Your biggest motoring cockup?

[RustyNuts]

Well mine was removing the engine from the safrane. From that point on it gave me no end of trouble.. six years later and I'm almost near to getting it back on the road lol.

 

Unfortunately the whole bloody thing lead to the cooling part of the ECU packing up and that caused HGF on the original engine.. which had been a pain in the arse in many ways.. to a point i'm glad it's got another lump in there... though that fucker is on borrowed time with oil coming out in various places..

 

Anyhow enough of my whining, what has been your biggest car DIY fuckup?

[overrun]

If I think about it I will have a few!

 

One that comes to mind was my cousins 2001 Beetle. I replaced a rear caliper and obviously had to bleed the system.

Enter a pop bottle funnel - which I left the lid on and stuck in the resevoir - I pressure bled it and perplexed as to why there was no fluid coming out or level in funnel decreasing, ended up turning the M/C seals inside out. LOL.

 

And another....When converting my B19 engiend Volvo 360 to a B230 turbo engine, I screwed the bolts in for the crank position sensor only hand tight, I then forgot about it and when we were trying to get it running, the weak spark was a total mystery. Volatge and continuity checked everything and out of desperation (needed car for work) I ended up buying a new EZK module, new H.T. leads etc, before realising a week later!

[17-Coffees]

At work the other week, was jacking the front axle up on a 2013 Mercedes Actros & had the jack jump forwarded off the axle sending it right into contact with the sump...

The sump's on them are plastic, meaning it cracked it, badly, causing it to dump 40 odd liters of oil into the pit. 

 

I was very popular* at work for that, and still feel bad now. 

[D Spares & Tyres]

Finding this forum and being actively encouraged in shite collecting

[Uncle Jimmy]

Financially speaking, everything.

[Bren]

Being a serial Rover SD1 molester.

[dean36014]

Buying a two year old Lada and finding the front wing had already rotted out and been filled and sprayed. rest of the car was great though, it eventually got exported back to russia.

[smellypoo]

Had a Rover Tomcat give the front end of my MK4 Escort a 'frown'. It did actually shift the front 'a little to the side'. I still maintain it wasn't strictly my fault, but the insurance company said it was. Being 3PFT I could either scrap the thing myself or bodge it back onto the road. 

 

I decided to bodge it. <start cockup>

 

Courtesy of one of the breakers that used to be on the 'old' A13, I had a replacement headlight, bumper and indicator. Armed with those bits, a claw hammer, some 3 core electrical cable from the shed and some duct tape, it was 'fixed' - if you don't count the front end twist, the bonnet that latched but didn't sit square, the 'clarence' headlamps and comedy wheel alignment.  

 

Until the thing overheated.

 

In the smack, one of the hoses had popped off so most of the coolant had drained away. No problem says I, pop the hose back on, 'new' jubilee clip sourced from the crap in the shed (it was probably older than me), and a load of new coolant in. 

 

Airlock. I didn't think about that. 

 

Anyway, Friday night, drove into Central London in something that would have had most police in their checkpoint booths look twice - pulled it over onto double yellows in Bank with the temp gauge well into the red, steam coming past the bonnet. 

 

AA bloke came along, fudged the thermostat and topped up fluids / cleared airlock. Went home and took the train instead (at least it meant I could have a drink with my mates rather than be designated driver).

 

<ends cockup, all ends well>

 

Drove it like that for a couple of months till the MOT ran out. Failed on test with one failure - due to a seatbelt mounting point needing some welding (I think they took pity on a poor student)

 

Chopped it in for a new Fiesta (because Employee Family Discount, 0% finance and 2 years free insurance). Got £50 for it, apparently it went to the fire station across the road from the dealership for some 'jaws of life' practice.

[oldcars]

I bought a MK4 Golf once.

[Supernaut]

Buying a late 90s Audi with fuck-all service history, then spending several times' the car's value on it in about 2 years before selling it for a huge loss, just to get rid of the fucking problematic bastard.

 

Now, it's behaving itself perfectly with its new owner. Bastard thing.

[Station]

MGF running badly, replaced everything - months later, AA man said it was the rotor arm (£5).

[oldcars]

Buying a late 90s Audi with fuck-all service history, then spending several times' the car's value on it in about 2 years before selling it for a huge loss, just to get rid of the fucking problematic bastard.

 

Now, it's behaving itself perfectly with its new owner. Bastard thing.

That's like my Golf. Spent £££ fixing all the bits wrong with it, still hated it and sold it at a loss. MOT history says its still going, being welded up each year but its still going.

[tooSavvy]

I carry the 'mark of Cain'.... for simply applying logic and fitting 'Bleach bottle Washers' to get thru an MOT!

 

* Impressed the second owner, mind....

 

TS

[Asimo]

what, apart from crashing and buying a new Mk4 Golf? (unrelated events)

[Bobthebeard]

Using a plastic funnel with a short length of garden hose pushed onto the end to fill up an autobox with ATF. Garden hose part fell off and dropped into filler/dipstick tube. Much buggering about with bits of wire and pokage finally retrieved it. Never again.

[They_all_do_that_sir]

Buying a mk4 Renault Espace. quite frankly nothing I do from here on in motoring wise is likely to beat that.

 

Sent from my D6603 using Tapatalk

[tooSavvy]

Using a plastic funnel with a short length of garden hose pushed onto the end to fill up an autobox with ATF. Garden hose part fell off and dropped into filler/dipstick tube. Much buggering about with bits of wire and pokage finally retrieved it. Never again.

 

Hillman IMP clutch slave is bolted to the top of the bellhousing. Engine infront of you... gearbox out of sight under parcel shelf ( when you are kneeling at the rear). I loosened off the nut/bolt to remove it and one of the nuts went 'clink' down the clutch arm hole >> bummhatts

 

You can see the nut through the teeth of the ring gear but it cannot be poked out... Engine/box split..??

 

Noooo..... a long piece of string with a bit of TV tube magnet (V stikkie!!) taped SECURELY in the middle..... Down Upp Down Upp CLICK..... &OUT

 

 

TS

[Arthur Foxhake]

Taking the front end off a 306, slam panel, bumper,headlights et al.

Putting it back on, test driving it then trying to top up the coolant. Realised I hadn't re-connected the bonnet release.

Cue many hammers and a slight touch of outright vandalism.

[fordperv]

liking fords

[Supernaut]

Taking the front end off a 306, slam panel, bumper,headlights et al.

Putting it back on, test driving it then trying to top up the coolant. Realised I hadn't re-connected the bonnet release.

Cue many hammers and a slight touch of outright vandalism.

I remember trying to open the bonnet on a friend of a friend's Volvo V40 when the catch had gone.

 

We ended up going to the local scrappy and getting a replacement bonnet catch, and a replacement grille, then smashing the grille that was on the car to get to the stuck bonnet catch.

[twosmoke300]

Taking the box section brace bar off a mk1 Megane and after 2 months the floor pulled in half 😄

[beko1987]

sealing the sump of the meriva with blue hylomar, which lasted about 8 miles before melting out. 3 weeks later after probably killing several motorbikes with the oil it leaked I re did it properly

[Zantimisfit]

Buying a cheap multi owner Metro GTI from a bloke in Wigan. The reason for the bargain price became apparent once enthusiasm for sporty Metro ownership gave way to a more dispassionate assessment of its condition and its clearly chequered history.

 

A country road covered in sheet ice and a parked Transit van relieved me of the problem only a couple of months or so later. The Metro was written off, spirited up to a breakers 200 miles away in Edinburgh and, was evidently resurrected one more time, and, according to DVLA went on to live another 6 or 7 years, no doubt giving its new owner(s) much cause for suspicion and regret.

 

Good news was the insurance gave me 500 quid more than I paid for it, allowing me to trade up (?) to a 1979 Viva with a vinyl roof.

 

Oh, and mildly setting fire to Mrs Misfits Renault 11TXE (this was also some time ago). No long term harm to persons or to car, but quite exciting at the time.

[Keymaster]

Buying a 12 previous owner AX14TZS in the dark, ignoring all the dashboard lights blaring in my face is up there. But it did have tons of character so I forgave it's rough looks and various ftp's. For me, nothing will be more of a fail than when I purchased a Golf MK3 - it looked tidy but was utter shit with no character whatsoever and liked to piss fluids everywhere it went.

 

In terms of DIY fails, no major mechanical disasters but bodywork-wise my wob and "wrong shade of blue but it'll do" spraypaint exploits on my Nova will take some beating...

[overrun]

Taking the front end off a 306, slam panel, bumper,headlights et al.

Putting it back on, test driving it then trying to top up the coolant. Realised I hadn't re-connected the bonnet release.

Cue many hammers and a slight touch of outright vandalism.

This reminds me of another.

I bought a black Rev 5 GTi MR2 to donate some exterior panels (not the rusty shite) and some interior bits and bobs to my older black Turbo.

I swapped all sorts on that car. Including the dash.

 

When raping it for the later tail lights, centre panel ans boot lock (longer) I threw it back together and forgot to connect the boot release/lock opening rod.

Some tape measure action and a hole saw later I had access with the needle nose pliers to pull down on the disconnected end of the rod and pop the trunk.

 

Glad it wasn't the good car!

 

As I was selling the car on again, I said nowt (I now know the current owner who bought it from the person I sold it to.)

[omegod]

I once bought a Mercedes 190e many many years ago, pre autoshite, whilst pissed on ebay off a dodgy scouser......only joking Keymaster it turned out to be a peach   

 

Worst cock up's were changing a balljoint in the street and tightening the removal tool too much, it flew off and knocked me clean unconscious. I came round to several neighbours standing over me.  Second worst was bleeding the rear brakes on my xantia, the jar of fluid needed to be slightly higher so the obvious choice was to slip my brand new contract samsung phone under the jar, seem's electronics and DOT3 don't mix    

[panhard65]

Just this

 My biggest motoring mistake fucking horrid pile of crap it was that cost me a fortune to get right then sold at a massive loss

[LessThanEqual]

I've bought 2 VAGs.

[scdan4]

trying to get the bottom pulley off my hilux (on the street in the dark and rain, as ever) to do the cambelt in the spirit of preventative maintenance.

 

Couldn't get it shifted without the puller, so crawled out, went to shed and got it, came back, crawled back under and put it on. Line up, wind wind wind.

 

Fuck me this is stiff, wind (harder) wind (harder) wind (harder).

 

 

I hadn't put the nut back in the end of the crank, and in all the puddle lying in excitement, I carried on regardless.  Drove the puller bolt down and into the crank nut hole. It was just the right size to bite and pull itself in in a self tapping kinda arangement and utterly, utterly ruin the bolt hole thread.

 

Fucked.

 

Tried welding the pulley onto the crank, but it was never successful for more than a couple of months.

 

Gave up and auctioned it in the end. I loved that hilux. 

[Negative Creep]

Stripping the sump plug thread on a mk.2 Golf, in preparation for an MOT that cost more to get the car through than I was able to sell it for a month later