mpruden

There have been a few posts lately about folks getting stranded in their cars due to some kind of mechanical failure. It got me thinking...

When have you been stranded (or nearly stranded) and how did you resolve it? Any lessons learned?

I have to think a little knowledge sharing in this area could help relieve a stressful situation and help us all be a little more prepared should something unexpected happen to our 20yr old cars while on the road.

I've only been stranded once. Alternator died. It was compounded by the fact my cell phone was also out of batteries, so I couldn't call for help.

A few lessons learned that could have removed the stress out of my situation:
1. look for the battery light to come on during the self test of the all the lights, then go off once the car starts. When my alternator died, the battery light never came on during the self test. This was the warning sign that I should have noticed before my battery was completely drained.

2. Always leave a little charge left in your phone, no matter what. I now carry a phone charger in all my vehicles to proactively top off if I get low.

I should probably get one of those digital voltage gauges.

993RS

Only problem I ever had that stranded me was with the DME. Since then, I always have a spare...

AOW162435

Nope.



Andreas

Franklin229

Never-but I do carry a spare DME.

ilko

During my ownership of 2 964s and 2 993s I've only been stranded once, in a downpour in my old RSA. Apparently one of the ignition wires got wet and gave up. Took me an hour to dry it and then continued on.

I also carry a spare DME relay, belts, flat tire plugs, and have a basic tool kit that can help me fix a few things on the go.

TMc993

I was once stranded by a key fob battery that died during a trip into a store. Not so much a car failure as operator failure. I now change my fob battery annually.

NYC993

Besides a blown tire not yet, but I do carry dme relay, belts and necessary tools to change them, keyfob battery and spare with jack and compressor. I also carry plug kit, but unless you see that your tire is flat, it's gonna be too late. I didn't know my tire was flat until it blew out, and even then I was't sure and drove for another 10 min.

richardew

I've only been stranded once in 18 years when the alternator died. My cell phone was charged but I was on a remote backroad in SW VA and had no service.

x50type

I was stranded about 1 mile from my house with a flaccid gear shifter!
Turns out the shift rod bush had given up and the rod had dropped off the ball end - no connection to gear box.
Wrecker came within about 30 minutes and delivered car to my garage. He said he had been a 930 owner, he was quite knowledgeable about 911's.
I put a new rod on and secured it with a tie wrap so it cannot drop down and leave me stranded -mind you, it took 17 years for the bushes to wear out.
The new rod was around $180; I later learned that the bushes only can be had for <$20!

TouringTeg

Thank you for this. I have a spare fob battery and I will carry it in my car just in case.

405

mine has left me stranded once for the same issue as OP: alternator. i was far from home, but luckily i was with friends and was able to swap a battery from a friends car and drive it to store it at his house.

i've only owned the car a few months so i'm still getting familiar with it. i shouldve noticed the alternator was never replaced in my service records and known it was probably going to go soon (130k miles) and done it as preventive maintenance . so if you have service history on your car take a look for any wear items and replace. i have the DME relay in my trunk and i'm putting together a tool kit now to do a belt change on the road. someone mentioned key fob battery which i never thought of, so i'll have to add that to my list too. great thread idea.

993Brendan

Only once in over 10 years of ownership. Last summer one of my clutch hoses popped off and the pedal went to the floor. Fortunately I was near a friends house and was able to coast into his driveway and have it towed the next morning. The only thing I would do differently is bring a couple of pieces of wood to help get my car up onto the flatbed. My turbo bumper got tweaked unloading the car and it put a couple of small creases in it. I'm due for a bumper repaint so I didn't sweat it, but made sure I did this when my RS got a flat and had to be flatbedded home.

jlivingood

Yes, v-belt failure. Was planning to do the job that weekend - parts even laid out on my toolbox in the garage.

Lessons: always have spare belts, and change them as soon as the look sketchy.

TMc993

Just don't let this happen: https://rennlist.com/forums/993-foru...orked-out.html

Basal Skull

Lost belts at pacific raceway once, not really in the road. Was carrying spares so no problem. Remember the triple square wrench. I now have the serpentine kit which is even more straightforward to replace, also the belt on the engine side is tough to place (at least on the turbo, and worth reading up on ways people have overcome the clearance problem).