DIY Mechanics Fail Stories
Discussion
s p a c e m a n said:
Can you not just remove the entire roll bar? Can't fail on bushes if there's none there 
Yes. I have done that with a Jeep and it ran fine. The play is very minimal, no knocking. The test centre had one of those jigs that shakes the car and you could see the bar sliding maybe 3-5 mm side to side.
Tempted to just sikaflex them in place.
Zoobeef said:
Just remembered another. Thought I'd be good and service the old fiesta. Changed the plugs and one snapped in half undoing. Leading to the whole head coming off to get the leftovers out 
Done exactly the same. Mate came over with his motor for a quick service, onto the first spark plug.. ''Oh this is tight'', eventually it came out. Number 2 snapped and I ended up having to give him a lift home and to work for 3 days until the head was sorted.Engine change on an MR2 turbo, engine out and new one in all within a tidy 14 hours straight in the cold on a nice Decemebers day
Obviously once finished it was pitch black. Drove the car 5 miles before the rear wheels locked up whilst doing 60mph on the test drive. Car came to a standstill and I managed to force it into a layby.
Next day found a bolt missing from the side of the gearbox..... Sump bolt
Replacement gearbox ordered that same day.
Few weeks later the dash lit up like a christmas tree.. Alternator wiring was loose and become disconnected.
2 months later I parked it up and it ended up being stripped for parts and scrapped.
Obviously once finished it was pitch black. Drove the car 5 miles before the rear wheels locked up whilst doing 60mph on the test drive. Car came to a standstill and I managed to force it into a layby.
Next day found a bolt missing from the side of the gearbox..... Sump bolt
Replacement gearbox ordered that same day.
Few weeks later the dash lit up like a christmas tree.. Alternator wiring was loose and become disconnected.
2 months later I parked it up and it ended up being stripped for parts and scrapped.
Edited by LLR270 on Wednesday 23 November 15:52
Some years ago.
Re-building a brand spanking new 1340 fast road engine for my Mini. The bits for this thing had cost me a small fortune and I was so close to getting it fitted to the car.
Anyway, it was all assembled on the garage floor just waiting to be hoisted in and then connected up before I started it. I decided just to do the small job of fitting the gearbox/clutch case breather I'd bought from K&N. As I undid the bolt already in position where the breather would have attached (I'd bolted them back into the casing for safe keeping) I dropped the bolt right down the breather hole. It disappeared from view and went somewhere deep into the clutch/gearbox casing. Cue much swearing, shouting and the thought of the massive hassle of having to strip everything down again to find it and then rebuild the entire engine again.
My dad found one of those extendable magnet gadgets and poked it down the breather hole and low and behold, we heard a click and the bolt and washer I'd dropped came out together attached to the magnet.
I've never been so happy in my life.
Re-building a brand spanking new 1340 fast road engine for my Mini. The bits for this thing had cost me a small fortune and I was so close to getting it fitted to the car.
Anyway, it was all assembled on the garage floor just waiting to be hoisted in and then connected up before I started it. I decided just to do the small job of fitting the gearbox/clutch case breather I'd bought from K&N. As I undid the bolt already in position where the breather would have attached (I'd bolted them back into the casing for safe keeping) I dropped the bolt right down the breather hole. It disappeared from view and went somewhere deep into the clutch/gearbox casing. Cue much swearing, shouting and the thought of the massive hassle of having to strip everything down again to find it and then rebuild the entire engine again.
My dad found one of those extendable magnet gadgets and poked it down the breather hole and low and behold, we heard a click and the bolt and washer I'd dropped came out together attached to the magnet.
I've never been so happy in my life.
Changing a leaky rocker cover gasket on my brother's 106 a few years ago, got it off without losing any of the spacers which go between the rocker cover and this plate that sits above the rockers - but dropped them into the rocker box twice and fished them out again luckily.
What was really stupid was that doing the same job on my 206 recently (similar engine) it was only when I put the rocker cover back on that I remembered about these spacers... Found one by the alternator belt and the other resting on some wiring, I was lucky they didn't fall on the road and down the drain!
And an oil one:
First go at changing the oil on my 125, drained it all into a mixing bowl (wide top, but a narrow base). The bike was on its sidestand so was at an angle, so to make sure that all the old oil drained I decided to stand the bike upright... the stand sprung up by itself and knocked over the bowl full of oil.
I was on the right hand side of the bike opposite the stand so it took a while to go round to the other side to put the stand back down.
All the oil was now on the road and took ages to clean up.
What was really stupid was that doing the same job on my 206 recently (similar engine) it was only when I put the rocker cover back on that I remembered about these spacers... Found one by the alternator belt and the other resting on some wiring, I was lucky they didn't fall on the road and down the drain!
And an oil one:
First go at changing the oil on my 125, drained it all into a mixing bowl (wide top, but a narrow base). The bike was on its sidestand so was at an angle, so to make sure that all the old oil drained I decided to stand the bike upright... the stand sprung up by itself and knocked over the bowl full of oil.
I was on the right hand side of the bike opposite the stand so it took a while to go round to the other side to put the stand back down.
All the oil was now on the road and took ages to clean up.
Nezquick said:
Some years ago.
Re-building a brand spanking new 1340 fast road engine for my Mini. The bits for this thing had cost me a small fortune and I was so close to getting it fitted to the car.
Anyway, it was all assembled on the garage floor just waiting to be hoisted in and then connected up before I started it. I decided just to do the small job of fitting the gearbox/clutch case breather I'd bought from K&N. As I undid the bolt already in position where the breather would have attached (I'd bolted them back into the casing for safe keeping) I dropped the bolt right down the breather hole. It disappeared from view and went somewhere deep into the clutch/gearbox casing. Cue much swearing, shouting and the thought of the massive hassle of having to strip everything down again to find it and then rebuild the entire engine again.
My dad found one of those extendable magnet gadgets and poked it down the breather hole and low and behold, we heard a click and the bolt and washer I'd dropped came out together attached to the magnet.
I've never been so happy in my life.
Re-building a brand spanking new 1340 fast road engine for my Mini. The bits for this thing had cost me a small fortune and I was so close to getting it fitted to the car.
Anyway, it was all assembled on the garage floor just waiting to be hoisted in and then connected up before I started it. I decided just to do the small job of fitting the gearbox/clutch case breather I'd bought from K&N. As I undid the bolt already in position where the breather would have attached (I'd bolted them back into the casing for safe keeping) I dropped the bolt right down the breather hole. It disappeared from view and went somewhere deep into the clutch/gearbox casing. Cue much swearing, shouting and the thought of the massive hassle of having to strip everything down again to find it and then rebuild the entire engine again.
My dad found one of those extendable magnet gadgets and poked it down the breather hole and low and behold, we heard a click and the bolt and washer I'd dropped came out together attached to the magnet.
I've never been so happy in my life.
Good old Dad!
A chap near here was playing with an electric fuel pump from one of his collection of MG's in the garage. He put a battery on it to see if it worked, sprayed fuel on the battery which sparked, setting fire to the garage and then the corrugated plastic covering the walkway to his house. The house (some considerable distance up a country lane) burned to the ground, but was uninsured.
Patrick1964 said:
A chap near here was playing with an electric fuel pump from one of his collection of MG's in the garage. He put a battery on it to see if it worked, sprayed fuel on the battery which sparked, setting fire to the garage and then the corrugated plastic covering the walkway to his house. The house (some considerable distance up a country lane) burned to the ground, but was uninsured.
Ive got one that wasn't a DIY job
Years ago I had a celica, back box went so I replaced it, a few months later blowing from the front, it was winter and I couldn't be bothered so I rang toyota
Hi,celica, how many sections in the exhaust
2
OK have you got the front section in
yes, great I'll bring it in
I drive it in sounding like a WW2 tank
It's in there for an hour, comes out sounding like a WW2 tank
er, why is the exhaust still blowing
because the exhaust has a hole in it
It can't have , the back box is only 3 months old and you've just replaced the front
It's the middle section
what middle section !
hang on, you've just replaced a perfectly good front pipe while the middle section has a hole in, why
because it said so on the job card
Service manager apologised and waived the fitting charge, I imagine there was a Manuel, basil fawlty moment going on after i'd gone
Years ago I had a celica, back box went so I replaced it, a few months later blowing from the front, it was winter and I couldn't be bothered so I rang toyota
Hi,celica, how many sections in the exhaust
2
OK have you got the front section in
yes, great I'll bring it in
I drive it in sounding like a WW2 tank
It's in there for an hour, comes out sounding like a WW2 tank
er, why is the exhaust still blowing
because the exhaust has a hole in it
It can't have , the back box is only 3 months old and you've just replaced the front
It's the middle section
what middle section !
hang on, you've just replaced a perfectly good front pipe while the middle section has a hole in, why
because it said so on the job card
Service manager apologised and waived the fitting charge, I imagine there was a Manuel, basil fawlty moment going on after i'd gone
Not a major one, but I'll add my bit...
On an old car, I'd had one of those diesel tuning boxes for a while. Worked really well and gave the ol' girl a bit of extra pep, but by Christ the soot that came out the back was impressive!
Anyway - MOT time. I thought I'd put the car back to standard so it'd actually pass the emissions test and rather than just unplugging the box (it acted as a pass-though) I thought I'd remove it completely. Just one cable-tie held it in place. I reached for my Stanley knife and brain on autopilot, used my thumb to cut against and steady the whole procedure....
The blade made effortless work of the cable tie and only stopped upon reaching the end-knuckle of my thumb after traveling all the way down the side of my nail. Ow! Really ow! I was left with an inch, inch and a half long strip of thumb flapping around to consider on my way to A&E. What a berk!
On an old car, I'd had one of those diesel tuning boxes for a while. Worked really well and gave the ol' girl a bit of extra pep, but by Christ the soot that came out the back was impressive!
Anyway - MOT time. I thought I'd put the car back to standard so it'd actually pass the emissions test and rather than just unplugging the box (it acted as a pass-though) I thought I'd remove it completely. Just one cable-tie held it in place. I reached for my Stanley knife and brain on autopilot, used my thumb to cut against and steady the whole procedure....
The blade made effortless work of the cable tie and only stopped upon reaching the end-knuckle of my thumb after traveling all the way down the side of my nail. Ow! Really ow! I was left with an inch, inch and a half long strip of thumb flapping around to consider on my way to A&E. What a berk!
I got a face full of boiling hot coolant and water, after I released the coolant temperature sensor on my Mondeo but forgot to release the header tank pressure first.
First and only trip (so far) in an ambulance for that
That was an unpleasant week off work whilst the top few layers of skin peeled off, but luckily I must have instinctively closed my eyes and avoided any damage to them.
First and only trip (so far) in an ambulance for that
That was an unpleasant week off work whilst the top few layers of skin peeled off, but luckily I must have instinctively closed my eyes and avoided any damage to them.
mrfunex said:
Not a major one, but I'll add my bit...
On an old car, I'd had one of those diesel tuning boxes for a while. Worked really well and gave the ol' girl a bit of extra pep, but by Christ the soot that came out the back was impressive!
Anyway - MOT time. I thought I'd put the car back to standard so it'd actually pass the emissions test and rather than just unplugging the box (it acted as a pass-though) I thought I'd remove it completely. Just one cable-tie held it in place. I reached for my Stanley knife and brain on autopilot, used my thumb to cut against and steady the whole procedure....
The blade made effortless work of the cable tie and only stopped upon reaching the end-knuckle of my thumb after traveling all the way down the side of my nail. Ow! Really ow! I was left with an inch, inch and a half long strip of thumb flapping around to consider on my way to A&E. What a berk!
Ouch, but I'm impressed you managed to find a Stanley knife blade sharp enough to do that!On an old car, I'd had one of those diesel tuning boxes for a while. Worked really well and gave the ol' girl a bit of extra pep, but by Christ the soot that came out the back was impressive!
Anyway - MOT time. I thought I'd put the car back to standard so it'd actually pass the emissions test and rather than just unplugging the box (it acted as a pass-though) I thought I'd remove it completely. Just one cable-tie held it in place. I reached for my Stanley knife and brain on autopilot, used my thumb to cut against and steady the whole procedure....
The blade made effortless work of the cable tie and only stopped upon reaching the end-knuckle of my thumb after traveling all the way down the side of my nail. Ow! Really ow! I was left with an inch, inch and a half long strip of thumb flapping around to consider on my way to A&E. What a berk!
I've done a few silly things over the years.
Most recently I was doing a service on a Nissan Patrol on the driveway.
First thing, as always, oil catch tank underneath and sump plug out, walk away to start on something else whilst it drains.
My oil catch tank holds about 8 litres.
I soon discovered that a Nissan Patrol 4.2 turbo diesel engine holds about 10 litres!
Most recently I was doing a service on a Nissan Patrol on the driveway.
First thing, as always, oil catch tank underneath and sump plug out, walk away to start on something else whilst it drains.
My oil catch tank holds about 8 litres.
I soon discovered that a Nissan Patrol 4.2 turbo diesel engine holds about 10 litres!
Got a few in no particular order.
Was at school with a guy who had a Honda 250 Superdream. It had a slightly dodgy plug lead, but rather than fix it, it had a habit of giving it a knock with his boot to make sure it was properly seated when it started misfiring.
That was fine until one particularly rainy day, it started misfiring, he did his usual tap with the boot, and got a HT shock, which earthed itself via the zip in his jeans.
--
If you're working on a Honda VTR Firestorm, do NOT drop the fiddly airbox screws. There are 6 (or is it 8?) of them, and when you drop a screw, it vanishes into the V between the pistons and can only be retrieved by removing the airbox. After that's happened 3 or 4 times, it quickly becomes tiresome.
--
If you're cutting chassis rot out of your MX5 front chassis rails, 1mm cutting disks are a bit fragile. The disk can sink into a particularly rusty patch quite easily and then snag on some good steel where it's double thickness and fracture. The resulting jolt can throw the angle grinder out your hands and if you're especially unlucky, it'll bounce off your knee before running off down the drive until it runs out of cable. (Gaffa tape and blue roll make a pretty good bandage until you get to A&E)
Was at school with a guy who had a Honda 250 Superdream. It had a slightly dodgy plug lead, but rather than fix it, it had a habit of giving it a knock with his boot to make sure it was properly seated when it started misfiring.
That was fine until one particularly rainy day, it started misfiring, he did his usual tap with the boot, and got a HT shock, which earthed itself via the zip in his jeans.
--
If you're working on a Honda VTR Firestorm, do NOT drop the fiddly airbox screws. There are 6 (or is it 8?) of them, and when you drop a screw, it vanishes into the V between the pistons and can only be retrieved by removing the airbox. After that's happened 3 or 4 times, it quickly becomes tiresome.
--
If you're cutting chassis rot out of your MX5 front chassis rails, 1mm cutting disks are a bit fragile. The disk can sink into a particularly rusty patch quite easily and then snag on some good steel where it's double thickness and fracture. The resulting jolt can throw the angle grinder out your hands and if you're especially unlucky, it'll bounce off your knee before running off down the drive until it runs out of cable. (Gaffa tape and blue roll make a pretty good bandage until you get to A&E)
Shakermaker said:
I got a face full of boiling hot coolant and water, after I released the coolant temperature sensor on my Mondeo but forgot to release the header tank pressure first.
First and only trip (so far) in an ambulance for that
That was an unpleasant week off work whilst the top few layers of skin peeled off, but luckily I must have instinctively closed my eyes and avoided any damage to them.
I pulled a coolant hose off the heater matrix of my SiL's Corsa. It was in a hard to reach place and as i took the pipe off i got my arm wedged, spilling red hot coolant all over the inside of my wrist, ripping all the layers of skin off in the process. The trip to A&E was painful, took weeks to repair.First and only trip (so far) in an ambulance for that
That was an unpleasant week off work whilst the top few layers of skin peeled off, but luckily I must have instinctively closed my eyes and avoided any damage to them.
Mine is fairly minor as I don't trust myself working on cars. Topped up the oil in my old 206 one evening and set off early the next morning for work, a mile or so into the journey I hear a clonk and what sounds like something falling off the car, then look in my mirror to see something small and round rolling away into the hedge.
Yep, I'd forgotten to tighten the oil cap back up and it had fallen off. Looked for it in the hedge but never found it, had to tape a temporary replacement over the oil filler hole once I got to work and get another one from a scrapyard the next day.
Yep, I'd forgotten to tighten the oil cap back up and it had fallen off. Looked for it in the hedge but never found it, had to tape a temporary replacement over the oil filler hole once I got to work and get another one from a scrapyard the next day.
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