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

[Dachande]

Finish up fixing the HG on my ex's NA. Start he car and hear a weird metal clacking noise. We found out we had forgotten to tighten down the plate on the back of the head (the machine shop had put it back on, but didn't tighten down the bolts), that was a major pain to get all of those tight.
Same idea except on my car, but with that bastard child 90 degree coolant hose on the back of the head.

 

[staticpat]

I replaced my valve cover gaskets 3 times. They never sealed right, I tried Toyota gaskets, gasket maker etc. Still leaked. I pulled them off again and had my dad look at it. He promptly showed me that the valve covers were warped and lifted up like 1/2" higher on one side. oops

Another time I replaced my auto tranny fluid/filter. Took out the pan, cleaned it, cleaned both surfaces, reinstalled with gasket maker. About an hour later I saw the tranny magnets (for catching metal shavings) lying next to my tools. Of course my gasket was set by then, so I had to start over :<.

I've also disconnected a fuel line directly over my eyes, that hurt quite a bit. Another time I left my fan shroud unbolted and it stopped my fan, the pressure decided to evacuate through a random line by popping off and spraying everything.

Moral of the story: Don't let me near your ride.

 

[Finnon]

ive done the odd stupid thing like leaving dip sticks out etc. never anything serious though. stupidest thing ive ever done was in my house. I ran up the stairs jumped over a basket of dirty laundry and knocked myself clean out by banging my head on the top of the doorframe. lol

 

[johnathan1]

ive done the odd stupid thing like leaving dip sticks out etc. never anything serious though. stupidest thing ive ever done was in my house. I ran up the stairs jumped over a basket of dirty laundry and knocked myself clean out by banging my head on the top of the doorframe. lol

LMAO!

 

[starscream5000]

OUCH! LOL

 

[tissimo]

I put my buddys thrust bearings in backwards in his built b16 block.. luckily we cought it before wer finished it all up.. took us a while to figureo ut why the crank wouldn't spin freely...

 

[crazysupra2JZ]

i forgot to take out the lexus afm and put the stocker back in and the next day i took it for a drive and melted 2 pistons.

 

[starscream5000]

I bet you though it was running better than normal too right before it blew eh?

 

[tissimo]

I bet you though it was running better than normal too right before it blew eh?

I doubt it i bet the knock sensors were pulling hella timing you would feel that shit..

 

[starscream5000]

It was a j/k .

 

[crazysupra2JZ]

I bet you though it was running better than normal too right before it blew eh?

actually it was running the best it's ran in a long time that day. i adjusted the timing and she idled perfect, sounded healthy accelerating, and built boost quick

 

[starscream5000]

That's because of the lean condition it was in, burning every bit of fuel and making the most power possible, the bad part was, too much heat, then the detonation and melted pistons...

 

[miekedmr]

I dropped the little paper/plastic seal from a bottle of coolant into the head of my 22re and didn't realize it. Eventually it got stuck in the oil drain and made the head pool oil and smoke screen everyone behind me. :icon_conf

 

[Jayhall]

One time at home I did an oil change and cleaned my engine bay up really nice, then took a drive to the shop. Jose said he saw a few drips of something under the car. Turns out I forgot to put my TRD oil cap back on. DOH! Luckily it's didn't loose much oil, just enough to make a mess, but the TRD cap was gone

i hate to admit it, but in the 6 months i drove my car, i must have done that 12 times. Don (VanSupra) even caught me once. But i never lost the oil cap, it would always just find its way to a nice resting spot. I now leave the oil cap rested on the hood latch.

 

[swaq]

I too have forgot to put the oil cap back on. I drove about 90 miles round trip without it... (it was found in the parking lot where I had added oil).

I now leave the oil cap rested on the hood latch.

That's a really good idea. I keep second guessing myself, trying to remember if I put the oil cap back on after I close my hood.

 

[bigaaron]

Ok, I got a better one. A few years ago I offered to help a friend do a valve check/adjustment on his Supra. I was checking the valve clearance, and he was turning the crank from underneath. I put the valve covers back on and looked it over to make sure everything was in order and it was ready to start. He got in the car and hit the starter.....

I hear a " CLUNK.....rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr........clank " and I yelled SHUT IT OFF!!

The CLUNK was the breaker bar (he left on the crank pulley bolt) hitting the underside of chassis, the rrrrrrrrrrrr was the bolt spinning off, and the clank was the bolt and the breaker bar falling on the ground.

Luckily nothing was damaged, but I almost had a heart attack for a second there. LOL When I looked it over from the top I didn't notice the breaker bar was there because the fan and shroud and everything was installed.

I know there are better stories you guys are embarrassed to admit. :icon_wink

 

[OneJoeZee]

This one time, I hooked up a boost controller but I used tees with an inner diameter that was just too damn small to move any air fast enough for the solenoid to get a signal and react which caused the boost to spike really bad before settling and melted 2 pistons in the process.


teehee.

 

[Mr.PFloyd]

after when i got back from Poland, i immediately began to work on my car (the water pump belt snapped a day before i left so i parked it) so then with all the shit i had my friend order and leave in my house, i started to work on it fast. i took out the old pump, old radiator and then began to scrape off the remainder of the gasket from the water pump. then i put all my stuff on, filled it with coolant and it crank hesitantly because the battery drained. So it started and then i got this massive coolant leak. i was like omfg this radiator must have had its core fucked. Then i go under my car, and its leaking from further back.
looking confused i looked from the top, and there it was. i forgot to put on the new gasket when i put the water pump on and it was spraying everywhere.
needless to say i was pissed i wasted 20 bucks worth of coolant -_-

 

[JustAnotherVictim]

Ok, I got a better one. A few years ago I offered to help a friend do a valve check/adjustment on his Supra. I was checking the valve clearance, and he was turning the crank from underneath. I put the valve covers back on and looked it over to make sure everything was in order and it was ready to start. He got in the car and hit the starter.....

I hear a " CLUNK.....rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr........clank " and I yelled SHUT IT OFF!!

The CLUNK was the breaker bar (he left on the crank pulley bolt) hitting the underside of chassis, the rrrrrrrrrrrr was the bolt spinning off, and the clank was the bolt and the breaker bar falling on the ground.

Luckily nothing was damaged, but I almost had a heart attack for a second there. LOL When I looked it over from the top I didn't notice the breaker bar was there because the fan and shroud and everything was installed.

I know there are better stories you guys are embarrassed to admit. :icon_wink

I've done that before. But it's usually a big ratchet.

 

[Tanya]

hubby has done the whole leaving the ratchet on crank bolt before, taking a nice chunk out of the pulley and thoroughly upsetting his wife

he's also managed to get a spark plug socket stuck in the head. took him 30 minutes of cussing to get it out, in the process he leaned over the wrong way and spanned my fan shroud. i havent had a fan shroud since then