What do you keep in your car, for emergencies?

[myglaren]

A very variable menu of stuff, usually four or five tool boxes with a full range of spanners, torque wrench, socket sets, cable ties, bulbs, fuses, torches and general odds and sods, along with a plumbing tool box, electrical tool box and a kit of screws, nuts, bolts and various odd fixings and fastenings, drills and bits, knives and chisels, bungee cords and various undefined bits of crap..

Which rarely see any use except at work where buying a screwdriver warrants a full financial investigation and ultimately refusal.  All wrong but simpler for me.

 

Yesterday I went to the C6 rally in Cosford RAF museum and took along four of my grandchildren - to see the museum, not C6s, although they did enjoy a ride in a C6.

 

440 mile round trip and needed to carry a pile of stuff as well as the kids so eliminated all tools bar a Leatherman Wave.  About 100 miles into the trip, approached a roundabout and couldn't stop.  Narrowly avoided a collision.  Clutch pedal and brake wouldn't operate.  Eventually got some movement and cleared the roundabout when it seemed reluctant but worked after a fashion but did the same thing about another thirty miles down the road, after which it wasn't so bad and we eventually arrived at Cosford.

 

I presumed it would be new clutch time, imagined the springs were all busted or the release bearing disintegrated.  All the tools in the world wouldn't have helped.

 

The problem revealed itself to be the fan control module had come out of the air duct (sits in there for cooling as it gets stinking hot) and burned itself into the rubber mat under the pedals.

 

Fixed today.  Loose wire repaired and a retaining screw fitted - Leatherman would have done that had I had a screw available.

Otherwise the C5 behaved impeccably, which never fails to amaze me.

[HH-R]

What happens if you have no spare wheel/gunk/tyre is beyond repair and you have breakdown? Do they tow you to a garage or something? Thinking about flinging the spare wheel, it's just dead weight.

[groovylee]

in the ranger.....

 

cantilever tool box, with assortment of tools, including 3/4" socket set

small electrical tool box, containing HT leads, dissy cap, rotor arm, full set of lamps, set of spare spark plugs, gas soldering iron, crimps, cables.

organiser box full of nuts and bolts

2 ton trolley jack

folding axle stands

second spare wheel

breaker bar

lump hammer

spare coil

spare diff

spare half shafts

alternator

fan belt

oil, gearbox oil, diff oil, coolant, water, wd40

spill kit

rope, bungees, strong wire, cable ties, ratchet straps

waterproofs

hi viz

battery impact driver

big torch

oil catch tray

brake pipe and fittings

pipe flaring tool

 

i think thats it.

 

lol

 

EDIT: inconsistant just reminded me of the fire extinguisher!

[inconsistant]

Interesting replies, and I have to say I'm quite surprised by many of them.

There seem to be two schools of thought:

1. Carry as much as possible just in case (I was expecting lots of this, and maybe even consensus on what might make the ideal selection of stuff to keep in the boot),

2. Carry nothing but a breakdown card and let them sort it.

 

Fair enough I suppose, since both times I've broken down recently it was ability rather than tools that stopped me sorting it myself. The second time I broke down was 200m from home, and I still had to pop home to get the screwdriver I needed that wasn't in the car. I may have to have a rethink about what I carry.

 

Interesting that a fire extinguisher is pretty much universally the item that most of us have in the car. I think I might have to get one now, it's made me a bit nervous.

[Pillock]

I used to have an extinguisher, proper value for money since my mum won it from Ford. In 1989. No pressure gauge like but I'm sure* it'll be fine.

 

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[Bren]

Bag of dolly mixtures.

[twosmoke300]

Groovy lee , that is certainly well prepared . At the expense of load space and fuel consumption I would imagine !

 

In the Saab I carry an ignition pack , crank sensor , alt belt with routing diagram and a torx 30 key . Oh and a pair of disp gloves and a torch

[J-Rod]

A stolen coat, a 2005 road map and a flare.

 

I'm sure they had a similar combination in one of the cars in Withnail & I... Just with more booze