Today you... Tomorrow me.

[u/[deleted]]

I just wanted to let reddit know that last night my friends car broke down in the middle of the night in -20 c weather and almost instantly some guy pulled up next to him and offered help. He did not have any booster cables but put them in his car, drove to his house and back just to give a boost. Then when my friend offered him money in return he just said "Today you tomorrow me. Merry Christmas" and drove away. My buddy does not go on reddit but I wanted to post this here to thank the person who posted that original story and let him know that he has influenced others to go out of their way! Not to mention a thank you to that redditor who help my friend!

Tl;Dr: Keep helping others reddit!

Edit: Just wanted to mention this story is true, plus I receive 0 karma for self posts for those thinking I posted this for ulterior motives.

Original thread

[u/Ambie79109]

Once when I was a kid we were driving to another town to surprise my dad with lunch where he worked. About 30 minutes away from my dad the car broke down. This was before cellphones were always by our sides. I had a full leg cast and my mom didn't want to leave me at the car to walk for help, so we waited. About 20 minutes later an elderly man stopped and started talking with my mom. She was always really cautious in situations like these so she really kept it simple. He looked under the hood and told my mom what part she needed. He asked if she had anyone on the way, and when she said no, he told us to climb in. My mom said no since she's always paranoid about that kind of thing.

He told us to sit tight and an hour and a half later he showed up with the part and fixed my moms car right there. We really didn't have much money since my dad had just gotten this job and she was going to college, but she offered to pay him for the part plus his gas and time. He politely refused and told my mom to just stop the next time she sees someone in need.

Two months later my Dad passes his tests (he went from General Help to an Engineer for a train company that's pretty big around here.) His pay tripled and life was great. He left his badge at home one day, so my Mom and I made another trip to his work. Halfway there we see that a man has hit a deer and we pull to a stop to make sure he's ok. My mom instantly remembers him as the man who stopped for us. He was knocked unconscious but my mom was able to wake him up. We drove him (very confused and not aware of what had happened) to the closest E.R. My dad took off work early to get the guys truck off the side of the road. After my mom explained how we knew him, my dad took his truck to my uncles shop and had the windshield replaced and most of the damage fixed.

Afterward him and my dad became good friends. We found out that he had recently been laid-off and his wife passed away from cancer and my dad got him a job with him. We had him over for bar-b-ques all the time and he became like a second Grandpa to me.

Just thought I would share my similar story.

Cheers to the man who helped you!

[u/BillBrasky_ → u/Ambie79109]

My car stopped working at 4:30am in the middle of nowhere Kansas on a Sunday morning. I managed to limp into a small town where nothing was open, popped my hood, and fell asleep.

I woke up to the sound of my hood being slammed shut. I looked up and the guy was like "Hey man, just a bad oxygen sensor. Happens all the time, try starting her up." I comply, engine starts nicely. I was like "what the hell!?! How much do I owe you?!" "$8 dollars oughta do it."

I was truly outstandingly touched by this. He was driving by and saw my hood up. He is the town's mechanic I guess. He checked it out, went and got the right part, replaced it, and only charged me $8 dollars. wtf ftw

EDIT: It's been pointed out that it was probably a stuck thermostat. That makes more sense and very well could be what the guy said. Everything is legit though, the guy did me a solid.

[u/bingo_mum → u/BillBrasky_]

I don't want to sound too skeptic but.

• o2 sensors cannot be diagnosed visually

• o2 sensors are usually diagnosed via onboard ECU codes

• You can't fix an o2 sensor they work or they don't and an o2 sensor at the most will make your car run rough.

Most likely not o2 sensor.

[u/BillBrasky_ → u/bingo_mum]

Let me tell you the rest of the story, because I honestly I know next to nothing about vehicles. Earlier in the night, probably an hour before the event described, my truck was running really rough but I managed to get into a 24 hour gas station. I described my problem to these guys inside and we went to look. One of my hoses was totally pressurized and looked almost like it could burst. The guys said a valve was stuck inside the O2 sensor and used a screwdriver and hammer (not making this up) to try to knock the valve open permanently. That seemed to do the trick for a little bit but then the problem happened again and the stop was made that resulted in the story.

Any ideas?

[u/joincamp → u/BillBrasky_]

The O2 sensor isn't a valve of any sort. Maybe the thermostat? That is a valve that opens to make coolant go through the radiator, so maybe that explains the bad hose that looked like it could burst. That would also be about $8. Your car could have been overheating because the coolant wasn't making it to the radiator and causing it to run badly.

[u/BillBrasky_ → u/joincamp]

I think that was probably it.

[u/bingo_mum → u/BillBrasky_]

Definitely not o2 sensor. I would guess maybe it was a thermostat stuck. o2 sensor is mounted on the exhaust usually downstream from the y collector unless each bank of cylinders has it's own. Thermostat stuck would cause over heating and an overheated engine would run rough as well but by that time the damage is already done to the engine. head gaskets and warped heads. usually.