Wanted ! Any good 'get-you-home bodges' ???

I am not sure of the US vernacular, but here in my part of northern England, a sort of 'bodge', which is like a temporary repair to something, can be known as a 'get-you-home' repair -

That is say, for example, you are just a mile or two from home, and something goes wrong on your car, sometimes its handy to have a knowledge of a 'get you home' repair.

Have any ATSers any handy little tricks for temporary repairs to stuff, not just cars?

I will start the ball rolling with a bodgey, but handy trick - if you need to turn a nut, and the only spanner you have with you is too big, it can be 'shimmed ' with coins to reduce its size, so that its a tighter fit.

Not ideal of course, but its 'got me home', with just a few marks on some pennies, when my car broke, and I only had one spanner and a few coins on me.

So any good little tricks?

a couple of eggs in your radiator will stop a small leak for a while. panty hose will get down the road if a belt breaks. hope those help.

Originally posted by xstatic
a couple of eggs in your radiator will stop a small leak for a while. panty hose will get down the road if a belt breaks. hope those help.

thanks, i hadnt heard of the eggs one

reply to post by Onet Wosix


Shouldn't a 'spanner' be adjustable, or span? Otherwise it wouldn't be a very good 'spanner'.

Some of the best emergency repair supplies you should keep in your vehicle is a roll of duct tape, a tube of J-B Weld, a razor knife, and flashlight.

One 'trick' I've used is using coarse ground pepper to temporarily seal a leaking radiator.

Originally posted by Ferris.Bueller.II
Some of the best emergency repair supplies you should keep in your vehicle is a roll of duct tape, a tube of J-B Weld, a razor knife, and flashlight.

Never fail with duct-tape
(may sound sarcastic^^, but it's not. I love duct-tape lol)


J-B Weld is a very good choice, as long as you're not in a hurry, and don't mind waiting til tomorrow.

Doesn't hurt to keep the J-B Weld handy, but I would advise to go ahead and toss in some
'5-minute epoxy' -for those times, when you have no time.

Originally posted by Onet Wosix
I am not sure of the US vernacular, but here in my part of northern England, a sort of 'bodge', which is like a temporary repair to something, can be known as a 'get-you-home' repair -

One term would be 'Jerry-Rigged.'

There is another often used term, very similar, that is not racially appropriate.

I believe they are called Kluges or Klooges here. Also known as Jury-rigs, Redneck repairs, Coonass Engineering and a few other terms that may or may not contain derogatory/profane words, so I will not repeat them here (gotta mind the T&C's...lol)

Sorry, I'm having a brain fart right now and can't think of the example I actually wanted to give! Ahh!

--Apex

P.S. in a SHTF scenario it may be good to remember the old adage: "Silence is golden, Duct Tape is silver"...lol

One from experience.. Broke down in the Aussie outback, 175km to the nearest town at around 10pm.. Luckily a car came past which is quite a rare thing In such a remote location..
The only problem never had a tow rope..
The solution I came to was to cut a seatbelt out of the back and used that.. Got me 175km no problem..

Not a great one as it causes damaging that needs repairing but as I say one from personal experience..

Originally posted by Misterlondon
One from experience.. Broke down in the Aussie outback, 175km to the nearest town at around 10pm.. Luckily a car came past which is quite a rare thing In such a remote location..
The only problem never had a tow rope..
The solution I came to was to cut a seatbelt out of the back and used that.. Got me 175km no problem..

Not a great one as it causes damaging that needs repairing but as I say one from personal experience..

thats a good one.

did you have a knife with you to cut the belt, or did you have to improvise?

Originally posted by Apex Predator

"Silence is golden, Duct Tape is silver"...lol

thats great haha

Got some for you

Get a little more life out of your wiper blades, clean them with vinegar. You will be surprised what crap comes of the blades.

A piece of wire and a soda/drinks can will repair your exhaust enough to get you home should it fall off and break under the vehicle, hell I have know people to use this as a semi permanent fix

If a halogen headlight bulb blows and you are miles from anywhere and need all lights working, remove bulb from headlamp/plug back into power then carefully flick the bulb with your finger. Sometimes this will knock the broken filament onto the disconnect side and with the current flowing weld it back on, thus completing the circuit and lighting the bulb. I have used this method a couple of times. Lasts long enough to get a replacement.

Have a tire that will not inflate because of lack of a seal around the bead, try this:
First if the wheel is off, bounce the wheel on the ground while someone is using the pump. This sometimes is all it takes for the bead to seal on the rim long enough for the air in the tire to inflate it. Alternatively, spray an aerosol can around between the bead and the rim and carefully ignite the fluid in the tire, the sudden expanse of air will inflate the tire enough to be able to drive on. USE CARE WITH THIS METHOD THOUGH. AT YOUR OWN RISK. I have inflated atv tires this way for some time now.

Will add more as they come to me

if your a mile or 2 from home

walk.

get a chain and tow your vehicle home.

reply to post by Ferris.Bueller.II


In Britain / English talk... a spanner = a wrench.... like a spade = a shovel.
etc etc...

power steering fluid runs low and you need to drive and have no power steering fluid but you have transmission fluid which is cheaper.... most of the time you can do that with most cars.

ever heard of great stuff? it's foam insulation in a can. it comes with a tube so you can squirt this sticky foamy crap into small places. I can get into even smaller places with a regular plastic straw which you can pinch narrow. they say you have to use the whole can up at one time, not if you have a straw! you have to hold onto to it and I assume you would be wearing gloves anyway... little messy but it can be done. I have gotten pretty darn good at it. I use a can of great stuff as mane times as i want until it runs out. I use the skinny straws and widen the end a tad with an ink pen.... makes a decent enough fit if you keep one finger on the can tip and guide the other end with your other hand. save the tube for the bulk of your work and not the little spaces since it's bigger and has a handle.

you run out of mineral spirits and paint thinner before you realized and need to clean oil paint off a brush and you so happen to have flax seed oil supplements on hand which are popular these days... it may very well take it off and since flax seed oil goes bad so fast, it might be the last use you get out of it if you forgot you had it anyway.

oh... forgot to mention my spaghetti jar bong... and I a lot more I can't recall. I am constantly riggin crap up.

"Ghetto rigged" is also another term used a lot in my area (my area is not the ghetto, btw)

I've used duct tape several times to repair leaky or blown coolant lines.

I keep a roll of re-bar tying wire in my trunk. It's just mild steel wire that's around 1mm thick and can be bent and twisted easily. Useful for fixing exhaust that has fallen down.

If you have some aluminum foil, and a leaky/rusted out exhaust pipe, you can crinkle up a bunch of foil, wrap it around the pipe, and then tightly wrap the foil with the re-bar wire. I've used this to fix a rusted out exhaust pipe, it was right before the muffler so pretty loud. Eventually the exhaust gases will burn through the foil, but it works for a little while.

I like to keep a can of the "fix-a-flat" stuff in my car. Not really a "bodge" as you put it since it's a product specifically sold for repairing leaking tires, but it's a great thing to have on hand either way.

If you have a fuse that blows, you can stick a piece of metal in there to complete the circuit. Usually not the best idea as a fuse blows for a reason, and without a fuse something else could burn up, but if you can't get your car going with the fuse blown, pretty much anything metal will work in place of the fuse.

You have to roll a cigarette and you don't have a filter. tear a piece off of a napkin, carefully fold it in a long thin strip and roll it up just tight enough to make it swell when you stick it in the end of your rolled cigarette.

these are all great.

im learning some good stuff here

thanks everyone

keep em coming

let's say you want an air filter for your house but you are too cheap or too poor to buy one but you have a spare cheap box fan sitting around with decent power. tie and tape an air filter to the back, just make sure you get everything sealed up. Viola!... new air filter.

needless to say, my house is quite "bodgey"

Is "bodgey" a word... can I use that?

I know some of these are quick fixes, just rigs but anywho...
got a bad habit of rearranging your furniture or insist on sweeping behind everything when you clean?
If your house has smooth floors, turn all your furniture upside down and get and old sturdy rug that you can cut into small pieces that are the same size as the feet or legs of your furniture where it contacts the floor and permanently glue them on. You will be able to push most furniture with just fingers if you have a smooth enough floor, like laminate.

Ok, that one's kind elaborate and from someone else but it's cool to be able to push heavy # around so easy.

cheap vinegar will take latex paint off of hard vinyl, like counter tops or tables, or glass or anything hard if you let it sit.

This link will tell you how to pop a clutch for a bad battery or starter.

one I just learned if your cigar is bitter, or you want to relight and refresh it or if you have a nasty flavored one, like wine you can try to purge it buy getting the end really hot with your lighter then lowering the lighter under the end and keep it there without the flame touching and blow out through it a few times. if you do it when the flame is right on it you'll just blow the flame around. the heat is supposed to pull oil out and this will pull some of the bitter taste out.

Duct Tape (great for a leaky hose), Fix A Flat (aerosol spray for temporary tire mishap)

Best of all though, a towing rider on your Insurance.