How often does it really snow that bad to even get caught out in the uk!
Obvious is your car up to the job good tyres all lights work screen wash, can you drive if it does snow some folk just can't do it and panick!
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I'd agree with the head-torch ? very useful when you need both hands, e.g. for a wheel change.
Emergency puncture repair aerosol
Electrical insulating tape
Gaffer tape (half roll)
Combi pliers/cutters
Combi ratchet spanners (2 fit 8 bolt sizes)
Zip cable ties, various sizes
Couple of jubilee hose clamps
Spare fuses
most useful of all, a big roll of kitchen paper towels
I've been meaning to buy a tow rope and jump leads but not gotten around to it...
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Torch with hazard warning flashers
Heavy duty jump leads, not those silly christmas tree light wires
Socket set
Screwdriver set
Spare bulbs
5 litre fuel can, full.
Tool box
Hi viz jacket
Gloves
Bottle of coolant
Winscreen washer fluid
Spare fuses
Phone charger
Kitchen roll and wet wipes
Full size wheel brace
2 Ton trolley jack
I regularly return 12 mpg :-)
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I don't carry nuffink in my car apart from 2 re-useable Tesco bagz, but then I do drive a Nissan and live in Cornwall :)
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p.s.
I used to carry a fan belt , a top hose, a distributor cap, points, a condenser, a plug lead and a coil.
They were cheap in those days but I never used them.
Fan belt = drive belt today but the equivalent of the rest of the items would be very expensive so trust to modern luck.
One of the things that are not too expensive - wiper blades but mine are different lengths unlike the old days.
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buy a throwaway phone with a working sim card if you are concerned SteelSpark and hide it fully charged under the passenger seat for emergencies only with appropriate numbers already keyed in
But check whether it is one of those PAYG sims that is turned off by the phone company after 3/6/12 months of non-use, BEFORE you need to use it in anger.
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Standard car toolkit and spare. Nothing else. In winter I try to leave a warm coat in the car, but that really is it.
I remember I used to always carry a cantilever toolbox full of tools, a spare HT lead, and various other bits. Never needed any of it, so stopped doing so.
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My list
UK road atlas
Torch [wind up - so no battery]
Engine oil
Windscreen washer
Hi Vis jacket
Portable tyre pump
Multi-point screw driver + Swiss knife
Wet tissue/hand wipes
Full size spare wheel [built in :)]
Few coins
Basic first aid kit
Ice scrapper
Power socket triple adaptor
Users manual of car
Umbrella
Drinking water
Biscuits
Mobile phone [with camera, GPS, internet etc.]
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I don't leave the city a lot during the winter. We never get snow here.
I don't not carry nuffink extra...just the usual bits and pieces.
Always have phone, breakdown card, torch, etc. Always have in boot a blue plastic sheet, a large coir doormat ( normally for use in caravan awning ) ( good for wheel changes ) and a couple of travel rugs...always handy for covering anything of value in the boot....no shelf in the Suzi, and a 2 litre bottle of water in case the screenwash needs it.
Give the 4WD a spin now and again to keep it supple...well, you never know if a particular Italian restaurant might have a rough car park!
Can cope with most of the rain round here in 2WD !
Oh, and an 'at for me 'ead...not a great deal of hair left now.
Ted
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Thanks, lots of good advice here. I am going to look through in detail and start loading up with what I think I'll need from all of your lists.
One problem, I have a serious self-control issues when it comes to biscuits and chocolate. So I need to find something that I can stomach in an emergency, but otherwise find sufficiently repulsive that I won't be rushing out to the boot every 5 minutes.
Chocolate hobnobs are definitely a no-go....
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1) Folding shovel.
2) Black leather gloves.
3) Duck tape.
4) Cable ties.
5) Spare bulbs.
6) Small tool kit.
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Normally
Engine oil (its a VAG engine but ony had to add it twice in 44k)
Wind up torch
Rubber gloves (not the disposable kind)
White paper overalls (for changing wheels when in a suit)
Bottle water
Spare bulbs and fuses
Screwdrivers
Scraper
Winter if snow likely
Shovel
Carpet offcuts and string
Deicer
And North of Edinburgh normally include an old duvet in winter.
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Don't get me wrong though ... I used to carry all this paraphernalia + spare carburettor, coil. HT leads, plugs, points & condenser, emergency fan belt that ya cut to size, gallon of petrol, engine oil, tow rope, workshop manual, umpteen spanners, socket sets, bent coat hangers, odd bits of wire & string, de-icer ... I even used to carry a set of snow chains when I lived 'up on the Moor' but times they are a changing - jam jars are much more reliable than the olde dayes + we are 'blessed' with global warming/climate change ( I never said that!)
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When I drove a minicab, I deliberately didn't carry any spares or tools with me. This was because I would have spent more time fixing other drivers' cars than actually getting on with earning money myself!
Nonetheless I'd still often get cajoled into doing temporary bodge jobs on ropey Carinas or Cavaliers in the dark with no tools, to see them through the remainder of a Friday night shift. The drivers would often complain to me 3 weeks later when the repair failed too. ;-)
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One problem I have a serious self-control issues when it comes to biscuits and chocolate.
Me too, there would be naff all left when i needed it.
If you're doing a box of gear for long distance eventualities, no harm with grabbing one of these little single camping gas (self igniting) stoves, and chucking a few tins of soup etc in the box. I keep such in the truck for emergencies, nothing quite like a bowl of tomato soup if you get stuck overnight in sub zero, small saucepan means you could heat water for a cuppa as well.
Those who don't travel anywhere seem to think this is overkill and if you only had a short commute it would be.
Remember about 6/7 years ago when all those folk were stranded on the M11/A14 overnight, who would have thought that could possibly happen, there's not a hill worth mentioning 'tween A11 split and Huntingdon.
I should have been stuck in that lot returning from Lowestoft, but ducked and dived round dozens of abandoned snowbound vehicles via Royston and Biggleswade and came home via A1.
Met a lovely lady at Kneesworth (impassable northward) who saved my and another truckies bacon when we were waiting for an hour or so before we could turn the trucks around in about 8" of snow, she came out armed with a pot of tea and a plate of biccies, ( WVS would have been proud)...charming lady, lovely nature too, not many like that left, lucky fellow indeed her husband.
Edited by gordonbennet on 16/11/2009 at 20:54
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After reading down lists I give full marks to Henry for the empty 1ltr plastic bottle.
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When I was doing recovery work, I had a 12V plug in kettle on the dash. Always had water and a variety of soups, tea, coffee and stuff. Coffee-mate and sugar completed the kit.
Choccy biccies, etc, were kept in the tool area so I couldn't get at them when driving.
Once got called to pick a guy up on the M6 ner the Kendal turn..about 80 miles. Plugged the kettle in about 20 mins in advance and let him make a brew whilst I was loading up, it was 2 am in the winter....that sort of thing made the work a pleasure.
Ted
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Has nobody mentioned Benedictine yet? Shame on you.
A 12V kettle, some water and you are set for the night.
Good old 'Bene and hot'...it doesn't go off you know
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A 12V kettle? How long does that take to boil?!
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I had a cheap one years ago which was useless.
I chucked it after it melted its power lead.
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I had a cheap one years ago which was useless. I chucked it after it melted its power lead.
Mine was only a cheap one, the plastic see-through type. Plugged into the ciggie lighter socket. It boiled a single cup remarkably speedily...but I suppose , as you had to leave the engine running, it was working on 14 volts....Mine lasted years.
Sometimes take a large flask of warm water if out for an evening....not for drinkypoos but for that late evening frost on the glass
I don't know about Benedictine........I think Benylin would be more appropriate for some of us !
Ted
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A 12V kettle? How long does that take to boil?!
I'd suggest "You are set for the night", is a bit of a clue ;-)
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A ball of blutac, and a paperclip
Plus faith & optimism
Because
I once fixed the whirly bit of a dizzy on a VW Polo with blutack and a paperclip.
After I had purchased the correct replacment part the next day I drove for wheen of hundred miles with the dizzy still "jury rigged"
"just to see"
It were still 100% when i finally replaced it
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>>I once fixed the whirly bit of a dizzy on a VW Polo with blutack and a paperclip.
I may well be the only person on the forum who doesn't know what a dizzy is, let alone where it's whirly bits are, but just this once could you humour me with an explanation?
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..I may well be the only person on the forum who doesn't know what a dizzy is, let alone where it's whirly bits are, but just this once could you humour me with an explanation?...
My guess would be distributor and contact breaker points.
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My guess would be distributor and contact breaker points.
Of course. How silly of me.
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erm
blushes
bit I "tink" I only became aware of this particular terminology on this ere forum
Answers as above are indeed correct
Ps
It was a bleak Feb night with horizontal sleet, about 11.30 on a deserted road with the wife and two weans under two on board.
and hey WAAY before mobile phones
Despite the cold I was sweating.
PPs
Especially since it was me that had failed to secure the distributor head correctly after changing the points.
And her knowed it.
Edited by dieseldogg on 17/11/2009 at 11:55
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I once fixed the whirly bit of a dizzy on a VW Polo with blutack and a paperclip.
Brilliant bit of improv, dieseldogg
>>I'd suggest "You are set for the night", is a bit of a clue ;-)
Haha :D
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It might sound silly, but I sling a bag of sharp sand in the back of the car in winter. Very useful for a bit of grip in tricky icy situations and the OH can throw it on the garden in spring.
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Worked wonders in the back of a Hillman hunter
They tended to be a wee bit skittish of the back end in the snow
I should perhaps blush but if I recall
80mph was my limit on a sheet of pure white hard packed snow
On a wide straight reasonably flat deserted road
well except for the sheep( who wernt on the road)
I WAS younger then
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