Cheapest repairs that you've done on your car..

[Vince70]

I've had quite a bit of luck this weekend when it comes to car repairs as my friends Bini cooper window had stopped working and rather than take it to the main dealer and get charged up for it to be plugged into some computer then get told it needs a new motor and mechanism I thought I would repair it myself..

 

I went online and found out if you punch the door panel above the speaker quite hard it should start working again..

Obviously I did check the fuses etc first before going to such drastic measures but the punch worked a treat and the window has been working fine since and now I'm the Fonz according to my friend as she thought it was some kind of joke

 

Then it was time to take my Z3 out the garage for its MOT which it passed with flying colours but while getting it out I managed to damage it against the garage wall and chipped a bit of paint off the bumper.

 

I had a old black touch up stick which had been sitting about for about 10 years but not for that car and I managed to build the paint up and compound it back to such a good standard that I really can't find whereabouts it was damaged and while I was on a roll I thought I would do a scrape that had been on the rear bumper as well and that also has come up as an invisible repair so it saves me getting that repainted:)

 

So I just wondered what's your cheapest repair after expecting an expensive repair bill.

[hairnet]

hole in the floor of a mk1 fiesta we found under a tree

 

40mm x 10mm strip of steel jb welded to the footwell underneath and mot ticket gained..........

 

free fix as had them in the garage

[auldford]

Not a mechanical fix as such but the rubber cables for hanging the parcel shelf had snapped/perished on the Escort.

 

Quick trip to Poundland for some thin rope, cut to size, then knotted and fitted to the parcel shelf/hooks. Job done!

[Sloth in a bowl]

Rear exhaust mount failed on the Uno. Was replaced with a wire coat hanger wrapped around the exhaust and some bit of the rear underside of the car that I can't remember.

 

Idea gained from an engineering prof at Uni who told us that's how the rear mounts on an Olympus engine in Concorde worked. Basically a simple wire cradle to allow for flex and vibration.

[John F]

I actually made a 20p profit when I mended the handbrake on my Peugeot 405 1.6 Style.

[Bear]

Hole in the side of my C15 van.

Plugged it with chewing gum.

[Junkman]

Mr Conelrad fixed the dashboard illumination of my P6 by replacing broken bulbs with new ones he brought with him.

[purplebargeken]

The carb linkage on my white Dolomite snapped on the A406 whilst in heavy traffic (on the way to the Ace Cafe). Pushed the bugger onto the forecourt of a nearby petrol station. Open the bonnet, thought 'what the fuck...) and then used a 6" piece of red wire I found in the boot to loop around both bits of the carb. Worked perfectly and was on there for about 8 months before I did the repair properly. I was very happy

[tinribs]

Choke flap spring on the Talbot Samba broke. The spring from an old pen that was lying in the car saved the day. It continued saving the day until the car was written off a year later.

[beko1987]

One carbon brush on my strimmer is sprung with help from a pem spring...

 

Exhaust on the zx has been held up with a bit of dc07 cable for a few weeks now

[Foeux]

If I had a pound for every time I had fixed 'broken' air-con by banging out the pollen filter or replacing it, I would have £5.

[captain_70s]

Headlight on the 1300 was too wonky for the MOT last year, found this was because all the metal it is supposed to attach to has returned to nature. That light is currently held steady with cardboard coated in large amounts of bathroom sealant. Whether it's "fixed" is debatable but it passed the MOT, doesn't move about and was a tad cheaper than taking off the front wings and welding in replacement panels...

[martc]

Cross reference the commie shite thread.

 

The knob which pressed down the tickler on my Minsk (Neval) 125 carburettor literally flew off one day. I found that the little yellow cap (with the striding baby on it) from an olde worlde style round Fairy washing up liquid bottle fitted directly onto the resulting prong. Free repair and a stylish splash of colour.

[Lacquer Peel]

There, I fixed it.

[catsinthewelder]

Spotted my 1st BX at the side of the road near home and got back to tales of woe.  Announced that if it couldn't be fixed with a hammer I wasn't fixing it.  Arrived home 5 minutes later with the car after knocking the gear linkage back together with the hammer.

[twosmoke300]

Swapping clicking cv joints left to right so they only click in reverse !

[SamR380]

Throttle cable snapped at the carb end... five minutes later:
 (loop cut when removing it)

[MrBiscuits]

I once replaced a missing alloy wheel centre cap with the top off a can of shaving foam - right colour, right diameter, looked OK from a distance.

 

Best technical bodge was soldering new copper contacts (made from stripped twin & earth) into a wiper motor to replace the burnt bits that stopped the blades parking properly. Lasted 5 years and outlived the rest of the car.

[fordnut]

The cheapest ones are the ones where I already have the replacement part sat on the shelf - that's one advantage of having my own business supplying NOS Ford parts!

[Matt]

Not a mechanical fix as such but the rubber cables for hanging the parcel shelf had snapped/perished on the Escort.

 

Quick trip to Poundland for some thin rope, cut to size, then knotted and fitted to the parcel shelf/hooks. Job done!

 

I swear every early 2000's Suzuki Swift has had this exact repair.

[HH-R]

Seems to be the case that every car I get has a buggered parcel shelf, or is soon broken by me anyway.

 

The Pandas both had rubber sleeves on each pivot which was meant to stay still whilst the shelf moved up and stayed upright (a shit design, since it used to fall down all the time, or passengers not used to it would leave it up = 0 backward vision - fortunately I was lanky enough to push it down from the driver's seat), on both cars one was missing. Electrical tape provided a decent alternative.

 

The most impressive one (to me) was the Kia's shelf, there were two moulded plastic bits that stick out on the plastic that covers the entire right/left side of the boot, and the shelf sat on top. One had snapped, leaving a cat's pupil-like hole behind. I had a bolt with a washer round the head from the Panda's air filter box that wouldn't go back on which slotted in perfectly. A couple of nuts tighened it up to provide a metal peg for the shelf to sit on. Works grand!

 

I snapped a peg off the Metro's too (lasted 20 years, broken within 6 months of my ownership), drilled a hole through the snapped bit and put a self tapper in. Fixed!

[Bren]

Mate's father in law had DOHC granada thet would'nt start.

 

Told him to disconnect throttle potentiometer - it started straight away.

 

The car was running on a Limited Operation Strategy - but on a £500 shitter nobody gives a fook.

[Christine]

Punctures fixed with self tappers

[strangeangel]

When the lock in the back door of  my old C15 failed, I looped a pound shop ratchet strap through the door and one of the load lashing rings on the floor.

[groovylee]

So I just wondered what's your cheapest repair after expecting an expensive repair bill.

 

my fiesta failed the MOT miserably on sills that were more filler than metal.

 

i weighed it in.  it wasn't only cheap, but it made me £100 

 

oh, wait, i might be doing this wrong........

[oldcars]

K11 Nissan Micra. Rotten cross member, radiator leak, rear window leak and iffy wipers. Fix cost zero. I made £300. I sold it. 

[tooSavvy]

May I direct you all to the Bleach products aisle...

 

Move along now, nothing to see here.

 

 

TS

[jonny69]

Expecting a £120 bill for a new steering box because the so-called reconditioned one from the owners' club had developed too much play and I seem to remember when I put it in that it didn't have any adjustment shims left in it, so the only option from there is replacement.

 

Before pulling it out I decided to check the bolts in the top cap. Which were all loose. So that was a free repair and now there's no play in the steering.

 

True story.

[martc]

Punctures fixed with self tappers

 

In the last year I have had 4 (yes 4) free punctures caused by self tappers!

[richardthestag]

broke the ignition chopper on my Stag in a field in France, Le Mans Beausejour to be specific. 

 

Fellow camper Matt fixed it with a pair of scissors and a discarded wife beater tin.

 

Cost = zero

 

Did it get me home? = you bet