What Was Your Worst Mechanical Screw Up?

[Raza]

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

That was amazing.

[3.0L V6]

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.

That's called optimization. Removing unnecessary parts from the car, so you have few parts that could potentially break

[Rupert]

There was the time when I was adjusting the timing on my truck and knocked the distributor waaaay off... That was fun.

I once put a new air filter on my car and, at the same time, the muffler died. I was thinking I'd done something, but it was just a coincidence.

I'm usually pretty thorough with cars, though, and I really have no idea what I'm doing most of the time, so I'm careful, and I don't screw up too badly.

Now, there was this time I was riding my bicycle (single-speed MTB, with old Shimano 600 road cranks), and I broke the left crank in half. Of course, I was riding home late at night, and I'd been drinking, so the smart thing would have been to wait until the morning, but I decided (after I walked the rest of the way home) that taking cranks off is easy, and I wasn't that drunk anyway. So I got the bike in the stand, and got the pedals off. I threaded the crank puller into the crank (and I think it fucked it up right there). I screwed the thinger in, and got out the wrench when it got to the BB spindle. I turned and I turned and turned some more, not noticing that I was not actually doing any good (I think the whole room may have been moving more than the crank). It got really hard to turn, and I was thinking "wow, these are really on there"! I got our the breaker bar (erm, an old handlebar...) and started to really wrench on it. Then the crank puller fell out! It had totally stripped both itself and the crank! I ended up taking a wedge thing (that I think is used to taking off stubborn cottered cranks) to it and hitting really, really hard. It worked.

I still have the cranks and the puller-- kind of a souvenir-- as well as the bike (which is sitting in the basement in a few pieces-- I'm gonna turn it into a real MTB again). It has old Suntour XC cranks now.

[SVT_Power]

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.

[SVT_Power]

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

wow some ads 

[southdiver1]

I had just broken up with my girlfriend at the time. As I left the house, she screamed "I don't ever want to see you again".
I rode the motorcycle about 1/2 a mile away when it died. As I turned the petcock, it snapped off.  I had to call her and ask for a ride home.... That was amusing.

[TheIntrepid]

I don't do anything mechanical, so overflowing the windshield washer tank.

[93JC]

I don't do anything mechanical, so overflowing the windshield washer tank.

[AutobahnSHO]

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

The ONLY issue they have is the rod-bearings.  Most SHOs die because of them, but it's a known problem so if you take care of them they'll last.

My car was being driven at WOT for long periods of time- revved to 7300rpms, etc... with no issues on the actual motor- (the fuelpump, alternator, and everything else exterior to the block were built by Ford.  )

They're considered good engines because they breathe very well- 220HP with a relatively flat torque curve (right around 200lbft from about 2k rpms past 6k rpms.     Custom blower setups have made some SHOs friggin awesome-

OH and the 1989 SHO was faster at speed than the mighty 5.0 Mustang. It has a higher topspeed than the newer 240hp Accord (both non-governed, 143mph vs. 138mph.) and 15.1sec quarter mile in a 4-door was SCREAMIN for 1989...
http://www.geocities.com/autobahnsho/candd.html  (links to next page are at the bottom of the page..)

[Onslaught]

I have a friend that knows nothing at all about cars. He went to fill up his windshield washer jug and put it in the engine where you put the oil!!!

[S204STi]

I don't do anything mechanical, so overflowing the windshield washer tank.

Just please please please, never touch a wrench...

[L. ed foote]

I drove to a friends place in Ransomville NY to do some brake work.  I replaced the front discs on my car, thought I had everything done, I spent a day checking my work, driving and stopping like a madman.

So I'm on my way home (I lived in NYC, Ransomville is closer to Niagara Falls), when all of a sudden my steering wheel starts vibrating (this is on I-81 near Cortland, two hours into the trip).  I'm thinking 'WTF' and pull over.  Can't do much of anything on the highway (shoulders are narrow), so I hightail it to the next rest stop or exit.  The steering wheel is shuddering now, and the next thing I see is my tire in the rearview mirror, bouncing onto the median.  Lost a couple of lugnuts, lost a couple of studs.

Car gets towed, where a mechanic installs the studs, and lugnuts, and torques them down.  Torques the other side too.  And the next day, I went to Home Depot, and bought a torque wrench

[S204STi]

It seems that loose lugnuts are all too common, considering how much damage can occur!

[TheIntrepid]

Just please please please, never touch a wrench...

I changed a tire on my 4WD Camry once.

[S204STi]

Not my screw up, and not so much mechanical, but I will share some huge vehicle-destroying mistakes that I heard about from a coworker, along with a story about a friend back East.

First my friend.  He was road testing a new Frontier when he managed during a U-turn during peak hours to spin-out and cross two lanes of traffic at high speed, being hit by two cars and striking a guard rail.  That was a bad day.

One guy who still works at my new shop had a vehicle fall off a lift on him because it was a long truck and he was using a screw-jack to support the heavy rear-end while he was under it.  He forgot to remove the screw jack, and because of a retrofit the techs had performed allowing you to set the lift down as you walk away, didn't notice till he turned around that the vehicle was nose-down with only the screw jack holding it up.  Of course the screw jack promptly said, "Cya!" and flew off, letting the truck fall onto its side.  That was a bad day.

Another guy was changing oil and went to start the car after filling the sump to run the engine and recheck the level.  This car was built before the days of Neutral Safety Switches, so the car didn't need to have the clutch fully depressed to start, and sadly this one was in gear.  It lurched and then turned over, in the process pinning one guy against a bench, also pushing the bench till it struck and tipped over a toobox of considerable heft.  Luckily nobody was under the toolbox.  The guy who was pinned suffered a broken pelvis and considerable nerve damage.  That was a VERY bad day.  Those guys still work there and do a fabulous job, so I think they learned from their mistakes.

I myself NEARLY had a suburban drop from five feet up.  The lift I was using wasn't suited to long trucks like that, and I was nervous as it swayed up in the air while I was working under it.  I got the job done, and as I was lowering it for the final drive the disturbance of coming off the locks undid the whole thing, and it shifted and fell with a crunch on top of the steprails!  Those little fiberglass steprails were the only things that saved my butt that day.

[AutobahnSHO]

Not my screw up, and not so much mechanical, but I will share some huge vehicle-destroying mistakes that I heard about from a coworker, along with a story about a friend back East.

First my friend.? He was road testing a new Frontier when he managed during a U-turn during peak hours to spin-out and cross two lanes of traffic at high speed, being hit by two cars and striking a guard rail.? That was a bad day.

One guy who still works at my new shop had a vehicle fall off a lift on him because it was a long truck and he was using a screw-jack to support the heavy rear-end while he was under it.? He forgot to remove the screw jack, and because of a retrofit the techs had performed allowing you to set the lift down as you walk away, didn't notice till he turned around that the vehicle was nose-down with only the screw jack holding it up.? Of course the screw jack promptly said, "Cya!" and flew off, letting the truck fall onto its side.? That was a bad day.

Another guy was changing oil and went to start the car after filling the sump to run the engine and recheck the level.? This car was built before the days of Neutral Safety Switches, so the car didn't need to have the clutch fully depressed to start, and sadly this one was in gear.? It lurched and then turned over, in the process pinning one guy against a bench, also pushing the bench till it struck and tipped over a toobox of considerable heft.? Luckily nobody was under the toolbox.? The guy who was pinned suffered a broken pelvis and considerable nerve damage.? That was a VERY bad day.? Those guys still work there and do a fabulous job, so I think they learned from their mistakes.

I myself NEARLY had a suburban drop from five feet up.? The lift I was using wasn't suited to long trucks like that, and I was nervous as it swayed up in the air while I was working under it.? I got the job done, and as I was lowering it for the final drive the disturbance of coming off the locks undid the whole thing, and it shifted and fell with a crunch on top of the steprails!? Those little fiberglass steprails were the only things that saved my butt that day.

Someone at the Army self-help shop dropped their Accord 5 foot onto it's side because they hadn't unlocked the lift properly before lowering- one side came down and he didn't realize the other wasn't... 

[etypeJohn]

Several years ago a friend of mine was restoring a 1966 Cadillac Convertible, flawless black paint, white leather interior.   Anyway, we are all invited to the first start of the engine.  Body work is done, interior is coming along, hood is off. 

Crank it a while, no start,  Check fuel and spark, both Ok.
Givce it a shot of ether.  Its alive.

It actually idles ok,  The mechanic does the usual stupid rev-the-piss-out-of- it on the newly rebuilt engine.  We are all peering down at the thing when suddenly something black, round and large shoots straight up, smacks the ceiling of the garage and comes back down, just missing the car. 

Turns out the mechanic didn't bother to bolt on the waterpump pulley,  it was just pushed over the shaft and worked its way loose and took off.  Lucky it didn't smack one of us in the face.  I retrospect we found this quite amusing.

[Rupert]

Seems to me that that's a good argument for doing the body work last.

[Morris Minor]

My first car was a Fiat Uno 55S two door; "bang-up-to-date supermini" was how the 'Car' Magazine review described it. They neglected to say how appallingly badly put together it was. The bodywork-to-rust half life was about three years.

One day, the window glass in the passenger door got stuck in the "up" position. It had popped out of the crank mechanism. So I dismantled the door and found that the glass was supposed to rest in a rubber-lined cradle affair, that rose and fell with the crank handle. Despite my best efforts, the glass was simply too loose in the cradle; it was a cheap & useless design. "No problem," I thought. "I'll drill a hole through the cradle, through the glass and out the other side of the cradle, then put a bolt through."

Those of you who know about the properties of toughened safety glass know where this is going. I was ignorant of such things, and persevered.

The glass exploded into about 3,500 tiny pieces as soon as the drill got a "bite" on it. Oops.

[93JC]

Wow, you guys are morons.

Can't really think a good screw up. I tend to end up with the desired results in any adventure in auto repair and maintenance I endeavour upon. Comparatively few in overall number of attempts though, I'm sure. I tend to plan it out poorly: end up with the wrong part, the wrong tool, etc.

Whilst changing the oil in the Spirit on Saturday I dropped the oil filter in my drain pain and got oil all over the place, if that makes any of you feel any better.

Oh, and I bought an air filter for a 2.5L I4, not the V6.

[southdiver1]

I have two.
Last week, my friend called me for help putting new front pads on his Nissan truck. I was unable to help as I was at a car show so, he tried to do it himself.
He called me that night and told me he thinks he overtightened something because he is hearing grinding.
The next day, I pull the front tire off the truck.  I could tell something was wrong but, I could not figure out what it was. I saw that the warning indicator was running on the inside of the hub and then it hit me. He had actually installed the pads upside down. That was a first for me.

When I lived in Germany, my 1083 Ford Escort failed inspection. I needed to replace the struts. No big deal right?
Well, I bought the new struts and I figured this would take two hours at the most. I could not get the bolt off of the lower strut mount so, like every good Soldier, the obvious answer was 'Breaker bar"
I smapped the bolt and had to completly disassemble the front end of the car to drill it out. Two hours turned into two days.

[AutobahnSHO]

Those of you who know about the properties of toughened safety glass know where this is going. I was ignorant of such things, and persevered.

The glass exploded into about 3,500 tiny pieces as soon as the drill got a "bite" on it. Oops.

I rested the back window of an 83 Civic hatch on a bike handlebar (bike inside the car.)  Mine was about 5,300 tiny pieces, and my then fiancee was not impressed.  My best bud and I started laughing and his then fiancee was not impressed either.

[AutobahnSHO]

When I lived in Germany, my 1083 Ford Escort failed inspection. I needed to replace the struts. No big deal right?
Well, I bought the new struts and I figured this would take two hours at the most. I could not get the bolt off of the lower strut mount so, like every good Soldier, the obvious answer was 'Breaker bar"
I smapped the bolt and had to completly disassemble the front end of the car to drill it out. Two hours turned into two days.

That sounds like me.
I leaned on the SHO's thermostat housing doing totally unrelated work.  But it started leaking.  I was fixing it all back up and broke the stud. 
Turns out someone had issues with it before- the stud was stripped and just "jb welded" in.  I ended up spending a Saturday retapping and putting it all back together right. 

[Eye of the Tiger]

I don't screw up 

[JYODER240]

Tonight I tried to move a car to a different rack and i didn't realize that the oil filter was very loose. It made such a mess.

[Pancor]

When I lived in Germany, my 1083 Ford Escort failed inspection.

Surely you'd expect to break a few bolts on a car that old...   

[heelntoe]

i forgot to put in the brake shoes after taking the old ones out.
that was a two hour job that extended to about five hours and five kms of walking. i have a mechanic do most of the brake work now.

[AutobahnSHO]

i forgot to put in the brake shoes after taking the old ones out.
that was a two hour job that extended to about five hours and five kms of walking. i have a mechanic do most of the brake work now.

ouch.
Did it break something or you just didn't want to drive without brakes??

[heelntoe]

ouch.
Did it break something or you just didn't want to drive without brakes??

i was too busy testing the rear brakes to notice the missing front ones. after i finished breaking-in the rear ones, i tried a high speed threshold braking using only the fronts.
the road was deserted so i escaped without any incident. but i was pretty shaken so i decided to walk home.

[sportyaccordy]

This is a goodie.

I had recently installed my new Koni/Neuspeed suspension but it didn't look low enough. Sure enough, the removable perches on the shocks were upside down. I do the front shocks and change an axle as the old boot had ripped, and in my haste I go for a test drive... but I forgot to put the nut on the damper fork on the side where I had just replaced the axle.

A few miles into my drive, the front right corner starts to sink, and eventually the front right corner starts smoking. I pull over, and to my delight, my car is sitting like this:




Turns out the damper fork bent and the shock was sitting RIGHT ON THE AXLE BOOT OF MY BRAND NEW AXLE. I towed it to my friend's house, and about $400 later my car was back on the road. When that happened I decided I was done with wrenching on cars unless it was absolutely necessary...

Shortly after... my engine threw a rod about 2 days after I changed the oil. I'm pretty sure my pump was on its way out long before though as I had ignored intermittent oil light flashes for about a year... Oh well...