Post your most ghetto fix!

[Antrieb]

Here’s my story, what’s yours?

So my 530i has been running real rough lately and feels like it was only using 6 of its 8 cylinders. Not only that, but my check engine light is on and my gas mileage and power dropped drastically. I started with checking out all my vacuum lines and hoses. Everything looked okay so I took the ignition coils out. Here is my problem! On all 4 cylinders on the driver’s side, there were holes in each coil. The spark was going right through the sides! Here comes the ghetto fix; I took electrical tape and wrapped it around each coil about 10 times. Each layer of tape can take up to about 600 volts I believe so that should hold for a while :D
http://zwilliams.smugmug.com/photos/121426791-L.jpg



Then I took my spark plugs out and it looks like detonation. I bought 4 new ones and now the car runs perfect as it should.
http://zwilliams.smugmug.com/photos/121426700-L.jpg


http://zwilliams.smugmug.com/photos/121426616-L.jpg

Good thing this motor won’t be in there for long!

[winfred]

id consider bosch platinums to be pretty ghetto, they suck

[Jon K]

id consider bosch platinums to be pretty ghetto, they suck

Likewise - NGK coppers FTMFW.

Winfred - you read my post about my clutch!? They sent me the wrong damned one! Got the trans out in 2hrs excited to do it, and then the clutch they sent (240mm..... m3) doesn't fit!




Antrieb - that doesn't look like detonation - looks perfectly normal for shitty plugs. Also, if your coil boots are splitting it's usually because you have oil pooling in the spark plug hole. I just did my sisters spark plugs on her V8 yesterday and not a single one is split. Car has 125k.

[Antrieb]

Well they may look normal, but is it normal for them to look like that after only 5000 miles? Probably not.

Aren't platnum +2's OE? Will NGK coppers work on my v8?

[winfred]

bkr6ek ngk is one of the factory plugs, f7ldcr bosch super is the other oem supplier


Well they may look normal, but is it normal for them to look like that after only 5000 miles? Probably not.

Aren't platnum +2's OE? Will NGK coppers work on my v8?

[winfred]

yea that sucks ass but whatta ya gonna do


Winfred - you read my post about my clutch!? They sent me the wrong damned one! Got the trans out in 2hrs excited to do it, and then the clutch they sent (240mm..... m3) doesn't fit!

[spyrot1]

That sucks... that car has been jinxed from the start.

Hopefully the transplant will cure it.

[colo525i]

Not from a car but a dirt bike. Took a rock to the case of a bombardier can am. trans fluid pouring out. Cut a mtn dew can open and cut a strip of it to cover the holes. JB weld and 45 mins later the bike worked fine! It still doesn't leak and you can see the green/white of the soda can on the outside of the case.

[BillionPa]

most ghetto fix would have to be using metal gardening wire to fix the laser drive of a sony portable cd player. that was years ago and i STILL cannot believe it worked.... or even remember what the hell i did to fix it!

[LunatiC]

One time I had blown some of my RAM (talking about a 32MB SDRAM module here) due to static electricity from installing some hardware into my computer and not grounding myself properly. Upon closer inspection, two leads of one of the ICs had completely disappeared -- singed or burnt right off.

My dad had a look at the DIMM, grounded his soldering iron to a thin tip, grabbed a magnifying glass and after grounding a corner of the IC where the leads were missing, made solder bridges to replace them.

The DIMM still works to this very day. My dad did almost exactly the same thing the other day to a 512MB DDR DIMM that a friend of mine had that stopped working -- a resistor on the module (those micro ones) had burnt off. He got one off another old DIMM module, soldered it on and the module works again.

[Alexlind123]

Custom rad mount...

I braved bitter cold and driving rain specifically for the purpose of taking this picture to post it, so you'd better be happy.

http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r119/Quaffledood/radmount.jpg

[mikell]

Years ago - '66 MG Midget - electrics by Lucas, Prince of Darkness.
Middle of rural Alabama, about 10 at night, the fuel pump stopped. Figured out the problem was electric supply, not defective pump (this time - those pumps were lousy). Hitched in to a truck stop and bummed a few feet of household electric wire (solid, 12 ga.) from a guy whose Cadillac trunk was full of old car parts, hitched back to the car and wired the pump to the tail lights using duck tape. Made it all the way to Boston, lights on, where a proper fix was accomlished.

[DaveVoorhis]

About twenty years ago, I bought a beat-up '66 Oldsmobile Toronado to use as a winter beater and parts car for my restored '67 Toronado. The big-block 425cu engine was worn out -- it would pump a crank-case full of oil out the dipstick pipe every hour or so of running. I hooked a rubber hose to the dipstick pipe, wired an empty Javex bottle in a free spot under the hood, and stuck the free end of the rubber hose in the bottle. Whenever the Javex bottle filled up, I'd pour it back into the crankcase. Got a couple of years out of it that way, until the compression dwindled to zero and it wouldn't start any more.

[535i_Drift]

Ok one of many ghetto fixes -and one that was actually on my 535i: Clip on the top centre of the rear windshield popped off somewhere - the right side of the trim was now catching the wind on the highway and smacking against the gap where it used to stay - **ghetto fix** LOL - I just tilt my sunroof up and change the airflow over the roofline of the car haha. I mean "tilted"..yes......listen it potentially gave me better handling due to increased downforce too, okay. Stop giggling. lol

[Gayle]

Such heroism. But yes, I am happy. I love pictures.


Custom rad mount...

I braved bitter cold and driving rain specifically for the purpose of taking this picture to post it, so you'd better be happy.

http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r119/Quaffledood/radmount.jpg

[Dave M]

About twenty years ago, I bought a beat-up '66 Oldsmobile Toronado to use as a winter beater and parts car for my restored '67 Toronado. The big-block 425cu engine was worn out -- it would pump a crank-case full of oil out the dipstick pipe every hour or so of running. I hooked a rubber hose to the dipstick pipe, wired an empty Javex bottle in a free spot under the hood, and stuck the free end of the rubber hose in the bottle. Whenever the Javex bottle filled up, I'd pour it back into the crankcase. Got a couple of years out of it that way, until the compression dwindled to zero and it wouldn't start any more.

Yep, thats a good one :D

[Wes F]

I just saw a Mythbusters episode where they were testing the 'ol McGuyver trick of throwing an egg in the radiator to plug a leak...and it WORKED! They were just as surprised as you could imagine. Punched a hole in a radiator until the coolant was pissing out, cracked an egg, dumped it in, ran the engine, and voila! About a minute later the hole plugged itself! Definitely a ghetto-last-minute-fix-to-get-you-home-in-time-for-Lost. Now where to get that life saving egg on the side of the road in the middle of the night?? ;)

[BennyM]

I accidentally broke my rotted alternator cooling duct in half one day. It was a hot summer day and I was on some side street far away from home. I pulled some bandaids from the first aid kit in the trunk and used them to tape the thing back together. I forgot about it once I got home and drove the car like that for several months.

[JerseySi]

I just saw a Mythbusters episode where they were testing the 'ol McGuyver trick of throwing an egg in the radiator to plug a leak...and it WORKED! They were just as surprised as you could imagine. Punched a hole in a radiator until the coolant was pissing out, cracked an egg, dumped it in, ran the engine, and voila! About a minute later the hole plugged itself! Definitely a ghetto-last-minute-fix-to-get-you-home-in-time-for-Lost. Now where to get that life saving egg on the side of the road in the middle of the night?? ;)

I've done that on more than one occasion :D
Used to love ragging the car round dirt tracks - inevitable that stones would get thrown up & into the rad..
crack an egg into the rad while the motor's running, refill it with water and bingo - job done!
Lasts a while too - cars got scrapped before the egg 'wore out'!
(& no, I've not done it to any of my BM's ;) )

[632 Regal]

so you lost my hood shock mount picture...sweeeet!
Such heroism. But yes, I am happy. I love pictures.

[wingman]

My door trim insert panels are held in place by guitar strings. D'Addario 009. seem to work the best and also stay in tune nicely.

[indierthanthou]

well at least a set of d'addario's are useful in some way. I'm an ernie ball man myself.

had an 86 dodge diplomat. by the time i bought the audi and sold it, it was approximately 83% duct tape, jb weld, and chicken wire. the rest was rust- nature's superglue!

[Ross]

Oh boy, this could be long but a few that come to mind are; toothpicks and epoxy to fix holes in a radiator, JB weld to repair a trans case made of unobtainium, hose clamps to retain universal joints on a broken pinion flange and a one cylinder "overhaul" in a tired old Jeep. With the exception of the hose clamps all were long lasting repairs.