What do to in an emergency with no breakdown lane

[Scott5114]

Saturday night my PT Cruiser began experiencing electrical problems which resulted in a total shutdown of all lights and accessories. At the time, I was driving on a road with a shoulder, so I was able to pull off and evaluate the situation (whereupon everything came back up and operated normally for the remainder of the drive home). The engine continued to function as normal.

That being said, due to construction, there is a portion of my commute in a work zone with concrete barriers right up against both travel lanes. This is an Interstate with a 60 mph regular speed limit, reduced to 55 due to the construction. On my drive home from work I go through this area at 11pm, and there is no lighting. If something like this happens when I am going through this work zone, what should be my plan of action?

[corco]

If you think it could happen again, I'd go to the store and buy a reflective triangle and possibly some flares immediately. Otherwise, gosh, that's a really tough one. If there's at all room for you as a person to get out of the way of moving traffic, I'd jog a couple hundred feet upstream and start directing traffic while calling police until they arrive. If there's no way to do that...I guess you just pray and call the police- maybe stand behind your car with your cell phone and light shining to at least give some notice... that seems dangerous though.

Somehow you'd need to improvise a light/distraction of some kind- if you have a way to light a small fire with your shirt or something and throw that behind your car, that could be an option. A shirt fire wouldn't damage a car that accidentally passes over it at speed, and would alert drivers of your presence if you put it a hundred feet or so back. Unfortunately, cotton burns quickly so that wouldn't buy you much time. But anything small you can light on fire would do.

[Scott5114]

Beyond the concrete barrier is a closed lane, so I could theoretically jump the barrier and get myself out of harm's way, at least, but it might be difficult to do that before any other cars came along to run over me.

There is also the option of trying to continue at a slower speed through the work zone, since the engine seemed to be fine, though avoiding those walls by the light of the moon would be pretty tricky. Fortunately there are no curves or anything on the bridge. Get some reflective tape for the back, maybe?

[corco]

Yeah, if the car still works I'd try to slow to as slow as you can reasonably safely go and then drive but bank off the left side of the road- if there's pavement markings, focus on the pavement markings. You could even get in the left lane and focus on the curb to your left- that'd probably be easiest to do in the dark at high speed. Roll your window down and just focus on that.

You could do reflective tape, but that'd be a nuisance the rest of the time. Note that your taillights do have reflectors in them, so if you're moving at some sort of speed there will be advance notice.

[wxfree]

If the engine still ran, I'd keep going to the next exit or open shoulder.  Even if you scrape the wall, that's better than getting hit by a another vehicle.  If it's a long way to an exit or shoulder, or if the car is completely dead, I'd get out and jump the barrier, and run upstream with a light or reflector to warn other drivers, while calling police.  If there's heavy traffic, I'd stay in the normal seated position and call the police.  It's better to get hit in the car than outside it, and the car will protect you best if you're buckled and in the normal position.

[bugo]

I've wondered this many times while driving I-44 at Lewis in Tulsa which has been under construction since shortly after it was given the I-44 designation in the 1950s.  There are no shoulders, just Jersey barriers on each side of the road and no wiggle room with huge trucks hogging the left lane.  I cringe every time I drive through there.

[Scott5114]

I've wondered this many times while driving I-44 at Lewis in Tulsa which has been under construction since shortly after it was given the I-44 designation in the 1950s.  There are no shoulders, just Jersey barriers on each side of the road and no wiggle room with huge trucks hogging the left lane.  I cringe every time I drive through there.

There must be someone at ODOT that gets a small thrill out of this. There are two workzones within two miles of each other in Norman right now with such a setup.

[Scott5114]

My dad is insane–he went through the work zone this morning with his lights off to see how difficult it would be to navigate that way. He reported that the light from other cars was enough to make it through. So, I guess there's the definitive answer.

[jeffandnicole]

Even if your lights shut off, the rear light covers are reflective.  Cars approaching you will have some benefit of noticing the reflection - which appears as lights that are going dead.  So I wouldn't worry about traffic behind you too much. 

To guide your car with no lights, just watch the center skip line (the white passing line).  You'll be able to see that for a short distance in front of you.

If the car does stall, don't brake, and just roll as much as possible up to a break in the construction wall (too many people want to hit the brakes and stop against the wall, which doesn't allow traffic to get by them anyway).  If you absolutely must stop in the travel lane, try to do it on a straight stretch of roadway.  Opening your phone (if not calling someone) will project a little light out, which may help a little bit.

[SteveG1988]

Did the inside lights work, if so, raising the liftgate will help if you breakdown to give you illumination

[Scott5114]

No, everything went out, including the inside lights, dash lights, and radio.

I checked all the connections and cleaned some corrosion off the battery terminals and it seems to have fixed my problem so far.

[SteveG1988]

No, everything went out, including the inside lights, dash lights, and radio.

I checked all the connections and cleaned some corrosion off the battery terminals and it seems to have fixed my problem so far.

Replace the battery terminals, and have the battery/alt load tested at autozone or advance, they will do it for free

[Billy F 1988]

If it was me, I'd get a fresh battery while you're at it, 'cause you'll never know when your current one goes kerplunk and you suddenly lose electrical power the next time you're out on the roadways. Another thing to consider is perhaps checking with the dealer of whom you purchased the PT Cruiser from. Mainly a Dodge dealer of some sort where they have Dodge and Chrysler technicians on site to figure out if it's anything more serious than just the terminals. If you purchased the PT Cruiser from somebody else when they bought it from the dealer before hand, I'd still bring it in to the dealer anyways and check with the previous owner to verify any past electrical issues.

[SteveG1988]

If it was me, I'd get a fresh battery while you're at it, 'cause you'll never know when your current one goes kerplunk and you suddenly lose electrical power the next time you're out on the roadways. Another thing to consider is perhaps checking with the dealer of whom you purchased the PT Cruiser from. Mainly a Dodge dealer of some sort where they have Dodge and Chrysler technicians on site to figure out if it's anything more serious than just the terminals. If you purchased the PT Cruiser from somebody else when they bought it from the dealer before hand, I'd still bring it in to the dealer anyways and check with the previous owner to verify any past electrical issues.

It sounds like he has a ripple off the alternator, my 2003 mercury had one off a pepboys alt the prior owner put on, non transferable warranty. Thankfully it was only 4 bolts to remove the alternator and replace it with an AutoZone one (lifetime warranty non transferable, so someone who owns my car now has an alternator from autozone without a warranty)

What my car would do is it would have a diode screw up, causing all the electrical systems in my sable to go haywire, the dashboard would have the gauges spazz out,  the lights would go out, the engine would hiccup. Basically the diode was feeding bad current to the car computer and it was having a seizure. If you want to get an alternator and it is easy to get to on that car, get one from Autozone/Advance with a lifetime warranty, if it is hard to install and you plan to keep the car, find a place like pepboys where they will warranty the part and will warranty the installation.

[agentsteel53]

another bit of advice on a completely dead car: throw it out of gear or into neutral ASAP.  I once coasted to an exit a half-mile away without any problem when I suffered a fuel pump failure at ~60mph. 

this of course doesn't resolve every situation, but it sure beats a fatalistic "well, I'm fucked" and stepping on the brakes to stop, or having the drive shaft connected and thus causing engine braking to quickly bleed off your speed.

note that you will lose power steering and brakes, so be prepared for this occurrence.  the steering shouldn't be a big deal at high speed, but the brakes might be a surprise.

[JMoses24]

I definitely agree with making a call to emergency services ASAP but I'm going against the grain of some of the advice given here.

DO NOT GET OUT OF THE CAR under ANY circumstances if the engine completely conks out in this situation and you are unable to coast to an open shoulder. You are far better off staying belted in in your seat when the car gets hit (and it will likely get hit at some point, not necessarily because of an inattentive driver but likely a semi that simply can't stop quickly enough) than you are trying to get out to jump the rail, even into a closed lane, because if you don't make it over the rail in time, you'll be thrown over the rail and die. So, don't risk that...stay in the car, buckled in, and brace for what will likely be a significant impact.