Weird breakdown stories
Discussion
I will tell you of one that sticks in my mind.
It was Christmas day a couple of years ago, the temperature was still below freezing, one of our HATO patrols came across a car on the H/S, on enquiring, there was just one adult female with 3 small children under 5 yrs old. She'd run out of fuel. She didn't have any breakdown service, she had no money on her, no mobile phone and she was in ordinary lightweight clothes and the 3 young children were in their night clothes. they were on their way to Grandparents house with presents, they were all freezing cold. our patrol took them back home and arranged for the father to return back to the vehicle with fuel.
Those children could have easily suffered hypothermia very quickly if our patrol hadn't seen them. People just don't think that it will happen to them so aren't prepared for when it does.
It was Christmas day a couple of years ago, the temperature was still below freezing, one of our HATO patrols came across a car on the H/S, on enquiring, there was just one adult female with 3 small children under 5 yrs old. She'd run out of fuel. She didn't have any breakdown service, she had no money on her, no mobile phone and she was in ordinary lightweight clothes and the 3 young children were in their night clothes. they were on their way to Grandparents house with presents, they were all freezing cold. our patrol took them back home and arranged for the father to return back to the vehicle with fuel.
Those children could have easily suffered hypothermia very quickly if our patrol hadn't seen them. People just don't think that it will happen to them so aren't prepared for when it does.
PHmember said:
NiceCupOfTea said:
Long unpleasant wait watching car after car swerve at the last minute and only just miss mine.
If only there'd been some traffic cones around that you could've spaced out occasionally behind your car to warn other drivers...I went green laning in my 2003 Vauxhall Corsa C 1.2. My mate was in his 1994 Toyota Camry V6 GX (I was always going to lose).
Ended up going down here:
Boom. Cue 1 hydrolocked Corsa stuck in the middle. My mate in his Camry laughing his head off ahead of me. He ended up coming back through, and towing me out with a rope (I had to tie it on). Towed me all the way back to his house where the damage was confirmed.
One very sheepish call to my mum (I was 17), had to borrow a fair wedge of cash off her to pay for the repair (new engine from a breaker) the following day. Needless to say she wasn't happy... I dread to think what she would have said if I didn't tell her the little white lie that it actually happened here...
Dad still knows nothing of this 7 years later.
Ended up going down here:
Boom. Cue 1 hydrolocked Corsa stuck in the middle. My mate in his Camry laughing his head off ahead of me. He ended up coming back through, and towing me out with a rope (I had to tie it on). Towed me all the way back to his house where the damage was confirmed.
One very sheepish call to my mum (I was 17), had to borrow a fair wedge of cash off her to pay for the repair (new engine from a breaker) the following day. Needless to say she wasn't happy... I dread to think what she would have said if I didn't tell her the little white lie that it actually happened here...
Dad still knows nothing of this 7 years later.
I bought my current car from a chap in kent, so we arranged a family day out to camber sands, then pop round at 4ish to sort the paperwork out.
Test drive was great, paperwork was signed, money was given and off we trot back to oxfordshire.
Felt a slight wheel shake at a certain speed, made a mental note to have a look tomorrow...
We get to the M25, and some services. The wheel shake has been getting worse, I have a look but can't see anything wrong. I tell my friend to crack on with swmbo and our 2 year old daughter, as I knew where I was now, and I'd take it easy and potter home and see them later.
Off they roar, and I settle int oa steady 50mph behind a lorry.
Wheel shake suddenly gets alot worse. Then it gets even more worse, and just as I;m going past J16, there's a huge bang, then the car lifted, then the front passenger corner dropped to the floor. At 50.
Pants were shat, and thank f
k nothing was to the left of me (I'd pulled out of L1 into L2 as L1 turned int othe off ramp). Manage to carefully and successfully get over to the hatchings immediatly after the junction
Call SWMBO who has the bank card, with the aa cover on. My friend has to go miles to the next junction, turn around, back past me (he beeped as they shot past, was a relief!) and then back to where I was. I had a look at the damage..
Ah... no wheel bolts, no wheel (bits of tyre all over the road though, luckily on the white hatchings)
Toy with the idea of putting the spare on (and got it out from under the car, and the car jacked up) with a bolt from each wheel, and limping it off the mway. SWMBO came, and said no, and a few other words, and we call the AA
Who took ages
Highways plod happened upon us about 2 hours later
and went again after declaring all clear on anything, and wished us luck.
We rang the AA, who confirmed a local flatbed had been dispatched
They also said to my mate that he could NOT go to his car, and that we were on camera (and I saw the gantry camera turn on us), so we got the pram out of the car. Nothing else, coudlnt be that long now surely?
It was a lovely day, I was in shorts and sandals..
However 2 more hours later at 6ish it was getting chilly. I had no coat... Ring again, on the way they say..
another hour and a half later, with me making a 'fk 'em' dash to my mates boot to get a nappy and bottle of water, I ring again, 20 minutes I;m told. Right, I say, you 3 buggar off and get to the next services to sort Eva out, I'll wait. I sat on a crash barrier piece that was thrown on the verge, in my mates coat which was too small, swmbo's phone in my pocket as mine was nearly dead, mine charging on the seat of the car and smoked about 30 rollys.
Eventually, salvation! Guy arrives, instantly recognises my situation and we get the spare on
Well, I do, he was blind and couldnt line it all up as the holding bolt for the brake disk was long gone too
Loaded up, I get told all we have with the bank is 'safe location', so off we went to cobham services, where SWMBO and co were chilling.
We arrive, thank the driver and call the AA, pay £140 to upgrade to 'get you home', added another tenner for the extra miles over the allowance, and settled in.
Then my friend realises that he has to get a ticket, as he drove in, and was on the anpr. A ticket was £20 for 24 hours, no other option, but no minimum return time. So he went for a cruise up to the next junction and back, SWMBO and myself fired the stricken car up and chilled with the heating on.
We got home at 2am
We then called the AA and complained (they have our call record at 8pm, we phoned at quarter past 5...) and refunded us and kept the policy active.
Oh, and now I'm paranoid about wheel bolts, if I had only checked the bds when I first noticed, we would have been home quickly, and at a BBQ that we well and truly missed.
Test drive was great, paperwork was signed, money was given and off we trot back to oxfordshire.
Felt a slight wheel shake at a certain speed, made a mental note to have a look tomorrow...
We get to the M25, and some services. The wheel shake has been getting worse, I have a look but can't see anything wrong. I tell my friend to crack on with swmbo and our 2 year old daughter, as I knew where I was now, and I'd take it easy and potter home and see them later.
Off they roar, and I settle int oa steady 50mph behind a lorry.
Wheel shake suddenly gets alot worse. Then it gets even more worse, and just as I;m going past J16, there's a huge bang, then the car lifted, then the front passenger corner dropped to the floor. At 50.
Pants were shat, and thank f
k nothing was to the left of me (I'd pulled out of L1 into L2 as L1 turned int othe off ramp). Manage to carefully and successfully get over to the hatchings immediatly after the junctionCall SWMBO who has the bank card, with the aa cover on. My friend has to go miles to the next junction, turn around, back past me (he beeped as they shot past, was a relief!) and then back to where I was. I had a look at the damage..
Ah... no wheel bolts, no wheel (bits of tyre all over the road though, luckily on the white hatchings)
Toy with the idea of putting the spare on (and got it out from under the car, and the car jacked up) with a bolt from each wheel, and limping it off the mway. SWMBO came, and said no, and a few other words, and we call the AA
Who took ages
Highways plod happened upon us about 2 hours later
and went again after declaring all clear on anything, and wished us luck.
We rang the AA, who confirmed a local flatbed had been dispatched
They also said to my mate that he could NOT go to his car, and that we were on camera (and I saw the gantry camera turn on us), so we got the pram out of the car. Nothing else, coudlnt be that long now surely?
It was a lovely day, I was in shorts and sandals..
However 2 more hours later at 6ish it was getting chilly. I had no coat... Ring again, on the way they say..
another hour and a half later, with me making a 'f
k 'em' dash to my mates boot to get a nappy and bottle of water, I ring again, 20 minutes I;m told. Right, I say, you 3 buggar off and get to the next services to sort Eva out, I'll wait. I sat on a crash barrier piece that was thrown on the verge, in my mates coat which was too small, swmbo's phone in my pocket as mine was nearly dead, mine charging on the seat of the car and smoked about 30 rollys. Eventually, salvation! Guy arrives, instantly recognises my situation and we get the spare on
Well, I do, he was blind and couldnt line it all up as the holding bolt for the brake disk was long gone too
Loaded up, I get told all we have with the bank is 'safe location', so off we went to cobham services, where SWMBO and co were chilling.
We arrive, thank the driver and call the AA, pay £140 to upgrade to 'get you home', added another tenner for the extra miles over the allowance, and settled in.
Then my friend realises that he has to get a ticket, as he drove in, and was on the anpr. A ticket was £20 for 24 hours, no other option, but no minimum return time. So he went for a cruise up to the next junction and back, SWMBO and myself fired the stricken car up and chilled with the heating on.
We got home at 2am
We then called the AA and complained (they have our call record at 8pm, we phoned at quarter past 5...) and refunded us and kept the policy active.
Oh, and now I'm paranoid about wheel bolts, if I had only checked the b
ds when I first noticed, we would have been home quickly, and at a BBQ that we well and truly missed.15 miles to the gallon - of water.
Up at 4.30 on a Friday morning - pick up a friend at 5. The intention being to do a 200 mile trip (Christchurch to Blenheim, South Island New Zealand), to finish of an underfloor heating system. Heat pump and manifold to install - and get it all going.
Got to Blenheim at 8.45, no problems. Found the house, did the job - all finished by 3pm, good job as the elderly owner was moving in the next day - and snow was forecast.
Now all I had to do was to take a 50 mile detour on the way back to drop friend off at the alpine resort of Hanmer Springs (look it up on google maps), where his wife and children had gone for the weekend. No problem, should be home by 8.
Bearing in mind that the South Island of NZ is rather larger than England, and there are about a million people, some areas are sparsely populated and cellphone coverage can be non existent - distances between anything can be quite significant.
Left Blenheim after a hearty KFC, got back to the famous whale watching resort of Kaikoura (population 3,621), a distance of 80 miles - where we turned off for a "short cut" to Hanmer. About 20 miles out of Kaikoura, no cellphone coverage - and the car overheats big time (Honda Prelude INX). With a huge amount of luck we find a farmhouse - but almost as fast as we put water in it came out - can't see where - possibly from the top of the radiator.
Filled up the only water container we had (4 litres), and just made it back to Kaikoura and a petrol station. In with the magic gunk to stop water leaks - set off again for Hanmer. Ten miles later, with water still pissing out - we turn round and just made it back (again) to the same petrol station. By this time it's 8 - what to do? The car isn't going to get us anywhere.
The solution - hire a car! Finally drop friend off at Hanmer - and get back home at 11.45 - a long day.
Now what? The next morning find all the water containers I can find (about 70 litres), fill them up and drive back yet again to Kaikoura - (120 miles). Transfer all the water into the Prelude - and set off for Christchurch. Apart from having to stop every ten miles to put in four litres of water the trip back was quite uneventful - being a Saturday police sitting at the side of the road trying to catch speeding motorists were everywhere.
One amusing incident as I was yet again filling with water was watching a horse transporter going the other way - with a police car in hot pursuit with red and blue flashing lights. Transporter man didn't stop.
Got back at 5, with the car running fine - apart from the water required every ten miles.
Fortunately the snow didn't hit until today (Sunday) -and I couldn't be bothered to look at the car. I'll chuck in the local garage in the morning, I'm too old to do work on the car if I don't have to.
Up at 4.30 on a Friday morning - pick up a friend at 5. The intention being to do a 200 mile trip (Christchurch to Blenheim, South Island New Zealand), to finish of an underfloor heating system. Heat pump and manifold to install - and get it all going.
Got to Blenheim at 8.45, no problems. Found the house, did the job - all finished by 3pm, good job as the elderly owner was moving in the next day - and snow was forecast.
Now all I had to do was to take a 50 mile detour on the way back to drop friend off at the alpine resort of Hanmer Springs (look it up on google maps), where his wife and children had gone for the weekend. No problem, should be home by 8.
Bearing in mind that the South Island of NZ is rather larger than England, and there are about a million people, some areas are sparsely populated and cellphone coverage can be non existent - distances between anything can be quite significant.
Left Blenheim after a hearty KFC, got back to the famous whale watching resort of Kaikoura (population 3,621), a distance of 80 miles - where we turned off for a "short cut" to Hanmer. About 20 miles out of Kaikoura, no cellphone coverage - and the car overheats big time (Honda Prelude INX). With a huge amount of luck we find a farmhouse - but almost as fast as we put water in it came out - can't see where - possibly from the top of the radiator.
Filled up the only water container we had (4 litres), and just made it back to Kaikoura and a petrol station. In with the magic gunk to stop water leaks - set off again for Hanmer. Ten miles later, with water still pissing out - we turn round and just made it back (again) to the same petrol station. By this time it's 8 - what to do? The car isn't going to get us anywhere.
The solution - hire a car! Finally drop friend off at Hanmer - and get back home at 11.45 - a long day.
Now what? The next morning find all the water containers I can find (about 70 litres), fill them up and drive back yet again to Kaikoura - (120 miles). Transfer all the water into the Prelude - and set off for Christchurch. Apart from having to stop every ten miles to put in four litres of water the trip back was quite uneventful - being a Saturday police sitting at the side of the road trying to catch speeding motorists were everywhere.
One amusing incident as I was yet again filling with water was watching a horse transporter going the other way - with a police car in hot pursuit with red and blue flashing lights. Transporter man didn't stop.
Got back at 5, with the car running fine - apart from the water required every ten miles.
Fortunately the snow didn't hit until today (Sunday) -and I couldn't be bothered to look at the car. I'll chuck in the local garage in the morning, I'm too old to do work on the car if I don't have to.
Long long time ago, my Dad & I serviced my Citroen Dyane (my first car) - all went well and off I went back to Uni.
Two days later driving back from my girlfriends parent's place at midnight I approached a gentle right bend with a car stationary waiting to turn right after oncoming traffic. The accelerator was in the 'on' position so I lifted and tapped the brakes, foot went straight to the floor; thinking I'd hit the clutch I looked down and pressed the brake peddle, same again on the floor. So I ran down the gears, yanked on the handbrake and slid gently & perfectly parked (goodness knows how) into a bus shelter at the side of the road, not a mark on the car. The I opened the bonnet to see the 'engine' (well a Dyson handdryer probably has greater bhp...) covered in brake fluid and the remains of the master cylinder.
Eventually a bunch of lads stopped in a tiny hatchback and gave me a lift the 11miles home - was cramped to say the least, especially as one of them had his leg in a cast!
The moral of the story? Always use the correct type of brake fluid, never underestimate the bizarre nature of French engineering and always carry your AA card... (facts on fluid here http://www.2cvsrus.com/restoration/tt_brk_e.htm).
I measured my grades of car history 'success' as follows :-
1) When I no longer needed to use the hand crank starter if it was damp
2) When the WD40/mile was less than the MPG
3) When I had a car that could accelerate up to 60 on the flat
4) When I had a car that could accelerate up hill
5) When I used my AA recovery card less often than my bank cashpoint card
6) When the AA no longer sent me birthday & Christmas cards
Two days later driving back from my girlfriends parent's place at midnight I approached a gentle right bend with a car stationary waiting to turn right after oncoming traffic. The accelerator was in the 'on' position so I lifted and tapped the brakes, foot went straight to the floor; thinking I'd hit the clutch I looked down and pressed the brake peddle, same again on the floor. So I ran down the gears, yanked on the handbrake and slid gently & perfectly parked (goodness knows how) into a bus shelter at the side of the road, not a mark on the car. The I opened the bonnet to see the 'engine' (well a Dyson handdryer probably has greater bhp...) covered in brake fluid and the remains of the master cylinder.
Eventually a bunch of lads stopped in a tiny hatchback and gave me a lift the 11miles home - was cramped to say the least, especially as one of them had his leg in a cast!
The moral of the story? Always use the correct type of brake fluid, never underestimate the bizarre nature of French engineering and always carry your AA card... (facts on fluid here http://www.2cvsrus.com/restoration/tt_brk_e.htm).
I measured my grades of car history 'success' as follows :-
1) When I no longer needed to use the hand crank starter if it was damp
2) When the WD40/mile was less than the MPG
3) When I had a car that could accelerate up to 60 on the flat
4) When I had a car that could accelerate up hill
5) When I used my AA recovery card less often than my bank cashpoint card
6) When the AA no longer sent me birthday & Christmas cards
About a month ago I'm driving into London via Clapham to fulfil a life-long dream of seeing a live episode of Whose Line Is It Anyway when my car dies about 3 miles from Charring Cross. It was the hottest say of the year so far and the car is completely dead. I call my breakdown service and am told they are completely swamped today and someone will be with me in around 4 hours. This was my picture evidence of the evening:
7 very sticky, sweaty hours later and having had no luck in getting the car started (it did start once, when I took the above picture; only lasted a few minutes and the engine was rough has hell) a man arrives just after midnight and I breath a sigh of relief. He needs me to try turning the ignition over then he'll plug in his diagnostics machine. Lo-and-behold the car starts up and is running fine - no warning lights, no rough idle, nothing. We whack everything up to full - AC, lights etc and he check his machine - no issues what so ever.
It would later transpire to be a failing alternator and dodgy battery, but that night was one of the most frustrating I've ever had. Luckily I got a ticket for the show the next night, so I still got to see Greg Proops, Colin Mocherie et al
7 very sticky, sweaty hours later and having had no luck in getting the car started (it did start once, when I took the above picture; only lasted a few minutes and the engine was rough has hell) a man arrives just after midnight and I breath a sigh of relief. He needs me to try turning the ignition over then he'll plug in his diagnostics machine. Lo-and-behold the car starts up and is running fine - no warning lights, no rough idle, nothing. We whack everything up to full - AC, lights etc and he check his machine - no issues what so ever.
It would later transpire to be a failing alternator and dodgy battery, but that night was one of the most frustrating I've ever had. Luckily I got a ticket for the show the next night, so I still got to see Greg Proops, Colin Mocherie et al
Edited by parabolica on Sunday 9th August 16:25
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