Random Wrench Tip #4: Quck and Easy Makeshift Funnel

If you've ever had the unfortunate experience of having to add fluids to your car at the side of the road or in a parking lot away from home without a funnel, you know how frustrating it can be to keep the fluids from spilling all over your engine bay.  The ordeal can be especially maddening when the fluid happens to be brake fluid because it will quickly damage any painted surface. 

Fear not, as this random wrench tip will make you feel like MacGyver in no time!


Take a plastic drinking bottle and cut the bottom i.e. the larger part off.  If you don't have a pocket knife or scissors to do this, you can use your keys in a pinch.  By puncturing the bottom with a key, you can start to saw into the plastic to make an opening. 

You can use your keys to puncture the top or the side to cut out the bottom of the bottle.

Once you have opened up enough of the bottle, dry out the excess water because water and oil or brake fluid do not mix at all! 

After you have dried out the bottle, you can invert it and use it to add fluids to whatever you need.  Just be sure that you don't use the same bottle for different fluids though as each fluid has its own purpose, and aren't designed to work in a mixture.  This makeshift funnel has now saved you from making a huge mess or wasting your fluids!  The best part is that it only takes a few minutes to create one.

After removing the bottom of the bottle, you can unscrew the cap and use the bottle as a makeshift funnel.

The small neck of the bottle will keep liquids from spilling everywhere.

Note: For those of you not familiar with MacGyver, click this.