Actually Sunfish I have some good news helping stories,
The first time I went away solo with a mate we were scratching our head trying to pull the hose out (it was really stiff). A guy who had parked and was heading out noticed our difficulty, wandered over and moved the little lever that moves it from reverse to forward
no problems after that!
Another time at Mildura we had a 'window lock failure' in our 172 and the airport car guy (do they have an official title?) came over and gave us a hand, fetching duct tape etc.
The world of the GA brotherhood is still there.
On the other hand we reckon the failure was caused by 2 R44s taxiing and landing very close to the aircraft, the rotor wash was so strong it yawed the aircraft almost 20 degrees (we checked the photos we took when we landed and it was definitely a straight park at that time!)