Car breakdowns : your stories .
- Thread starter marty21
- Start date
marty21
One on one? You're crazy.
Mine was a 1984 , got it in 98 , my sister bought it from Dad's Aunt , who had it from new , 12000 on the clock
I had a little transistor radio in the door , lost the signal above 30 so perfect for London driving . Got it fixed by the garage in Swinton, they put a bigger engine in 
cost about £300 iirc , as my sister gave it to me for nowt, I gave it to a work mate's 18 year old son , who felt guilty at getting a free car so gave me a bottle of Jack Daniels for it.
dessiato
🇪🇸 my spirit is crying for leaving
About 8 years ago, some sort of royal event weekend anyway, on the Saturday night of that weekend, the tyre on my SAAB ripped all round the rim. I was on a motorway slip road entrance. No breakdown cover. No one prepared to come out for four days. Got to a hotel just off the motorway booked in wondering how long we'd be there. The receptionist found us a garage that would come out and replace the tyre, they were 3 hours away but turned up and got us sorted out. Cost us an arm and a leg but better than four days stuck in a hotel by the side of a motorway.
Going full pelt in the fast lane when the car just dies on me, cue desperate attempt getting it on to the hard shoulder without hitting anything & without it fully stopping. I was about 500M from a service station (Trowell on the M1). AA towed me to there after about an hour wait & then I had to wait for another 2 hrs or so to get the second tow back home. Only 9 miles or so.
Spymaster
Plastic Paddy
Despite having owned a couple of Alfas I haven't really had any notable breakdowns. Quite a few flat tyres and one or two near missses that could have turned into nasty accidents but no real breakdowns. I did once pick up a company Rover 218 and was driving it back to the depot when the accelerator pedal got stuck under the foot mat. I didn't know what had happened and just thought the throttle was stuck open so put the clutch in, stopped on the hard shoulder and stuck it in neutral. Young me panicked a bit and jumped out of the car without turning it off and just watched it scream to expiry in clouds of smoke that brought the dual carriageway to a close. Brand new car which had been in my possession for about 20 minutes.
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cupid_stunt
Chief seagull hater & farmerbarleymow's nemesis.
mauvais
on reddit or something
I forgot about this one - the day before I had to do this, the alternator light came on and I made some local trips. On the way back the battery slowly drained to the minimum, and all sorts of diabolical electronic warnings started coming up - ABS failure, stability control, etcetera. Now I know cars and I actually know that this is a potential symptom of power issues and I'm not completely stupid but for some reason I thought it'd be a good idea to pull into a layby and turn it off and on again. I was at most two minutes from home.
Yeaaaah. It turned out I was about three hours from home.
That was the only time I ever got stranded due to the car (an Alfa as per all of these) and it was mostly my own fault.
Spymaster
Plastic Paddy
Oh, I've also done the keys locked in the boot thing. C Class Merc, called the AA, bloke came along and wedged the back door open with little plastic blocks, much to my dismay. He got us into the cabin and dismantled my back seats expecting to find some kind of hole in the bulkhead. There was a hole but it was tiny and the keys were in a jacket pocket. We tried a few things like poking sticks and rods in but that was never going to work. Eventually we got a passing child to stick his arm in and have a feel around. Hey presto!
weltweit
Well-Known Member
awful 1.5 allegro broke down. The AA fixed it.
1.1 Fiesta never broke down on the road
Nissan Stanza never broke down. Good car.
2L company Cavalier broke its cam belt, was repaired it at the roadside. (Safe Engine)
few company Ford Mondeos never broke down, despite doing 50k a year for 10 years.
Rover 218SLD Turbo never broke down on the road iirc ..
Corsa blew a tyre, the AA changed it. I couldn't find the jack, it was under the spare. doh
Corsa battery failed away from home, the AA sorted me.
1.1 Fiesta never broke down on the road
Nissan Stanza never broke down. Good car.
2L company Cavalier broke its cam belt, was repaired it at the roadside. (Safe Engine)
few company Ford Mondeos never broke down, despite doing 50k a year for 10 years.
Rover 218SLD Turbo never broke down on the road iirc ..
Corsa blew a tyre, the AA changed it. I couldn't find the jack, it was under the spare. doh
Corsa battery failed away from home, the AA sorted me.
Saul Goodman
It's all good, man
There's a lot to be said for child labour/exploitation.
mauvais
on reddit or something
Oh and one more. The Alfa burnt oil at a silly rate so you always had to top it up. Well once I did that but left the filler cap in the engine bay. Went about five miles before the smell of hot oil and increasing amount of smoke made it very apparent what I'd done. I'd spread about a litre of it throughout the engine bay that took forever to clean and also had to get a new cap in the post from my friendly mechanic before I could drive it again.
mauvais
on reddit or something
They put the wrong type of steering fluid (green instead of red or vice versa) in some of those at the factory, I wonder if that was a factor.
On one of my many service episodes I borrowed a big heavy diesel 156 (2.4l, made a great sound) and the aux belt went as soon as I got to the first roundabout, that was suddenly interesting! Although the faster you go, the less you need PAS...
marty21
One on one? You're crazy.
I had an alternator go one time , I ignored the warning lights for ages
we are going away for the weekend and were near Cambridge when the car started shutting down , indicators , windscreen wipers (of course it was fucking raining) managed to get into Cambridge and find a parking spot #skillz . Called the AA , mrs21 went off shopping as the AA would be ages (they weren't) I was calling her , emailing, texting 
as AA man needed to tow me to a Halfords service station as they had an alternator . Mrs21 had her phone off as the battery was low , I kept asking him to wait just a bit longer 
until Mrs21 breezily strolled down the road towards us 
Repairs cost me about the same as the hotel ffs
weltweit
Well-Known Member
I can remember as a child going to France with my friend's dads Citroen which promptly had a flat tyre. Friend's dad was convinced he should be able to get the large car to cock a wheel so it could be changed without a jack. We were there a long time until eventually someone who knew what to do was persuaded to help us. I don't think us kids were that bothered tbh, just another aspect of the holiday 
weltweit
Well-Known Member
Hmm, I didn't mention motorbike roadside failures. Though there weren't many.
Once riding my Suzuki from Cardiff to John O Groats, level with Glasgow my camchain tensioner seemed to fail, the engine sounded like a chain saw. It was an awful Friday night, cold and raining and I really hoped the AA would just take me home in a warm van. Of course they fixed it for me there and then!
I can't speak highly enough of the AA, I have broken down numerous times and always thus far they have fixed it at the roadside.
Once riding my Suzuki from Cardiff to John O Groats, level with Glasgow my camchain tensioner seemed to fail, the engine sounded like a chain saw. It was an awful Friday night, cold and raining and I really hoped the AA would just take me home in a warm van. Of course they fixed it for me there and then!
I can't speak highly enough of the AA, I have broken down numerous times and always thus far they have fixed it at the roadside.
Yea I switched to red after some googling but maybe damage already done.
.. I did think I was a bit like Sandra Bullock in the movie speed on that drive lol.
Sapphireblue
Well-Known Member
cupid_stunt
Chief seagull hater & farmerbarleymow's nemesis.
tell us again about the olden days, grandfather
It wasn't completed until 1986, you cheeky fucker.
Sapphireblue
Well-Known Member
UnderOpenSky
baseline neural therapy
Cambelt went when on the motorway. In the outside lane. Which was kind of terrifying getting it recovered. As luck would have it I'd been stationary as the traffic was stopped so the engine wasn't trashed.
Not a breakdown but scary as fuck was hitting a patch of ice again in the outside lane. Car span through 180 and I ended up in the hard shoulder. So close to the barrier I couldn't open the door, but no damage done.
Not a breakdown but scary as fuck was hitting a patch of ice again in the outside lane. Car span through 180 and I ended up in the hard shoulder. So close to the barrier I couldn't open the door, but no damage done.
Pickman's model
Starry Wisdom
How fortunate you were it wasn't Dunwich, MassachusettsI was watching something 'smart' motorways last night , which got me into break downs.
I once broke down in a forest at night (near Dunwich, Suffolk) and it took a while for the AA to find me , several phone calls with AA man
Once on a motorway near Swinton, I was waiting in the sun for the AA , a car with a bunch of lads in it sped past , one of them yelled 'wanker' as they sped past #banter
AA towed me to the nearest garage ,I had basic cover, told me to leave the keys on a wheel .I had to get to a wedding in Clitheroe
dessiato
🇪🇸 my spirit is crying for leaving
Had an old Honda Civic which got a puncture. As I jacked it up the jacking point went up, the car didn't.
Had a Peugeot which two days after I bought it the gear stick fell off.
Had a mini which used to freeze the carburettor. A couple of minutes patience sorted it out.
Had a Peugeot which two days after I bought it the gear stick fell off.
Had a mini which used to freeze the carburettor. A couple of minutes patience sorted it out.
moose
like some cat from Japan
Mine's tragic. Last Boxing Day, my 30 year old Golf that never breaks down had a catastrophic leak, lost all oil, oil light and buzzer came on, and I had to try to get off the motorway quickly before the engine was irreversibly damaged. Whilst waiting ages for recovery, and finally getting home hours later, thus I missed the last hospital visiting time of my dad's last day on earth. It took me a while before I could bring myself to even deal with it.
hash tag
Reaching out
Sorry to interrupt the thread. I see smart motorways have gone on hold Rollout of smart motorways put on hold amid safety concerns
cupid_stunt
Chief seagull hater & farmerbarleymow's nemesis.
That's worthy of a thread of its own TBH.
marty21
One on one? You're crazy.
That's awfulMine's tragic. Last Boxing Day, my 30 year old Golf that never breaks down had a catastrophic leak, lost all oil, oil light and buzzer came on, and I had to try to get off the motorway quickly before the engine was irreversibly damaged. Whilst waiting ages for recovery, and finally getting home hours later, thus I missed the last hospital visiting time of my dad's last day on earth. It took me a while before I could bring myself to even deal with it.
When I got the call (about 6am one morning) from my mum that my dad wasn't going to last , she told me not to drive , so I got train/tube/train down to Bath , it was a sad, sad journey . They kept him on a machine to basically give me the time to get back as the rest of the family were all there. Feel for you mate .
moose
like some cat from Japan
Thanks, I realise I made it look very recent, it was Boxing Day 2018, but still harrowing. Your journey must have been awful because of the time it tookThat's awful
In the end, I got the car fixed - no damage to the engine, I eventually made my peace with it, and it lived to ride again.
not-bono-ever
meh
I have walked away from 2 cars that died. The Nissan cherry (£15 iirc) was still on a grass verge 2 months later. No one could even be arsed to vandalise it
Saul Goodman
It's all good, man
FFY.
