Worse / Best / Stupidest Wrench Turning Mistake!

[Sonicfrog]

I was reading this thread about a mechanic who accidentally switched the left and right heads on an EA 82, and started to wonder what my worst repair blunder might have been. Most of us have installed either the disty 180 deg off, you screwed up on the timing belts at least once. I was wondering what memorable mishap you've done in the shop.

 

I think my favorite would be in 1986, the first time I ever replaced a head gasket. The car that got me started on my long ascendancy to shade-tree mechanic uber-master was my 1976 Honda Civic, one of the ones with the little 1200 CC CVCC four banger under the hood (great little engine). When the engine blew I was a very poor college student, so I couldn't just go out and buy a new car. I had it towed to a local shop for repair. Originally, the quote for the repair was something like $400. But, a couple of days later, the mechanic called and said there were more problems and the cost of the repair had about doubled. I couldn't afford the cost. I paid him I think $100 for his time taking the thing apart. He put the head and all the parts in a box, and I had the car towed back to my parents house. They kindly let me borrow their garage to work on the car.

 

It took a week to get the new parts, HG and a couple of replacements for burnt valves, and another week to put the thing back together. I had never taking an engine apart, and didn't take this one apart either, so, except for the Chilton's guide (God Bless You Chilton!) I was basically flying blind on where things went, including vac hoses. Well, two weeks later, I had put the last bits of foo back on the engine, checked to make sure I had tightened the valve cover, center pulley, and all the obvious bits I had put together, filled the radiator and oil, and turned the key.... nothing.... I double checked the distributor, and realized I was off a tooth. Tried to start it again. Putt, Putt, stall. OMG! I'm closer! I didn't have a timing light, so I was flying blind there too. I fiddled with the timing advanced a few more times. Wrooom! OMG! OMG!!! OMG!!!! I did it!!!!!! I couldn't believe it!!!! :banana:

 

I got so excited, that I immediately backed out of the garage and into the driveway. When I got out of the car to close the garage door, that was when i noticed it. There was a huge wide streak of oil marking my path from the garage to my current position. Crap!

 

I did check various nuts and bolts before trying to start the car, but never even thought about the oil pan plug! Luckily, I had plenty of kitty littler on hand!

 

To this day, I am still amazed that I was able to fix that car and get it right the first time. Of course, I did have a few screws and bolts left over!!!

[rxleone]

I HATE when you have screws and nuts/bolts left over, I always seem to when doing interior work on the wagon...

 

Its definitely NOT good when its the engine you're working on though. Would be time for another strip down in my books

 

EDIT: Whoops forgot to say what my worst one was...hmmm....theres been plenty

 

When I was about 15 and still in my uber-cool boyracer stage (after owning a sweet 1977 EB2 Civic, like yours Sonicfrog - you're right, they were excellent cars - gutted I ever sold mine) I had a POS Daihatsu Charade Detomaso (little 1.6l SOHC thing - went like the clappers though).

 

Had put the tyre back on after doing a head gasket in the thing (you could only reach the pulley from the wheel arch) and in my rush to get it back on the road and go nuts I put the tapered wheel nuts on backwards - not good to go out and be doing 150kph and then realise your wheel is wobbling like crazy. I pulled over and all the wheel nuts were literally fingertight - scary stuff.

 

Actually, I thank god the wheel didn't come off. I would have been toast otherwise.

 

Lets just say I check EVERYTHING now.

Edited January 25, 2010 by rxleone

[Subaru_dude]

Me and my dad changed the oil in his '93 Camry when we first got it. He drained the oil, changed the filter, put the plug back in and filled it back up. He ended up blowing most of the oil seals out of the engine and fried the transmission. He drained the transmission by accident.

[akc]

The worse would have to be this summer I rebuilt my 52 dodge flathead 6 engine .. got 500 miles out of it when it began to overheat and knock really loud ... still figuring out what I did wrong but one of the bearings in the engine disappeared into small peices. I am just now tearing it apart to figure out what happened..(rebuilt it in a shop with small kids so it could have been anything) Oh this was my 3rd rebuild the first 2 went perfect .. the first one I finished it threw in the motor and we moved from CA to WA within the week. No issues... and very little mechanicall experiance now I got 15 years more experiance..

[TheLoyale]

Well a few years ago, I removed the rear wiper motor ('92 Loyale wagon) cause the motor was getting stuck helf way, So I wanted to take it apart and lubricate it nicely. Well I disided to remove the Armature (Bad idea) the brushes popped out and almost lost the springs that they push against. And I did this all outside at the back of the car, needless to say it took my like 45min to get those brushes back in and everything seatted again. then I finaly lubed the motor and works just like new and still does.

 

That was the worst thing I can remember.

 

Warning: DO NOT UNCAREINGLY PULL ARMATURE APART ON AN ELECTRIC MOTOR ASSEMBLY!

 

-Tom

[gbianchi]

Worse/Stupidest, bought a 150$ brat, engine in box on floor passenger side, put together engine, turned engine over from outside by reaching through the window, brat started on first spark, gearshift in reverse, driver door open, brat backs up catching door on driveway gate post wrapping the door around me pinning me to the front fender and stalls:eek:. Thank God it stalled and my arm was still attached, creamed the door and fender, oh well the engine ran great and still does:rolleyes:.

Best, Replaced a 90legacy tranny in my driveway solo for 100$ and no troubles thanks to a member here, thanks Muggs..................G.

[rpholz]

not my worst, will have to ponder about this for a day, but definatly most painfull and recent. so i was changing a tire on a 20' rim with a 35 series tire and when i went to use the phnematic pusher arm thingy i moved it down rotate the tire a bit, still holding the rim and talking at the same time, i get my fingers mashed between the edge of the rim and the arm thingy, and i cant move it because the tire had to much pressure on it and i was in too much shock to reverse the rim:eek:, well after a couple seconds the guy i was talking to reversed it for me.

 

bout twenty more minutes of cursing and running in circles i was back to work. lol

[Scoobywagon]

My worst shop accident was a few weeks back. Cleaning and organizing the garage. I needed to move the EA82 on the engine stand to another spot. Started pushing and shoving without paying any attention to the fact that the stand wasn't moving properly. Got it about half way across the garage and one of the wheels fell off the stand and the whole thing fell over. Missed my toes by not very much. That could have sucked BADLY. Fortunately, all I have to do is replace one cam cover and I should be good to go.

[MilesFox]

I had a ford pinto. i changed the head because the old one was ate up from bad oil pressure. I torqued down the first bolt before threading in the rest. i found out why you dont do it like this when the last hole did not line up.

 

i broke a TTY bolt on a ford 1.9 escort. It had a cracked head so i got a replacement head. I had the HO motor with domed pistond and the new head ras a regualr and did not fit. I used a worn down metal blade on a circular saw to ream out the combustion chambers to fit the domed piston. Then i broke the TTY bolt when it called for a 90 deg turn. i did not know to use new bolts! i was already used to subarus then:lol:

 

I drove around for a while in one car for a good bit before i noticed i forgot to install a motor mount on the motor i used

 

I had a vibration in my wagon once. thought it was the driveshaft or lugnuts. got out and looked at both fronts and the passenger rear. got in the car and drove a few blocks and made a turn. The driver rear falls off the car, and is punctured by the rusty fenderwell. It was the one tire i did not look at. I flagged someone down to borrow a jack. He asked if I had a spare, but i did not. I had to borrow the jack to remount my now flattened tire. I had to borrow 1 lugnut from the rest of the wheels to mount the tire, and drive another 45 miles home. I'll just say i had an 11 inch rim by the time i got there!

[derburger]

Stupidest wrench turning mistake was putting on a new water pump & belts on my XT and forgetting to wear gloves. I busted my hands and kept working, there is still blood on the fan and other stuff.

[The Dude Abides]

I trusted a bumper jack to much and while lifting my 89 crown victoria it started to tip forward. To bad my older brother was infront of it at the time and he dove under a work bench while the car crashed into it. Pretty lucky there. Also i was changeing the oil on this deralect car and my pop always told me if your haveing a hard time shove a screwdriver through the oilfilter and it will help twist it off. Well it didnt work out so well and i ended up shredding the oil filter and makeing it unable to start. I ended up selling it to a guy who ran it into a demo derby. Motor had a nasty rod knock so it wasnt that big of a loss.

[MAD MAX]

couple years back I was at school doing a oil change on the principal's bio-diesel land rover (love the smell of those things) i thought the rachet was on the off positison but it wasn't stripped the oil plug, principal wasn't to happy with me after that.

 

working on a 92 justy a month ago i did not use the jack stand when i was under it just got to say im glad those justy's are light or i probably wouldn't of got it of me chest

[xoomer]

Had the Rear end of A Fiero fall on me once. Thank god the engine was out.

[TomRhere]

'85 S-10 4X4 w/2.8L doing oil/filter change. Some gorilla overtightened the drain plug. Ok, get that loose and drain the oil. Go to the filter. You get to that thru the DS fenderwell = FUN.

 

OK, same idiot gorilla overtightened the filter too. 1-1/2 hours later,,,, I manage to get the filter changed out. Dump the fresh oil in and start taking care of tools and whatnots.

 

Sure enough, as I slide the sheet of cardboard out from under the truck, there lays the wrench with the drainplug sitting in the boxend of it. D'OH!!

5 quarts of fresh oil added to what was drained into the drainpan.

 

Another one;

While scrapping out the '88XT6 I had, I cut it in half from door to door. Thought I had my head out of the way when doing the final cut. NOT. Trip to the ER got me 5 staples in the top of my head.

[crazyman03]

Lets see.. one of the stupidest things I've done.. well thats a list long.. i'd have to say the most memorable ones are...

 

5 or so years ago i was changing the oil on a neighbor's car.. Little Saturn thing.. pop the plug off.. and get started on the filter. Wrench, Wrench, Wrench. Not coming off. The Filter was starting to buckle and bend, which wasnt much of a concern since it was being replaced. Finally get it to budge and .. wait for it.... it was the Transmission filter. . Never delt with a filter that was outside the transmission. Figured well crap! go get a new tranny filter and finish with the oil change..

 

Another one..

 

I was changing the water pump on my GL, and aparently you need to take the timing cover completly off, which means you have to remove the crank pulley. Not a problem! I have a BF-Bar in one hand wedging the pulley from spinning. and the wrench in the other hand. SNAP! Pulley cracks right down the middle.. still not off either! after finally removing it, i had to hitch a bus ride to Colorado auto parts to find another one. *DOH!*

 

 

-Jusitn

[Arthrogrian19]

I'm not much of a wrench turner, but I've made some stupid mistakes while working on my car.

 

It was late Fall and I was getting my Forester prepped for Winter. I was hoisting a roof basket onto the roof from the side of the car. I used a step ladder to make the job easier and secure the basket to the crossbars. The entire time I was leaning against the car with my knees firmly planted in the top of the rear door panel. I was dumb enough to repeat this on both sides of the car and wound up with 10+ creases in the rear doors. Awesome. $200 for PDR and an expensive lesson learned. :-\

[Twitch de la Brat]

First oil change on the BRAT and I'm thinking I'm cool, getting everything

done right and proper, screw the plug back in, put the filter on, back it out

of the garage and I see a stream of oil following me down the driveway.

Crossthreaded the oil filter

 

Another...

I was swapping out my transmission in my lego and forgot to check the diffs

Well, I figured my manual had a 3.9 and the auto that I was junking was a

4.111

I go through the process of dropping both diffs and ripping part of the rear suspension apart and lo-and-behold, they're the same ratio

 

More carnage!

I was cleaning my carb after it decided to stick open at WOT the night before (that was a fun experience) and was shooting carb cleaner on all the linkages and the outside of the carb in general.

I'm almost done when I look down to see what's left and shoot the cleaner

into what I think is a passage way.

Nope, it was just a pefectly shaped divot that redirected the carb cleaner

straight into my eye.

2 minutes of near screaming and lots of water/saline solution later, I was

able to see out of the other eye

 

Best?

Ummmm, so far, Rusty, Bill's little red first gen BRAT.

Bought him cheap non-running, got him going with just a fuel pump and

some fresh gas.

He even ran on the old crap that was in the tank for at least 6 years

Maybe not the most glorious, but I proud of being able to help rescue an

injured suby from the crusher.

 

Twitch

[Cold Chuck]

A lesson learned:

 

Decades ago, I was working for small car shop doing oil changes. One day, I was in a hurry and distracted abit, I performed LOF on a car and parked outside. Next morning, my boss got a phone call from customer saying there is a puddle of oil in driveway. He had it towed back to shop, I looked at it and found the drain plug had fallen off. An old timer told me this which I do pass on to my younger charges these days....

 

DO NOT PUT ANY HARDWARE (bolts, plugs, clamps, etc....) BACK ON ANYTHING WITHOUT TOOLS TO TIGHTEN FIRST AND DO ONE THING AT TIME.

 

What he meant is that unless if you have the tool in your hand, do not reinstall the hardware back on because sometimes you can get distracted by something and forget to tighten.

 

I hope this helps.

[wagaru]

being absent minded and scatterbrained, and having a tendency to fix cars in the dead of night in the rain, i have a few good uns. i was removing a battery, and left my wedding ring on, then shorted the wrench to the terminal through the ring. 1 brutally painful 3rd degree burn later i was enlightened as to why people suggest removing jewelry before servicing your car.

 

also i was farting around with a running motor, and got my finger caught in a moving belt. one trip to the hospital, one broken finger tip, and one ripped off fingernail later, i learned NOT to touch it if the car is ON. after the stitch fell out, and the nail went with it, and after weeks of pain and wearing a finger brace, it grew back. still not exactly like it was but at least its there!

 

one time, i had a boss justy RS, which we have come to regard as the car of the cursed, and i paid a measly 125$ for it. to get it home, i had to get it out of the ditch where it was resided for the last half decade or so. so me and a friend went to get it out, and had no winch, only a come along and some 2x4s. so in the middle of nowhere, in the middle of the night, in the freezing cold we slowly walked it out of there, and got it onto a trailer, the next day, we went to drop it off at my place, and we stopped to put air in the tires, the driver of the truck that we were using let the come along loose, which was, other than the e-brake, the only thing securing the car to the trailer (mistake), he then let the e-brake loose. why i'm still not entirely sure, but he ddnt tell anyone, and forgot to RE-attach the car to the trailer.

 

when we got to the bottom of a big hill, and began going UP this hill, the car leaped free of the trailer and made a bee line right for a new kia mini van, which it assaulted as well as a car propelled by gravity could, going up hill. the owners were not thrilled but the damage was fairly minor, and through we agreed to pay for it, they ended up not fixing it. whew, close one!

 

and last but not least, i put some wheels on my boss 82 corolla, and it was looking hot, and i had taken it around the apartments i was living at, and it ran great, but when i went to move the car to another location, i rounded a corner and behold, my wheel fell off. that car has solid front rotors, so no harm, lol, turns out i had the wrong lug nuts. it called for some bizarre lug nut, and not your standard alloy nut.

 

 

the important thing to do here is learn from MY stupidity and not your own lol watch what your doing and research your projects.

Edited February 7, 2010 by wagaru

[zyewdall]

Well, there was the time on my Justy that I had a thumping noise from the back... sounded like a broken axle or something. I inspected everything and couldn't find anything wrong. A half a mile later, the back left tire came off -- oh... lugnuts, eh? Hadn't checked that. Had to steal one nut off each of the other wheels to put it back on.

 

Didn't tighten up the crankshaft bolt on my '85 GL tight enough one time.... so the crankshaft pully fell off while driving...

 

Another time with the '85 GL, I changed the water pump, then a mile or two later pulled onto the freeway, and something a little larger than fist sized fell out of the engine compartment on to the on ramp behind me... I still don't know what that was (the car kept on driving for another year or two). Guess it wasn't very important whatever it was.

 

Then there was the old rusty beat up '82 GL wagon I had in grad school -- not really a wrenching adventure, but I was driving back from skiing and it started making a horrible noise behind it. I pulled over, cut the one remaining rubber hanger that the muffler was dragging by, threw the muffler in the back, got back in and the entire door inner panel fell off when I closed my door so I threw that in the back too, then I pulled back onto the highway and kept on driving. Much to the consternation of my two passengers who didn't know much about cars, but had just seen me take a rather large chunk of metal out from under the car, and yank another large piece off the car myself and then act like nothing was wrong.

Edited February 7, 2010 by zyewdall

[nipper]

I've done the lugnuts a few times in the past.

 

I drove a honda civic off a set of ramps. The car was a 1200CVCC stick. It had a hard time with the ramps. So between impatience and stubbroness, i got it on (and over) the ramps. Had to get a few freinds to pick the car up off the ramps.

 

A VW beetle, testing for spark before my electric knowledge was expanded. Did you know the path of electricity from a leaky spark plug wire through the zippered fly of a mans pants is the path of least resistance when compared to a spark plug?

 

 

nipper

[wagaru]

ow! cmon! that had to hurt!!

[nipper]

ow! cmon! that had to hurt!!

 

Actually it was OW OW OW OW

[nipper]

Oh another one i forgot. In the late 80's i lived in Salt Lake city for a year. I bought this big tank of a car, a 1968 Oldsmobile. It was HUGE, but then again it was the wide open spaces and cheap gas. SLC is very Religously proper, except for the heathans who loved thier tequilla. One day as Timing chain V-8s are apt to do, it threw a timing chain. We got it back to my freinds condo and we worked on the timing chain. His idea of working on anything required tequila. Some of his freinds came over, and low and behold, more tequila.

 

Well we managed to get the timing chain on backwards. tried to start the car, it started and made a glorious noise.

 

Timing chain #2 involved less tequila and that one worked.

 

nipper

[one eye]

I used to like to Drink alot and Budwieser 40's and a axle change dont mix,

I got the axle all the way out just to find out I took the wrong side apart............... I needed to pull the other axle.

 

Jeff