Spares and tools you have with you

Hey folks,

Last night's little adventure with a blown fuse and having zero tools with me made me come up with the following questions:

- What spare parts and/or tools do you take with you when you go for a drive?

- Which components of our cars are most likely to malfunction during a drive?

Cheers,

Vincent

I must admit that I don't carry anything with me. I think there are some fuses in a small box inside the glove compartment but I don't even know which ones they are.

Depends on the kind of trip.

While everything can go wrong, I'm taking enough to "patch", as car should be maintained and operational order before go for a trip.

Thinking of most common probs you can get on the way, like leaks, belt, electrics...

For the "not far away" ones, I always carry enough wire to jump positive batt to coil, so that THE wire has power.

voltmeter/light testor, strong tape to be able wrap around a hose, screwdrivers, pliers, cutter, connectors, few hoses, belts and a set of most common wrenches/plugs so you can set tension/replace a belt or disconnect a component, check plugs if they would be flooded, tube of paste in case radiator would leak, coolant, fuses, light bulbs... that kind of stuffs. Enough to patch small probs so you can get back home/safe. When I was running points, I also had enough to clean spark plugs, 1 dist cap, 1 spare wire, dwell meter, dist resistor.

On the t-bird, I have permanent parts in trunk like the idle bypass often failing on 5.0 HO, extra serpentine belt , o2 sensor and diagnostic computer for the EC4.

When I go to France/long trips, I have (much) more with me and could open/close the engine on the spot (which I did)

Best protection is of course road assist membership in case you got real prob/accident and you could leave it at that.

But while its okay to wait +-1 hour in the Netherlands, this can take much much longer in other countries if you can contact them at all.

I got one of those Mustang Logo bags online, and I carry spare points, good enough to get me home. Both kinds of screwdrivers, a ratchet and socket set, spare belts, a rag, a carburetor gasket set, sometimes a timing light and tuning tools, and of course cleaning supplies.

Bottled water, sunscreen, rubber gloves, a couple screwdrivers, two sets of wrenches in 3/8, 7/16, 1/2, and 9/16, a spare ignition module, a roll of self fusing silicone tape, a razor knife needle nose pliers, a flashlight, road flares, a small 12V air compressor, a tire plug kit and a couple pieces of wire with alligator clips on each end.

oh and a cell phone and a 1911with 2 spare mags

If I can't fix it and I can't get help, I can at least feel safe.

I carry a spare with me at all times; it is located just above my belt buckle. Some believe I actually carry two spares...

A hammer, duct tape, leatherman tool and a six pack of beer for the long wait for a tow truck