Has your car broke down in a far away place?

[swordsman]

It has always been a dream to drive all over the Philippines - north & south. Maybe visit the Pagudpod area up north and Cebu/Visayas area in the south and drive around. Take the RORO, and the likes.

For those who have actually did this or part of this, have you ever experienced having car trouble in these travels? Like in the middle of nowhere, in between cities? And if so, what did you do in these cases?

I know we should make sure the car is in tip-top shape, and we should travel prepared. But sh!t happens sometimes.

[skyglider]

Thank God! I haven't experienced one yet.

Make sure you have a set of tools just in case...

[cardo]

I have A few years ago. Paakyat ng baguio... So somewhere in the middle of marcos highway, I think an hour pa to baguio... my car went up in smokes nag overheat sya. So I tried to call up a towing service from baguio but they took advantage of my helplessness, an mahal ng singil. mga 6k daw. but good thing I have a friend who was an army official and he was generous enough to lend me his 6x6(with a driver and a mechanic to check the car) to tow the car up. since this event i have learned to really really check the coolant, glance at the temp guage. dati kase i did not think of these items.

tapos in the middle of cavite, papuntang tagaytay... after a snack at a restau, pagsakay sa car ayaw magstart yun car. yun pala, patay na yun batterya... good thing there are some tricycles in the area, and I asked them around for a shop that sells car batteries. there are tricycle shops near the area.

but the good thing is that, these happend during the day. atleast calling for helpis much easier. mahirap kapag gabi, worse if umuulan or may typhoon.

and one time during my teens, my father encountered a flat tire while coming up to baguio. it was raining and it was late at night. he just drove all the way home with the flat. well, though unsafe driving with a flat mas risky if he had tried to fix it on the road, raining late at night. baka maholdap or carnap pa sya. buti na lang malapit sa sya sa bahay namin.

kaya plan your route(mahirap yun mga areas that have low population), your timing or schedule and your support structure(mga towing service kung meron ka or covered ng insurance or kunin mo numbers ng mga friends lalo na yun may mga connections hehehe) lalo na kung may history of breaking down yun kotse mo.

[ssaloon]

yup, just the other day at BRC. nag crack yung oil seal and nag foul up yung plugs ko. buti nalang may spare plugs kami and minor crack lang at nakauwi kami ng maayos.

[zero]

naputulan ng clutch cable in the middle of the night along cagayan valley highway in nueva ecija. have to wait pa for 9 a.m., may bukas nang auto supply sa cabanatuan city. ang pinuputok lang ng butchi ko nuon ay MALAMOK!!!

[JohnM]

Awa ng Diyos di pa naman although di naman ako lumalabas ng Metro Manila hehe

Nasiraan ako ng alternator while na-trapik along Valero St. Makati mga 7PM. Buti na lang umabot pa ako sa office ni missis. Buti na lang ok kausap ang mga guard sa building nila. Iniwan namin ang oto overnite. Dun ko na rin pinalitan ang alternator.

[ghosthunter]

Never happened to me yet. My friend's car overheated along the expressway but a simple stop at the service station got him going again.

My worst was a big rock punched a hole in my engine's under-tray which made it leak. Stopped at a service station and had it patched up. My downtime was 1 hour 30 minutes, mostly waiting for the epoxy steel to harden.

[niky]

That's scary... a punctured oil-pan? Could lead to serious engine trouble...

Worst I've had was a flat tire in the mountains of Nueva Ecija while in convoy with a local who was going way too fast for me to be comfortable with. In trying to keep up with him, we hit an inopportune pothole and got a sidewall-tear flat.

It's only when we unloaded the luggage that I realized that all I had was a safety spare (full-sized one was at home because it had no tread and a bubble, to boot). Even worse, we were still about 100km from our destination. I had to walk almost half a kilometer to get enough cellphone signal to call Mr. Sebastian Loeb (who was nearly twenty kays away by then) back to assist us, and thankfully, our cars had the same 5-stud mounting hardware, so I ran the rest of the night on one Accord rim and three 17" mags... on a Mazda. :lol:

The worst part of it all was, when we got to Tugegarao... I found out that not only is gas over 1 peso more expensive there, but that I would be paying Bridgestone money for a cheap Federal ($#%%^!!!) or Gajah Tunggal tire.

[ghosthunter]

That's scary... a punctured oil-pan? Could lead to serious engine trouble...

The thought crossed my mind.... lucky for me there was a service station less than a kilometer away.

[johnart]

going down from baguio 5-6years ago at pampange area na bigla pumotok yung front tire ko was running at 100kph. Was able to stop safety but took me an hour to change the tire and init sobra ng tire at mags.
Another time was going to tagaytay while going palang biglang may narining akong clonk clonk ( isang bolt and nut pala) di ko pinansin bigla umilaw ang battery light hinto ako patay bolt and nut pala ng alternator yung panghigpit. Kaya naghanap nalang ako ng mga bato para tuloy ang biyahe paunta at pauwi ng maynila. Walang ng mga shop dahil gabi na yun.

[ghosthunter]

Last year, my brother-in-law was driving his Starex down from Baguio. For whatever reason, his alternator wasn't working so eventually his van's engine stalled (no power to run the engine's ECU). Good thing he reached Tarlac and bought a new battery. He was able to get home on that. Of course he had to minimize electrical use... no aircon, no radio, etc.

[kimpOy]

a broken lock hub sa 4x4 system ko...at high peaks zambales ungas pulled me 1/4 of the way...

may pruweba pa pala ako...
see attachment...

[Jun aka Pekto]

Blew a tire in Nevada while driving my Plymouth Laser. I was at least 40 miles from the nearest highway that had some traffic which was another 50-60 miles from home.

But, that's what cellphones are for. Trouble was, everyone was at work. They all said, "Yeah, yeah. We'll pick you up after work". So, I had to wait another 6-7 hours in the hot desert sun.........

Luckily, I keep bottled water and sunblock in the car.

In fact, it's this very road:


He He. Those tire marks are over a mile long......... well, it's at least more than 1/2 mile long....

[van_wilder]

not my car... but on our way back from bataan, my friend's starex lost its clutch... pero swak sa waiting shed... then may dumaan nagbebenta ng scramble, we ate... then napansin nun mga tambay sa waiting shed yun nangyari sa amin... oddly enough, mga mekaniko sila! so ayun we were saved! hehehe thank God...

pero whats worse than your car broke down? driving your car and was totally lost! from fuego going back to manila, i accidentally made a wrong turn that detoured us for additional 2 1/2 hours! non-stop... no stop overs... 5 hour trip kami bigla! we left 530pm sa fuego, arrived home 1030... dumaan kaming cavite, alabang, laguna, etc... paglabas namin alabang town center na... our only consolation? while telling that story to a friend 3 days later, he told me that he was also lost that evening... made a FEW wrong turns... and much worse than mine... around 1130pm kailangan niya mag-Uturn dahil dead-end na ng kalsada... no houses no lights medyo roughroad na... from 1130 to 1am wala siyang kasabay na ibang while trying to find his way back... around 130... he is nearing empty na... buti na lang he found his way na rin... at least may kasama siyang chicks while nawawala kaya hindi hassle... hehehehe

[swordsman]

thanks sa replies.
medyo nakakakaba yong ibang mga experiences nyo mga bro. sa awa ng Diyos, di pa naman ako nasisiraan ng sasakyan outside metro manila. i've been to pangasinan and batangas and luckily wala naman drama sa daan. but i never travel na mas matagal yong nighttime, to be sure. we usually leave maagang-maaga para makarating ng may araw pa rin.

dyan lang Makati nag-overheat car ko dahil may leak na ang radiator. had to do a stop, cool down & go routine hanggang makarating ng bahay sa mandaluyong. the next day pinahatak ko na lang sa towtruck para dalhin sa shop.

may mga affiliates minsan ang mga bigger car towing services, like AAP. pero siguro pag far-away places na, kanya-kanyang diskarte na. makes me think twice tuloy na mag-drive ng sobrang layo palabas ng metro manila.

[russpogi]

not my car... but on our way back from bataan, my friend's starex lost its clutch... pero swak sa waiting shed... then may dumaan nagbebenta ng scramble, we ate... then napansin nun mga tambay sa waiting shed yun nangyari sa amin... oddly enough, mga mekaniko sila! so ayun we were saved! hehehe thank God...

That's what I call BLESSING!!! Galing talaga ni Lord!

[Eismann]

Just this summer, dala ko family at yung nissan na van driving up north for the holy week vacation...pansin ko tumataas yung temp reading. Di ko pinansin hanggang sa bahay ng parents ko. Let the engine cool down then check the water level ng radiator, ok naman. After 3 days uwi na kami sa Manila....while at Cabanatuan City, napansin ko ganun na naman problema. Then pag labas ko sa NLEX almost umabot na sa highest temp but the car is still running ok, turn off ko aircon while on the way to a gas station tapos cooled down the engine for 30 minutes then check water level again. Puno, pa rin at umaapaw na. Suspect ko stuck thermostat kasi ala naman ako makita leak. After kumain yung mga bata, ran for another 10 to 15 km then finally stopped at NLEX Caltex to take out the thermostat. Anak ng tinapa....wala pala yung torque wrench ko sa tool box, naiwan sa bahay. Buti may mekaniko known as "automatic" na matiyaga with all those box wrenches lang at na-extract namin yung stuck thermostat. Singil niya 550, tawad ako 350....ayaw, 500 daw, tawad ako 400, ayaw gusto 450...kaso wala barya pati sa Caltex so 500 pa rin naibayad ko.....just because nalimutan ko yung torque wrench nagastusan pa ako 500. Damn!

[Psylocke]

NLEX, a rock smashed into our windshield, totally shattered. Drove up to shell station, had a gas boy buy some plastic cover and tape. Since the plastic isn't so transparent I took the clear cover of my plateholder, cut a window in the plastic and taped the clear cover in. It became my viewing window.

Then it rained.

But the most amazing thing is that I bought the clear plateholder cover just that morning! I didn't know it'll save my a$$ later that day.

[afrasay]

Had my share of smashed windshield, alternator trouble, flats, stuck in the mountains (for 3 days) and so on. I would suggest that you guys travel in the day time. If you can not avoid it and you need to travel at night take it easy and do not push your vehicle to its limit. Also if you can, join a convoy.

[alwayz_yummy]

yes, my trusty nissan maxima... cant remember when pero, while in 90kph, just overtaking, in urdaneta, when i pressed on the clutch, the engine died! while im in motion! buti nalang malayo na ako sa nilampasan ko...

the cluprit: oil seeped in the timing belt that caused it to slip..., and that a new timing belt...the good thing is, whe house we stoped is the house of a family of mechanics...e 5pm na, so stay ung car dun, we go to our kamaganak in tarlac.. the next day pinalitan and we drove home...

the eerie thing is, its the same place where i had a flat tire when we're going home from baguio last april..at sinabi ko lang sa misis ko nung nakadating na kami dito para di siya mag-freak-out..