This is kinda off topic but I can't think of a better place to ask it. I was thinking about making up a car emergency tool kit. I'm having trouble thinking up what would actually be useful when stuck on the side of the road. One of those jumper/tire pump things could be very useful but what else might one really need. I could include a socket set and such but it's not like I've got a car parts store in the trunk so I'm not sure I would ever find a reason to use them. So here is what I have so far:
hammer, to wack stuff multihead screwdriver, to screw stuff up or down vice grips, to grab stuff pliers, to hold stuff needle nose pliers, to get into small areas
Battery charger. Duct tape. Water. Oil. Work gloves. Funnel. Small plastic tarp for getting under car. Small shovel. First aid kit. Blanket. Snacks. Drinking water. Reflective plastic heat blankets. Cell phone charger.
The tool you need is the one you won't have. :-)
1) Multihead screwdriver: Even the best of these (like the one from Snap-On) will sometimes have trouble with situations where you really need to put some major force on the head of a screw. Watch out for cheap ones. And, even if you buy a really good one, make sure you have extra magnetic tips. I'd still keep a regular #2 Phillips screwdriver in the car, and a GOOD one.
2) About the tips: Take a really good look at some typical screws in your car and make sure you really have the right screwdriver tips. I don't know if GM still uses Pozidrive screws (look halfway down this page:
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). If they do, and you own a GM vehicle, be aware that a regular Phillips driver can wreck a Pozidrive screw head very quickly, making it impossible to remove with the tools you have on hand. Torx head screws are also common in some vehicles. Don't buy full sets of these little things - just get the ones you see used in your car.
3) Are you able to get under your vehicle without jacking it up? If not, don't bother carrying tools for working on anything under the vehicle because you'd be dumb to work under a jacked car. Call a tow truck.
4) A socket set may be more useful than a multi-head screwdriver, since you can get sockets which not only handle bolt heads, but also normal screws. For example:
Pair this with a screwdriver-type handle, and you've got a lot of versatility:
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Consider what you are actually likely to try fixing, and focus on that. You should also do a test run with the tool that (theoretically) removes your wheel lug nuts. Sometimes, the ones that come with the car are pathetic.
You would find it faster to check lists already published e.g. in AAA magazines. E.g. the first essential is a flashlight (unless you drive only in daytime.)
Rope (sufficient strength for towing). Sealed can of gas with stabilizer. Shotgun. Hand axe. Carpet samples (for traction in mud). Fuses (both kinds: electrical and flares). Aerial flares. Soap and/or hand-cleaning gel. Battery-operated radio. Flashlight with spare batteries. Binoculars. Clean shirt. .45 caliber automatic with two boxes ammunition Four days concentrated emergency rations. One drug issue: antibiotics, morphine, vitamin pills, pep pills, sleeping pills, tranquilizer pills. One miniature combination Russia phrase book and Bible. One hundred dollars in rubles. One hundred dollars in gold. Nine packs of chewing gum. One issue of prophylactics. Three lipsticks. Three pair nylon stockings.
Good point with the multi headed screwdriver. Might be nice to have a flat head with a wide head too.
I've been trying to remember what I've ever fixed on the side of the road. Once I replaced a battery and once cut the end off the top hose of the radiator where there was a leak. That reminds me, a razor blade might come in handy.
Not a razor blade. Too flimsy, too hard to hold, too easy to hack the f*ck out of your finger with it, and then you'll wonder why there's only one package of gauze and no large butterfly bandages in the first aid kit. :-)
Get a good folding knife, get it scary sharp, and don't use it for anything else.
Beyond changing flat tires, taping up a hose and an emergency battery booster, I am not sure how much you are fixing on the side of the road these days. AAA card and a cell phone may be the best tool kit.
My brother or someone gave me a 'car emergency took kit' and it included a claw hammer! Now I'm hoping some friend will buy a new car so I can give him the kit.
I wouldn't carry a tire pump unless I knew I already had a leak. A can of Fix-a-flat works just as well, and is quicker, and can keep for ten years or more. (Although I know that some people don't like it when they find fix-a-flat in the tire.) When I lived somewhere with a lot of glass on the street and a lot of flats, I carried three cans. One can was not enough because the moment I used one, I didn't have any, so I needed two. Two cans were not enough because the moment I used one, I only had one, and I just showed that one can was not enough. I was afraid with the logic I was using, 200 cans wouldn't be enough. But three cans seemed to be enough.
I always carry jumper cables, for the last 40 years. I've used them too many times. Once a pretty girl stopped to give me a jump. Most of them are either too scared or too removed from the world.
Cheap cables will work fine if you can get the person to sit there while you charge your battery. Even a bad battery will hold enough to start the car once. I guess charging doesn't take so long now that engines are smaller.
Also, put a set of those red and green felt washers on your battery posts so that the connections don't get dirty. They are really great, and only cost about a dollar. If you do have white stuff on the battery, pour baking soda on it, and slowly add warm water, until it stops bubbling. They say to make a mixture, which is probably better, but my way is easier.
Yeah, but you can go buy parts, Buying tools each time the car breaks is harder and expensive. I usually fix my car whereever it breaks. I've replaced the water pump (socket wrenches), the fuel pump (socket wrenches), the regulator (when cars had ones that failed, screwdriver. I should carry a small multimeter, but I usually don't for some strange reason.), patched the fuel tank after driving over a chrome strip (no tools required. The leaking gas had washed the dirt from most of where the patch went. A rag or paper towels enabled cleaning the rest.)
Once the car stalled as I turned the corner. I coasted to the side, opened the hood and the distributor (screwdriver. I have both a philips and flat, one small and one large. I carry smaller and larger too but mostly because I have extra.) and saw the metal part had broken off the rotor. I was tying up a lane of traffic so I ran across the street to a gas station, bought a rotor at a high gas station price, and had the car running in iirc under ten minutes total. Now I carry the previous rotor, in case the current one breaks. I also carry a few spark plug wires, the previous coil, and if my trunk were bigger the previous distributor cap. (Usually a coil fails because it absorbs water. I make an effort to let the old coil dry and then wrap it Glad Wrap or the other brand.
Another time an ammeter I had installed gave problems. I ddidn't have enough coolant and some pipe got too hot, weakening the electrical tape that held the ammeter wires in place and one hit something hot, melted the insulation, shorted the wire, smoke came out of the ammeter and the car stopped. It was raining, so I put out a reflective triangle (put some sort of warning device in your kit) and crawled under the car to find the two wires from the ammeter, cut them (wire cutters, that is, side cutters, electrical tape), and join them together, bypassing the ammeter. While I was doing this a guy pulled up behind, put his flashers on and offered me tools if I didn't have the right one.
Four or 5 years later, and eight miles away, the same or a different car wouldn't run and I pulled to the side, and a guy parked in the lane, put his flashers on, and helped me push the car into a store's parking lot. Same guy. This time I needed a distributor, because the shaft bearing was worn and the point gap couldn't be adjusted, since the cam moved sideways as well as in circles. (socket wrench, distributor would have been good, but I just used the sockets, and screrw driver to remove and reattach the distributor cap,which didn't have to be replaced. The parts store was only a block away, so I replaced the distributor in the store or restaurant's parking lot.
I've only been towed twice in 40 years, because I fix the car where it lies.
Vice grip brand vice grips are fantastic. I think the curved jaws are much more useful than flat.
Rubber mallet to put on wheel covers, although the last two cars haven't had any.
This car came with a scissors jack, but I still carry the jack handle from a GM bumper jack. Good for prying, including removing wheel covers. Easier to stand on if the lug nut won't come off. (Once I had to break 4 of my 5 studs to change a flat tire. Only one nut unscrewed.)
X shaped lug wrench, because my brother gave me one, and it is easier, and I can help someone change a tire who has no wrench, though that has never happened.
If you're actually broken-down stuck, w/ most vehicles these days, there's probably not a heck of a lot you're going to be able to do on the roadside to get it going again. There are a couple of things, though...
Keep a spare serpentine belt and the proper tool to change it -- typically a square drive breakover handle.
Duct and/or electrical tape can hold together a radiator or heater hose long enough often to get to help.
Make sure you've got enough of a jack and handle and wrench to change a tire -- many of the supplied ones are barely adequate in a heated garage, what more by the side of the road at night in the cold and wet...
Depending on area traveling, time of year, etc., proper weather gear, water, food, snow/ice gear/chains, etc., etc., ...
Cell phone, charger, etc., ... if remote/rugged area like the Oregon family, may not be of much use so don't count on it as only survival tool, though. Corollary -- don't get lost or try "less-traveled" routes in winter.
Good ideas, but neither will help when evacuating from terroristic detonation of a "dirty bomb" or natural disaster (hurricane, forest fire, earthquake, flood, Super Bowl traffic, etc.).
Being a some what organized person, I'd be thinking like this:
a: What are the likely problems? b: How can you avoid problems? c: What are your skills? d: What tools and parts do you need to do the likely repairs?
As to myself: a) Flat tire, out of gas, neglected filters, dead battery, assorted breakdowns. b) Better preventive maint c) Assorted repairs d) compressor, fix a flat, spare wheel, j ack, lug wrenches, gascan, assorted hand tools, battery jumper pack.
I like your list of tools. I also include a VOM, and a breaker bar and a socket set for busting loose lugs, or turning a serpentine belt adjuster. I also always have cell phone, flashlight, maps, compass. Oh, compass is essential. I have got lost a couple times when I knew full well I'd be home if I went North and then West.
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