no compression when cold starting. Anyway, some oil down the plug holes allowed enough compression to start and warm up so that we could diagnose the issue and track it down to the ECU or injectors, at which point the Saab forums pointed us at the culprit. Without getting it started to do the diagnosis though, it was looking like the end for that car
This is hardly heroic, but the end result made me happy. I had a girlfriend who 1) owned a VW Cabrio (with a manual!) and 2) could be fairly obsessive-compulsive.
She tells me there’s an intermittent squealing coming from the rear. I dismissed it as probably nothing, but she kept telling me it’s there and driving her nuts. So I start the diagnostic routine, really worried it meant it was going to be time for new brake shoes b/c ugh rear drums.
They turn out to be fine. I’m getting perplexed and frustrated, and then I finally figure it out – the wheel bearing seal had ruptured. Fortunately, it had just happened, so no real damage. I replace (inc. packing the new bearings with that cool tool) and all better.
Her happiness and visible psychological relief that the squealing was gone made it all worth it.
How long did she keep driving around in her VW Cabrio with your nuts in her purse on the passenger seat after that bit of handyman heroism?
Until I couldn’t fix it, which isn’t hard with me. The vehicle alarm started randomly going off if you shut the door too hard or locked it or looked at the car the wrong way. She junked it and bought a Toyota (woo) SUV (boo).
A friend asked me to take a look at their car since it had overheated, lost all coolant, was driven for a bit in this condition, seemed to lose all power and was making an awful knocking noise…. Well, I went into it assuming the engine was just completely toast based on the description, and she was expecting the same from talking to a shop and googling. However, pulling the plugs revealed them to be dry and normal looking, there was no sign of coolant in the oil (or anywhere else for that matter), the bore walls and tops of the pistons looked fine with the borescope, and it started up readily when cold, albeit with a horrible knocking that sounded like the bottom end. However, when it was running I could see that the serpentine belt was frayed, which got me looking more closely at front end accessories… Turns out that the water pump bearing and seal were completely destroyed and the puppy for it was wobbling around like crazy making all that noise, and the engine itself seemed fine. Definitely a save, since in my friends mind the next call was going to be to the scrap yard otherwise.
My boss was looking high and low for a yaw sensor for an SLK roadster when it suddenly hit me. “Hey, Chrysler Crossfires are like 80% SLK right? I got a homie over at the Chrysler dealer, give me a sec.” Sure enough, on some dusty shelf in a FCA (at the time) warehouse there was not one but TWO yaw sensors! We snagged both of them so in 5 years when another one fails we’ll be ready. And sure enough, they came in Mercedes boxes BUT the cost price was even more than Mercedes had the list price set at, go figure.
I have a coworker who still tells a story of me helping him out when he found his exhaust had a hole in it. It was all a bolt on fix after cutting off the bad stuff. That was nearly 10 years ago, but it seems to have impressed him. All I really brought to the table was a sawzall and a willingness to use it.
It’s the ballsiness that makes it. Wrenching is one thing, but cutting things off, making new holes in things, etc. is a whole other level!
I love that feeling of “destroy the old one, there’s a new one over there”.
Dead batteries are my most common. Otherwise it was late night diag of a blown steering pump spraying fluid. I had enough to cox home before hot fluid hit something flammable. Quick run for the fire extinguisher took care of that.