Comments | little_details: simple fix for a (deliberately) broken car

1001cranes in little_details

simple fix for a (deliberately) broken car

Feb 20, 2012 16:28

Hey all, my story involves a stalker who wants to manufacture a meeting with the object of his obsession. Their paths don't really cross, at least not anywhere that would be more private, so the most efficient way would be for the stalker to "break" the stalkee's car, then swoop in to save the day. A flat tire would probably make sense, and I could ( Read more... )

~cars

Comments 28

pocketmouse February 21 2012, 02:36:32 UTC

Spark plugs are an easy one. Your stalker could dirty them up, and then they wouldn't work. Then he could 'find' the problem, and clean them.

1001cranes February 21 2012, 02:46:23 UTC

perfection! as I show my totally lack of all car knowledge, what would be best/easiest to dirty them with? just... dirt? or grease?

pocketmouse February 21 2012, 02:52:14 UTC

Yeah. Basically anything non-conductive.

1001cranes February 21 2012, 02:55:22 UTC

well, that makes perfect sense! thanks!

Thread 7

the_goren_show February 21 2012, 02:42:23 UTC

I found this on a forum, it might be useful.

1001cranes February 21 2012, 02:46:52 UTC

oh, lovely! thank you so much!

cattraine February 21 2012, 03:36:47 UTC

Just loosen the distributer cap and the car won't start. All you have to do to fix it is pop the hood and screw it back.

1001cranes February 21 2012, 04:19:27 UTC

great, thank you!

jamoche February 21 2012, 07:01:54 UTC

I was watching a movie made and set in 1940 Britain, and there was a meet-cute scene where an RAF officer had removed the distributor cap from the designated love interest's car - not maliciously (he didn't know whose car it was) but because there was a rule that you should remove your car's distributor cap and take it with you so that downed German pilots couldn't steal it.

sollersuk February 21 2012, 08:34:53 UTC

My mother told me of a friend who had removed the distributor cap and taken into the house... and then couldn't remember where he had put it.

channonyarrow February 21 2012, 04:14:55 UTC

It depends on your setup. Because I have a car that eats tires (very long story), I have occasionally been signaled on the freeway by people who want to inform me that my tires are low. If you get someone flashing their high beams at you, and it's daylight and on a freeway, I, at least, will pull over to find out, because you never know - it could be something really serious that I'm not aware of, though in all cases, I've been aware. So if it works better for your characters to have that sort of interaction, you could rig something like that, maybe. I would be suspicious of someone swooping in to save the day when I'd just found a problem with my car, particularly if the area was isolated, but I'm less so when it's, as I say, broad daylight, crowded freeway, etc.

1001cranes February 21 2012, 06:32:29 UTC

well, I think it would be broad daylight - probably after school - but I definitely see your point. Although, perhaps worth mentioning (and assuming a bit about your gender in the processs), in this case the stalkee in question is a guy - so, obviously, guys could still be stalked/raped/murdered/all the horrid things, but he wouldn't really be as socialized to be freaked out about having a perfect stranger stop and help him, I shouldn't think. also, it is a fairly small town, so while the stalkee wouldn't perhaps personally know the stalker, being separated by a few years, I don't think it would seem *too* strange if he stopped to help.

1001cranes February 21 2012, 06:34:29 UTC

... I want to go back and fix some of the run-on-ness of these sentences, but I think some of them are just too far gone.

nineveh_uk February 21 2012, 07:42:06 UTC

he wouldn't really be as socialized to be freaked out about having a perfect stranger stop and help him

Probably the case in a populated area in daylight - even as a woman I got into a (male) complete stranger's car last Saturday afternoon when I needed a lift to my car - though not at night, as a male friend who had to change a tyre besides an Austrian road in a blizzard made very clear when decribing his feelings as a lorry drew up in front of him and a massive man got out and came towards him carrying a tyre iron...

sollersuk February 21 2012, 06:33:56 UTC

My Car Maintenance instructor did just this in his younger days. He and a friend fancied the same girl, but his friend was the one who had a car. While they were out of it, he got the bonnet up and drew a very thick line with a very soft pencil on each of the spark plugs. The conductive graphite caused the plugs to short and the car wouldn't start. He strolled up, said, "mmm, maybe your spark plugs are a bit dirty... you need to look after the engine, you know." His friend opened the bonnet, my instructor took out a clean handkerchief and wiped every trace of the pencil (and any dirt) off the plugs. The car then started like a bird. By this time, the girl, who had got into a panic because she was afraid she would be late home and it would be the friend's fault, went into "My Hero!" mode.

To cut a not very long story short, she married my instructor. The moral for us in the class was "if you've got trouble starting, try cleaning the plugs".

1001cranes February 21 2012, 06:36:00 UTC

that is a), a great story, and b), has pretty much convinced me that spark plugs are the way to go here.

sollersuk February 21 2012, 08:37:34 UTC

Despite what's said in comments above, it has to be something conductive, which is why something like a 2B pencil is so good - graphite is extremely conductive, and the high tension power would rather go anywhere than make a big enough spark to fire the petrol vapour at the cylinder; an internal combustion engine is something that nearly doesn't work.