What Was Your Worst Mechanical Screw Up?

[etypeJohn]

What was your worst mechanical screwup.  Tell us. 

The only rules are it had to be work you were doing, either alone or with help and it has to be on a vehicle, truck, car, SUV, etc.

Mine?

Whe we rebuilt the engine on the E-type we of course replaced the clutch, pressure plate and throwout bearing.  Jaguar used two different clutches, with different throwout bearings.  Use the wrong TO bearing and the clutch wouldn't disengage or would not fully engage, depending on which one was installed with the wrong clutch.

So here we are, the big moment the endine is back in everything is rady to go.  We start the car, that's always iffy becasue things are seldom adjusted right.  We get it running, and I hop in and ease out the clutch.  the thing barely moves becasue the wrong TO bearing is installed and it is too tall, the clutch won't fully engage. 

So out comes the transmission.  But with an E-type that means pulling the engine and transmission as a unit and also removing the exhaust, draining everything, and removing a part of the car's structure.  All that's worth about 20 hours.

[southdiver1]

Well, it wasn't MY screwup but...
I had a 1983 Camaro with the 305 in it. It stopped running one day. Spark was good and the fuel pump was pumping. After screwing with it for a few hours, I actually saw the carb overflow with fuel.
I pulled the carb off and found it was all gummed up with blue silicone...
I started to trace the fuel line and I found the problem.. The previous owner had somehow cracked the fuel line and instead of replacing it, he "fixed" it with a big glob of silicone. It worked itself loose and parked itself in the carb.
You don't learn THAT in tech school.

[southdiver1]

I actually have another one.. Not quite a screw up but, a lesson in tempers..

I had a 1986 Buick Regal with the 3.8 V6 while living in Germany. Well, I blew up the engine and I was able to find anouther one in the junkyard.
I went ahead and started with the task of pulling out the old one. I put the car up on jackstands and slid under it to start to loosen up the headers from the exhaust.
While reading the rest of this, keep in mind that these happen in very quick sucession....
The wrench slipped and I did a knuckle buster on a bolt.  "Ouch" and I lifted my hand which brushed against the frame. That motion knocked dirt in my eyes. "ouch" and I went to sit up which led to me smashing my head against the frame.
"DAMMIT!!!" I grabbed the frame and attempted to throw the car. This lead to a VERY sharp pain in my chest.
"oh crap". I rolled out from under the car and stayed on my knees. Another soldier asked me what was wrong and I told him that I think I am having a heart attack.
Well, they rush me to the German hospital in Augsburg and after a series of tests, it turns out that I ripped both chest muscles.
So the lesson is, don't loose your temper.
I got rid of the car.

[J86]

I actually have another one.. Not quite a screw up but, a lesson in tempers..

I had a 1986 Buick Regal with the 3.8 V6 while living in Germany. Well, I blew up the engine and I was able to find anouther one in the junkyard.
I went ahead and started with the task of pulling out the old one. I put the car up on jackstands and slid under it to start to loosen up the headers from the exhaust.
While reading the rest of this, keep in mind that these happen in very quick sucession....
The wrench slipped and I did a knuckle buster on a bolt.? "Ouch" and I lifted my hand which brushed against the frame. That motion knocked dirt in my eyes. "ouch" and I went to sit up which led to me smashing my head against the frame.
"DAMMIT!!!" I grabbed the frame and attempted to throw the car. This lead to a VERY sharp pain in my chest.
"oh crap". I rolled out from under the car and stayed on my knees. Another soldier asked me what was wrong and I told him that I think I am having a heart attack.
Well, they rush me to the German hospital in Augsburg and after a series of tests, it turns out that I ripped both chest muscles.
So the lesson is, don't loose your temper.
I got rid of the car.

I'm sorry, but this is really funny.? A series of unfortuante events...

I've done alot of really dumb things.  Mostly on my boats.  Do those count?

[280Z Turbo]

Hmmm...

I stripped the threads on a fan clutch, but I was able to get the bolts for the fan blade finger tight. I drove around for a WEEK, a whole damn WEEK, before the inevitable happened.

After I got the radiator patched up, I found a fan clutch and fan blade for a 280ZX (the fan blade happened to have more negative offset than the original). It fit and cleared the radiator just fine at idle, but the motor and trans moved just enough in acceleration/braking to send the 280ZX fan into the radiator.

After I got the radiator patched up again, I used the 280Z fan blade!

Now I run an electric fan from my Saab.

[Onslaught]

I Would have to say it was the time I was repairing the left rear door and quarter of a Proteg'e. I was out in space that day and sanded a body line into the car that it wasn't supposed to have. I closed the front door and realized what I had done and couldn't figure out WTF I was thinking for the last few hours. It was a nice straight body line!

I also accidentally hit the open switch on a sunroof that didn't have the glass in it when I was working on the top. You want to talk about a fu*k up on that one.

[AutobahnSHO]

I cross-threaded the axle threading by not putting the nut on with my fingers before the airgun. 
Messed up the splines on same axle because they weren't lined up right when I put the hammer to it to re-assemble it. (had to file by hand for 30 minutes!!)
Broke the stud for a thermometer housing by over-tightening.

And the worst?  Not replacing the rod bearings at 172k miles.  It was recommended at 100k on that motor..

All on the SHO.  That last one killed it...   

[Soup DeVille]

I once crushed a Buick by mistake...

[JYODER240]

http://www.carspin.net/forums/the-garage/knocking-noise.0.html

[280Z Turbo]

I cross-threaded the axle threading by not putting the nut on with my fingers before the airgun.
Messed up the splines on same axle because they weren't lined up right when I put the hammer to it to re-assemble it. (had to file by hand for 30 minutes!!)
Broke the stud for a thermometer housing by over-tightening.

And the worst? Not replacing the rod bearings at 172k miles. It was recommended at 100k on that motor..

All on the SHO. That last one killed it...

Those Yamaha SHO motors sure seem weak. I will never understand why they're so great.

[S204STi]

I forgot to fully torque the lug nuts on a customer's car.  I didn't notice because they were just snug enough not to notice on my road test after performing the work.  About a week or two later the car came in on a hook, the left front fender bent, the control arm worn to about an inch less aluminum, and the holes in the aluminum wheel were all ovoid.  Turns out the guy had just dropped off his family and had been hearing an odd noise from the front end, and while driving at about 55mph the wheel ran its way off the hub after the last two lug studs holding it on the vehicle snapped off.  The weight of the car rested on the fender and wheel, and after that popped out it just fell on the lower control arm and wiped out the bottom of the ball joint in the process.

That guy still harasses my old shop over that car.

The other one I can think of was a Ford F250 SuperDuty diesel which I removed to install a new oil pan.  Upon reassembly I forgot to connect the rod for the exhaust butterfly, so on my road test it had absolutely no power and could hardly reach 50mph with the foot to the floor.  Got that worked out and it all worked great until the glow plug relay shit the bed.  After someone bought it, the truck developed a neat problem where it would just die while cruising down the highway.  And it would refuse to restart for some time.  Not sure what happened because we ended up shipping it to a Ford dealer.

[Pancor]

Nothing too exciting here, but once I did drop a popsicle stick down a spark plug hole on my first 240SX.  I really didn't want to deal with removing the timing chain, and head, so I spent an entire day trying various removal techniques, and finally got it with a small tube hooked up to a powerful Shop-Vac.     

Another dumb story, involves me installing a nice stage II Clutchmaster clutch and pressure plate, only to have an ANNOYING rattle after the install.  A Day later it pissed me off enough to pull the tranny, which really isn't that easy on an S13.  After I got it off and inspected every single part to no avail, my knee brushed up against an exhaust heat shield, which as it turns out, was the source of the rattle...

[Minpin]

Putting the impeller on backwards on a Cummins 420 engine (A really big boat engine). A 2 cent part that takes 2 hours to get to and its on BACKWARDS. I was really happy. 

[Onslaught]

I forgot to fully torque the lug nuts on a customer's car.? I didn't notice because they were just snug enough not to notice on my road test after performing the work.? About a week or two later the car came in on a hook, the left front fender bent, the control arm worn to about an inch less aluminum, and the holes in the aluminum wheel were all ovoid.? Turns out the guy had just dropped off his family and had been hearing an odd noise from the front end, and while driving at about 55mph the wheel ran its way off the hub after the last two lug studs holding it on the vehicle snapped off.? The weight of the car rested on the fender and wheel, and after that popped out it just fell on the lower control arm and wiped out the bottom of the ball joint in the process.

That guy still harasses my old shop over that car.

The other one I can think of was a Ford F250 SuperDuty diesel which I removed to install a new oil pan.? Upon reassembly I forgot to connect the rod for the exhaust butterfly, so on my road test it had absolutely no power and could hardly reach 50mph with the foot to the floor.? Got that worked out and it all worked great until the glow plug relay shit the bed.? After someone bought it, the truck developed a neat problem where it would just die while cruising down the highway.? And it would refuse to restart for some time.? Not sure what happened because we ended up shipping it to a Ford dealer.

I did that with the lug nuts one time but I got lucky and felt that something was wrong and fixed it before the car was delivered.


For small body pulls you can chain down a car with a come-along off the rear or front tie-down hooks. On my first day of work I forgot to take them off and took off out for the door. I came to a sudden and violent stop! I always look for them now.

[S204STi]

You do body work then Onslaught?  Cool!

[Onslaught]

You do body work then Onslaught?? Cool!

Yes I've been doing it now for like 13+ years or something. My grandfather and father did it so I thought it would be fun...... I was wrong!!!

I just remembered one of my all time fu*k ups. I had just rebuilt the whole back end of a FD RX-7 and turned around to see the rear bumper foam absorber on the floor next to the wall. On most cars that would just require you to take the rear bumper back off and put it on but that RX-7 makes you remove all the interior from the seats back. And pull the Bose sound system out and it's amplifiers to reach the bolts that hold the bumper on. It took me about a hour to fix that one. And I'm tall and had to crawl around in the back of that little ass car 2 times.

I've never caught a car on fire but I saw a guy burn a T-Bird to the ground one time.

[TBR]

Well my mechanic managed to create an oil leak when he changed the timing belt. Other than that I've had very good luck.

[southdiver1]

I'm sorry, but this is really funny.? A series of unfortuante events...

I've done alot of really dumb things.? Mostly on my boats.? Do those count?

In hindsight, it is pretty funny but at the time, it was pretty scary.
I would have to say that the dumbest thing I have done was try to straighten out the front bumper of my 1970 Nova by using a chain and a royal palm tree.
The end result was that the chain was embedden in the tree and the bumper was hanging on the other end of the tree, bent in half and securing it to the chain. The look on my dads face was priceless.

[S204STi]

I once crushed a Buick by mistake...

Details?

[Soup DeVille]

Details?

I was comissioning a machine called a VDL (Vertical Drop/Lift) at the Lake Orion GM Plant, which at the time made Park Avenues. Basically, it took the cars of of their skuck (the truck the body rides on while the interior is being put in), and lifting it up to be hung by the clamshells,so that the chassis work could be done from below.

At the top of the elevator columns, there are two prox switches. One tells the lift to slow down, the  other to stop and close the clamshells.

I switched the cords.

Now, normally a machine like this would be tested out first on scrap bodies, but apparently the millwrights didn't want to do the work it would take to load up the line with three or four scrap bodies for testing. So, it was tested using brand new, production bodies. When the clamshells closed, instead of being below the body and it being slowly lowered onto the holders, the clamshells pierced through the doors just below the beltline. Then, when the lift lowered- the car hung from its now mangled doors for a few seconds,and before I could bring the lift back up to catch it, the doorskins peeled away like thelid of a sardine can and dropped the Buick about eight feet back onto the floor.

[etypeJohn]

I Then, when the lift lowered- the car hung from its now mangled doors for a few seconds,and before I could bring the lift back up to catch it, the doorskins peeled away like thelid of a sardine can and dropped the Buick about eight feet back onto the floor.

Do you think you could manage to start taking a movie camera to work with you.   

[Soup DeVille]

Do you think you could manage to start taking a movie camera to work with you.? ?

Its not like that happens every day!!

Besides, umm no. GM is under the impression they have some sort of trade secrets in their plants. I've never found one, but haven't had the heart to break it to them.

[VTEC_Inside]

I somehow forgot to tighten the lug nuts on the front right wheel of my Accord once. Caught it pretty quick though, hard to ignore that loud knocking sound when hitting bumps.

My biggest screw up was when changing the oil pan on that car. I managed to split the back side of the new gasket when putting the new pan on the FIRST time. All told it took me 5-6hrs the first time, and about the same the second time due to a stripped header bolt.

Best part is that I ended up re-using the old gasket and its held fine. I could have saved $50 on that thing.

[Raza]

Well, this one time I was working on the Passat, and I reached up on the shelves for washer fluid and knocked over a wrench.  It fell on my foot. 

[S204STi]

Well, this one time I was working on the Passat, and I reached up on the shelves for washer fluid and knocked over a wrench.? It fell on my foot.?

Don't you have trained monkeys to fill your washer fluid?

[Raza]

Don't you have trained monkeys to fill your washer fluid?

They were on break and I was in a hurry.  Have you ever interrupted a monkey during a cigarette?

[S204STi]

They were on break and I was in a hurry.? Have you ever interrupted a monkey during a cigarette?

I don't want to have my arms ripped off, so no I haven't.

[Raza]

I don't want to have my arms ripped off, so no I haven't.

It certainly gets ugly.  He bit, I punched, he pulled a knife, I pulled a gun.  That was the last time he ever brought a knife to a gunfight. 



They've tried to unionize since then.

[sparkplug]

I can't remember my first mechanical screw up. Probably has to do with turning the key switch on. I don't screw with mechanical stuff much. I just keep having leftover parts from repairs.

[280Z Turbo]

They were on break and I was in a hurry. Have you ever interrupted a monkey during a cigarette?

http://youtube.com/watch?v=MkZcG_pgp0Q