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Macgyver Solutions & Attempted Macgyver Solutions

St. Phatty

Active member
My car wouldn't start a few days ago.

Dead battery ? Alternator not supplying the juice ?

As it turned out, it was the connector on the positive terminal.

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Being out in the country, and not wanting to go the tow-it-to-a-mechanic route, for a new 'official' battery cable, which I thought was about a $300 move ... well, I did have 2 hose clamps and about 20 feet of beefy single conductor wire.

I cut about 22 pieces, 11 inches long (glad I made them longer than necessary), and started assembling the Attempted Macgyver Solution.

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22 pieces was a little too much, didn't use all of them.

And I spent 24 hours re-conditioning the battery when I thought I was charging it, using a POS Black & Decker "smart charger".

I ended up needing a jump-start. The battery was completely drained. I let it run for about 2 hours last night, HOPING that the alternator was still working.

MacGyver Herb: I used what was fresh and cut up, some Skunky first rate flower from a neighbor. Labelled Hindu Kush but more Sativa than most Kush (I think of Kush as an Indica.)

This morning - the Moment of Truth.

IT STARTED !!! :woohoo:

OK, now I have to add one more layer of epoxy (to keep things in place against vibration), and add some duct tape insulation so the exposed 12 volt conductors don't reach out and touch Electrical Ground.

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I'm probably not the only ICMag member who had to jury-rig & improvise something.

And live with the possibility that it may not work.


Does anybody else have any pics of their Improv Macgyver type work they'd be willing to share ?
 

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420somewhere

Hi ho here we go
Veteran
I remember using ..

I remember using ..

I remember using soap to fix a leaking gas tank.

For immediate relief take a piece of bar soap and push it into the leaking hole. The gas will soften the soap and the gas will evaporate plugging the hole.

When you get home cover the patch with some J.P. Weld or liquid steel.

An amazing trick to know. :party:
 
N

noyd666

blown welsh plug in old land rover at shack, small stick wrapped in toilet paper, lasted years.
 

Gypsy Nirvana

Recalcitrant Reprobate -
Administrator
Veteran
Once upon a time in a far off place I was on a nearly new Ducati and went for a run with a few others bikers on interesting bikes. It was the first time I had given this bike a good run, and we headed up the coast to some coastal town, for the sea and the ride....

I had checked over the bike before setting out, making sure lights worked and plugs were tight, the brakes stopped it and the motor moved it, this bike was some sort of hybrid sports/muscle bike and getting it up to Punducket was loads of fun, once I realized that the bike, although big and VERY powerful, it was not so heavy, and I could flick it around corners to much delight.

That run up the coast ducking and diving at speed around countless obstacles, vans , trucks, cars, bicycles and trycycles and racing a couple of other keen bikers on V Max's and Harleys with turbo kits got the adrenaline buzz for the day, and when we arrived at some bar exhausted with hot and dirty bikes, a good rest and refreshment was on the cards. The bar also had a car/bike washing place attached to it and one of the workers there asked us if he could wash our bikes, and muggin's here (me) said 'Yeah, just be careful with the paint, oh, and how much?'....'Only 50 pesos Sir, Ok?'...
Fifty pesos is about $1, so to me was a good deal, since the bike was covered in red muddy dirt/spray after catching a touch of precipitation on the way down...

Anyway, to cut a long story short......The bikes got washed, and within an hour or two we turned back for home. About 4 miles out of town with this super bike cranked way up on the rev counter, I felt a distinct and very painful burning sensation around my right lower leg, slowing down I put my hazard lights on, letting two of the other bikers know that I had a problem and we all pulled over.

After a brief assessment it appeared that the bike had been pissing boiling hot oil up my leg because the screw-in oil plug was missing, and I wasn't going anywhere until we could find something to stick in the little oil reservoir hole on top of the crankcase. to stop whatever oil was left in there from coming out, and be able to make it back to where I was staying, quite some miles away. It was my mistake, probably, for not checking over the returned and newly washed bike before setting out for home, maybe the bike washer had nicked the oil plug, or not screwed it tight after washing?

There was a bit of head scratching as we all looked around for something to shove in that oily hole, and all we could see were some trees and sun bleached dry grass. Someone had a swiss army knife and found a twig/branch off this tree with the correct diameter, cut it so it was slightly fluted at one end and jammed it into the hole where the missing oil plug should have been, and that seemed to work. So there I am riding around on some fancy bike with a bit of a tree sticking out of it....but that bit of basic jimmy-rigging, creating an oil plug out of a 'bit of tree'.....got me home.
 
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mr.brunch

Well-known member
Veteran
Yep... a workmate hit a gas pipe when digging a trench, first I knew was when he panicked and ran past me.... I ran to the hole looking about frantically, then grabbed a handful of clay soil that had been dug out and rammed it into the hole. Half filled the trench with water to make sure there’s no bubbles.... then off to the van for a calming spliff.
 
on a two stroke groupride with my bike, blasting down the road, BAM, there goes my muffler, it just blew off, snowing rockwoolish material everywhere, stuffed the can full of grass clippings for the ride home, did smoke a bit...

same bike; had chainlink break 1hour from home, found some bits of wire on the side of the road, wired the two parts together and rode home, a bit slower
 

WelderDan

Well-known member
Veteran
I've jump started a car using a bumper jack. Back when cars had steel bumpers, you could pull the running car up against the bumper of the car needing a jump and cross the positive terminals with a bumper jack.

On older vehicles that didn't have lock steering you could hot wire a car with a piece of wire with a gator clip on either end. Connect one end to the headlight and the other to the positive side of the coil. Disconnect the horn wire and connect it to the starter relay.

Turn on the headlights to make the ignition hot and hit the horn to start. Turn off the headlights to shut the car off. I miss cars that were easy to work on.

You can fix anything with a hose clamp, a coat hanger and a roll of duct tape.
 

Gry

Well-known member
VW beetle in the mountains in the winter. Rivet that holds the spring to the arm on the points failed. Was not my vehicle, or there would have been old but still usable sets in the tool box. Ended up using thread from the cuff on the bottom of the leg of a pair of jeans. Was able to lash the spring to arm well enough to get down the road.
Sure used to enjoy reading the smokey yunik stories.
 

WelderDan

Well-known member
Veteran
When my oldest son was just a baby, we were traveling late at night and in the middle of nowhere the car just died. I'm going 55-60 and the engine just shuts off. So there are no houses around, and the only tool I have is a miniature pipe wrench on my keychain, a bic lighter and my (ex) wife has some nail clippers. I'm under the hood with the lighter trying to figure out what's up. It had to be ignition, because there was no sputtering, it just shut off. And then I saw it. The positive wire on the coil was broken. I used the nail clippers to strip the wire, used the little wrench to loosen the nut on the coil and and wrapped the wire around the post, tightened it with the wrench and off we went. I never touched it again.
 

St. Phatty

Active member
When my oldest son was just a baby, we were traveling late at night and in the middle of nowhere the car just died. I'm going 55-60 and the engine just shuts off. So there are no houses around, and the only tool I have is a miniature pipe wrench on my keychain, a bic lighter and my (ex) wife has some nail clippers. I'm under the hood with the lighter trying to figure out what's up. It had to be ignition, because there was no sputtering, it just shut off. And then I saw it. The positive wire on the coil was broken. I used the nail clippers to strip the wire, used the little wrench to loosen the nut on the coil and and wrapped the wire around the post, tightened it with the wrench and off we went. I never touched it again.

That's why I pay the extra $$ for the AAA "Platinum", the one that gives you a tow range of 200 miles.
 
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