What's Your "best" Breakdown?

[Hoovie]

I was browsing RAV4World and a title of a thread reminded me of something that happened about 30 years ago ( I can remember that far back but not last week! weird!!)

I had my mums old Viva HB Estate as a hand-me-down and was living in Central London. Driving back home to Wokingham, Berks, every time I pressed the Clutch pedal down, I heard a bit of a worrying noise and it was clear what was happening with the clutch cable - and with the need to drive through some of the busiest and slowest roads in London on a Friday Evening, things were not looking too good, but tried to minimize gear changes and take advantage of the massive torque and power of the OHV 1152 engine

Anyway, made it through the city and onto the M4 ...

And then, as I got home and drove onto the driveway, pushing in the clutch to park up, the cable finally snapped.

What perfect timing for a Breakdown :D and only cost a couple of quid and 30 mins or so to fix, I think

[cabcurtains]

For me it was in the days i sold cars when i was still in my teens, i decided to drive a Merc C250 Turbodiesel IIRC back from Sheffield via the country roads (long route) so i could give it some hammer on this nice summers days... As with all cars in the motortrade it had the fuel light on...the trader i picked it up from said it would be ok...so off i went having a great time (5cyl lump sounded nice) until it broke down....i had run it out of fuel oh dear...no problems me thinks just call the garage and get the valeter to come down with a can of Diesel....except i had left the mobile on my desk oops ... now in the middle of the peak district i was in a bit of a tangle... my only choice was to walk/run to the main road where i knew there was a petrol station the problem was in the car it was close, on foot it was miles away (3 to be precise)...so off i went walked in and asked to borrow a petrol can and the bloke says ok, i get my wallet out and he says cash only! I only had cards doh i had to leave my wallet as a deposit, now back to the car (3miles back) tip the diesel in and try to start it...it wont go, air in the system oh bol*locks, i had heard of this issue and hunted the manual pump and started pumping...about an hour later she started off i went and got a £5 note from home went back to petrol station paid up and got the wallet back and then retutned to work 5hrs late, got a serious telling off but not the which was nice, happy days!

[rambler]

Well....for me

Unfortunatley it was about a month after having my DMF renewed on my current Rav4.

During the drive back from the lake district ,my engine cut out on the M62 eastbound heading back to Essex.

This happened about 10 in the morning,to cut the story short.......2 DAYS,4 recovery trucks,one overnight hotel stay & a AA courtesy car later...i got home the following evening.

Yes the AA messed up BIG time.

They gave me compensation,£££'s also got a years free Club toyota out of it.

All it was....was a split hose on the VSV ( according to the invoice)...cost £40.

I had lots of courtesy apologetic phone calls after it happened,from both AA and toyota.

[Gods_gift]

Mercedes 308d on the A14 towing a rallycar on an up hill section. Was in slow moving traffic that then stopped. I was in the slow lane lorry in front started to pull away I then tried to and found the only gear I could select was reverse. With an hgv sitting up my ***** and traffic as far as you could see I had no choice but to repair it there an then. While laying in the slow lane underneath the van grappling with the linkage on the side of the box the traffic in the middle and fast lane started moving. Fumbling with the linkage wasnt working as it appeared jammed so in desperation I gave it a hefty whack with a club hammer! Much to my surprise the linkage sprung back into shape and I drove it for the next 3 years without it ever happening again.

[webleymk3]

Best one??

How's driving a rav 4 into a deep puddle at speed, and writing off the engine?? Or handbraking my mums clip round a corner in the snow (teenage years) and writing off the axle telling I lost control on the ice... My brother used my wedding to reveal the truth!!!

Head gasket blew on my wee fiat Uno on my first trip to Edinburgh!! No dramas tho...

Scariest one would be when the brake servo went on my fiat panda... That made for interesting stopping!!!

But the best has to be with that same panda... Driving to Dingwall. Car started losing power at inversnecky. The further I went the more it spluttered. Eventually it died as we pulled into the drive of the house we were going to distributor cap had split.

[Davrav]

Ah, Fiat Panda................the only car I've ever bought new, apart from current RAV.

Had it new in 1982. Head corroded badly after 14 months and had to be replaced. After three weeks without the car and MANY phone calls later, [and you'll love this one Jedi] it transpired that the Main Dealer had ordered a head for a FIAT that wasn't even imported into the UK.......................

Had loads of problems with the thing just dying. After many abortive attempts by the dealer to fix it I eventually got so frustrated when it stopped on the A414 near Harlow that I popped the bonnet and completely dismantled the carb on the side of the road - found a SINGLE grain of sand in the jet.

[The Striding Man]

Ahhh the memories! A Ford Sierra sapphire 2.0 twin cam (not the cosworth). Driving home late at night in pouring rain when the tensioner for the timing chain drops off into the sump. The chain flailing around unhindered, drops down into the crankcase causing the engine to seize, ripping itself to bits in the process. This in turn locks up the back axle so suddenly that the bolts in the doughnut joint in the propshaft get twisted out of shape. In the meantime I find myself zipping along a greasy wet road with my back wheels locked up and trying to stay in a straight line . Knocking it into neutral gets my back axle unlocked and I coast to a stop with the smell of hot oil, steam and fresh poo wafting gently around the passenger compartment. Ahhh the memories!