Serious question, has a customer ever brought you a car with a 'custom' fix that was just... wrong?

Last month in Phoenix, a guy rolled in with his truck making a grinding noise, and we found he'd replaced a broken motor mount with a stack of hockey pucks bolted together. The whole engine was just bouncing around. What's the weirdest 'repair' you've seen someone try to pass off?

3 comments

3 Comments

val_craig371mo ago

Ever seen a radiator held up with bungee cords?

the_blake16d agoMost Upvoted

My buddy's old Ford Ranger had the radiator hanging from two green bungee hooks for a solid six months. He kept saying he'd fix it next weekend, but we all knew that was a lie. The whole front end would shimmy whenever he hit a bump, sounded like a bag of wrenches. It finally gave out when one cord snapped on the highway and dumped coolant everywhere.

blake_murphy611mo ago

My old Civic had that setup for about a year. Honestly, you need to get some proper zip ties at least, the thick black ones from the hardware store. Bungees stretch way too much when it gets hot and the engine vibrates. I ran a couple of heavy duty ties through the mounting holes and around the frame rail as a temp fix. It held until I could find a junkyard bracket.