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

[suprarx7nut]

Alright so I was 16, had my car for about 6 months and notice that its over-heating. So I quickly crank the heater/roll down the windows (its summer). This cooled the engine down, but i had to ride home in blazing heat. So this keeps happening and I can't figure it out why. I have no leaks of any sort, everything seems to be working well. I search for solutions and find nothing that works.

So i ask my dad to help me out and he walks out, opens the hood and asks "So you have enough coolant, right?" SHIT!

I've never felt so dumb. I added about a quart of coolant/water and have still never had a problem with it since.


Just last week, I was replacing motor mounts and finished the job in record time. I drive from my house in Littleton to Boulder(55 miles). I get out and immediately notice my hood is slightly out of line. I open the hood and there's a huge(12 inch) screwdriver just hanging out in my engine bay, holding the hood up about an inch. Funny thing is, I didn't even need a screwdriver to do the work i did. I still dont know how it got there.

 

[americanjebus]

did my head gasket, took out every single shim 1 by 1 and threw them in a cup, then threw them back in without any order onto the buckets and started her up. took me a while to figure out my valve ticking.

 

[starscream5000]

^LOL, doh!

 

[MKIIINA]

reclocked turbo to get everything to line up. forgetting to check to make sure wg flapper door is closed in new position. spending a week chasing "boostleaks" and figuring out why boost is building so poorly. go to check wg flapper and realize its stuck 1/3 of the way open. curse. adjust arm correctly and enjoy car.

 

[A-to-the-J]

when i installed the intake pipe, i forgot to plug the afm back in...took me a few minutes to figure it out...LOL

 

[whudafux]

I had to take the timing cover off to check the timing because the car wouldnt start, and to do this i had to take the temp housing off. Timing was fine so i went to put the temp housing back on and snapped one of the bolts. It's still not out. I ended up sending the whole car to the junkyard before i got it out. I tried for quite some time to get it out. Oh well, too late now. lol.

 

[johnathan1]

did my head gasket, took out every single shim 1 by 1 and threw them in a cup, then threw them back in without any order onto the buckets and started her up. took me a while to figure out my valve ticking.

That's a good one.

 

[saxman47]

while driving home one day I noticed that I was out of windshield washer fluid, so when I got home I popped the hood and grabbed some washer fluid to fill her up. Stupid me, not knowing what is what under the hood, unscrewed the oil cap instead of opening the washer fluid resevoir. I then proceeded to pour a good quart of washer fluid into my oil.












JK guys :yelrotflm

 

[swaq]

while driving home one day I noticed that I was out of windshield washer fluid, so when I got home I popped the hood and grabbed some washer fluid to fill her up. Stupid me, not knowing what is what under the hood, unscrewed the oil cap instead of opening the washer fluid resevoir. I then proceeded to pour a good quart of washer fluid into my oil.






JK guys :yelrotflm

Jerk! You had me going there... :aigo:

 

[madsupra88]

while driving home one day I noticed that I was out of windshield washer fluid, so when I got home I popped the hood and grabbed some washer fluid to fill her up. Stupid me, not knowing what is what under the hood, unscrewed the oil cap instead of opening the washer fluid resevoir. I then proceeded to pour a good quart of washer fluid into my oil.












JK guys :yelrotflm

Holy shoitttt, u had me goin for a sec im like this kids is a fuggin moron lol

 

[saxman47]

Holy shoitttt, u had me goin for a sec im like this kids is a fuggin moron lol

I would ban myself from the forums if I really did that :nono:

 

[tookwik4u89]

I work on cars so I could probably go on for days, but this was just last weekend....

I went out to look at something in my engine bay last weekend. The car was sitting in the garage locked, the hood was already popped but closed. I grabbed the corner of the hood between the headlight and hood to lift and popped the latch with my left. That set off the factory alarm.......the headlights popped up......crushed my fingers between light and hood.....not only does that hurt like a mofo, but the horn is blasting and the lights are flashing like "hey look I got em.....hahaha" Man that sucked, i had to force the headlight down with my other hand to free it.

 

[Dunckel]

i let my girlfriend drive my car in the snow once. nuff said

 

[saxman47]

i let my girlfriend drive my car in the snow once. nuff said

nothing against your girlfriend, but if she's anything like mine,
you didn't even have to mention the snow :icon_neut

 

[Sl1dewaysSupra]

I had my car up on a lift at work and I was checking to see if my speedo cable broke. While it was up in the air the anti theft was somehow set without me knowing. I get the broken cable out, lower the car and try to start it... nothing. Raise the car to see if I mabey unplugged some thing and everything checks out ok. Lower the car to test the battery, it's ok. At this point I'm like "WTFOMFG!!!" I raise the car again to check the starter, it is ok aswell. Lower the car and stare at it pondering. Light bulb, lets see what happens when I take the key out of the ignition and unlock the door. She fired right up. All the while my boss was "reminding" me that it was after closing and he wanted to go home. Just one of my many Supratastic adventures.

 

[ChadMKIII]

I work on cars so I could probably go on for days, but this was just last weekend....

I went out to look at something in my engine bay last weekend. The car was sitting in the garage locked, the hood was already popped but closed. I grabbed the corner of the hood between the headlight and hood to lift and popped the latch with my left. That set off the factory alarm.......the headlights popped up......crushed my fingers between light and hood.....not only does that hurt like a mofo, but the horn is blasting and the lights are flashing like "hey look I got em.....hahaha" Man that sucked, i had to force the headlight down with my other hand to free it.

HAHAHAHAHA! I LOL'ed at that.

(Partly cuz thats exactly the kinda thing that would happen to me)

 

[87nasupra]

I got one for you all........I had just bought my N/A and was trailering it home because of a "supposed" bad fuel pump. Replaced the pump with a walbro. Still didn't crank....changed belts, hoses, plugs, wires, distributor and even checked the spark....NONE. Well i checked fuses and such, so i desided to change the coil. Still nothing. By this point im $300 in the hole and still no running supe. I check the fuses 4 more times before realizing that the fuse under the dash was in the wrong place! Changed that over to the right insert, grabbed a old plug and wire, and cranked the key......only to get a BIG AZZ SHOCK because i was still holding the plug.

Needless to say that i have held a plug in my hand that was still connected to a wire since then.

That same week, since i hadn't put new hood struts on yet, i used a broom stick handle, hit it checking the timing and closed my HAND in the freaking hood. Try dialing your girlfriends cell phone to come across town to open up the hood to get your hand out ! IT SUCKS, LOL

 

[mk3 for life!]

holy crap these stories are funny, i got a couple too

was cruisin around town for a week or so after my build and car keeps dying when coming to a stop, runs like crap and chugs gas, so i replace fuel filter...nothin? then i replace o2 sens. ...nothin, removed every piece of the intake, check every plug and wire, put intake back together w/all new gaskets and still nothin, (light bulb comes on) lets check timing!!! pull top cover to find that i forgot to tighten tensioner bolt, looked like someone peeled out under there and timing was off by some 130 deg. or so

at work i sometimes get in a hurry and forget to put the oil cap on some of the cars, and there was a customer standing near his car when i started it to check for leaks, got in, cranked it, and watched him run out of the way scraeming as oil was shooting out of the cap, he got soaked in 5w-30,...damn hondas

also had a coworker add oil to a car after i did, it took us a while to figure out why oil was spittin out the dipstick tube....i got tons more, perks of working at jiffylube while going to UTI to begin a carrer as an auto technichian, im sure i'll have more to come

 

[Dunckel]

I had my car up on a lift at work and I was checking to see if my speedo cable broke. While it was up in the air the anti theft was somehow set without me knowing. I get the broken cable out, lower the car and try to start it... nothing. Raise the car to see if I mabey unplugged some thing and everything checks out ok. Lower the car to test the battery, it's ok. At this point I'm like "WTFOMFG!!!" I raise the car again to check the starter, it is ok aswell. Lower the car and stare at it pondering. Light bulb, lets see what happens when I take the key out of the ignition and unlock the door. She fired right up. All the while my boss was "reminding" me that it was after closing and he wanted to go home. Just one of my many Supratastic adventures.

i too have been dooped by the anti-theft system

 

[MmmBoost]

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.

that actually sounds tempting... i had a bitch of a time getting that bolt loose the last time i pulled my motor.

lol @ nash, you mentioned everything i have ever done

my worst was being in a rush putting my newly machined head back together and not realizing that i forgot to buy valve stem seals. needless to say, i was stuck doing them the hard way a week later.