Long journey tool packing

Due to make a long(ish) journey on Thursday of around 180miles,

going to do the obvious checks tomorrow of all fluids and tyre pressures and will be packing 5l of water in the boot but what tools would you pack "just in case?"

Cables ties, gaffer tape already considered

RAC card, full stop

Socket set, spanners, circuit tester, charged phone, sausage rolls, some sweets, drinking water, Hi Vis, more sausage rolls, hammer, foot pump, insulation tape, length of wire, wire strippers, crimps and crimping pliers, and did I mention sausage rolls, and maybe a meat filled pie or two.

Tow rope and recovery details.
Have faith in the old girl.


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Should be no problem to do 180 miles as you seem to look after your car very well, just a AA or similar card, some water to drink and some good tunes on the radio.

Spares I carry is alternator belt, bit of wire to hot wire the fuel pump relay, spare blade fuses, 10, 13, 15, 17mm spanners, Philips and slotted screw drivers, wheel brace, small bottle of coolant and small bottle of engine oil.

I drive around 150 miles a week on my commute to work so just have faith in the old girl.  

Thanks for that John but I'm on a strict diet plan.

I guess you're all right really, I should have a bit more faith and its unlikely anything that uses socket sized nuts or bolts (apart from wheels) falling off is pretty unlikely really

sat/sunday i did round trip to blackpool, 300 miles, i took the wife, can of monster…and music..
If in doubt checking water and oils is more than enough… always have recovery card.
You can go mad, take fuel pump relay, fuses mixed, foot pump, jump leads.

The jump leads I carry in my boot I've only ever used on other peoples cars to get them started.  

mark1gls said

The jump leads I carry in my boot I've only ever used on other peoples cars to get them started.  

Well to be fair it does say your a "Local hero "  
If cars running ok locally then just drive it.. you dont want to find out on an important date…AGm or travelling to airport..

I dont trust mine as a fully daily, but do trust them all to do 200mile runs…per week

Well all fluids checked and tyre pressures checked.
Small bag of essentials packed and now I'm waxing it because clean cars are more reliable and faster

If you have maintained it well, and all the maintenance Items are taken care of, then 180 for a trip is but a 90 minute run both ways.   I don't usually carry anything in mine, and it was up to a few days ago a daily driver.

I personally never carried anything but a set of sockets and ratchet that I bought in a case for about 9 bucks, a pair of pliers, Vice-Grips, dikes, some electrical tape, and a long and short Phillips as well as a straight slot.

Well it ran beautifully, water temp behaved and everything worked just the way it should but I am far to big for the car.

My right leg was in agony after 100miles.

Just got to wait a few days and then drive it back.

Only one thing to note, why would my MPG not display on the MFA? Just shows at 99.99

if MFA playing up could be the plastic vac pipe, that goes from the non return valve above rocker,come loose or hose rotten, or the hose has come detached from rear of clock..
As for actual MPG think better to do a run and top up check, as the MFA seems miles out.  last week mine was reading 60-79mpg…  doing a 400 mile journey i managed 37.1mpg average  with fuel calculation. in sportline and 240 mile trip in mk2 at 43mpg  

I never needed a MFA for my cars, in the oldie days we used pen and paper,  Note the miles driven for the gas consumed.  I used a Abacus way before I learned to use a slide rule..then a Calculator and now my phone.  Yep I am old school…..

Gallons used divided by miles or Kilo's driven =mpg.
Distance driven, divided by time equals the Rate that you drove.  Now given that all speedos' are off a wee bit, using a GPS on your Phone should do nicely.

The only advantage to the mfa is that it only works when your car is on, so the 15 minute pit stop is not taken in account for trip times and you get actual engine time….but a good stop watch and you can get the actual engine time.

Right leg issues, I only have that in my van, as the seat is off centered from the pedals, and your knee take a hit in the way you sit.  I have learned that I usually wear a knee brace on that leg.  In the cabby I never had a sore leg, and I am 6' and about 225 lbs.  My son is 6 foot and 265 down from about 365 and never had issues either.

But the Latter Cabriolets did have the butt adjusters that made accomodation easier.

Yes, I used to be a Navigator on a plane, and when I was learning about wind direction and speed and such we used a Circular slide rule…and that was in the late 70's and they are still in use today.  It is way easier on you if you run out of Petrol in a car than an airplane…A lot less Screaming involved…But then we calculated everything, weight of plane, weight of fuel, weight of people, weight of cargo….I used to love it when a folk would say they weight 105, and you could tell by the Girth that they were closer to 250. 

 

According to the MPG (glorified vacuum gauge) at the top of the clocks I was doing pretty well on economy but its nice to have everything working thats all.

Im 6'2" at 245lbs but I think the leg pain is more down to years of bodybuilding abuse to be honest.

My BMW has the same effect but my old Skoda was far worse

10mm spanner
13mm spanner

10mm socket
13mm socket
Ratchet

Water
Oil at least a litre

Spare fuses

And a bible 👍🏻😂

Unfortunately my return journey didnt go quite as well.

3 miles from home I suffered a catastrophic gearbox failure causing the front wheels to lock up.

No tools are sorting that out roadside

WATERNAIR said

Unfortunately my return journey didnt go quite as well.

3 miles from home I suffered a catastrophic gearbox failure causing the front wheels to lock up.

No tools are sorting that out roadside

You used a tool to sort it out, you used a cell phone.  na na na na na na….

Bible didnt help then? Top hat failure letting all the gears slide off the shaft? 

This is why it was on my list 

As you just have to pray that something major dont break 😂

And to be fair, what better time than to add a quaife diff and some upgrades to what is after all VW Achilles heel 

I have Only ever broken vw gearboxes, mk1's and mk5's

WATERNAIR said

Unfortunately my return journey didnt go quite as well.

3 miles from home I suffered a catastrophic gearbox failure causing the front wheels to lock up.

No tools are sorting that out roadside

That is painful! So close yet so far! Again luckily you weren't doing high speeds on the motorway.

Once my fuel pump went on the M40, only took me 12 hours to get home from Oxford to London because AA took forever towing me home instead kept hopping from one service station to another.

Since then any knocking noises whilst driving i do get paranoid……i should have more faith!

I keep all diff spanner sizes, and screw driver but having read this thread i should keep spare fuses!!!!

Something further to add…..small emergency battrey charger.i got 1 from Amazon, it's worked for me on 4 cars so far, cabby,mk2 ,audi 2.0tdi,and cosworth powered clio. It started mk2 2 times from 1 charge in cold weather.  Not heavy and cheap, money well spent in my eyes.

YABER Car Jump Starter, 1000A 13800mAh Car Battery Booster (Up to 5.0L Gasoline 3.0L Diesel) Emergency Power Pack with Smart USB Port and LED Flashligh https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07VQ6MPZ4/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_7Pm3Db8G8J5SC