Creative Solutions/Not-Common-Sense

[BEER]

Today, my trunk wouldn't open. The actuator failed a while ago, but I was fine with unlocking it manually. Well, it wouldn't open.

I searched online for solutions, and they were all pretty expensive. So, I took the panel from the trunk and manually released it from the inside. After trying to figure out a solution, it clicked in my head to make a connection directly from the key mechanism to the locking mechanism. A foot of cable and a zip tie later, and my trunk opens again. I was completely baffled that all the reading I had done on the issue, no one had mentioned doing what I did.

I also once reconnected a shift cable to the gearbox on a minivan with rubber bands.

What about you guys? Have you ever had a problem that didn't seem to have a reasonable solution until what should be common sense clicked in your head?

 

[Kanuck99]

Being poor is the mother of creativity.

 

[minute bull]

Being poor is the mother of creativity.

 

[BEER]

Being poor is the mother of creativity.

I'm not sure that if I had the money to blow, that I'd put 300 dollars into a locking mechanism that can be fixed for the equivalent of 27 cents.

 

[Kanuck99]

I'm not sure that if I had the money to blow, that I'd put 300 dollars into a locking mechanism that can be fixed for the equivalent of 27 cents.

Its why god made duct tape.

 

[Kanuck99]

I've fixed many a stripped screw hole with broken match sticks.

 

[Chesten_Hesten]

Hammers fix all sorts of things.

 

[Krixes]

When I was a teenager my neighbor had a 1985 Escort GT (The Francis Ngannou of cars) that was beat to shit. He used a coat hanger as a clutch cable.

 

[blitzk]

never forget

 

[MoparOrNoCar]

Today, my trunk wouldn't open. The actuator failed a while ago, but I was fine with unlocking it manually. Well, it wouldn't open.

I searched online for solutions, and they were all pretty expensive. So, I took the panel from the trunk and manually released it from the inside. After trying to figure out a solution, it clicked in my head to make a connection directly from the key mechanism to the locking mechanism. A foot of cable and a zip tie later, and my trunk opens again. I was completely baffled that all the reading I had done on the issue, no one had mentioned doing what I did.

I also once reconnected a shift cable to the gearbox on a minivan with rubber bands.

What about you guys? Have you ever had a problem that didn't seem to have a reasonable solution until what should be common sense clicked in your head?

You should go on one of those forums and post up your solution so other people can use it.

It wasn't anything crazy but my accelerator cable broke on one of my Mopars and I was stranded in a parking lot. I took one of those test lights that has a wire dangling from it to connect to ground and I cut it off and used the wire to strap the end of the broken cable to the carburetor. Readjusted the carburetor so it wasn't idling like crazy and it held up strong enough to where I was able to drive it like that for a week until a new cable came in.

 

[ralphc1]

Today, my trunk wouldn't open. The actuator failed a while ago, but I was fine with unlocking it manually. Well, it wouldn't open.

I searched online for solutions, and they were all pretty expensive. So, I took the panel from the trunk and manually released it from the inside. After trying to figure out a solution, it clicked in my head to make a connection directly from the key mechanism to the locking mechanism. A foot of cable and a zip tie later, and my trunk opens again. I was completely baffled that all the reading I had done on the issue, no one had mentioned doing what I did.

I also once reconnected a shift cable to the gearbox on a minivan with rubber bands.

What about you guys? Have you ever had a problem that didn't seem to have a reasonable solution until what should be common sense clicked in your head?

How did you get in the trunk to take the panel off?

 

[BEER]

You should go on one of those forums and post up your solution so other people can use it.

It wasn't anything crazy but my accelerator cable broke on one of my Mopars and I was stranded in a parking lot. I took one of those test lights that has a wire dangling from it to connect to ground and I cut it off and used the wire to strap the end of the broken cable to the carburetor. Readjusted the carburetor so it wasn't idling like crazy and it held up strong enough to where I was able to drive it like that for a week until a new cable came in.

That's some ingenuity.

How did you get in the trunk to take the panel off?

I folded down the back seats.

 

[mushishi]

One time I locked myself out my house so I broke a window.