Admit your Garage Mistakes

[klawsterfobik]

After reading a thread on another forum, i was inspired to start this one on our forum.

So what mistakes have you made in the garage?

I'll start.

1/ i spent two days trying to get my rear drum brakes on my Cortina. Turned out that the linings were paired together, and i had mixed up the pairings. Went straight on after i changed them back

2/ forgot to put the sump plug back in after an oil change.

3/ i once tried to give a distributor a better grounding by stripping off the coating of part of the wire and running another to the chassis.

im sure theres more.
your turn!

[RED_EL_XR8]

Just one.

Closed BA Boss 260 bonnet with the oil filler cap still upturned on the plenum whilst distracted by the phone. - Anyone have a Dunce cap in my size?

[AUII_Forte]

My biggest mistake......I bought an EA:P

After doing an engine change I spent 2 days trying to figure out why it wouldn't start. I had the dizzy out numerous times making sure it wasn't 180deg out (not fun in an MPFI EA!), the rocker cover off making sure the cam timing was right etc. Turned out that I had the fuel lines on the wrong way round! lol

[FNQracing]

I over tightened the oil filler cap on my EF and it was brittle. The ****er shattered and little bits of plastic went inside the rocker cover. SH!T. I then had to remove the rocker cover and I spent the next 2 hours picking out little bits of plastic with a pair of tweazers.

Thats only one of many ****ups over the years.

[dansedgli]

I over tightened the wheel nuts on one wheel of my mini, I heard the click sound you get when the wheel studs break and just didnt tell anyone so I didnt get in trouble. I was 16 at the time.

The mechanic was shocked that the car was driven to him. He spotted the wobbly wheel as we drove in.

[EA2BA]

done the oil sump plug trick

tried to arc weld several spanners to the body of the car undoing the positive on the back of the alternator or starter motor, before thinking disconnecting the battery is a good idea.

fried a few wires when i put 2 plugs together the wrong way around.

[lv619]

Originally Posted by AUII_Forte

My biggest mistake......I bought an EA:P

Unfortunatly I fell for the same mistake... their should be some sort of support group for people like us.:togo:

[xdc351]

Originally Posted by lv619

Unfortunatly I fell for the same mistake... their should be some sort of support group for people like us.:togo:

Tell me about it. I was going to post the same thing (but have to live with it a little longer)!

My biggest mistake was hacking the waterpump apart on the XD to fit an EWP... only to find out the EWP isn't strong enough to pump water to the heater/LPG converter! Ruined a perfectly good pump for nothing!

I havn't done the missing sump bolt yet... but I have a mate who drained his auto.... then put the auto fluid into the engine! :

[XR Martin]

Bought some DBA disc rotors and first thing you do of course in bash in the bearing cups. As hard as I tried they would not go in, broke two 'punches' and was about to throw the discs across the yard.
I then realised they already had the cups installed. :

[Dodge]

i pulled out a engine to find that it was only a spun bearing and no damage to the crank at all, only the cap was scuffed, so i could have replaced the rod bolts and cap in the car...

[Fairlane]

1. Spent go knows how long trying to remove the bottom radiator hose of a V6 Magna, only to relise that it had a drain plug.

2. Losing the Sump plug and having to walk to the spare parts store.

3. (Sort of related) Removing the oil from sump of my lawnmower with a hand suction pump, only to lose the rubber hose attachment in the sump. It is still in there and I don't think it did it any good, considering it was virtually a brand new mower and now it blows a health dose of blue smoke. doh :(

[Laminge]

Dropping the keys into the petrol tank of my vh valiant, and spending 4 hours hooking them out, and 24 hours detoxing from the petrol fumes

Knocking a dent out of the rear 1/4 with a sledgehammer, missing the car and taking out 3 bricks in the wall of the garage.

Doing a Casper with a coke bottle in the EB and spraying coke all over the dash and shorting it out~:tool:

[XAGSV8]

When I was younger I pumped my tires up on my 120y to 90psi, the commodore riding up my **** copped two tyres when they both blew at 100km. (Scared the sh!t out of me)

[Toolman]

No. 1 of way to many...

Cutting the radiator hoses off a mates little Datsun, working like a bastard, it was taking ages, sweating, cursing, rolled the sleeves up and pressed on... to find I had cut through a shit load of wires. I dead Datsun.

[mad machs]

A long time ago..... I once rebuilt my 3.1 Capri engine with new everything- crank, pistons, cam, valves- the lot.
The crank broke in within the first 100 or so miles as I'd put the main shells in the wrong way round & blocked off the oil ways to the crank! :

(I remember the oil pressure was very high, now I know why)

[FNQracing]

Originally Posted by Toolman

No. 1 of way to many...

The first Binford 3100 Datsun?

How the Cas ward Toolman? :hihi:

Originally Posted by AUII_Forte

My biggest mistake......I bought an EA:P

Heheheh, I barely dodged that bullet myself... In the nick of time I spotted the most beautiful, most immaculate 1986 LTD I ever saw in my life!

...too bad some blind #^!@er : hit my front passenger panel in a car park, 2 weeks after I bought it! -- It's gotta be the most annoying dent ever. Big enough for EVERYONE to notice, but too small to justify the cost of getting it fixed.

Anyway, my biggest garage mistake was attaching new battery terminals to said LTD; and it was really ****ing me off because no matter what I did, the car would receive power, but would not even attempt to turn over (which was why I was replacing the terminals in the first place, the car did this constantly and I decided the terminals were dodgy).

After an hour I glanced at the transmission, took it out of Reverse and into Park. Worked like a charm. :eclipsee_

[Thornie]

wasnt what i did but what my mate did when he wired up my autometer tacho in my xf he had wired it all up and time to test somehow he had wired it in to the window washer squirters and everytime the shift light came on the windscreen copped a healthy dose of water after me and my other mates picked ourselfs off the ground the one who wired it up saw the lighter side mainly because he thought he was "mr.electronics"

[RED_EL_XR8]

Originally Posted by RaTTuS

wasnt what i did but what my mate did when he wired up my autometer tacho in my xf he had wired it all up and time to test somehow he had wired it in to the window washer squirters and everytime the shift light came on the windscreen copped a healthy dose of water after me and my other mates picked ourselfs off the ground the one who wired it up saw the lighter side mainly because he thought he was "mr.electronics"

makes notes - that has potential...

i spent 3 months trying to get my old EA started only to realise that i put the leads on the wrong way around... geeze was my face red, well not really but it was how I felt.

on my ED i didnt disconnect the battery when changing the regulator on the altenator, gave me a bit of a fright when it earthed out! im also an expert in arc welding spanners too....

[InitialD]

Ohhh Sooo many to list

1. John_xr6, a friend of his and I were cutting the TBAR mound out of a EA wreck in my garage, hit a fuel line, managed to set my concrete floor on fire. they laughed, I had a small heartattack!

2. Trying to start my old XE for 2hrs after changing my leads, thinking it was them! Turned out to be i forgot to flick the kill switch off

3. Leaving my EA Wagon parts car's LHS sitting on stock Car jacks cause i was too lazy to put wheels on it, then leaning on it, watching it Fall off the jacks and it crash to the floor

4. Stupidly Connecting the battery around the wrong way and frying 1/2 the enginebay electrics on my XD parts car

5. Chasing my 14" Spare tyre down the road as i left it leaning on my XE in the carport and watching it roll down the driveway and down the road

6. Calling my Clutch fan a "Propellor" at a EAFALCON club meet, ahh I still get crap for that

7. Dropping many Bonnets and Bootlids on my head because they couldnt stay up!

8. Leaving a 14"mm Socket and breakerbar attached to the inlet manafold of my EA and driving around for 1hr before hearing "ding ding ding" on the ground

9. While removing springs from a EA, slicing about 2mm off my finger cause it got caught on the LHS Guard

[neb]

i had to use a jimmy bar to move my alternator to get the alternator belt tight. the thread on the adjusting thing is stuffed. anyway without realising i left the bar sitting under the bonnet on the side next to the overflow bottle and battery. after driving around for a while i noticed a clunking sound coming from the engine bay.. and found out it was that. it left a very small dent in the bonnet.. not that noticable but enough to be annoying.

Also I bought a car stereo amplifier a while ago and one day it just stopped working.. so I checked the amp fuse, all the wires were hooked up fine, but it just wouldn't turn on. I took it back to the shop waited about 4 weeks for it to come back only to find out that they said there is nothing wrong with it works fine. So i put it back in the car and worked out that the fuse in the power wire near the battery had blown.. i had looked at it earlier but it looked ok. I felt pretty stupid!

[SileNceR]

Using some old crappy milk hose from my "donor car" for my cooling system when I converted the EA to MPI. got half way round the block after i'd let the car warm up, gave it hell and all of a sudden the coolant light came on...doh..

5l of brand new coolant and I needed to go get a new hose... glad I had my mobile handy.

[Psycho Chicken]

Dropping the diff to play with the rear suspension. Had the car on a hoist, shockers unbolted, diff wouldn't drop fully. Got in the back to find one of the shockers had a lip on the rod, it'd caught on the body. Easy enough, I'll just flick it out of the way. BIG MISTAKE! The weight of the diff pulled the shocker right down, and the nut on the end of it cleaned up my fingers on the way past. Lots of blood that day.

Over tightening my rocker cover bolts and busting the rocker pedestals.

When I put the BBM on the first time I put the fuel lines on with the manifold on the engine. The bastard leaked fuel when I turned it off. Looking under the car I saw it coming off the fuel hose to line connection. I put so many bloody hose clamps on it beyond FT but the bastard kepr leaking. Later on we had a decent look at saw the fuel leaking from the fuel hose to rail connection and running down the hose......

Crushed a spark plug lead getting said BBM on.

Exhaust leaks. I should of never pulled it apart.

Putting a hose clamp on the rear brake lines for some private road fun. Couldn't figure out why the rear brakes were locking on. After about 3 shots I remembered the EA-ED hand brake actually closed the calipers, it's not a drum hand brake. Put the hose clamp on with the hand brake off and boy did that set of tyres cop it.

[Mike Gayner]

Was under my car checking out the buggered diff about a week ago. I was in a hurry and no one was around to help me push the shitter so I had the car jacked up on the grass. Both of the stands collapsed into the grass at the same time and the car came down on me. Thank god the peice of shit is stock height and still had it's wheels on, or I would surely had been severely injured or possibly killed. It hurt like hell but I managed to get out from under the car (fuel tank landed on me, bent a little). Tell ya what though, the site of a car falling off the jack stands while you are under it is the scariest thing I have ever seen.

Other dumb mistakes, let's see.... Spent half an hour trying to get the center out of an old EA diff before realising it still had the axles in it.

When removing said diff from vehicle, left the brake pipes connected. Two very out of shape pipes. Some hand bending and a few cable ties fixed that.

Backed a fully restored Hillman Humber off the four post hoist - without realising the hoist was still a foot in the air. Thankfully the only damage was a very flat exhaust.

Drove my shitty EA onto a two post hoist going way too fast at a really funky angle and popped the LF tyre on one of the arms.

After about an hour of mig welding, realised I hadn't disconnected the battery on the 1999 Nissan Primera - thankfully there was no damage.


That's all I can think of right now. Man, looking back at some of the dumb shit I've done really makes me feel like an idiot.

[Casper]

Ok, I havent had too many apart from the usual throwing of tools when a nut/bolt/screw refused to budge.

The one really stupid one I did was:

Replacing the diff in the XD after blowing it I had undone and removed all the U bolts holding it to the leaf springs. I then undid the unijoint at the tail end of the tailshaft so the diff was free to come out. Problem was it wouldnt budge. So after much cursing and tugging I climbed under the car and lay down under it to give the diff a big kick to move it. I kicked, it moved, the tailshaft cam free and dropped hitting me across one knee and also inbetween my legs.....PAIN. I shot straight up and headbutted a u bolt holding my muffler on. So one very sore knee, sorer private parts and bleeding forhead later I got the diff out.

[Thanatos]

Originally Posted by Psycho Chicken

When I put the BBM on the first time I put the fuel lines on with the manifold on the engine. The bastard leaked fuel when I turned it off. Looking under the car I saw it coming off the fuel hose to line connection. I put so many bloody hose clamps on it beyond FT but the bastard kepr leaking. Later on we had a decent look at saw the fuel leaking from the fuel hose to rail connection and running down the hose......

WHO realised??? I seem to recall the words "Dude, this seriously looks like it's coming from up higher" being used. :P lol


As for my biggest mistake: Leaving a screwdriver on the shocktower of my EA, driving to the shop to get something, get halfway there and the throttle is suddenly stuck at 2500rpm! Luckily the car is a manual so i could just put it in neutral and coast to a stop. Pop the bonnet, only to see the screwdriver wedged into the throttle linkage, holding it open at exactly 2500rpm.

[AlbertM]

Originally Posted by Mike Gayner

Was under my car checking out the buggered diff about a week ago. I was in a hurry and no one was around to help me push the shitter so I had the car jacked up on the grass. Both of the stands collapsed into the grass at the same time and the car came down on me. Thank god the peice of shit is stock height and still had it's wheels on, or I would surely had been severely injured or possibly killed. It hurt like hell but I managed to get out from under the car (fuel tank landed on me, bent a little). Tell ya what though, the site of a car falling off the jack stands while you are under it is the scariest thing I have ever seen.

Go out and buy a lotto ticket!



Only have one slip up. Just got my P's and had the XD for about a 1month it needed and engine overhaul, new bearings, pistons, cam, lifters head re done and so on. Anyhow to cut cost I went for a second hand cam shaft, $50 and near brand new, how could I loose. After 3 hrs of putting the engine back in the car(I was so proud I did it all by myself and I was only 17).

While trying to start the car it was hard to crank over, flames shot out the carby and a big clunk. Took the tappet cover off and 2 push rods are bent.

Point is, don't put a 250 side flow cam into a 4.1l cross flow engine.

[Thanatos]

Originally Posted by Casper

Ok, I havent had too many apart from the usual throwing of tools when a nut/bolt/screw refused to budge.

The one really stupid one I did was:

Replacing the diff in the XD after blowing it I had undone and removed all the U bolts holding it to the leaf springs. I then undid the unijoint at the tail end of the tailshaft so the diff was free to come out. Problem was it wouldnt budge. So after much cursing and tugging I climbed under the car and lay down under it to give the diff a big kick to move it. I kicked, it moved, the tailshaft cam free and dropped hitting me across one knee and also inbetween my legs.....PAIN. I shot straight up and headbutted a u bolt holding my muffler on. So one very sore knee, sorer private parts and bleeding forhead later I got the diff out.

HAHAHAHA! That's GOLD! The mental picture created by that is priceless! roflmao

[Casper]

Originally Posted by Thanatos

HAHAHAHA! That's GOLD! The mental picture created by that is priceless! roflmao

Thanks....my limp thanks you too.
Even worse was that the driveway hadnt been concreted yet so I was doing it all on crushed rock...in the middle of winter....at about 10pm......and I needed the car for work the next day.

Some of you know I dont work on my car any more...now your getting an idea of WHY!