Fix It or Ditch It: Off-Beat Auto Fixes Eke Out a Few More Miles

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My 4x4 quit suddenly, on the side of a mountain. My wife and I were looking at a potential 20-mile hike, until a guy on an ATV came by and fixed it in 5 minutes—without any parts. How did he know, and what did he do? He moved this little box-shaped thing in the fuse box underhood from one place to another.

Here’s a little-known secret—many of the relays used on most cars are identical, whether they are used for the fuel pump, the headlights, the fans or the rear-window defroster. It’s a standard 30-amp SPDT relay. He probably repurposed a relay from some other circuit on your car, like the foglamps or the rear defroster, and plugged it into the fuel-pump relay socket. I’m just impressed that he figured out it was the relay in such a short time. (Sounds like the voice of experience.) It’s easy to tell which relay is which. Relay positions, as well as fuse positions and values, are listed in the owner’s manual—and, almost always, on a decal inside the fuse/relay panel to boot. Actually, the schematic of the relay, telling you which pins are which, is usually printed on the side of the relay’s outer case.

Got a leak in your radiator?

Crack a raw egg into the radiator filler cap (not the overflow tank, if you have one). The egg white will plug the hole—for a while. Now that you’ve fixed the hole in the radiator, you don’t have enough water to refill it. Top off with diet soda (no sugar to gum up the water pump). Other liquids will work too, like recycled beer and that leftover iced tea.

Punched a hole in the oil pan with a stone?

Whittle a plug from a twig and hammer it into the hole. Trim off the excess so the plug doesn’t catch on the next rock.

But now you don’t have enough oil to refill the crankcase. Add a quart of water. Really. The oil-pump pickup is not on the exact bottom—the remaining oil will float on top of the water.

Poked a hole in your gas tank on a rock?

Stuff a wedge from a bar of soap into the hole. It’ll last long enough to get into town. Or a few hundred yards past that stream you need to ford.

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