Temporary Fixes and Jerry-Rigged Repairs. Whats your best/worst?
 

Hey everyone,

So I'm interested in hearing/seeing some of you're guys best and worst jerry-rigged/temporary fixed on your benz's....

Mine:
The other day my dad and I were driving around in his 300SD. We have two 300SD and this one is the beater while the other one is the clean one that has been stored most of its life and get tended to..you get the picture..

So we get home and he goes to turn off his headlights and they wont turn off. He turns the knob all over the place and nothing. Turns out he broke the little metal fingers that go into the knob. So to fix it, I wired in some switches...

http://i98.photobucket.com/albums/l2...GE_00002-2.jpg
http://i98.photobucket.com/albums/l2...GE_00002-2.jpg

Looks pretty rough. I feel bad for the car.. I had to jerry up his last car's headlamps (GM VAN), the high beam function on the stick broke, so I wired the high beams to the fog lamp switch (fogs were broken)... Atleast that looked factory.. This not so much..

What about you guys?

That is horrifying, is it really that difficult to find a replacement switch? A car with the rare green interior too! Treat it better!

I rarely do a non-stock/factory repair....one of my only ones was some epoxy around the turbo drain tube to slow a leak while I had the proper seals on order.

No its not difficult I have a list of compatible vehicles and two places that I'm aware of that have a few of them. My dad needed the car for the next day and it was around 6pm when it happened.

Temporary Repairs
 

LOL!

Jury Rigging
 

I bought my wife a used 1974 BMW 2002A in 1981 and the starter lockout switch evidently failed. I could start the car by jumping the posts of the starter with a large screwdriver but she couldn't/wouldn't. So, I bought a toggle switch, super glue, 10 gauge wire and little rubber plumbing washers and bypassed the starter switch. What you had to do was turn on the ignition and then flip the starter switch and it worked fine. But you had to manually turn off the starter switch once the engine was started. The wife handled it OK and then I sold it to a friend (bad idea as always) and I expressly went through this with him when he left with the car...He calls like 5 hours later telling me that he stopped at a bar to celebrate his new car purchase and the engine is still trying to turn over...he never turned the starter switch off! It cost him like $500 for a new starter, flywheel, battery...what have you....who can screw a car up more than a mechanic? we know how to do this..if you can fix em, you can wreck em

That's how Ford used to design their starter circuits. My '49 Ford had a push button momentary switch that you would push to engage the starter after turning the ignition on. My '55 Buick had the switch as part of the accelerator pedal. Turn the ignition on, then press the gas pedal and viola....vroom vroom.

I drove over 1000 miles using a tennis ball as an oil fill cap in my 220D after leaving the cap at a gas station.:o

I had to do something similar to this with my one 300SD...my lockout didnt fail but my neutral safety switch did. So I would turn the key, hop out and pop the starter with a wire across the terminals... I still leave the wire in the engine bay just in case. lol.

belts
 

I have a ski boat with a chevy big block in it. At the end of the year I was going to run the gas out of it, warm it up, then take it out to winterize and change the oil. I had nearly a full tank so I took a long 10+ mile run to the south end of the lake. I slowed down, idled for a few minutes looking at the dam, then decided to head back home. As soon as I accelerated the drive belt broke ( crank to water pump and alternator). This was before the days of common cell phones, so my choice was to make it to a dock and call for help or try to patch something together.

I had one of those cheap black rubber bungie cords in the boat. I was able to get it situated around the crank and water pump. Off I go again, but every time I go above idle it falls off. I ended up taking 3 hours to idle home, but made it!

Chuck

My first car in 1973 was a 300SE (1963) that had air suspension. The main air valve block leaked (badly) and a new one was over $260 at the time. "Repaired" the rubber diaphragm several times with then new "super glue". Usually held for the weekend's activities.

Middle of the lake in my little ski boat--no start--starter mounting bolt(s) broken. Used two wooden paddles to wedge/jam starter against ring gear while wife bumps key to start position. After several attemps at getting paddles positioned properly we get it started!!!!!!! At the time, I remember thinking our chances were less than 1 in 1,000. You do what you have to.

J. M. van Swaay

Nice. Could you have used a momentary switch instead of a toggle switch?
It sounds like something I would have done though. lol.

Yes. this definitely sounds 100% safe. lol glad to hear it worked. Did it work first time or were there multiple attempts?

on the 420sel, I used aluminum foil and red nail polish to "resolder" the ccu. It worked very well. On my ford van the steering column ignition switch broke so I cracked open the column to break the steering lock and started the van by pushing a rod that ran down the column. I stopped the engine by pulling the rod back up. The tilt mechanism eventually broke and I used zip ties to hold the steering wheel in a comfortable position to drive. I drove it this way daily for about a year until I decided to fix it.

Here's my prize winner and HUGE money saver. :D
My heater fan went on my SD a few years ago, and of course it was the coldest part of winter, and I NEEDED to get this fixed. the nearest replacement had to come from the states and was going to cost me ALOT, I think around $400. NO GO. so I took a heater motor from a 1990 Nissan 240SX, and trimmed the flange and cut the mercedes motor from it's flange and welded it up and did some swappage with fan cages from several I had lying around.

I think I was almost at one point, ready to install a modified fan from a 1955 Ford :eek: