Caporegime
Stick tyre iron on bolt, stand on tyre iron end, use gravity
Would you be able to jump start a car or change a tyre?
- Thread starter Diddums
- Start date
Stick tyre iron on bolt, stand on tyre iron end, use gravity
Associate
Jumped and bumped started cars over the years but not for a while now.
Changed lots of wheels too, I've even changed some tyres.
I've done a fair amount of tinkering with cars over the years, never had to set points though.
I've also never started a car with a handle but have used one to start a Field Marshal tractor which I suspect is similar and possibly more lethal!
I have started this https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arrol-Johnston 1902 Arrol-Johnston which uses a pull cord if that gains me man points.
Changed lots of wheels too, I've even changed some tyres.
I've done a fair amount of tinkering with cars over the years, never had to set points though.
I've also never started a car with a handle but have used one to start a Field Marshal tractor which I suspect is similar and possibly more lethal!
I have started this https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arrol-Johnston 1902 Arrol-Johnston which uses a pull cord if that gains me man points.
Soldato
Yes to both. Having worked a Saturday job for quite a few years with my old man (who was in the motor trade for almost 50 years) I picked up quite a bit of mechanical knowledge.
The mechanics used to let me do services on cars and this gave me confidence to try stuff on my own cars a few years down the line. I’ve never done anything massively complex; a head gasket change on an old MkIII Escort and a VANOS seals change on a 330ci are about as complicated as it’s got, but it’s good to get stuck in, get your hands dirty and come out the other side with a working car!
The mechanics used to let me do services on cars and this gave me confidence to try stuff on my own cars a few years down the line. I’ve never done anything massively complex; a head gasket change on an old MkIII Escort and a VANOS seals change on a 330ci are about as complicated as it’s got, but it’s good to get stuck in, get your hands dirty and come out the other side with a working car!
Sounds dangerous?
Soldato
Well, I've got a modified 1971 Beetle, so I'd had to do quite a bit more than that. 
A couple of tools, a few books and a 'how hard can it be' attitude has got me through most jobs.
A couple of tools, a few books and a 'how hard can it be' attitude has got me through most jobs.
Soldato
I've started an engine by bridging a starter motors solenoid contacts with a long screwdriver - from underneath the car before. Does that count. Sparky.
have a snap on solus and know how to do the basics to get me by, for everything else theres google.
amazing to see what the experts can do with modern ecus though, and just how complicated modern cars are becoming.
I did laugh at my mate who changed a 2005 Focus headlight bulb and was delighted with himself. He's 40 and the instructional video he used was a 11 year old kid in a santa hat showing how to do it!
I'm not too bad with mechanical things, can change wheel, jump and bump start etc. Changed alternator and radiator fans on old Punto I used to own. I would shy away from engines though, but given time and an older vehicle would have a go and probably have a positive outcome.
I'm not too bad with mechanical things, can change wheel, jump and bump start etc. Changed alternator and radiator fans on old Punto I used to own. I would shy away from engines though, but given time and an older vehicle would have a go and probably have a positive outcome.
Man of Honour
Massively so, an old Subaru ECU has 100-200 ECU tables depending on generation, look at Ford EcoBoost and that becomes a thousand or so, then move on to current generation BMW and it's upwards of 3000.
I've only scratched the surface too, I've got colleagues that have probably forgotten more than I know
Caporegime
The choke on my dads Cortina used to drive the old fella to tears some mornings lol!
Had several flats out in the desert and off road (Death valley and Arizona) pretty scary, one was at night in the pitch blackness on a Ford F150, which confused the hell out of me, as the spare wheel is underneath the truck itself and there's a winch system that lowers the wheel down.
Jumped loads of different cars,
Jumped loads of different cars,
still amazes me when you look what a good mapper can do with a car, just on power outputs alone, something like a transit can easily see a 100% power gain from a standard map as can a lot of other models.
you can use elm to change a mondeo from 150-180 bhp with nothign more than a value change from 0 to 1 to activate the appropriate tables already in the ecu,
when you actually start to drill down and look at the command and control side over other functions gearboxes steering suspension that ecus exert control over, you realise that we're only aware of a tiny percentage of what goes on behind the scenes
this, although i have driven a car.
both are hardly difficult and pretty much common sense.
Soldato
GT86 eats through batteries (getting about 2-3 years out of each one) so I've had to jump start it/trickle charge it and even bump start it by myself in a supermarket carpark at 3am with no one else around.
Started doing track days so I thought I'd learn some of the basics including basic servicing, wheel changes and brake pads, bulbs and other consumables I'd learned on older cars when they failed. Not had brakedown cover on any car for the last 12 years so figured if I do need it in the future I'll just pay the roadside price.
Started doing track days so I thought I'd learn some of the basics including basic servicing, wheel changes and brake pads, bulbs and other consumables I'd learned on older cars when they failed. Not had brakedown cover on any car for the last 12 years so figured if I do need it in the future I'll just pay the roadside price.
Soldato
Changing a wheel, yes ... in theory ... I know how to do it and have seen it done but I don't drive at all.
Jump starting ..... No. While I know the concept I'd be concerned about breaking things.
Jump starting ..... No. While I know the concept I'd be concerned about breaking things.
Caporegime
Jumpstarted cars, trucks & forklift trucks, changed a wheel on cars and trucks even changed a truck tyre which like most things is relatively straightforward with the right tools.
Caporegime
I've done both several times but I do get overly cautious on jump starting and OMG IS IT RED FIRST OR BLACK FIRST AND DONOR FIRST OR RECIPIENT FIRST AND OH GOD DONT CROSS THE STREAMS. I'm still not sure if there's actually a bad way of doing it and I think it's this not knowing that makes it all so intolerable.