Parking Lot Car Repair

Four leaf springs and all the steering linkage a box in a rusty 84 1 ton ram 4x4. In a gravel parking lot on a slope in east Tennessee in january.

Throwout bearing and clutch fork in a 70 duster on a runaway truck ramp near Lenoir nc. 

Tie rods and alignment in the snow in tamarack west Virginia in an advance parking lot 

Clutch replacement on an 86 Toyota in a parking spot in the snow. We built snowbanks around it too cut down on the wind. 

Radiator on a 93 Dodge caravan on the shoulder of a highway. My friend's dad had a spare radiator but his son had the car trailer in Muncie at the time. 

The engine suddenly died in my 67 Dart, half way around a turn on a hilly, winding two lane in Western Pennsylvania.  Three AM, no moon, on a truck cut-through between two highways. No shoulder, so I had to stop in the road. Scariest spot I've ever broken down, for fear of getting run over by a truck.

I set out a flare, gapped the points with a match book cover, and was on my way in under five minutes. 

When I lived in Gainesville, I swapped the heads on the 302 in my Panther LTD. That was easy, my apartment was on the back of the complex, and I could park in the shade right behind it.

Tougher was when I cracked a cylinder in the same car a couple of years later. Different apartment, did a short block replacement in a very different parking lot. No shade, no privacy, lots of people coming and going. Things get a lot more involved when the whole engine comes out. 

It was pretty much a major tear down, since I reused the ported heads, intake, headers, sheet metal, basically everything except the short block. A lot of the passers-by couldn't believe that it was possible to take an engine apart and get it to run again.

I started the engine, ran it for about 10 minutes for a cam break in. Timing was retarded, and I had forgotten to put coolant in the radiator. Headers were glowing red hot when I shut it down.

I let it cool overnight, added coolant, then drove it around the block. No leaks, so I loaded it up and drove to North Carolina. I had an externship lined up, and needed to be there the next morning. Good way to break in an engine.

I'm glad I don't have to do things like that anymore.

Not an on the road repair but not the best situation. While working at a small vehicle transport company, my coworker who drove the 5 pack car hauler had the clutch go out. He limped the truck back to the shop. Now shop is overstating the situation since there wasn't any building that the freight liner would fit into so the work was done in the drive. My coworker was a former diesel/ truck mechanic who got paid more to do the truck repairs compared to driving. The bad? The weather had been cold as in a high of zero during the day. Early in the morning it was minus 10 as he was getting started. I helped him put plastic up around the truck to keep the high winds that seem to kick up when the weather gets cold in Ohio. I couldn't believe he was able to work in those conditions. He finished in four days taking breaks to get warm. The day after he finish the temps where in the low 30s and sunny. 
 

He eventually moved to Texas to get away from the cold

John Welsh said:

In reply to AAZCD :

Does the dude have more than just the jack that comes with the spare tire? 

Does he have a jack stand?  If not, at least go out there and position that removed tire under the car so the car then crushes him less. 

Took the words out of my mouth.

Replaced manual trans in 1 ton ford van in work parking lot. Replaced rear main seal in same in sub zero weather to get to work on monday. No garage just gravel pad out front of the house. Swapped a V8 in to a Vega in my back yard using a tree branch to hang the hoist from.

January in SD as a student at SDSU. Walking through the dorm parking lot was this girl trying to get her Bronco to start. Would not crank over. Cute girl so offered to help. Bout froze my balls off before I decided to check if there was oil in the engine or if it was seized. Oil fought me pulling the dipstick: it was like honey. I actually paid for the Hibachi to put under the truck for the afternoon. Truck started right up.  So did she!

Put a alternator in my C4 Vette in a AutoZone parking lot somewhere in TN on my way to Georgia. They didn't have the right one, so I mixed the parts from mine to their's to make one that worked. They were amazed.....(and helpful)

I remembered this one, that was largely self induced.  Had garage, but it was full of 2 Miatas.  The starter on my wife's Vibe quit in the middle of winter, and it was parked right in front of the single garage door, on a single-car-wide gravel driveway covered with snow and ice, with a foot of snow immediately to either side of course.  So pushing the Vibe out of the way into the street, and then bringing a Miata out of hibernation, only to then push the Vibe back to the garage to swap the starter...just wasn't going to happen.  If nothing else I'd have fallen on my ass 8 times in the process.  It was 4*F and very windy.  Thankfully that job is a piece of cake with the starter hanging right out the bottom front of the engine and I was done in around half an hour start to finish.  Which is nice when you're lying on ice in the dark.  Thanks toyota engineers!