I ride a scooter around my city for fun and often find people having car struggles. I’m skilled with automotive work, so I figured I’d fill a “go bag” with stuff to bring anytime I’m riding for pleasure and have extra space. My goal is to cover as many common issues as possible while fitting everything inside a 30 liter top box.
My current list is:
- Jumper cables or small jump back (interesting edit at bottom)
- Common wrenches (10, 12, 14, 17mm)
- Common screw drivers
- Maybe common fluids (5w-30 oil, distilled water or coolant, etc.)
- Tire plug kit
- zipties
- duct tape
Suggestions from this thread I will add:
- OBD-II Diag tool
- Telescoping magnet
- cig lighter charged air compressor
- Pliers
- wire stripper/crimper combo tool
- crimp terminals/splices
- multimeter
- fuses
- SNACKS!!!
- gloves
- air-freshener/momento type of thing :)
Are there other super useful things I might have left out, or niche stuff small enough that it’d cost nothing to bring on the off chance it helps? Common spec bolts/o-ring sizes, or something like that?
I want to make sure when I stop to help someone I can actually help, and not narrowly miss an opportunity because of an oversight.
Thanks for the help with this :)
Edits:
- formatting list
- adding “?” to title
- added zipties and duct tape to list, added o-ring example
- added suggestions from thread list
Interesting edit at bottom: TL;DR is supercapacitors. Main story: My concern was the longevity and cost associated with jump packs; lithium batteries don’t like to be stored at high charge and also don’t do great in varying temperatures. Enter the TIL: supercapacitor jump packs, which seems absolutely perfect for my use-case. They’re designed to be stored with no charge, and are super happy with offloading all their charge at once. The intended use is to be charged off of the dead battery just enough to breath life into the starter long enough to get it running, but they can usually be charged quickly by other methods like an outlet (plentiful in the city) or a working vehicle.
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Joke answer: condom, in case the driver is very grateful
Real answer: I don’t see a good light on that list. Even in daylight, it can be quite dark in an engine compartment. Trying to use your phone as a flashlight and use a tool at the same time is awful.
A moving blanket or 2.
I always keep a few in my car, they have multiple uses:
ground cover - keeps you out of the dirt/mud/gravel/snow etc while on the ground working
“Table” - a spot to keep your tools while you switch between them instead of playing “I just sat that wrench right here…”
Seat cover - a spot to sit the flat tire on in the backseat without getting everything else filthy
Privacy shield - ever had to change clothes in the car? Having a blanket to hold up to block people’s view is a big help
Blanket - something to keep a passenger warm while the car is off in bad weather
Thats just off the top of my head that I can remember using mine for, there’s probably 1000 more uses. A towel is about the most massively useful thing an interstellar hitchhiker can have, and a blanket is like a big towel.
Here’s what I have:
- toolbox with spanners and sockets
- screwdrivers
- side cutters
- pliers
- knife
- fuses
- pieces of wire
- piece of vacuum line with a plug (I drive a carbureted shitbox)
- lithium boost pack
- oil
- water, can be used as coolant or to put out a fire
- tubeless repair kit
- cigarette lighter powered compressor, these came with some cars and can be has cheap at scrapyards
- wet wipes
- a couple adjustable wrences
- first aid kit
- electrical tape
Might’ve forgotten some, most are hidden under the trunk floor
Re: spanners
13mm! By far the most used size, and can double as 1/2" in a pinch.
I have a full metric set in the bag :)
Good list. Two things I’d suggest: plastic bags and paper towels. Lastly, instead of the supercapacitor jumper, look for ones that use LiFe batteries instead. Those can be safely stored at full charge.
Snacks!
Never underestimate the power of sugar to fix an angry brain.
OUT OF LEFT FIELD!!!
This is definitely going to be one of the highest value suggestions here for sure :) My wife and I absolutely LOVE the baby food puree pouch things and they’re less than a dollar each, shelf stable, and super healthy/likeable.
I think you made my day with this one, I smiled the whole way through typing this. You rock <3
Happy to hear:-)
Get yourself a lithium jump starter. They aren’t too expensive, but mine has saved my ass heaps of times. No other car needed, just jump straight from the battery pack.
Riggers gloves, for handling anything car related at uncomfortably low or high temperatures.
A 10mm socket for emotional support
Maybe bring some air fresheners so when you’re done helping someone, you can go “Here’s your complimentary air freshener, thank you for choosing us!” To lighten the mood.
Gloves are brilliant, good idea!
The air-fresheners are a great idea, too, especially next to the snacks. I think momentos like that are really good for helping people even when you’re not around.
Compact, cig lighter charged air compressor. Once you use that tire patch kit, be able to air up their tire.
Yes! Added.
Excellent. I suspect most spare tires are flat (I know mine is) as they are stored under the floor of the trunk and hard to get to.
First aid kit? Narcan?
A jumper battery that doubles as an aux phone battery would be worthwhile to have, because it has two functions, essentially. A telescoping magnet and or grabber is great for things that fall.
Anything else is bigger work steps, I think. Maybe a Bluetooth obd scanner? Though I don’t think strangers will let you plug into their car, typically.
Excellent point, I think I’ll try to get my hands on one of them. My concern is they’re only good for so many starts and are quite pricey (or you gamble on quality which is spooky with lithium)
Telescoping magnet added for sure OBD Scanner added; your hesitation is legit but IME the people with frequent car troubles often don’t think about stuff like that haha
I’ve got one that isn’t manufactured anymore so I’m not a big help there, Costco has several, and told me that some even have an air compressor.
This is a long way of saying an air compressor might be small enough to carry around and be potentially useful
I have the perfect compressor for this; walmart makes one that looks like a drill and takes batteries. Might be a better option in case they don’t have a 12v outlet (I have a 12v one I was going to bring until I thought of this)
They make smaller lithium jump packs that are the perfect size, but again price is an issue. Having said that, I belong to an org that might be able to toss some money at this on trust alone to help. For a high quality one, it looks like it’ll be $5-$10 per jump based on lifespan numbers, which I think they’ll be okay with.
Lights. At least a headlight, though I’d also consider hanging lights that could hang from the bottom of your hood and/or a light that can be positioned to stand somewhere and shine where you need it. Sure you might have your phone on you but you might need to use both hands for things other than holding lights.
Also, if you have someone wanting to help but doing more to get in the way, you can delegate them to “hold the light” to hopefully redirect them out of the way. Just use the headlamp if they are bad at aiming the light.
I’ve been wanting to add a flashlight to my EDC and this might finally get me to do it. Good idea :)
Another suggestion is to have multiple lights and rotate them as you charge them. Freshest charge in emergency bag, then the one previously in the bag is for day to day use until it dies and needs charging. Though this is mainly a concern if you rarely use it. If you’re frequently stopping to help people, you might not need to do special battery management beyond just charging when it gets low.
Not sure if anyone has mentioned it but car adapter to USB charger can also help here (and in many other cases… My daughter isn’t SOL when her DS dies because I got a USB charging cable for it).
Similar (to the first paragraph) for jump starter kits. The first time I needed mine after getting it, it was winter and the battery was dead and wouldn’t even charge until it had warmed up. I leave mine in the car during the summer but leave it inside by the door in the winter now.
Space blanket. Hi vis vest.
Good ideas :)
Flex tape or other wet seal tape for hose repair.
Channel lock and a small mixed set of worm drive clamps.
Other things I don’t see mentioned: JB weld, RTV (silicone sealant), thread chasers, tire spoons, dialectric grease, all depends on the services you want to offer!
I never knew those were called worm drive clamps! My wife will love that lol
Quite the array there! I’ll keep them in mind for sure. I think once I’m out looking to help for a few days I’ll get a much better idea of what I need. I’ll make a spreadsheet of what I go through then report back with the frequency of need
This is admirable, but in which city are you often seeing people struggling with car troubles?
Thank you! I won’t dox myself so precisely, but in the US larger/dense cities like NYC, Boston, Philly, Chicago, etc. I’d say I see someone broken down on more than 50% of my >20 minute excursions. Crazy high rate for sure, but if you think about how many residences I ride past in that time I can’t imagine it’s a much higher rate than other equally poor areas of the US.
Edit: specified that 20 was the number of minutes, not excursions… haha
I asked because in Southern California the occurrence of breakdown seems quite low in comparison. Maybe because the weather isn’t as hard on cars?
I have a few guesses as to why, primarily cost of living, road design, and inspection enforcement; I’ve never been to CA, but if they enforce vehicle inspection like the memes suggest, that probably plays a large role in general maintenance. These aren’t based on statistics or anything, just a fat ass guess from having lived in a variety of issues, one of which was a place like Houston or, as I like to call them, a city of highways.
For cost of living, there’s poor people everywhere yeah, but a clunker generally costs the same regardless of where you live, plus or minus a few hundred bucks: https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/4839-W-Engle-Rd-APT-1A-Alsip-IL-60803/58372023_zpid/. These people still “need” cars as much as anyone else. When you’re scraping buy in CA, you probably still have more overall between paychecks than you would spending a similar percentage of your income on recurring expenses elsewhere. I imagine in CA the used car market is generally better because of weather like you mentioned, but also because for “middle” class people buying new cars, the cost of the car and the related maintenance make up a smaller percentage of their overall earnings compared to other places. I believe this would lead to a larger availability of used cars and an improvement in their all around mechanical soundness. That’s nothing a few years of irresponsible ownership couldn’t change, though, so my weightier guess is:
Road design. In the cities I named, from any part of city proper I can get to any other part without ever having gone above 15mph and causing issues. My understanding of SoCal is that most of it is designed primarily for car travel, so most residential/retail zones are connected by large multi-lane roads with speeds limits >=35. The roadworthiness required to do 35 is several orders of magnitude higher than that required to do than 15, so a car can be much closer to death in these cities and still find themselves out on grocery runs. Basically, duct tape and WD-40 both work better at lower speeds where less precision is required :)
Another one I just though of is: fewer parking lots. I probably just see a higher percentage of the breakdowns that occur by nature of no alternative to street parking, whereas it’s hard to tell the difference between a parked and broken down car if they’re out of the way.
I’m sure these these all play a role, and I’m sure there’s a litany of other reasons, too. I can totally see how it’d be weird to imagine such a high rate of breakdowns if you’ve never lived in an area like this. You helped me realize how desensitized I’ve become to it; it’s definitely not normal for most of the country to see a broken down car almost every day.
I’m happy to chat more about it if you’d like; my communication skills are rock bottom right now after a long day so I’m sure this is much wordier than it needs to be, sorry if that’s the case D:
Pliers, wire stripper/crimper combo tool, a couple feet of random 16ga wire, and a few crimp terminals/splices. Wires are prone to being abraded, melted or chewed on by rodents and I have gotten out of a couple sticky situations by scavenging up wire for a temporary patch to obvious damage.
Depending on how much space you have on top of that, a $9 multi meter from harbor freight is also a great carry tool to determine if fuses are blown without pulling each one individually, or seeing if someone’s charging system is still working.
Found the electrician :)
Multimeter is a great idea. My multimeter used to live in the bag I’m using for this, so looks like it’ll continue with its residence :)
Ha, I’m not even an electrician, just autistic and really good at low voltage and automotive electrical. But sounds like you’re on the right track.