Car Problems?

[David]

My mom had to get my step-dad to drive her and her groceries back from Wal-Mart this morning after her car wouldn't start.

Have you ever had a stalled car? Where was it? Where would the last place you would want to be stalled at? The best place?

This should be an intresting thread.

David

[Pburgh]

My car has stopped and stalled in the middle of a very busy bridge during rush hour - boy you talk about dirty looks - WHEW!!!! Worst place for this to happen to me would be the Parkway East in Pittsburgh during rush hour. The best place would be in front of my repairman's garage or better yet, in the garage!!!!

[weatherlover427]

My dad's car once partially broke down (i.e. it sputtered but kept running) on a toll road about 5-10 miles from home. Turned out the exhaust manifold rusted and a piece of it got sucked into 2 of the 4 cylinders, and he had to rebuild the whole engine. :o

[pojo]

Mine stalled in a parking lot exit! Bad looks galore! Thankfully some strong men helped me out. Turned out my battery completely died...I had to wait for my dad to jump start my car.

Needless to say, my car is a piece of crap. Darn Olds...they run FOREVER! My dad had (my car) from the beginning 1988...and its 2003! Its like the energizer bunny!

[JetMaxx]

Worst place my car has broken down? On vacation...smack dab in the middle of Daytona Beach, Florida

Best place? My own driveway...

[mf_dolphin]

Worst place.. the Howard Franklin Bridge over Tampa Bay ( 13 mile bridge ) . Took forever to get someone out there

[weatherlover427]

Ooh bad place to break down Marshall. :o I think breaking down on vacation is the worst.

[breeze]

Breaking down in route to work - jeez! What a
hypertensive rush!! :o I've done it, several
times, but, I'm knocking on wood that the repairmen
has done a good job on the 'ole '92 Lumina - for now!

[azskyman]

A bridge. Like Marshall, Kathy and I had a blowout (not a mechanical breakdown) in the westbound lane of the Coronado Bay bridge from San Diego to the island. We had a little sliver of pavement we claimed as our own where two lanes merged...but we couldn't even open the doors to get out and change the tire. In fact, it was too steep to use a jack?

Thank God for 9-1-1. We had help in 8 minutes sharp...but got pulled to the other side and THEN fastened the car more solidly to the tow truck. Here's a link to a couple photos of the bridge.

http://www.sdboats.com/corbridg.htm

Kathy kept looking back and telling us what color vehicle was going to finish us off. I sat quietly in the driver's seat watching all those middle fingers waving at me for causing the traffic to slow.

"Happy birthday to you too, buddy!"

[azskyman]

Remembered another one too.

When in Vietnam, on the way to Thai Thong School where I was helping to teach English, the colonel's jeep broke down on a side street quite far from anything familiar.

As long as we were moving, that jeep felt inconspicuous and small.

But once we stopped, the three of us on board felt like we were at least 20 times larger than the rest of the people around us. Dressed in jungle greens and carrying M-16's, we felt like we were easy targets for anyone who could spot us.

Fortunately, after letting it cool off and adding water, we were able to get going once again. No shots fired.

[petal*pusher]

Funny thread David!

I remember my old car stalling at a 4-Way Stop many years ago! I was 8 months pregnant, we had about 10" of snow on the ground, my 3 yr. old daughter was belted next to me. That #@%$ car just WOULDN'T start!

A very impatient man drove up behind me and kept blowing his horn. Remembering what a friend had done in a very similiar circumstance, I opened my door, carefully waddled back to his window.........tapped until he put the window down and pleasantly said "Sir, I'd be happy to sit in your warm car and honk the horn if you go up and get my car started!"

He didn't like it! Before I could get back to my car, he swerved around it. Two teenagers stopped and helped me!............p

[azskyman]

Petal-pusher...the poor guy probably thought you might have that baby right in his car!!!! I like the touch of promising to honk the horn!

Just when you are ready to give up on teenagers, one will come through and give you a sign of hope.

Not too often though. But this time when it counted.

[azsnowman]

Ah yes......the *One finger Salute* LOL! I've been receipent of MANY salutes! Great story guys, well....I've been so very lucky, I've broke down one time that I had to be towed home, all the other times, in fact, not too long ago, I've been able to fix it myself. The last time was in the Wal Mart parking lot too, called Chris, he picked me up, went to the auto parts house, got a new starter and we were on the road in 20 minutes!

Dennis

[fixitmhn]

I've broken down so many times in my 50 some odd years it's hard to recall the worst. I guess the worst was when I had all 3 young kids and wife in the car on the Hutchinson Parkway in NY. We just paid the toll (not there anymore) and the transmission went. We were on the way to Long Island for my nieces sweet 16 party. We never made it and spent the whole day trying to get towed back to Connecticut. What an adventure that was. The next day we were scheduled to drive cross country (to Minn.). Luckily the other car was loaded and waiting in the garage. We finally got on the road the next day and when we hit Columbus Ohio encountered a Tornado that evening. That's the way the vacation started and it went downhill from there.

[David]

Did you get any pictures of that tornado? How big was it?

[fixitmhn]

Never got pics. We were at the hotel and the tornado hit at the airport a few miles away. We had been in a small dept. store getting some items when they announced the warnings over the PA. They said we could stay or leave, we opted to go back to the hotel. When we exited the store and looked left the sun was out and the sky was beautiful. When we looked right it was the blackest sky I ever did see. We went to the hotel and the guy at the desk said there was no basement and we should go back to our room (on the 4th floor). YEAH, RIGHT! We looked around the hotel and the only place with minimal glass was the lobby, so everyone from the hotel was in the small lobby. What a night that was! We never did find out the size of the storm. It must have been an F1 or maybe at worst an F2 as there was minimal damage and nobody was injured. We were lucky we decided to go back to the hotel because the next day we saw on the news that the store we were in had a partial roof collapse. We were certainly lucky that night. It is a vacation we will remember!

[fixitmhn]

Never got pics. We were at the hotel and the tornado hit at the airport a few miles away. We had been in a small dept. store getting some items when they announced the warnings over the PA. They said we could stay or leave, we opted to go back to the hotel. When we exited the store and looked left the sun was out and the sky was beautiful. When we looked right it was the blackest sky I ever did see. We went to the hotel and the guy at the desk said there was no basement and we should go back to our room (on the 4th floor). YEAH, RIGHT! We looked around the hotel and the only place with minimal glass was the lobby, so everyone from the hotel was in the small lobby. What a night that was! We never did find out the size of the storm. It must have been an F1 or maybe at worst an F2 as there was minimal damage and nobody was injured. We were lucky we decided to go back to the hotel because the next day we saw on the news that the store we were in had a partial roof collapse. We were certainly lucky that night. It is a vacation we will remember!