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My XJ has borne the brunt of my stupidity, but it's been mostly minor stuff like snapping off all the little red clips on my fuel injector wiring connectors before realizing the correct way to remove them :-( in my defense the plastic is about 16 years old so it pretty much snaps just by looking at it. I also nearly set fire to my trailer testing the electric brakes. The little spring loaded emergency connector had corroded so it started arcing inside when I pulled the plug out. I walked to the axle and noticed the wheels still turned a little, looking to the front a nice plume of smoke was rising... leica posted:Put Wesson vegetable oil in shocks because I was told it was the best shock oil (I was 19). Well I guess if you break down and got hungry you could convert the oil pan into a deep fryer and make some tasty roadkill snacks.
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Apr 26, 2015 12:58
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Vanagoon posted:Okay I had to look this particular one up: BMW did this too with the M60 V8, although not that bad. Pic stolen from Bimmerforums and rehosted: 
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Apr 26, 2015 19:00
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What's the rational behind the throttle butterfly dams? Misguided turbulent flow generator? Easy way to "detune" a lower trim level? Sick joke by the engineers that they forgot to remove before production?
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Apr 26, 2015 19:10
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I'm willing to bet its about air flow shaping for when the valve opens so as to prevent throttle spikes.
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Apr 26, 2015 19:25
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Enos Shenk posted:So I did what I should have just done in the first place, grabbed a chunk of the proper thickness aluminum plate and turned it down on my lathe into a disc to make a new throttle valve. Or gob JB Weld in it like any self-respecting shadetree mechanic.
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Apr 26, 2015 19:28
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I didn't remove the wheel chock and backed out.
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Apr 26, 2015 19:46
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Today I had to reset the torsion bar on the 206 I did a trailing arm bearing replacement on, because I buggered up my measurements and had it one spline out. Still, having already had it apart once, it only took 40 minutes all-in to do.
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Apr 26, 2015 19:57
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Left paper towels stuffed in the intake manifold or ports, reassembled the engine and started it. More than once. Never seemed to do any damage but the blackened confetti sure is interesting. Apparently forgot to torque down the bellhousing bolts on the VW camper. After driving it a couple of times it wouldn't start. The starter had fallen out completely and was dangling by the wires. On the camper again, somehow put two intake port gaskets on two ports and none on the other two. The kicker was I'd missed one on each side. Somehow it still started and ran like that even though the manifolds would have been as crooked as all hell. Camper yet again. Installed an indeterminate number of bad heads on it. Oh, and put the pistons in backwards. Funny thing is I've never really made many mistakes on any other vehicle.
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Apr 27, 2015 02:01
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punakone posted:Did this: Holy death wish Batman.
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Apr 27, 2015 02:07
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leica posted:Holy death wish Batman. Always my thought when I see people doing work on their car on the shoulder of the highway. Neptr posted:I didn't remove the wheel chock and backed out. I think everyone has done this at least once...
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Apr 27, 2015 02:25
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Geoj posted:Always my thought when I see people doing work on their car on the shoulder of the highway. Not only that, his head is under a car being held up by a scissor jack.
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Apr 27, 2015 02:42
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General_Failure posted:Left paper towels stuffed in the intake manifold or ports, reassembled the engine and started it. More than once. Never seemed to do any damage but the blackened confetti sure is interesting. for 
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Apr 27, 2015 03:00
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Disconnected a top strut brace bar, completely forgot to put the bolts back on. Started noticing that I was getting snap oversteer randomly, lucky I didn't crash.
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Apr 27, 2015 03:27
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ROFLburger posted:hooked up cruise control vacuum line incorrectly and my car decided to take me on a fun adventure. I had a heart attack when i pulled the thing out of the drive way and it attempted to haul balls down the neighborhood street Did this on my Volvo once. Fortunately figured it out quickly since the revs started climbing almost immediately after startup. I guess I can also include the time I put my NB crank trigger wheel on backwards, but I still maintain that is just a poo poo design. It has like a 2mm dish to it so that if you put it on backwards, you get no spark. Nothing on it to indicate which side is out, and it only has four teeth on it so its not like the orientation actually matters.
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Apr 27, 2015 03:35
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Did a service on my towncar, took out the air horn and cleaned the MAF with sensor cleaner, I had a rag stuffed in there to catch any residue. Replaced a few emissions items [EGR, etc] and reassembled everything went for a drive. Car seemed fine at first, then got really sluggish, then things went sideways as the throttle jammed to the floor and I took off like a rocket down the 101 in Marin.  Shifted the car into neutral, pulled off to a safe spot and turned the car off and decided to check things out. Turned out I forgot to remove the rag, it got sucked into the throttle flap and jammed it open.  Easy fix at least, something I'll never forget to check again.
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Apr 27, 2015 04:53
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leica posted:Not only that, his head is under a car being held up by a scissor jack. Even better than that, it looks like a widow maker jack that german cars love to use 
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Apr 27, 2015 05:09
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Negromancer posted:Even better than that, it looks like a widow maker jack that german cars love to use What the hell? how is that even allowed?
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Apr 27, 2015 09:15
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Friar Zucchini posted:Like, out the exhaust? Cause if so, I gotta find some old beater so I can try that. Yeah. Out the exhaust. I use paper towels because I know they are clean and throwing them away after is no big deal. Sometimes when I get distracted things get overlooked. Oh hey. I just remembered another fun one. The VW camper... again. It's a long story laced with rain, misery, being a long way from home, being broke and misusing a permit, but the crux of it is the fuel pump fuse started blowing at random, until it'd just blow instantly. A long time later I discovered that I'd wired the pump backwards and occasionally a bit of metal was making contact with the body instead of the rubber damping block. That fuel pump has been used in three cars of mine. The last one being the Niva, when it left myself and my two children broken down along a farm access track. Opposite of a bonehead repair though. I figured out the wire had broken internally. Whittled away at the pump and accessed the break. Twisted the wires together, taped it and got us home. The replacement mechanical pump arrived shortly after.
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Apr 27, 2015 10:04
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Negromancer posted:Even better than that, it looks like a widow maker jack that german cars love to use Hey, my e30 had one of those that broke the second time I used it.
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Apr 27, 2015 22:29
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Negromancer posted:Even better than that, it looks like a widow maker jack that german cars love to use  "Why?" That's the only word I can think of.
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Apr 28, 2015 01:48
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1500quidporsche posted:
Well, it folds up really small...
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Apr 28, 2015 07:28
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I outsmarted myself while doing the SYE install on my XJ last year. Popped the tcase fill plug loose, then the drain plug, drained it, removed, did the SYE install, then said to myself holy poo poo! I can fill this through the speedo gear port on the bench instead of pissing atf everywhere under the jeep trying to hit the fill plug hole! ... yeah, never remembered to torque the plug. About 80 miles later (on my way back to work the next morning) it fell out and the case was drat near empty by the time I got to work. I think most of it ended up on the rear window, it was smeary for a long time. I am sure there are others, but I can't think of them.
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Apr 28, 2015 12:42
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Painted threads on my shocks before installing them Broke half a dozen studs in a row on my willys Ruined a U-joint trying to install it with a hammer. Shorted out my wiring harness in a parking lot outside a VIP by jamming the wires under the dash. I'm sure there are more but I can't think of them right now. Sandbagger SA fucked around with this message at 13:49 on Apr 28, 2015 |
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Apr 28, 2015 13:34
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Fitted a new radiator then drilled a hole through it when fitting the electric fan (which on old saabs is screwed into part of radiator frame)
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Apr 28, 2015 15:49
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1500quidporsche posted:
Reducing cost on a part that goes into every car and very few people care about.
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Apr 28, 2015 15:57
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Was going to change the oil on my old S10, so started driving up the ramps. Except our driveway was dirt, so they slid a bit. So I gave it more gas. They dug in, I launched over them. I was 16.
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Apr 28, 2015 16:01
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Parked the car in a puddle overnight, there was a snap freeze and the car was imbedded. Got the tires loose, but the ice was deep enough the tires just spun in the groove. Got the bright idea to use my ramps to get the car out of the ice. Wedged them in, started to back up onto them and (since they were too on ice) they shot out from under the car and slid across the yard, down a hill and into the backyard 
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Apr 28, 2015 16:18
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Neptr posted:Reducing cost on a part that goes into every car and very few people care about. You're saving an extra three inches in metal and whatever weight is associated with that over a scissor jack. I'd prefer they not include any jack at all at that point.
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Apr 28, 2015 16:42
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They probably thought they were being clever with that jack. I can just hear the engineerings yammering in German about how elegant a solution they have come up with.
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Apr 28, 2015 18:22
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1500quidporsche posted:You're saving an extra three inches in metal and whatever weight is associated with that over a scissor jack. I'd prefer they not include any jack at all at that point. The scissor jack is more mechanically complex, which is harder to produce. I doubt VW makes it, so you have to pay the suppliers' %profit margin which is higher for a more complex part, and the shipping+recieving cost to get it to the VW factory, which is higher for a heavier, more complex part. Now multiply that by a few million a year.
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Apr 28, 2015 18:23
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BlackMK4 posted:They probably thought they were being clever with that jack. I can just hear the engineerings yammering in German about how elegant a solution they have come up with. At least on e36 BMW's they make a bit more sense since they go into holes in the side skirts, so a normal scissor jack would not work. Still a stupid idea, but at least they have a reason unlike why my VW has one. Can't find a picture of the actual jack that comes with the car, but this is a adapter to use the jack points with a floor jack 
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Apr 28, 2015 18:33
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Negromancer posted:At least on e36 BMW's they make a bit more sense since they go into holes in the side skirts, so a normal scissor jack would not work. Still a stupid idea, but at least they have a reason unlike why my VW has one.  This one?* I have the same in my 840, and I actually love it, at least as far as factory jacks go. As long as you're parked on solid, flat pavement and your e-brake works, there's almost no chance things are going to fall on you if you have extended it square with the ground. e: unless it fails, of course *Pic stolen from ebay UK and rehosted. Probably my biggest dumbass moment was when I just got done doing the brakes on my Prelude, and forgot to pump them up before putting the car in (reverse) gear. That was an embarrassing ride into the ditch across the street. At least it went about as well as it could have - it was a shallow ditch, no damage was done, I don't think anyone saw, and nobody was parked on the street behind me. Another was when I pulled the motor out of my Trans Am, closed the garage, and went to a parts store with a buddy for a couple hours. Got back, opened the garage with the remote, and walked into overpowering fuel smell and a big pool of it that had come out of the now-disconnected fuel lines.  And that's how I almost blew up my parents' house. 
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Apr 29, 2015 02:54
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Put washer fluid into the oil fill, Backed a truck into a roof support beam Had a Lexus SUV slip off the front bottle jack on a 4 post Didnt pump the brakes back up on brake check I did hours ago and rolled into a tree (minivan +$4000) Tried torching a jam nut on a GMC Envoy and burned the seal as a greenhorn (got sued and fired by the owner but won in court) The classic double gasket filter while Vietnam Vet customer is right there watching you explode 5 quarts of oil all over the under body of his flawless 2003 Buick Le Sabre The 2013 and up F150 oil change when you dont know which one of the two oil pour offs the oil will drain from. (its usually both) Dropping the drainplug into the oil catch Loosing lug nuts Breaking valve cover bolts in the head GM JESUS CLIPS and loosing them. Plastic clips and zip tie solutions Ill also throw in breaking exhaust manifold studs but thats all #Rustbeltproblems Preoptopus fucked around with this message at 04:04 on Apr 29, 2015 |
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Apr 29, 2015 03:58
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Black88GTA posted:
I forgot to pump the brakes once on the Falcon after doing it's pads. Also the hand brake had frayed so no longer worked. But I realised once I started off in the carport and pumped the poo poo out of the brakes. Came close but didn't quite go through the neighbour's fence.
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Apr 29, 2015 04:03
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Black88GTA posted:Another was when I pulled the motor out of my Trans Am, closed the garage, and went to a parts store with a buddy for a couple hours. Got back, opened the garage with the remote, and walked into overpowering fuel smell and a big pool of it that had come out of the now-disconnected fuel lines. About two years ago, my stepdad cleaned the garage floor. With gasoline. Then closed the door and went out to dinner. I got home and the entire house reeked of gas, with a gas water heater that has an always-on pilot in the attic. I'm amazed I didn't blow the place up opening the garage door. That's also the day that I learned that opening all the windows will bring the house up to 100F pretty quick, and that it'll take the a/c about 3-4 hours to get back down to 75. Preoptopus posted:Dropping the drainplug into the oil catch I think everyone does this at least now and then. I keep a magnet on a stick thing handy for that now.
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Apr 29, 2015 05:55
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General_Failure posted:I forgot to pump the brakes once on the Falcon after doing it's pads. Also the hand brake had frayed so no longer worked. But I realised once I started off in the carport and pumped the poo poo out of the brakes. Came close but didn't quite go through the neighbour's fence. guy at work did this last week except it was an Aston Martin and the steel garage door and he wasn't so lucky
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Apr 29, 2015 08:30
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Negromancer posted:Even better than that, it looks like a widow maker jack that german cars love to use My e39 has one of these. Only for emergencies, indeed. Big K of Justice posted:Did a service on my towncar, took out the air horn and cleaned the MAF with sensor cleaner, I had a rag stuffed in there to catch any residue. I've told the story before, but my brother's mechanic left his old radiator cap on top of his air filter, and after a week it got sucked into the throttle body and caused it to jam open. I still can't believe it didn't result in an accident, my brother isn't exactly the best driver. 
CornHolio fucked around with this message at 18:35 on Apr 29, 2015 |
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Apr 29, 2015 18:33
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some texas redneck posted:I think everyone does this at least now and then. I keep a magnet on a stick thing handy for that now. If the drain plug has a magnet in it most of the time you can just fish it out with a screwdriver. Pulled the DRZ out to wash and do a pre riding season inspection, forgot to pull the exhaust plug out. Could not figure out why it was harder to start than usual and barely idled, choke and idle screws are on the left side of the bike, exhaust is on the right. Five or ten minutes of profanity and frustration later I noticed the bright orange plug with it's nice "Remove before flight" streamer, problem solved. I don't own or use disk locks for a reason.
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Apr 29, 2015 18:46
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I've left the oil filler cap off and drove away after an oil change or top off more times than I would care to admit. Reassembled my entire rear end on my e46 m before I realized i forgot to put my hand brake cables back in. Had to drop the rear subframe, driveshaft, exhaust, and shielding again. Recently, tried to diagnose a starter failure with a trouble light because I was too lazy to use a volt meter. Turned what would have been finding. The problem in minutes to hours. Ended up being a crapy old aftermarket alarm / immobilizer that was still wired into the starter circuit and nothing else.
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Apr 29, 2015 18:57
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some texas redneck posted:I think everyone does this at least now and then. I keep a magnet on a stick thing handy for that now. My telescoping magnets are all very well lubricated at this point.
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Apr 29, 2015 20:10
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