When your car stuffs up

[Bilbs]

Ok, so i figure ill start a thread of headaches our cars cause us, like things going wrong, at very inconvenient times, or convenient times, ill start i guess.

Just as i pull into the street i work in, i see steam start pouring from under the hood, oh CRAP! So i pull into work, lift the hood, and yup, i've popped my radiator (funny thats what i thought it was, 9 times outta 10 it would be a top hose) But luckily, im a mechanic, and even luckier that we had a reasonabley good VR V8 radiator lying around (like every workshop keeps one of them out back lol) So off to the radiator repair shop for a flush, clean pressure test etc, and $90 later, 2 hose clamps, a bottom hose and 6L of coolant later, and i drove home, but what scared me, was i only just got back from alexandra on monday, and you cant help but think, what if it happened while i was up there, i dont even wanna think about it lol

[feistl]

When i was 18 and just got my license my mates and i went for a drive in mums car. It was a tuesday night at about 11pm when i picked em up. We headed down to the great ocean road... I noticed we were low on fuel after passing a servo so i said we should go back, but my mate who was navigating said go on, there would be a servo further down the road.

Long story short, ran out of fuel on the great ocean near Appollo bay at 4am on a school night. Get a call from mum the next morning at 8am..."Where the **** is my car, you better be home in 5 minutes or your dead"....

To which my reply...
"Yeah, we're out of fuel in Appollo bay"...
"*silence*"

[AttaBoy]

I ran out of fuel just 50m from my house!! Paid 14 bucks for a small can to fill her up again at the servo..

[adamc11]

I ran out of fuel about 20m from the servo

[crazyspoon05]

I've had the bottom radiator hose fail a kilometre or so after passing a servo

A few years ago now was driving up to Golden Beach (on 90 Mile Beach) late at night (had worked late and was meeting friends up there for a weekend away) and hitting the deserted bit just after Rosedale/Longford where it's all RAAF bombing ranges and farmland for kilometres and having the headlight fuse keep blowing at annoyingly random intervals

[greenfoam]

My wife has ran outa fuel several times close enough to the servo to roll in!. She's only been stuck NEAR a servo, still within easy walking distance about 3 times (she keeps a fuel can in the back) she likes to cut these things fine it seems, I've hardly ever seen her car with the low fuel light off. Not a car but I've had the gear shift lever fall off my motor bike in the middle of a forest just before dark about 60km from home, lucky it was stuck in third gear so I could still take off ok and still could get enough speed out of it to get home without taking all night

[Cobez]

Was at a cruise with the JC Vic boys down to Arthurs Seat, it's like an hour and a bit drive from my house. AS i pulled into the driveway, coolant started ****ing out from a crack in the radiator. Took little to no time for most of it to be on my driveway. I'm glad it didn't happen up at Arthurs Seat.

[evil_monkey]

When i was on my p-plates didn’t know much about cars. popped a hose off the back end of the motor lost all the coolant, thermostat jammed on my vn s1 5spd i was about 30 seconds away from my driveway and i used to make regular 500km trips to Albany.

had the clutch die on me on the way to work once managed to coast to work and sent it off to the local mech to get it changed borrowed the bosses car to get home.

Only other thing was i snapped an accelerator cable leaving for work one Friday morning was sweet having an unexpected long weekend

[DannyboyDS]

I had an old EA and it kept burning a wire out off of the positive terminal and the car would just die and then refuse to crank.

It happened several times and was repaired several times before I replaced the whole thing with a thicker gauge wire.

[Bilbs]

I ran out of fuel about 20m from the servo

I did this once too, i felt the surge just before it ran out, so i got a bit of speed up, and then hit the clutch as it died, and im thinking, yes, yes, yes, im gonna make it...... RED LIGHT!!!! So i then had to push it round the corner into the servo, and some HOT chick came and helped me push, shame she was only 15

Oh, and the other main ones i have had with both of my aussie 4 spd powered cars, was breaking the shifter or linkages, i remember last time it happened, i was just pulling into my drive way, and i went to grab 2 to drive up it, but it didnt come outta 3rd, so pull the console out, reach under, grrab the rod, and pull out of 3, push into 2 and drive in, then next morn, i workwed out i had 1 and 2 on the stick, but no 3 and 4, so i drove most of the way in 2 to a workshop i know nearby so i could use their equip to make a new one so i could drive to work, and the time before in my vk, i shifted to 2, and the whole stick just came out in my hand lol, so i drove that one home 40 kays by reaching under the floor and manualy shifting the rods lol, it kinda goes, put ito 1, take off, reach under, grab 1 - 2 rod, shift to 2, reach under, grab 1 - 2 rod, shift to neautral, grab 3 - 4 rod, shift to 3, then rach under again to shift to 4 lol, but it got me home. And the last one, but i only considetr it and inconvienience in aussie 4's is breaking the clutch cable, just key it to take off, and no clutch shifts, i drove it around the city all day like that once

[Bilbs]

i can now add to this since my first post about the radiator, a water leak from the welsch plug that ivolves me having to remove the extractors on the drivers side of the motor, left hand headlight decided to break just driving on a rough road, nothing to with car buggerin up, but slightly related, i got FRICKEN BOGGED while trying to do a U turn up the bush (i would up with 3 wheels on the ground, and 1 off the ground, only prob is, that that one wheel was the RH Rear, so i had NO drive at all, i jacked it up, PACKED it with branches and bits of wood, and well, it just spat them out at the shins of the bloke at the back trying to push lol) but if my LSD wasnt stuffed, that wouldnt have happened i guess.

[TVR-190]

My dads car had a flat battery so he had an NRMA guy come out and give a jump, on the way to the servoto get a new battery the battery died while waiting at red light and engine stopped.

luckily the nrma guy was driving behind us at the time, and gave us a battery and jumper leads, spent the rest of the drive to the servo with a battery sitting on my lap with jumper cables running out the window and under the hood :/

[ragrim]

oooh i got some good stories here, ill just post one though

few months back was getting ready to go to a party in brisbane and i live in byron bay, 2 hours south, so about 6pm me and a mate jump in the car and head north...

about half way to tweed doing 110kmh on the highway engine light comes on and steering goes heavy, crap ive lost power steering, i knew instantly what it was, i limped it about 2 kms up the road to an emergancy bay and popped the bonnter, sure enough my top tensioner pulley is missing and the bearing is siezed on the engine and my fan belt is missing.

so i made a few calls to NRMA (im not a member) wanted $500 to tow me to the nearest servo, made some more calls and managed to get in touch with someone who had a spare engine, so made another call to get a mate to go get it and bring it to me and lucky i had a spare fan belt in the boot.

so we sat in the car for 2 hours on the side of the highway thinking how fun this friday night was till the parts arived, another hour later we got it all together turned around and went back home lol.

this is the 2nd time this has happened, first time was bottom tensioner pulley while i was doing 100kmh on a tiny windey road, thats hell scary when you lose power steering on them roads while your driving 1 handed lol.

[Thomas1]

I find it funny that people manage to run out of fuel. Why run it that low anyway?

[Sabbath']

I find it funny that people manage to run out of fuel. Why run it that low anyway?

My VL had a really really dodgy fuel gauge, it could be showing empty, but would have nearly a quarter of a tank in it. Caught me out 3 times. The worst was in the middle of the city, during morning rush. Managed to park the car in a parking spot, and then walk out of the city to a petrol station, buy a jerry can, and walk back to my car, find a hardware store (right across the road from my park (fate?) buy a funnel and pour the petrol into the car.

Whole process took about an hour and made me late for work, on the plus side, i had a shorter work day that day.

[fabz]

I was installing a stereo in my HQ monaro and found a switch in the drivers side door sill. Flicked it on and off but nothing happened so i cut it and finished the install. Come to start the car and it wouldnt start. spent 1 hr going over everything i did with the install and couldnt figure it out and at this time my parents go to do some shopping.

SO i call RACQ and he comes and has a look and runs a lead from the batt to the starter and it fires and runs fine. Take the lead off and it dies. He spent 45 mins checking everything and couldnt figure it so called another RACQ guy to come have a look. 2 and a bit hrs later they leave with no answers for me so i decide stuff it ill rip the install out and re connect all other wires. Still wont start.

Parents come home about 7pm (approx 4-5 hrs after this all started) and dad says "are you still trying to do that" to which i reply "shut up as if you would have any idea how to fix it". 5mins later the car started fine when he pointed to the switch on the garage floor saying whats that and me arguing that it was nothing until i re wired it back in. Damn you hidden kill switch. Never have lived it down plus then had to re do the install hahahaha