Dumb things you done when learning to work on cars

[cantflip]

Too numerous to count...

To help @Zymurgy feel better... I had a very bad cold and was taking nips off a bottle of cough syrup all day... end of the day, I got free enough to work on my own car... and I put the brake shoes on backwards. I never allowed myself to work on anything that critical again, if I had a buzz going.

and... I'm going to ask... how many here have punched themselves in the face, because they didn't think out what would happen when the wrench slipped? I can't even count how many pairs of glasses I've broken over the years... but I'm about equally disgusted with myself every time I had to buy new ones because of this.

 

[rags]

putting a junkyard 2.8 v6 in an 4wd '86 s10 blazer with a/t. left the torque converter for last. forgot to check the back of the crank for a pilot bushing...

 

[Rapidtrans777]

I did an oil change once when I was a teenager. I removed the drain plug, drained the oil, swapped out the filter, refilled with 5qts of oil, and I got 5qts on the garage floor.
Sometimes you learn the hard way.

I had a similar learning lesson. I worked at a service station when I was a teenager. Was doing a oil change on a customer's Cadillac. Filled the engine with 5 qts of Fire & Ice and started it up. While watching for the oil light to go out the head mechanic whistled at me giving me the cut it off sign. He then pointed to the floor where there was a growing puddle of oil. I had forgot to put on the oil filter.

 

[Big_John]

Making the perfect double flare on a brake or fuel line only to see the fitting lying on the floor.

I've done this so many times... Still do it.

 

[detmatt]

Bought nifty cast aluminum Mopar Performance valve covers for my freshly rebuilt 440 in my ‘68 Charger. I didn’t realize that they had no accommodation for crankcase venting and couldn’t figure out why it would fire and run great for about 10 seconds before sounding like it had the worst case of indigestion you could imagine before snuffing itself out. It took me longer than it should have to figure out and I was just damn lucky that I had the engine broken in on a dyno before adding the bling and that I didn’t break anything.

 

[monaco75]

and... I'm going to ask... how many here have punched themselves in the face, because they didn't think out what would happen when the wrench slipped? I can't even count how many pairs of glasses I've broken over the years... but I'm about equally disgusted with myself every time I had to buy new ones because of this.

Yes! That by far was one of my worst. Was pulling parts off of this fury back when I was 17 or so. Car was rotted beyond saving, but I wanted the 8.75” rear. Was working in 3’ of snow, removing something from the front end.... the rusty bolt was not budging. Had all of my big *** weight on it, and BAM! Broke my nose lol. Was 10 times worse being freezing outside. LOL. Never forget that one

I learned the hard way that chrome don’t get ya home! I had to have a set of $20 chrome valve covers on the 360 in the Monaco. Everyone telling me not to do it, I neglected their comments, and put em on.

3 days later I’m dead on the side of the road with the car almost on fire. The insulation had worn down on the wires running over the passenger side cover. Now there was no paint to help isolate the wires from a direct ground.

Those $20 valve covers turned into a $1500 repair bill to rewire the car....

There are multitudes of other misshaps. If your gonna be dumb then you gotta be tough! LOL

 

[mr. fix it]

I did not do this myself, but paybacks a *****....;) I had done something to wrong my grandfather and he asked me to help him tune up a car, I was probably 10 or so and was super happy to be included. He had me tinkering on a few odds and ends while he finished what he was doing and fired the vehicle up. Then he came around and showed me a wire to remove when he got around to the inside of the car and hollar'd at me. Well turned out it was the coil plug wire and when I pulled it out he rev'd the motor up causing me to get a significant jolt. He chuckled and said I would remember that one for sure.....yup sure did thanks Grandpa!!

Reminds me of throwing a charged condenser from a point set to an unsuspecting mechanic prank...

 

[Zymurgy]

I have definitely punched myself a few times in the face pulling with all my might. Never broke my nose however.

 

[69Ragtopfury]

The worse thing i did was call Dad stupid. I was 15, supposedly helping dad at his shop on an after hours side job. I didn't want to be there that night, so i was in a funk. He was talking to the car's owner while I was just standing around. I guess he got distracted by my fiddling at the workbench and ended up smashing his finger pretty bad. Without skipping a beat, and in my teenage attitude, I asked him why he was so stupid. I couldn't stop the words from coming out when my brain said don't. That's the only time he ever cussed me. He said "You need to walk the f*ck home, before I kick that attitude right out of your head". I said nothing. It was a long 3 mile walk that night. He was home by the time i got there, waiting for me. I was scared off my ***. All he did was tell me to never again disrespect him like that, or I'd be picking my teeth up off the floor. He then went to shower and went to bed. We never spoke of that night again. Still don't know if he told mom - I know I never did.

Physical flubs can be fixed or heal in short order. That one took quite a while.

 

[mikedrini]

Holy smokes, tough one, I will list my most recent 3 and leave it up to you, the judges, jury and executioners:

1. Had to replace brake caliper on front passenger tire on my truck. Called Autozone, they have the part. Pick it up, bring it home, install it. Bled the brakes for what felt like two days. Still can't get the air bubbles out. Frustrated, brought it to "my guy". He calls me the next day to tell me it's the wrong part AND I installed it upside down? Sad part is I installed it EXACTLY how the original was on there when I bought it! So who's stupider the fool who originally installed that caliper or the fool that followed the fool?

2. I first disassembled my 383 down to the block while it was in the car. When rebuilding, I torqued the heads down only to later realize I had no concept of the torque sequence for said cylinder heads? I just torqued 'em down like a moron. Needless to say, there was coolant in the cylinders...

3. After changing the brakes on my Wrangler, I took a "brake" after hand tightening the lug nuts on my rear driver's side tire, meaning to come back later and torque them, only I forgot. Got about 10 miles down the road until I heard a thump-wobbling sound, only to look in my driver side mirror and see that tire come within a millimeter of knocking the lugs off.

Honorable Mention-E brake parking my Saturn on my inclined driveway after getting it started one morning (manual transmission). Went upstairs to take a sip of my coffee while my car heated up, only to hear a loud crash. Looked out the window only to see my Saturn's headlights pointing up into the air and my car in the woods. Fished it out with my truck only to have the entire rear window, trunk, tailights and rear passenger window smashed in. Called the local car charity Cars for Kids and had them come tow my commuter car away after 250,000 miles. It was a good run VUE, a good run, RIP.

Took the day off from work and decided to day drink responsibly. It was a Wednesday...

 

[Big_John]

I was about 14 and I was out in the garage winding up a long extension cord. My Mom happened to be standing there and she said "Be careful with how you're winding that cord". She no more than got the words out of her mouth when the end of the cord came up and wacked me in the eye. Gave me a black eye and a "I warned you" from my Mom.

This next isn't a car/garage story, but it does involve doing something dumb with a power tool and getting hurt.

I was building a room for one of my sons. I had bought a used air nailer to do the framing. It's a nice Porter Cable and one of the things that was included was a letter saying I could get a safety trigger for free. All I had to do was send in this postcard. The way it was set up was you could pull the trigger and it would fire a nail as soon as you pressed the nose into the wood. The safety trigger makes you press into the wood and then pull the trigger before it would shoot a nail.

I just never got around to sending in the card.

So... It's a little late in the evening, I'm tired and I'm nailing up the last piece of framing. I was done once that was in. You know what's coming next... I slipped and the nailer came down and hit my thumb, firing a nail into the first joint on my thumb. No blood, but it hurt. I debated on pulling it out, but it was right into the joint in such a way that I couldn't bend the tip of my thumb. I showed my wife, who happened to be on the phone with her ******* ex husband (perfect timing) and we decided an emergency room trip was in order.

Waited a while there, as usual, and the doc wanted an x-ray before he pulled it out. So we walked over to the x-ray department and started waiting... and waiting ... and waiting. I still have this nail sticking out of my thumb.

So... all these people are walking by us and I've decided I've probably been forgotten. I inquired and was told to wait, someone would be along... No one came along... Me being me, I'm tired and I start screwing around. I'm putting my hand on top of my wife's head by now and it looks like I've nailed my hand to her head. I'd do that and just nod my head to anyone that walked by. That must have gotten someone's attention and the next thing I know, they are rushing around to get me x-rayed.

All was good, just a tiny chip and the doc just yanked it out and gave me a bandaid and sent me home.

I sent the card in for the safety trigger the next day.

 

[traintech55]

I was about 14 and I was out in the garage winding up a long extension cord. My Mom happened to be standing there and she said "Be careful with how you're winding that cord". She no more than got the words out of her mouth when the end of the cord came up and wacked me in the eye. Gave me a black eye and a "I warned you" from my Mom.

This next isn't a car/garage story, but it does involve doing something dumb with a power tool and getting hurt.

I was building a room for one of my sons. I had bought a used air nailer to do the framing. It's a nice Porter Cable and one of the things that was included was a letter saying I could get a safety trigger for free. All I had to do was send in this postcard. The way it was set up was you could pull the trigger and it would fire a nail as soon as you pressed the nose into the wood. The safety trigger makes you press into the wood and then pull the trigger before it would shoot a nail.

I just never got around to sending in the card.

So... It's a little late in the evening, I'm tired and I'm nailing up the last piece of framing. I was done once that was in. You know what's coming next... I slipped and the nailer came down and hit my thumb, firing a nail into the first joint on my thumb. No blood, but it hurt. I debated on pulling it out, but it was right into the joint in such a way that I couldn't bend the tip of my thumb. I showed my wife, who happened to be on the phone with her ******* ex husband (perfect timing) and we decided an emergency room trip was in order.

Waited a while there, as usual, and the doc wanted an x-ray before he pulled it out. So we walked over to the x-ray department and started waiting... and waiting ... and waiting. I still have this nail sticking out of my thumb.

So... all these people are walking by us and I've decided I've probably been forgotten. I inquired and was told to wait, someone would be along... No one came along... Me being me, I'm tired and I start screwing around. I'm putting my hand on top of my wife's head by now and it looks like I've nailed my hand to her head. I'd do that and just nod my head to anyone that walked by. That must have gotten someone's attention and the next thing I know, they are rushing around to get me x-rayed.

All was good, just a tiny chip and the doc just yanked it out and gave me a bandaid and sent me home.

I sent the card in for the safety trigger the next day.

OK John, I will tell you THE most stupid thing I did in life. A little back round story is needed for you all to understand,
When this incident happened I was 12 years old, Some members may remember my father owned a taxicab company in Chicago, We would store many parts in the basement of our house when a car got wrecked.
One day my father told me to go down and straighten up the basement, I am moving things around, and we all know how oil on the floor can make a mess. Being a good kid, I decide to go out into the garage and get some gasoline to clean up the oil from the floor, (can anyone guess where this is going)?
I proceeded to pour some of the gas on the floor, and POOF, it ignited from the furnace. Now the house is on fire, so I yelled to my mother to call the fire department, while I grabbed the water hose and try to put it out.
Thank God I got the fire out just as the firemen pulled up, the Lieutenant was very nice as I explained what happened, and then he took my father outside and had a talk with him about what happened. My father never did yell at me about this.

 

[3C's & a D?]

OK John, I will tell you THE most stupid thing I did in life. A little back round story is needed for you all to understand,
When this incident happened I was 12 years old, Some members may remember my father owned a taxicab company in Chicago, We would store many parts in the basement of our house when a car got wrecked.
One day my father told me to go down and straighten up the basement, I am moving things around, and we all know how oil on the floor can make a mess. Being a good kid, I decide to go out into the garage and get some gasoline to clean up the oil from the floor, (can anyone guess where this is going)?
I proceeded to pour some of the gas on the floor, and POOF, it ignited from the furnace. Now the house is on fire, so I yelled to my mother to call the fire department, while I grabbed the water hose and try to put it out.
Thank God I got the fire out just as the firemen pulled up, the Lieutenant was very nice as I explained what happened, and then he took my father outside and had a talk with him about what happened. My father never did yell at me about this.

Well you were trying to help! Reminds me of the time I was pretending to ride my dad's motorbike, while it was parked in the garage, and he wasn't around. It was a green 1978 BMW 750 or 900. I was about eight years old and having a blast. I noticed it was pretty dusty, so decided to help out. Bottle of WD-40 sitting right there on the bench, test some out on the tank, yeah that looks good. Sprayed down the whole thing and gave 'er a quick wipe down. Man, did that thing shine! Dad sure noticed too! Only he wasn't quite as impressed with the results as I was. Still think of that everytime I see an old Beemer.

 

[Wonderwagon]

Went replace a starter on my 69 Plymouth, removed the first bolt no problem. Went to work on the second, and a fire works show ensued. Forgot to detach the battery cables, oops

 

[tvaluke]

Back in the winter of somewhere in the 1980's I was working on my '71 Fury... replacing the ujoint. I had the car up on ramps, removed the drive shaft and took the part someplace warmer to install the new ujoint. When I returned to the car it was gone! Off the ramps.... and in the neighbor's driveway …..across the street! DUH! I didn't block the wheels and it rolled right off the ramps and 'parked' itself perfectly in the neighbors driveway....(kind of wish I had a video of this happening) I've always been thankful that no cars were coming through the road at that point.

By the way, I ALWAYS block wheels now

 

[1970cat]

tuned up my 82 aries. new plugs , wires , cap etc. decided to go around the block to admire my handiwork. the car popped and farted and would barely run. took a while to figure out that only one clip on the cap had seated properly.
bad tires on the rear of my 89 f150. jacked it up and had nothing but an old concrete block to hold the one side while i took the tire off the other side. put the tire on that side, moved to the side with the block. i set the tire up in the wheel well just as the block collapsed with the drum hitting the pavement next to my hand that was under the tire.
had a stack of steel rims about 5 high. they were offending me for some reason so i decided to move them. took the top one off and scraped it against the next one. knocked the second one off and the edge hit the top of my foot breaking it.
put the snow tires on my 73 pontiac. of course i had used mismatched lug nuts. went into town to get gas. on the way home i hear a terrible thumping. get out of the car , look around. and everything looks fine. go a little further thumping gets worse, get out , everything looks fine. went about 20 feet and the back of the car drops. i only had one lug nut left and the wheel was at a 45 degree angle.
bought a 69 grand prix for the motor. the guy told me the frame was rusty. i pulled the motor and crawled under to pull the trans. i put my arm under to loosen the mount bolts. i no sooner put my hand under than there was a crash. the crossmember with trans fell out of the car. i don't know by how by much it missed my hand but i could feel the breeze as it fell.
i deal with chronic back spasms and pain every day due to being young and a tough guy. winter was coming and i decided to put my 63 lemans in the barn for winter. there was a small hump before the garage door. well, it's down hill so i'll get the car rolling and go right over the hump. the car stopped. looks like a light car so i'll get in front and push. the ground was wet and my feet slipped out from under me. i folded in half backwards. out of all the cars i've had, i wish i could get this one back.