What silly mistakes have you made?

[oldford]

A fresh one.......

 

Last year I dropped a 10mm socket in the engine bay which went into the undertray. Could not be arsed to remove tray to recover. Got a few 10mm sockets anyway so not a big problem although it was my favourite one.

 

On service this year I recover the socket and refit undertray. Quietly chuffed at having full set of favourites again.

 

Run engine and top level up.

 

Drop oil filler cap into undertray..........

I colleague did similar, except that it was his wedding ring that he removed for better access.  He got hell of his wife for losing it, a year later he was working on a car and there it was in the engine bay.  He did the same with a magnetic torch, it spent a year attached to the under side of a car.

 

I had a recent one, changing a taper roller front wheel bearing.  I was so pleased to hear that sound as the bearing seat is evenly hammered home, only to discover that I'd refitted the old one.

[scaryoldcortina]

 

I had a recent one, changing a taper roller front wheel bearing.  I was so pleased to hear that sound as the bearing seat is evenly hammered home, only to discover that I'd refitted the old one.

 

I've done that with a gearbox. I was doing a clutch and box swap on a ZX diesel and accidently refitted the old box with the crunchy second gear.

[D Spares & Tyres]

I lost my extra long thin screwdriver years ago

 

Fast forward ten years or so and I get given a mouldy old Escort I had previously sold but had been laid up for years on a farm.

 

Before I weighed it in I removed the battery and next to it was my old screwdriver ☺

[Crusty Sills]

Replaced the brake discs, pads and bled the brakes on my old Citroen AX one lunch time at work. Driving down the A11 on the way home a lorry went passed and the world went black with a huge bang!

 

After topping up the brake fluid didn't lock the bonnet down and the secondary catch didn't work, the bonnet opened and bent itself over the roof cracking the screen denting the front of the roof and destroying the bonnet and a perfectly good pair of pants!!

 

Whilst working as an apprentice mechanic I pulled a Peugeot 405 on to the 2 post ramp and got out. Door was a bit stiff but thought nothing of it.

When the customer came to pick he said about the massive crease in the drivers door that wasn't there when he dropped it off!

It would appear that I managed to bend it around part of the ramp when opening without noticing.

To say I wasn't popular with my manager is an understatement.

[danthecapriman]

In my old job I once reversed a customers car, an old Fiat Ulysse, out of the workshop after giving it a service. Trouble was the big aluminium and glass roller door had dropped back down and I hadn't noticed. So I backed out through the door! Literally!

It bent the door outwards badly, broke some of the little glass windows and smashed the rear screen out of the car. The first I knew about it was an almighty bang followed by a whoosh of fresh air and glass shards blow through the car.

The customer was cool about it, and was happy with a free replacement rear screen but my boss wasn't best pleased. I felt such a prat for not looking what I was doing.

 

I once stuck an old screwdriver into an HT lead and rested it next to the engine block on my Capri to check for a spark. The screwdriver kept rolling away every time I went to crank the engine so I got pissed off and held it still with one hand then reached through the door window and started cranking it over. My god that was a hell of a shock! Like a tit I was holding the metal bit of the screwdriver!

[twosmoke300]

Fitting a towbar to a brand new mk2 crv . Rear door open which stuck out beyond the doorway of my bay . I thought that I'd better watch that but managed to still press the up button on the ramp by mistake and fold the top of the door frame over .

Another new car this time , accord tourer in a weird green colour and thousands of pounds worth of strange accessories to fit . Last to go on was roof rails . Just using a electrical screwdriver to tease the rubber on the rail base and slipped and scratched the rear 1/4 .

Customer backed out of the sale and the dealer took about 6 months to sell it at a massive loss . Oops

[catsinthewelder]

Discovery ownership has been fairly cockup filled.

 

First I ballsed up the rear crankshaft seal resulting in a massive oil leak when reassembled. This was particularly irritating as there was nothing wrong with the old one, I had replaced it after finding oily stuff in the bell housing while changing the clutch that was actually clutch fluid. Putting the gearbox back in the 2nd time required six of the Midlands massive.

 

Once that oil leak was sorted I decided to fix the other one. I made a rubber seal to try and sort out where it was leaking from the oil cooler and it seemed to work until it got very hot and threw mayonnaise everywhere. So I spent a few days changing the HG, oil and coolant and all seemed well till I noticed that it was mixing fluids again. Lobbed it into a garage and with a new rad it was fine.

[strangeangel]

I once owned a 405SR that had a padlock holding the boot shut on account of rear impact damage. Naturally the boot shipped water like no-one's business, and this would inevitably find its way into the car, making the carpets honk.

 

In order to remedy this, I took my trusty cordless drill and made several holes in the boot floor. A strange hissing sound accompanied one of the holes - closer inspection revealed that this was because I'd drilled through the spare tyre.

[Royale80]

Crickey - your driveway must have been like the Exxon Valdez.

Luckily it was not on the drive but on the road outside the house! Took me ages to clean it up. 4 gallons of GTX-cost a bloody fortune.

 

Friend of mine is a welder. Many moons ago was asked to weld the underneath of an Avenger. Stupidly did it himself and set the inside on fire. Went to Le Mans the next day leaving the owner of the Avenger a nice surprise when he turned up to pick up the car.

 

Steve

[Richard]

My phones kept falling out of my pocket when I was working on the Volvo last night so I put them up on the bonnet to avoid damaging them. Then I finished the job and went for a test drive. I found the work phone first, some of it at least, absolutely mangled. I didn't hold out much hope for my own phone but it was as good as new, with the blue LED winking to tell me I had an email message.

 

I went back in daylight to try to find the SIM from my work phone. I found it eventually but there is no sign of the main board, it must have been reduced to dust.

[D Spares & Tyres]

Haha that reminds me of a friend who visited from about 10 miles away. Whilst chatting he noticed the cup of tea on the roof of his car still half full!

 

His careful driving and the roofrack saved it although it was cold.

 

He told me he had been looking everywhere for it but was totally baffled as to where he put it ☺

[beko1987]

Dad lost a nokia 6210 from the roof of his mondeo once

[scaryoldcortina]

I killed a nokia 5110 by leaving it on the roof of a car - I'd just done disks and pads. First press of the pedal and the phone shot off the roof, bounced across the bonnet and landed in the road. Being a 5110, it survived this intact but while I was getting out to retrive it it was run over by a fork lift truck.

[beko1987]

Bet if you called it it would still ring...

[Timewaster]

Bet it wasn't an accident.

Fork truck driving is boring. There's not much other entertainment.

[fatharris]

I forgot this thread existed. 

Any new fuck ups chaps?

I'll add mine:

Welded next to my phone, resulting in the front of it being covered in welding spatter.

Followed the Haynes manual and overtorqued the camshaft bolt, snapping the thread inside.

Whilst lightly clamping a cylinder liner in the vice to hone it, I promptly knocked it off the vice, causing it to crack

Assembled the oil control piston rings incorrectly, causing an eternity of headscratching and wondering why the hell it wouldn't compress.

Didn't replace the clutch release bearing whilst the engine and box were out - this immediately broke as soon as I attempted to move the clutch pedal.

Chasing the 'no-horn' fault on the BX and only getting exactly 5v on the multimeter, ripping looms out and generally getting nowhere, until I realise the clean patch of metal I was using was no good as an earth.

I was using surface cleaner to clean the LHM filter, until I grabbed the identical-looking can of primer instead.

Tried removing the BX's bootlid on my own whilst the kids were asleep - undone both pins most of the way, quickly nipped in to check on the kids, walked back to the garage just in time to see the pins give out and the bootlid fall into a snotty heap. Got away with minor chipping for that one.

Blew through the metalwork welding in the front inner arch, setting fire to sound deadening behind the dashboard.

Poked a rust scab on the BX - this caused 90% of my work

Ignored a melted wire for ages before finally repairing it and fixing MrsH's heater fan which had been broken for weeks.

Jacked up the BX a bit using the front crossmember bracket as it was too low to jack anywhere else - bracket spotwelds creaked, snapped off, bracket folded in half.

Leaving a battery on charge in the garage for a fortnight and forgetting all about it - when I eventually got in again, the smell made me think a cat had snuck into the garage and died.

Changing a whole manner of items when the BX was overheating - except for the thermostat.

Popping the LHM pump with a wonky pulley into the bin with  a pile of rags to let the LHM drain out, before forgetting about it entirely and emptying the bin for collection - I realised the day after the bins had been collected.

Starting the Laguna up, in gear, whilst one corner was raised on a trolley jack. Whoops.

Used thinners to remove overspray from the Beat's interior plastics, which resulted in the heater control panel melting uncontrollably

Thought my mate Dan had buggered up my wheel bearing when he swapped the lower ball joint out on the Rover's front hub - turns out it was totally fine.

Plus plenty more which I'll add to when I remember.

(Jesus, even I think I'm shit at this now)

[camryv6]

Has anyone put "got married" yet ?

[eddyramrod]

I could write up a catalogue!  But for now, let's just leave it at: swopping rusty Huggy for malignant Jag.

[rainagain]

Fitted a head gasket the right way up but 180 out, I didn't realise it wasn't symmetrical and I had blocked the main oil feed to the head. Started the car up and it made the most awful noise, it was then I noticed the camshafts were running dry. Amazingly I stripped it all down and despite it being a MLS gasket, I flipped it round, bolted it all back and it worked fine.

Was working on a car and forgot I'd left an axle stand under it, tried to drive away, when it wouldn't move being young and stupid I booted it and to my surprise an axle stand popped up through the passenger floor, like a little rusty mushroom.

Ordered parts from Neo Brothers which were wrong and found they're such dodgy traders they won't accept a return on them. 

Bought a Megane DCi

[camryv6]

14 minutes ago, rainagain said:

Fitted a head gasket the right way up but 180 out, I didn't realise it wasn't symmetrical and I had blocked the main oil feed to the head. Started the car up and it made the most awful noise, it was then I noticed the camshafts were running dry. Amazingly I stripped it all down and despite it being a MLS gasket, I flipped it round, bolted it all back and it worked fine.

Was working on a car and forgot I'd left an axle stand under it, tried to drive away, when it wouldn't move being young and stupid I booted it and to my surprise an axle stand popped up through the passenger floor, like a little rusty mushroom.

Ordered parts from Neo Brothers which were wrong and found they're such dodgy traders they won't accept a return on them. 

Bought a Megane DCi

Was that the convertible megane you put an engine in ?

[Supernaut]

Well, it all started shortly after I was born. Which was considered by many to be an unwise decision...

[Stinkwheel]

Not myself, but one of the best i ever saw was when i was in the BMW bike dealers back in the day. One of the lads there (lets call him Bob) had serviced one of the DSA driving examiner BMW twins, an M reg R80RT if i remember rightly.

Had started it up, blipping the throttle to get the oil warm and then let it settle and check the level, but the oil pressure light wasnt out after about 30 seconds, so he blipped the throttle a few more times and then a few more then exclaimed 'OH SHIT!!' and turns it off. He then announces for it to build oil pressure it needs the new oil in it first.

How we laughed.

[New POD]

2 hours ago, camryv6 said:

Has anyone put "got married" yet ?

No. Why? 

[SmokinWaffle]

3 hours ago, fatharris said:

Poked a rust scab

 

rookie error

[JeeExEll]

I once drove 40 miles to Inverness with a ladder on the roof of my van which wasn't tied on. I'd taken the ratchet strap thing off then answered my phone and got distracted with something else. The only thing holding it on was a little bracket on the ladder resting against the roof rack bar. I'd been driving at 70+. I only realised it was still there when I drove down a ramp going into a shopping centre and it slid off the roof down onto the bonnet of the van.

It could have fallen off and gone through someone's windscreen at any time.

 

[JeeExEll]

I once passed on the offer of a Mk2 Lotus Cortina for £600.

And I once sold a 82 Capri 2.8i 4-speeder, with MOT, for £160.

[JeeExEll]

Jacking up a Cortina and putting a spring compressor on the springs, then cutting most of the way through them with a hacksaw to lower the ride height. Then lowering the car onto the ground to let the springs snap.

Idiot.

At the next MOT the tester couldn't believe I had four broken coil springs. He made a comment I must have been driving like I was in the Dukes Of Hazzard.

[JeeExEll]

I lost 4 wheelnuts for alloys on a Capri Ghia so used wheelnuts for steel wheels which didn't have the collar bit on then.

Drove for a few miles, then when I was driving round a corner the car slithered to a stop in the middle of the road. The wheelnuts had pulled through the holes in the driver's rearside alloy.

I was on the way to a funeral and dressed in best suit, and I didn't have a spare wheel or wheelnuts in the car.

Just switched on the hazards and left the car in the road for a couple of hours. Apparently it caused a lot of traffic problems as it was on a really busy road in Aberdeen and was mentioned on local radio.

[rainagain]

1 hour ago, camryv6 said:

Was that the convertible megane you put an engine in ?

Yes, the worst bit is it was my OH that wanted a convertible megane, I said that's fine we'll need to make sure we don't buy a DCi as they're shit, then I went out and bought a DCi which started knocking within two weeks. I was done up like a kipper, it must have spun a bearing and someone had removed the sump, shoved on one new bearing shell and slapped it back together. I stripped the engine and found some of the sump bolts weren't even properly tightened. You might be able to tell but even after all this time I'm just ever so slightly bitter about being done over! 

[grogee]

Tried to fill gearbox oil with driveshafts removed

Dropped a brand new glass headlight and smashed it

Spilled so much oil on various driveways. Usually used, usually black. 

Bricked an ECU

Filled my ear hole with petrol

Shorted out a brand new dashcam

Filled my Mini cooling system with washer fluid

Forgot to tighten wheel nuts a couple of times. Also left locking wheel nut key attached to locking nut