Longest "limp-home" journey?
Discussion
I had a Vectra which went in/out of limp mode for the entire 3 years I owned it - does that count?
Thing was, in 'limp mode' it drove mostly the same - it's not supposed to do more than 40-45mph but it would - it just ran a bit rough (and stopping/bumping the engine would reset it for a while anyway)
Thing was, in 'limp mode' it drove mostly the same - it's not supposed to do more than 40-45mph but it would - it just ran a bit rough (and stopping/bumping the engine would reset it for a while anyway)
Birmingham to Sherborne in Dorset one bank holiday weekend in the early 90's when I was a penniless student with an 895cc VW Polo which at the time was a 10 year old shed. Idle control valve failed meaning it would just stall - every time I came to a halt, I'd have to knock it into neutral and left foot brake holding the revs up with my right foot on the accelerator. For 200 miles swealtering miles of gridlock.
Then a few years later whilst on a holiday in Thailand I ended up ferrying a load of revellers around in a left hand drive Land Cruiser. The throttle cable snapped so I made a replacement by tying together the laces of someones Timberlands and attaching it to the throttle body, then operating it through the window with my left hand whilst the passenger changed gear for me as I gave them the nod. It was actually quite straightforward and made easier by the fact that we were all completely wasted on cheap whisky....
Then a few years later whilst on a holiday in Thailand I ended up ferrying a load of revellers around in a left hand drive Land Cruiser. The throttle cable snapped so I made a replacement by tying together the laces of someones Timberlands and attaching it to the throttle body, then operating it through the window with my left hand whilst the passenger changed gear for me as I gave them the nod. It was actually quite straightforward and made easier by the fact that we were all completely wasted on cheap whisky....
I was the one limping. Torn hamstring playing cricket on the really cold day in a nice village called Pluckley. 20 Miles home on the county lanes in 3rd gear. In lots of pain getting the car going, so changed into 3rd and decided against changing gear again. I was driving a 1.3 Orion at the time, which must have made about 50bhp. Do't think I saw another car all the way home.
This is a complete aside but years ago I worked with a girl called 'Joanna'.
Now, Joanna was 'attractive' in the way the Burj Dubai is 'tall' - she could knock men dead at 100m - we are talking stellar good looks here, but her job was in marketting and she wasn't what you'd call 'smart'.
She drove an antique Volvo for some reason - the interior of which looked like an explosion at an autojumble mixed with a recycling centre - she claimed to do this because she 'knew nothing about cars'.
One day I'm coming into work and I see her car on the hard shoulder - so I stop. I can't see her and am about to head off when I realise she's UNDERNEATH it.
I duck under and she's fashioning a new gearbox linkage using a coathanger and some hairclips.
The entire scene - were it in a movie - would have featured soft lightning, bloom and some sort of inspirational soundtrack - never seen anything like it before or since - what she created was a mechanical marvel.
When questioned, she showed me several other 'on the spot' repairs she'd managed over the years including repairs to throttle, clutch and brake systems almost entirely with bits of scrap and hair accessories...
Should the world ever come to an end, she's the girl you'd want to be stuck with for sure - so long as there are still branches of Boots to loot...
Now, Joanna was 'attractive' in the way the Burj Dubai is 'tall' - she could knock men dead at 100m - we are talking stellar good looks here, but her job was in marketting and she wasn't what you'd call 'smart'.
She drove an antique Volvo for some reason - the interior of which looked like an explosion at an autojumble mixed with a recycling centre - she claimed to do this because she 'knew nothing about cars'.
One day I'm coming into work and I see her car on the hard shoulder - so I stop. I can't see her and am about to head off when I realise she's UNDERNEATH it.
I duck under and she's fashioning a new gearbox linkage using a coathanger and some hairclips.
The entire scene - were it in a movie - would have featured soft lightning, bloom and some sort of inspirational soundtrack - never seen anything like it before or since - what she created was a mechanical marvel.
When questioned, she showed me several other 'on the spot' repairs she'd managed over the years including repairs to throttle, clutch and brake systems almost entirely with bits of scrap and hair accessories...
Should the world ever come to an end, she's the girl you'd want to be stuck with for sure - so long as there are still branches of Boots to loot...
My old Corrado VR6 was prone to heating up quite rapidly, and I was in constant fear of it blowing a pipe off when I had to sit in traffic. It did eventually, of course, on the border between Switzerland and Italy near St Moritz. To cut a long story short I got it fixed but thereafter my paranoia increased exponentially. I can still recall the smell of me slowly being cooked alive, on the coast road just outside Antibes in a 2 hour traffic jam. It was at least 35C and I had all the windows down, sunroof open and the heaters on full blast to keep the coolant temperature below 110C. Thank god I had leather seats, otherwise they'd still be soaked in sweat 18 months later...
Had a Midget with a welded gear shift (shortened). I knew the weld wasn't very good but the MOT tester didn't, had to drive about 6 miles with some mole-grips on the stub 
Same car developed a brake line failure (single circuit) coming round the M25 one day, so the last few miles home involved planning ahead lol!
Same car developed a brake line failure (single circuit) coming round the M25 one day, so the last few miles home involved planning ahead lol!
johnpeat said:
This is a complete aside but years ago I worked with a girl called 'Joanna'.
Now, Joanna was 'attractive' in the way the Burj Dubai is 'tall' - she could knock men dead at 100m - we are talking stellar good looks here, but her job was in marketting and she wasn't what you'd call 'smart'.
She drove an antique Volvo for some reason - the interior of which looked like an explosion at an autojumble mixed with a recycling centre - she claimed to do this because she 'knew nothing about cars'.
One day I'm coming into work and I see her car on the hard shoulder - so I stop. I can't see her and am about to head off when I realise she's UNDERNEATH it.
I duck under and she's fashioning a new gearbox linkage using a coathanger and some hairclips.
The entire scene - were it in a movie - would have featured soft lightning, bloom and some sort of inspirational soundtrack - never seen anything like it before or since - what she created was a mechanical marvel.
When questioned, she showed me several other 'on the spot' repairs she'd managed over the years including repairs to throttle, clutch and brake systems almost entirely with bits of scrap and hair accessories...
Should the world ever come to an end, she's the girl you'd want to be stuck with for sure - so long as there are still branches of Boots to loot...
Wow a rare breed. She is the female macgyver.Now, Joanna was 'attractive' in the way the Burj Dubai is 'tall' - she could knock men dead at 100m - we are talking stellar good looks here, but her job was in marketting and she wasn't what you'd call 'smart'.
She drove an antique Volvo for some reason - the interior of which looked like an explosion at an autojumble mixed with a recycling centre - she claimed to do this because she 'knew nothing about cars'.
One day I'm coming into work and I see her car on the hard shoulder - so I stop. I can't see her and am about to head off when I realise she's UNDERNEATH it.
I duck under and she's fashioning a new gearbox linkage using a coathanger and some hairclips.
The entire scene - were it in a movie - would have featured soft lightning, bloom and some sort of inspirational soundtrack - never seen anything like it before or since - what she created was a mechanical marvel.
When questioned, she showed me several other 'on the spot' repairs she'd managed over the years including repairs to throttle, clutch and brake systems almost entirely with bits of scrap and hair accessories...
Should the world ever come to an end, she's the girl you'd want to be stuck with for sure - so long as there are still branches of Boots to loot...
clarkey328is said:
I drove 60 miles with a rear top mount gone in my 328. Luckily, the shock and spring are separate. Didn't go over 50 because it would start to get a wobble on after that!
Is that it?I drove my 328i from Skye to London(ish) with one failed rear shock absorber. Right hand bends were fine. Left hand bends tried to kill you.
Edited by WeirdNeville on Tuesday 22 November 19:41
Started out on a ~70 miles journey in my trusty 1100 mini. After about 20 miles it spluttered to a stop as the (cheap and nasty) points heel had worn down and closed the gap. Reset the gap, got it running and pressed on. Unfortunately it seems I'd neglected to close the bonnet properly as the bloody thing flipped up whilst travelling at 70mph and put a dent in the roof and (indirectly) a big crease in the seat. I had to beat the mangled bonnet back into submission to get it to close and pressed on. A few miles down the road the wipers literally fell off due to being smashed by the bonnet 
. Shortly after it began to snow, very heavily, so had to drive the rest of the way with my head out of the window like a demented dog.
Also fell back to the old favourite of using the choke cable to "fix" a broken throttle cable on another mini. Primitive cruise control, but without the essential safety features...
. Shortly after it began to snow, very heavily, so had to drive the rest of the way with my head out of the window like a demented dog. Also fell back to the old favourite of using the choke cable to "fix" a broken throttle cable on another mini. Primitive cruise control, but without the essential safety features...
I once decided to drive all the way to Coventry and back knowing I'd not put one of the seals back into the gearbox and it was draining out in about an hour. The gearbox was knackered anyway as the leayshaft bearings were shot, so I just left the transmission tunnel unbolted and topped the gearbox up regularly. Luckily it had an overdrive, and those are very oil level sensitive, so when it dropped out of overdrive I knew I had to put some more oil in. 
I was a passenger in my mates original Fiat 500 on what started out on a bright sunny day trip to Donington in November. It was fine on the way up.
Just as we left to drive back to Kingston the throttle cable spring snapped. My mate managed to mangle the remains into a form of linkage but this sort of acted as speed limiter which kept us to about 40mph. Then as we drove down the motorway a familar smell began to waft into the cabin. Yep it was time for a small oil leak to start... a oil leak dropping right onto the exhaust, which meant the fumes began seeping into the cabin.
Net result, 40 mph all the way home, stopping at every services to check the oil level. We also had to open the sunroof to keep ourselves from getting carbon monoxide poisoning. Which would have been fine if it was still dry but by now a steady drizzle had set in. So it was roof closed for a bit, getting poisoned. Roof open for a bit, getting soaked.
5 & 1/2 hours later we got home....
Just as we left to drive back to Kingston the throttle cable spring snapped. My mate managed to mangle the remains into a form of linkage but this sort of acted as speed limiter which kept us to about 40mph. Then as we drove down the motorway a familar smell began to waft into the cabin. Yep it was time for a small oil leak to start... a oil leak dropping right onto the exhaust, which meant the fumes began seeping into the cabin.
Net result, 40 mph all the way home, stopping at every services to check the oil level. We also had to open the sunroof to keep ourselves from getting carbon monoxide poisoning. Which would have been fine if it was still dry but by now a steady drizzle had set in. So it was roof closed for a bit, getting poisoned. Roof open for a bit, getting soaked.
5 & 1/2 hours later we got home....
Don't know about limping home so much as limping everywhere. There is a hole somewhere in my fuel line near the engine, I think I've found it now, this hole allows air in and lets the fuel drain back to the tank. As far as I can tell it doesn't cause fuel to spray out though. If it did I'm sure I'd have noticed the increase consumption and/or resulting fire. Anyway, because of this draining issue every journey starts with opening the bonnet and priming the engine. You can start it on the key without priming, but it takes over 10 seconds turning over and I have killed the battery already.
This is in addition to a recently fixed "rattle" that I thought was a failing powersteering pump. Noisy as f
k, but I drove on. Turned out to be the torsional vibration damper disintigrating. I long for a car that just works.
This is in addition to a recently fixed "rattle" that I thought was a failing powersteering pump. Noisy as f
k, but I drove on. Turned out to be the torsional vibration damper disintigrating. I long for a car that just works.Gassing Station | General Gassing | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff