Cool flashlight story of the day

What happened this morning was cool and I wanted to share. I have an ad on Craigslist saying I do mobile auto repair. I get a call this morning at 6:15 from a guy saying his Ford Escort is leaking fuel and he asked if I could come over right away and see if I can fix it so he can make it to work. I say sure and load my tool boxes into my truck and head over there.

Get there, open the hood, pull out my Fenix PD30, click low... nah, medium is better. It took about 30 seconds of looking with my flashlight to find the problem. The lower fitting had come off the fuel filter. Looking at it I see that it is a plastic fitting with a plastic retaining clip that just pushes in.

So.... drum roll please...

I've been a mechanic all my life but this was the first time I have fixed someone's car using ONLY a flashlight. I was able to get the fitting and clip back on with my fingers, so no OTHER tools other than my PD30 were needed. And with the location of the fitting there's no way you could have seen it without a flashlight.

Yes friends, flashlights are tools too.

The guy was stoked and I was just laughing as I drove away thinking "I brought a few thousand dollars worth of tools with me and one flashlight saved the day."

Just thought I would share.

LOL that is funny, good story.

I have done my fair share of late night fixes on cars with light provided by flashlight only. Matter of fact, just last night I swapped wheels on my Mom's car for her around 10:30pm. I just pulled out my Clicky and set it around 30 lumens, clipped it to the brim of my baseball cap, and went to town. Worked great!

Great story. I think you owe yourself a new light.

Geoff

i love these stories.

Great story. Thanks for sharing!

Great Story! I hope you get a few good referals from that job.

It sounds like you provide a very nice service! Good luck with that!

How much did you charge?

You did use other tools...your hands and your brain :nana: Good story!

That's cool. Hope the guy paid you for your simple repair. :devil:

CPF and a lot like us have probably provided enough light at night that we should be paid to turn these babies on.

I can't even count how many times I've had to whip a light out to help someone in a parking lot or on the side of the road at night.

Good story though! It's nice to find a real reason to own lights once in a while.

Thanks all. For those that asked, it was only a few miles from my house and took less than 5 minutes so I just charged him $20. And he already asked me to come back this weekend to do a transmission service and said he would refer me to others, so yeah, it was worth it.

BTW, got a call to bid another repair today and had to use my flashlights for about an hour looking at all the trouble spots on this vehicle. I don't know how any mechanic could function without a decent light because many areas on a car are very dark.

KingGlamis said:

...I don't know how any mechanic could function without a decent light because many areas on a car are very dark.

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Cars, forklifts, heavy equipment, semi trucks, no matter what the project I've ran into or worked with technicians that didn't even own a flashlight. :shakehead I've got a friend at work right now with a brand new 6P he bought after using my E2, but once the batteries ran down he quit using it. He doesn't want to spend the money on two new batteries "that won't last a week", to quote him. I just don't get it.

DieselTech said:

Cars, forklifts, heavy equipment, semi trucks, no matter what the project I've ran into or worked with technicians that didn't even own a flashlight. :shakehead I've got a friend at work right now with a brand new 6P he bought after using my E2, but once the batteries ran down he quit using it. He doesn't want to spend the money on two new batteries "that won't last a week", to quote him. I just don't get it.

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Heck, find the cheapest rechargeable light you can and tell him you'll trade it for the 6P. Then he won't have to worry about batteries.

I got a decent story...
We went to a restaurant with some friends, and their son, maybe about 12, asked me why I carry lights. While we were taking them back to their hotel, he wanted to play a word game with my sister, but the rental van didn't have any lights. Out comes the 120P set to dim as so not to blind the driver. The kid's words exactly: "Oh now I see, thats pretty handy!"

Great story! :twothumbs I worked for 10 years as a business aircraft mechanic, didn't get into flashlights too heavily until the last couple of years in that profession... I always think "man, if I just had these flashlights years ago!" Who knows all the things that were missed on an inspection due to weak flashlights... you know, back in the day when a Mini-Mag was SO powerful!

FlashCrazy said:

Great story! :twothumbs I worked for 10 years as a business aircraft mechanic, didn't get into flashlights too heavily until the last couple of years in that profession... I always think "man, if I just had these flashlights years ago!" Who knows all the things that were missed on an inspection due to weak flashlights... you know, back in the day when a Mini-Mag was SO powerful!

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Yeah my first real maintenance/mechanic jobs was 20 years ago when I was 19. I carried a Mini Mag back then. About 4 years later I had moved up the ranks to a higher level crew and we were required to carry flashlights. Part of my job was maintaining four huge conveyor belts, each about 1/4 mile long. We had to inspect each and every roller and the bearings every day and it was dimly lit in that building. 98% of the time I used my Mini Mag as it fit in my pocket and I always had to carry tools with me too. The Mini Mag worked, but not very well compared to today's standards. Once in a while I would take a 4D Mag and it was a world of difference in light obviously but so big and heavy it was a pain. I sure wish we had the lights of today back then.

Knowing what lights are available today it still amazes me that so many people who could do their work "better" with a good light either don't carry a light at all or carry something pathetic.

That is a cool story.

I have found that a decent flashlight is often the most important tool to get a good share of jobs done.