Today I was driving back from a long distance and I thought I needed to top off my transmission fluid. I did not have the handy long funnel that I bought some time ago because someone borrowed it and never returned it.

Now I have seen some cars that make it easy for you to top off your transmission fluid…..but mine does not. Arrgh! So I had to play like McGyver (what’s he doing with that thing?) and try to make a funnel out of the things I had handy. I got a sheet of paper and twisted it up to make a funnel. I then pushed the end of the paper into the opening at the top of the tube for the transmission fluid. I widened the end that was facing up so that I would have a nice opening to pour the fluid in. This allowed me to pour the transmission fluid into the space I was not able to reach earlier.

Well that is what should have happened in theory. In reality the space for my transmission fluid is in such an awkward place that I was not really able to get the fluid in. So I had to go in to the nearby gas station to get one of those paper funnels. The paper funnel from the gas station was not long enough so I still had to put my ‘McGyver’ funnel into the gas station funnel to make it work.

I loved the funnel from the gas station so much that I just had to take more than one…..but the cashier said it was okay (while laughing at me.)

So…..the moral of the story is that you can make a funnel using a single sheet of paper that should get you out of an emergency situation.

Well unless you have a car like mine with really awkward positioning of your fluid intake.