Stupid Mistakes I've made working on stuff, thread..

[thedave925]

My CT26 had been on the way out for the last year but never did any of the turbo whine normally associated with death.
My friend is driving back from town and is rounding a corner at an intersection, lays into the throttle and suddenly this brief clunk and rattle happens. And reduction in power. He's headed home with smoke pouring out the back. "HELLA black smoke", he says.
I get home from work and deduce the turbo took a shit after 2 years of anticipation.
I'm tearing the e-bay apart and sure enough the shaft snapped, inducer on the compressor wheel drooping sadly. Must've been the center cartridge letting oil into the turbine housing to create smoke.
I'm under the car about to remove the rubber lower intercooler pipe so I can continue pulling the turbo.
"Damn, these pipes get real hard" i think to myself as I'm pulling, so I reposition directly underneath the pipe for bracing for the big yank.
"HOLY $H!T!" I exclaim as a couple quarts of oil pour all over my chest through my coveralls and onto the floor.
I was so surprised I called it quits right then and cleaned up for the night.

I assumed the center cartridge only leaked vast amounts of oil into the exhaust...

And yes I drive around with the occasional tool under the hood LOL

 

[Kckazdude]

Yep, I throw all the nuts and bolts into one bin. LOL.

And I thought I was the only idiot that done this! I ususally do it with at least 2 engines worth of stuff in the same bin.

My latest flub was on my own car. I dropped my base timing down 2° for the cold weather as I didnt want to run too lean until I get the funds for my MAFT Pro. A couple of weeks later I get a random miss from the engine and am pushing coolant from the resovoir. Perform the block test and get a negative result from that. Decide to pull the plugs and I would just read them to see what is going on and determine the misfire. As I am pulling the intake pipes to get to the plugs I notice my CPS bolt is loose and the CPS is all the way advanced. Start at #6 plug and notice I am running lean (wonder why) and keep pulling plugs to the front. Get to cyl 2 and find the electrode burned off. Apparently I didnt tighten my CPS bolt down properly when dropping my base timing. Now I get to buy another MHG and pull the head.

 

[Zumtizzle]

Yep, I throw all the nuts and bolts into one bin. LOL.

once you do it 3 times you tend to remember where everything goes.

 

[CajunKenny]

On my first supra, Maroon 87, I left my torque wrench on the crank pully after repairing a rod knock. Yeah, it wasn't pretty...

About a month later I was trying to change the timing belt and crank pully gear because the rear timing gear retainer came off and the timing belt had worked it's way backwards and was rubbing on the timing cover. I get down to the crank pulley bolt; but, can't get it off. So I get out my big dog wrench, a craftsman 1/2" drive 2' ratchet, and put a 3' pipe on it for AAAALLLLL the leverage any guy could ask for. I go to pulling on it, yes counter-clockwise; but, it won't budge. I decide to man up and pull on it hard when all of a sudden the ratchet broke and that 3' pipe I was using as a breaker bar hits my clavicle. And yes...broke it...

Remeber how I mentioned leaving my torque wrench on the crank pully bolt? Yeah, I'm sure that had something to do with it...