Whose done dumb sh!t before?

[Champ]

Yep, I just joined the list of eternally dumb things to do.

My battery with this recent cold snap has been needing jumps so I ran down to the dealership to get a new battery.  I ran out to the lot to install it myself because I wasn't going to pay $50 for them to install a battery.

Get it in the car and connect the cables and my engine starts smoking.

Yes folks, I hooked it up backwords.  I feel like a fking retard.  I'm an electrical engineer who knows his way around cars and hooked a battery up backwords.

So I just left it at the dealership they just called and quoted my $560 to do the alternator.  Starter is still good and the car runs, just doesn't charge so it looks like everything else is in tip top shape.


Lesson learned, hooking your battery up backwords can be a $600 mistake!!!!!! 



Anyone else do dumb stuff?  I know R-inge just blew that engine    Don't feel so bad dude I messed up something far simpler!

[southdiver1]

Ususlly my stupid moves consist of:
"Let me tighten this up just a tiny bit more..." 'snap'

[Secret Chimp]

Last night, I finished cleaning out my IACV and replacing the lower oil seals on my rocker arm assembly along with redoing the valve clearances (which I think I did wrong), I go driving home, and my temp gauge starts creeping up about halfway there. I see and smell coolant when I pull into a parking lot to look, but I just turned on my heat and tried to coast home. I pulled in without having it pegged on "H".
With the car off, I took a closer look with my little keychain flashlight.
SOLUTION?
I had COMPLETELY FORGOTTEN to reattach an IACV coolant hose to the throttle body. I was just pumping coolant out of the engine.
Works of genius.

[Sean]

I've drained the fuel on my Ranger because I got gas into it and later filled it with gas and it wouldnt start

I forgot to reconnect the fuel pump

[S204STi]

I blew an engine up, and had a wheel fall off on a vehicle a week after I worked on it.

The wheel thing was over a year and half ago, and you know what?  I've never once forgotten to torque a lug nut since then!

[Secret Chimp]

I've drained the fuel on my Ranger because I got gas into it and later filled it with gas and it wouldnt start

I forgot to reconnect the fuel pump

You got gas into it?

[S204STi]

You got gas into it?

Guessing he means he removed gas from it first...

[Sean]

my bad, I meant to type I got water in the gas.....

[Pancor]

I've dropped a wooden dowel down the sparkplug hole of a 240SX before, and just recently topped up the oil in a friends van with an oil jug that happened to contain used coolant. 

[S204STi]

I've dropped a wooden dowel down the sparkplug hole of a 240SX before, and just recently topped up the oil in a friends van with an oil jug that happened to contain used coolant. 

lmao!  Too easy to do...

[Eye of the Tiger]

I've dropped a wooden dowel down the sparkplug hole of a 240SX before, and just recently topped up the oil in a friends van with an oil jug that happened to contain used coolant. 

couldn't you just start a little miniture bonfire inside of there with the help of a propane torch? or did you pull the head off?

[Minpin]

This was my dad on our boat but...The impeller got chewed up on our port engine as we were out in the gulf going from Freeport to Port
Aransas. The impeller is one of the cheapest parts out there but is a real PITA to get to. Anyways after about an hour or so he gets it on there seals everything back up and starts the engine. No water is coming out (which cools the engine down). Come to find out, he put the impeller on backwards so he had to do it all over.  Only took about 50 minutes the second time. 

[JYODER240]

I missed a wheel when I was torqueing my lugnuts. I almost lost the wheel, when I caught it 3 lugs were missing and another spun off with my fingers.


Speaking of boats, the first day we had our boat out after winter my dad told me to put the plug in the hull before we put it in the water. I forgot but we got it back on the trailer and out of the water before it was too late.

[280Z Turbo]

I've drained the fuel on my Ranger because I got gas into it and later filled it with gas and it wouldnt start

I forgot to reconnect the fuel pump

I installed a fuel pump backwards. I couldn't figure out why the damn thing wouldn't start.

[Crosswire3]

This isn't really dumb since I was half expecting it, and definitely asking for it...but it's funny nonetheless.

This winter I bought a set of beater wheels and snow tires.  When the wheels arrived they had some <50% snow tires already mounted.  Since I wanted deeper tread for the winter I wasn't going to keep those tires for good, but I couldn't let all that tread go to waste.  I did have some fun at home with Teuton and Yoder, but once I got back to school it was time to do them in for good.  I loaded my car up with buddies, a floor jack, and headed to an open lot in an industrial park.  The lot was a little rough to say the least, but the location was perfect and completely hidden.  I got in a solid 15 minutes of fun and the tires were just starting to show cord.  I was determined to go until I burst one tire, swap with the spare, then hump it to the tire shop to mount the new ones.  At this point I'm drifting through a nasty parking lot in the top of second (~45) and it's pitch black outside.  Little did we know that there was a MASSIVE pothole at the end of the lot...filled with mud.  I hit the 4"-6" deep pothole completely sideways, heard a weird "thwump", stopped dead, and was then blasted with a tidal wave of mud.  ...almost forgot, even though it's January, it was in the 50s so we had all the windows and the sunroof open.  My all black interior was absolutely covered in gritty mud and grass, and all three of us were smiling like a bunch of retards and laughing so hard we were crying.  Based on the sound, I knew I accomplished my goal one way or another; I just didn't know how.  It turns out that I hit the wall of the pothole perfectly, and it ripped the tire from the bead of the wheel.  *Insert another 5 minutes of teary-eyed laughing*  I pulled out the floor jack, put on the spare, and we were on our way.  On the way back the shredded tire cords were flapping away at the wheel wells like mad and only added to the hilarity.  We took the aftermath over to a house full of friends...offroaders and autocrossers alike.  They all came out and got their kicks.  I had more mud on an ///M3 that sits 4" off the ground than  most trucks ever see.  The next day my car was an absolute mess and it took ~4 hours to clean the interior.  The guys at the tire shop had the biggest smiles on their faces and simply said "It looks like these puppies have seen some fun."  I swore I would be easy on the new snow tires, but seeing that it's been a month sans snow, I'm getting restless and the tread is getting lower...it's time to bring the summers back out.


/novel

[giant_mtb]

That's a ridiculous price to "do the alternator", Champ.  I say buy an alternator on the cheap (probably 1/5th of that quoted price) and either do it yourself or have a buddy that knows how to loosen the belt help you with it.

[Byteme]

My "Oh Shits" usually involve reinstalling or assemblying some complex or hard to do install part and noticing an o-ring, gasket or little gear sitting all alone like an orphan on my work bench.

Then there is that "Oh Shit" feeling when you are tightening down that bolt in that $3,000 aluminum head and you literally feel the female threads in the head slowly give way.

[the Teuton]

I somehow forgot to tighten the lugnuts on the 240SX after my friend and I reinstalled the transmission and got the car back on the ground.  I felt a little embarrassed.

[J86]

Most of mine are nautically-related...most of my automotive ones are like Byteme's, where I end up with more parts left over than when I started.  I typically just shrug it off to my extreme efficiency

[Champ]

That's a ridiculous price to "do the alternator", Champ.  I say buy an alternator on the cheap (probably 1/5th of that quoted price) and either do it yourself or have a buddy that knows how to loosen the belt help you with it.

The problem is they charged me an hour of diag ~$120, and their price for a remanned alternator is $290!  The ones online are $170.

So, if I brought it home it would be:
$120 for the diag (which they would have made me pay.  I wanted to make sure it was only the alternator and not other bits like the starter or ECU)
$150 for a tow (I was a very long ways from home)
$170 for the alternator and then send back my old one (shipping)

So to do it myself I am at ~$440 so why not spend the extra $120 to have them do it in a day so I don't have to bring the Viggen out of storage.

It was also -5deg F last night so as much as I wanted to start working on my car...

[the Teuton]

Wow, that is expensive.  For me, all I have to do is scrap a part from another EJ I have, take off the accessory drive belt, and loosen the screws on the housing.  That's it.  The alternator sits right on top of the engine, making access easy as 3.14159265354.



Where is yours located?

[S204STi]

The problem is they charged me an hour of diag ~$120, and their price for a remanned alternator is $290!  The ones online are $170.

So, if I brought it home it would be:
$120 for the diag (which they would have made me pay.  I wanted to make sure it was only the alternator and not other bits like the starter or ECU)
$150 for a tow (I was a very long ways from home)
$170 for the alternator and then send back my old one (shipping)

So to do it myself I am at ~$440 so why not spend the extra $120 to have them do it in a day so I don't have to bring the Viggen out of storage.

It was also -5deg F last night so as much as I wanted to start working on my car...

Holy sweet Christ, $120 an hour for diag?  I need to go work for that shop...we only charge $86!

[Champ]

Where is yours located?

Basically on top, you can see it standing above the engine but it's a Bitch with a capitol B to change.

It's right below the A/C compressor and on the other side it is covered by the master cylinder.  It's wedged right up against the firewall, and the bolt you need to get out underneath it is difficult to get at.



It's literally right under those hoses, so you can see how it's kind of crammed in there even though it's right on top.

[Champ]

Holy sweet Christ, $120 an hour for diag?  I need to go work for that shop...we only charge $86!

Ya it's annoying.  They did knock down the diag to .5 since I am doing the repair.

In hindsight I should have just hooked the battery up correctly in the first place

[280Z Turbo]

Basically on top, you can see it standing above the engine but it's a Bitch with a capitol B to change.

It's right below the A/C compressor and on the other side it is covered by the master cylinder.  It's wedged right up against the firewall, and the bolt you need to get out underneath it is difficult to get at.



It's literally right under those hoses, so you can see how it's kind of crammed in there even though it's right on top.

My 9000 was much better than that.

[Champ]

My 9000 was much better than that.

Ya :/

Because they did the engine longitutinally all the accessories are right up on the firewall.  Power Steering is stupidly hard to change.

However everything else in the car is pretty easy to do.

[TheIntrepid]

Is this the old one or the Viggen?

[Champ]

Is this the old one or the Viggen?

Old one.

[the Teuton]

Oh wow.

[Champ]

Oh wow.

Ya the worst part is I replaced the battery on my Viggen about 3 months ago just fine.  Did the motorcycle as well this summer.