I was asked to fix my grandpa's '98 Olds Eighty Eight a couple weeks ago when I was already up there and not prepared to work on anything. Nobody wanted to "bother" me about bringing tools....
So yeah... I'm a first generation car guy in the family. I think they all understand now that asking me to work on a car is not bothersome at all. However, purposely asking me to do it without any of my tools and making me feel like an idiot because I can't fix it that way pisses me off.
With no tools of my own I managed to get the POS running with with the help of mangled jumper cables, a grill brush, and a cigar box full of random sockets. It was only by dumb luck though. Either the starter, the power wire to the starter, or the ground straps to the engine are bad because the jumper cables from running truck to the Olds battery seemed to make no difference in the ability to start the Olds. After letting the car sit for an hour after the 10 minute drive, it was as dead as a door nail.
I don't think Grandpa is expecting me to come back to Riverside this weekend, but I'm bringing
-The GN battery because it's side post and should work fine once it's charged
-The battery charger
-A long 0AWG wire with ring terminals crimped on
-A spare starter I had laying around
-OBD code scanner
-Sockets/ratchets/screw gun/ect.
-Multimeter
-Jack/jack stands
-Jumper cables
-Zipties
I'm about 90% sure that if I get it going, he'll just give me the car because he's only expecting to get about $500 for it. Even if he doesn't give it to me, an automotive win would really lift my spirits right now. I've always liked that car. I wish he sold it to me 5 years ago, before it got clobbered at the post office and sat forever. It only has 116k miles on it, but the sunroof has been leaking so bad that the one pretty leather is looking super ratchet. The digital climate control is not allowing the blower motor to come on either so no heat or AC. It also hasn't made trips longer than a mile or two in about ten years, so it has developed some funny issues. Roadkill!