What silly mistakes have you made?

[camryv6]

2 hours ago, rainagain said:

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! 

I remember reading the whole thing and thinking you persevered a lot longer than i would of, and i still remember to this day the comment about nearly dislocating your shoulder punching the air when you sold it !! lol 

[camryv6]

Hand up who has refilled the engine oil before putting the sump plug back in 🙋‍♂️

[Blue 850]

Many years ago I had a Fiat Uno with a healthy appetite for CV joints and wheel bearings. I  obtained a pair of 2nd hand driveshafts to fit to it in a mates shed one Sat afternoon. Anyway between talking sh1te and stuff going wrong I only got one fitted on the drivers side, drove home 6 miles to hear it rattling worse than the original. Divine inspiration came in church on Sunday morning when I realised the rattling was from the passenger side wheel nuts I had loosened but never got around to take off and work on.

[richardmorris]

I accidentally made a Molotov cocktail this afternoon that exploded when I was holding it. Apart from a small cut on my stomach with matching hole in lab coat and shirt I am unscathed. The glass was spread over fifteen feet and broke three other safebreak vessels in the explosion.

[artdjones]

J

 

5 hours ago, JeeExEll said:

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.

 

Bitter experience has led me to refuse to be distracted from properly securing ladders until the task is completely finished.

As regards other mistakes, I once fitted a pair of unobtainable new old stock Valeo headlamps to my 205. Then I went to work on another car. I had a scrap bolt from that job I decided to underarm onto my scrap pile. From where it ricocheted 4ft straight through the 205's headlamp lens.

[83C]

Mitsakes - I've made a few... 

When I was 16 I had a DT50 MX - tried 'tweaking' the fuelling by fucking around with the carb. Bike went well, briefly. Thrashing along flat out along the A5, the bike made a noise familiar to many riders of two-stroke small cc machines - nnneeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee-yip-screeeeech - the noise of a minuscule piston reaching maximum velocity and working beyond the limits of the lubricant in the fuel, followed swiftly by it overheating and seizing in the bore, locking the rear wheel. On disassembly the barrel was so rough it could have been used as a cheese grater. After that I learned there was such a thing as 'running lean' and so I didn't fuck about with the mixture again. That said, the new barrel and piston only lasted a month before needing replacement, because I'd forgot to top up the 2T oil tank. I'm a slow learner. 

My long running battle with locking wheel nuts commenced with a set on a Golf Driver - I'd refitted the wheels and left the key on the last one. Only found out that I'd made this critical error a month later when I had a flat tyre. 

Doing spark plugs on an X20XEV in an Omega - managed to drop a nut down No.1 cylinder. Thank fuck for telescopic sticks with magnets on the end.

Rounded out a head bolt because I hadn't tapped the hex bit home properly and was rushing. That was fun* to extract.

Whilst it may have made sense to a 17 yr old, age and wisdom now tells me a piece of hoover extension pipe and some socks are not the recommended bodge for a snapped exhaust. The socks in particular are not a substitute for exhaust bandage, and when they catch fire it can be quite exciting*

Some of the best fuckups I've seen though were committed by others in the bus industry, I just got the job of cleaning up and fixing the mess:

On some Dennis Darts the fuel and coolant caps are above each other. Clearly marked, and also different types. A driver (who may have had something of a reputation for not being quite the full ticket) set about topping up the coolant, going through three watering cans full and wondering why it still wasn't full, then running the hose from the wash into the filler and proceeding to fill it until the water flowed back from the cap. Satisfied that it was finally full, he drove it out of the depot and got about quarter of a mile before it conked out across a set of traffic lights. I got dispatched with a spare bus and some tools, swapped vehicles and sent him on his way after a quick conversation ('it just stopped, no idea why, got to go, bye.') Not knowing what was wrong I tried to start it, but no joy. Ok, no warning lights, so around the back. Lift the bonnet, nothing obviously amiss. Coolant was a bit low but nothing to stress about. Alright, maybe its run out of diesel. Stick the fuel can in and it almost immediately backflows out of the vent pipe just inside the neck. Except the back flow doesn't smell much of diesel. Why wouldn't diesel smell of diesel? I pour some more in, but with fingers under the overflow to try and catch some. It looks kinda blue, like diluted glycol. Oh fuck... The next day after a tow truck dragged it back, 200+ litres of diesel, water and glycol mix got drained, fuel filters replaced, lines all flushed through it was finally back on the road. The driver (he and his mistake identified after a CCTV review) seemed to think it was 'something that could happen to anyone' and just brushed off the bollocking. He went on leaving a trail of broken buses in his wake, but somehow never got the boot.

[purplebargeken]

Ground out a section of front wing on my 1500FWD Triumph. Hmm, why is the windscreen so dusty.

It wasn’t dust. Have never seen a windscreen rust before.

[purplebargeken]

Bought a new MuZ Saxon 301 in 1994. The most utterly shit bike I have ever known. It was that shit I can’t actually recall how I got rid of it.

[Dyslexic Viking]

I don't know where to start.

[Bren]

Bought an insignia.

[camryv6]

14 hours ago, purplebargeken said:

Ground out a section of front wing on my 1500FWD Triumph. Hmm, why is the windscreen so dusty.

It wasn’t dust. Have never seen a windscreen rust before.

Did that on a Landrover, rusty glass and door mirror

[purplebargeken]

It’s a twat when you finally realise…..

[camryv6]

A razor blade helped, not to slash my wrists but to scrape the glass and mirror

[Marina door handles]

27 minutes ago, camryv6 said:

A razor blade helped, not to slash my wrists but to scrape the glass and mirror

Ah I might give that a try on project Rover, the NSR passenger window ended up in the firing line of the grinder and is a bit acne'ed! 

[AnnoyingPentium]

Blew up a rather nice Sony radio with a dodgy wiring loom.

Removed the heater fan resistor from the Fabia, and refitted all the trim before fitting the new resistor.

Sat my keys in the engine bay of the Vectra whilst looking for a fault and then closed the bonnet. Thankfully was able to get the spare from the house.

Echoing @Bren a bit... bought a low mileage Vauxhall and put sales rep spec miles on it. AVAS and that.

[paulplom]

I have a habit of pinch zooming photographs and pictures in books etc for more detail.

I don't get laughed at much.

[omegod]

Bleeding brakes on a xantia, tube was too short so thought it would be a good idea to wedge something under the jar, turns out my brand new Samsung slide phone wasn't the best thing to use , jar overflowed  

Dot 4 and electronics don't mix apparently 

 

[EyesWeldedShut]

Filling up the oil with the sump plug sat on the bench winking at me.

😟

[castros_bro]

Filled in job application - because an friend who worked there said they were desperate for engineers - and where it said Full Driving License put my UK License number there then forgot all about it.   Interview and got the job - Arrived first day at work, flew to Tripoli was met at airport and was handed keys to a 4x4 Truck and a map  by the departing Engineer.  As my license was full  motorcycle one and I'd never driven a car it was an interesting 500km drive.

[mat777]

19 hours ago, richardmorris said:

I accidentally made a Molotov cocktail this afternoon that exploded when I was holding it. Apart from a small cut on my stomach with matching hole in lab coat and shirt I am unscathed. The glass was spread over fifteen feet and broke three other safebreak vessels in the explosion.

As a fellow science lab bod, I am compelled to ask - what were you trying to mix, and what did you actually mix?!
I too once exploded a laboratory, this was during an Open Evening demonstration at high school.....

Biggest work mistake recently was sending out a proposed accelerated training plan for newbies, out to the managers, still with my draft title of "Special High Intensity Training"..... the funny side was not seen.....
 

[purplebargeken]

Not car related. I wired an extension onto a radiogram power cable using chock block connectors. All done and put the rug over it, I laid down on the rug, propped myself using my arm/hand and next thing, my elbow tried to enter and exit my head. Loose wire in the chock block….

C’mon, I was only 6 years old…. Nearly didn’t make it to 7.

I still have teh fear re: electrics.

[fatharris]

Bleeding brakes on a xantia, tube was too short so thought it would be a good idea to wedge something under the jar, turns out my brand new Samsung slide phone wasn't the best thing to use , jar overflowed  
Dot 4 and electronics don't mix apparently 
 

I'd be more worried about DOT4 coming out of your Xantia brakes!

[omegod]

5 minutes ago, fatharris said:

1 hour ago, omegod said:

Bleeding brakes on a xantia, tube was too short so thought it would be a good idea to wedge something under the jar, turns out my brand new Samsung slide phone wasn't the best thing to use , jar overflowed  
Dot 4 and electronics don't mix apparently 
 

I'd be more worried about DOT4 coming out of your Xantia brakes!

Haha well spotted   The green kryptonite it would have been !

[junkyarddog]

Getting out of bed.

[Pieman]

Two years ago, getting to the airport in good time for a work trip to Portugal, got airside, went for lunch, opened my wallet...and realised I'd left my driving licence at home which meant I couldn't have the hire car they had booked for me.

Another wallet-related one: set off out on a trip somewhere, stopped halfway and filled up with fuel, got my wallet out to find I'd picked up the wrong one and only had Euros and no cards or sterling cash on me.  (Luckily my grandparents lived not far away and I was able to leave my details with the petrol station and go to theirs to borrow some cash.)

[Datsuncog]

Doing an oil change in the morning, then driving 50+ miles to a wedding, and wondering why there was such a smell of hot oil as I pulled up outside the venue...

Yup, left the oil filler cap off. 

Fortunately, it was still sitting on top of the screenwash tank where I'd set it... the scene under the bonnet was pretty grim, mind.

Lesson learned...

[louiepj]

Left the oil filler cap off my sons fiesta this morning after checking the levels and then presented it for mot.

[richardmorris]

1 hour ago, mat777 said:

As a fellow science lab bod, I am compelled to ask - what were you trying to mix, and what did you actually mix?!
I too once exploded a laboratory, this was during an Open Evening demonstration at high school.....

Biggest work mistake recently was sending out a proposed accelerated training plan for newbies, out to the managers, still with my draft title of "Special High Intensity Training"..... the funny side was not seen.....
 

I accidentally made up a solution of hydrogen peroxide at 50% with acetone and not water ( bottles were the same and in the same place).  Didn’t notice and didn’t smell anything odd until after the event. Then put 4ml in a schoniger flask, let in oxygen and set fire to the filter paper flag on the platinum basket. Kaboom! I do not recommend it and think I was rather lucky in the event.

[EyesWeldedShut]

17 minutes ago, louiepj said:

Left the oil filler cap off my sons fiesta this morning after checking the levels and then presented it for mot.

40 minutes ago, Datsuncog said:

Yup, left the oil filler cap off. 

Drove from Torquay up the M5 as far as Bristol before we twigged why there was a fair old oil reek - Vauxhall Omega 2.0litre. Went into some Vauxhall dealers over the Cribbs Causeway side of town and the spares guys, after a smirk, robbed one off a scrap engine and handed it to us. Top chaps.
I may* have done that before with a 2.25 pezz Series Land Rover but it wasn't as bad - I'd left the cap upside down on the exhaust manifold so the plastic caught fire after about 30 minutes and gave a hint that not all was well.

[grogee]

2 hours ago, purplebargeken said:

Not car related. I wired an extension onto a radiogram power cable using chock block connectors. All done and put the rug over it, I laid down on the rug, propped myself using my arm/hand and next thing, my elbow tried to enter and exit my head. Loose wire in the chock block….

C’mon, I was only 6 years old…. Nearly didn’t make it to 7.

I still have teh fear re: electrics.

I think I did similar wiring a Lego motor to the mains, not understanding 1) the danger and 2) the difference between AC and DC. 

Also tried to fix an electric shower, made sure all the electrics were off but didn't spot the stand-alone shower isolator...