DIY Mechanics Fail Stories

DIY Mechanics Fail Stories

Author
Discussion

Mound Dawg

1,915 posts

173 months

Friday 16th August 2013
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No the engine was fine. Pete bought the car 2 weeks after it "seized". Plenty of time for it to cool down dontcha think? Pete took the head off and it still didn't turn. I took the alternator off and realised THAT was jammed solid so I grabbed the front pulley on the engine and it turned with a twist of the wrist.

We didn't think that the belt would have enough grip to stop the engine either but it did. It wasn't a poofy V belt, it was one of those flat ones with the ribs so it didn't just slip it gripped.

Trust me please, I'm not making this up!

A.J.M

7,893 posts

185 months

Friday 16th August 2013
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Working on the Disco, following a couple of pictures to try and free off my turbo actuator rod as it was sticking, throwing up a "engine system fault" and making it run like crap.

Jack car up, support with stand, take of front left wheel. Remove heat shield and try to free off linkage. Fail as it's really seized so refit heat shield, refit alloy and tighten up nuts. Lower down and go for a drive.

Get to next town and hear a dull but strangely familiar "thunk thunk"
Get back home, get out wheel wrench, tighten up the nuts that had only been done hand tight..
Realize, the Locking wheel nut is now not with you or the car...

Damn it, i've done that twice now. frown

Oh, and that Halfrauds oil catcher thing is pish. My driveway slabs and stones are pretty well rust proofed due to it... hehe

A.J.M

7,893 posts

185 months

Friday 16th August 2013
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Oh, i also once dropped a 2.0 zetec engine onto my left index finger. I crushed the top knuckle under the cylinder head.

I now can't put any real pressure on it, to the extent i sometimes can't open a 500ml plastic bottle of juice with that hand. hehe

uncinqsix

3,239 posts

209 months

Saturday 17th August 2013
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msduk said:
Securing my 2 door car for the night I used a wratchet strap. The door lock had broken so I tightened it between the two door pull handles nice and tight. Reached in through the window flicked the window switch to close, ducking out like Indiana Jones. I then locked the door from the key fob all smug.

As I was walking back to the house it suddenly occurred to me there was no way to get into the car again...

Edited by msduk on Friday 16th August 01:19
I'm curious about the eventual outcome of this one!

rsv gone!

11,288 posts

240 months

Saturday 17th August 2013
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I was once getting an old metro through its mot for someone. Î had replaced a lower suspension joint, the car was back together and I was driving back for the retest.

The car was making a noise like a dead drive shaft, but even in a straight line. I pulled over and then it dawned on me - the wheel nuts weren't tightened! They were just in their threads!

Justin Cyder

12,624 posts

148 months

Saturday 17th August 2013
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rsv gone! said:
I was once getting an old metro through its mot for someone. Î had replaced a lower suspension joint, the car was back together and I was driving back for the retest.

The car was making a noise like a dead drive shaft, but even in a straight line. I pulled over and then it dawned on me - the wheel nuts weren't tightened! They were just in their threads!
I did that for my brother once. Mk II Astra GTE he'd bought with the brake pad warning light on. The seller agreed to change the pads but actually unplugged the sensor wire. So I changed the pads for new ones & forgot to tighten up the wheel nuts on one side.

Brother didn't ask me for help after that. I suppose it was the mechanical equivalent of making tea at work & putting ten sugars in so you never have to do it again.

steveo3002

10,493 posts

173 months

Saturday 17th August 2013
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was working on my first car ,a mk3 escort and stashed all the parts behind the car as i was going so i didnt stand on there, finished up and got it started with no aircleaner and thought id run it up the road with no aircleaner on as id seen my dad do that ...reverse up and crunch ran over the aircleaner

had another car that was too low to get the jack under so i ran it up on some wood then jacked away as normal , was finishing off with it lowered back onto the wood and nipping up the wheel nuts, the handbrake cant have been fully on as it crept forwards off the wood onto my foot lmao

addz86

1,439 posts

185 months

Saturday 17th August 2013
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Justin Cyder said:
Did I ever tell you about the time I put the O-ring on the wrong part of the oil filter canister on my Mini Cooper-S?

Cue about four litres of brand new fully synthetic all over the road. Very fortunate I noticed it as I was pulling out for a quick round the block & didn't lunch the engine. There was about a litre left when I turned it off.
I did the exact same thing, but to my girlfriends car. I had to go round and sort it whilst her and her dad watched over my shoulder, managed to distract them whilst I quickly moved the seal and claimed that it was just a little drip that had caused all the smoke, and not that i'd ballsed up.

guru_1071

2,768 posts

233 months

Saturday 17th August 2013
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Camaro said:
Do you mean alternator or starter? Confused as to how an alternator would lead anyone to think the engine is siezed.
a seized alternator can make you think the whole engine is seized as the drag on a v belt is huge.

if its a small car, with a small starter motor the starter will not have the torque to overcome the friction of the belt.

ive seen it a few times on classic minis that have been stood in damp garages etc.

if an alternator has got damp it can rust together so solid it will never turn again.

ive had a few where simply cutting the old belt with a knife has saved a whole load of time!

loftyrst

20 posts

138 months

Saturday 17th August 2013
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Had two instances of cars attacking me, ironically the same car and one I really loved owning. I used to trackday an early Nissan Primera P10 eGT, was swapping the wheels late one evening in the semi dark before an early morning start to another track day, undoing the drivers front wheel nuts with breaker bar, socket slips off the nut, the resulting contact between forehead and front wing was enough to dent the wing, break my glasses and leave me dazed for 10 minutes or so.... A full "jack duckworth" repair with a band aid plaster did the job - on the glasses I mean.... Sold the car 4 years later, still with a dent!

I also got my hand stuck behind the engine, whilst changing the knock sensor on it, was proper wedged between a water pipe and starter motor. Stuck as in starting to swell up and panic setting in... luckily my lad who was 8 at the time, was coming back from his mates, he had to squirt washing up liquid up there so I could wiggle it free. Loads of bruises and gouges on my hand, and bubbles on the drive when it rained... He still laughs about it now.

kev b

2,708 posts

165 months

Saturday 17th August 2013
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Years ago we had my girlfriends Morris Minor up on the lift looking for steering play.

I asked her to wobble the steering wheel from side to side whilst I felt for play in the U/J.

She quickly wrenched the wheel half a turn, trapping my thumb and popping it like a burst tomato.


QuantumTokoloshi

4,161 posts

216 months

Saturday 17th August 2013
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Mound Dawg said:
No the engine was fine. Pete bought the car 2 weeks after it "seized". Plenty of time for it to cool down dontcha think? Pete took the head off and it still didn't turn. I took the alternator off and realised THAT was jammed solid so I grabbed the front pulley on the engine and it turned with a twist of the wrist.

We didn't think that the belt would have enough grip to stop the engine either but it did. It wasn't a poofy V belt, it was one of those flat ones with the ribs so it didn't just slip it gripped.

Trust me please, I'm not making this up!
Certainly sounds possible, the real solution is to do more weight training, then a twist of the wrist would have spun the whole motor up ! biggrin

Jimmy No Hands

5,007 posts

155 months

Saturday 17th August 2013
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I had a fail the other week, injecting the sills on a 924 with some cavity wax. Had a bit of tubing on the end of the aerosol lance to get right in there, had to bend it round and under but must have stopped the flow of wax which decided to come back the way it had come and injected straight into my open eye and all over my face.


It really stung.

msduk

86 posts

203 months

Saturday 17th August 2013
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uncinqsix said:
msduk said:
Securing my 2 door car for the night I used a wratchet strap. The door lock had broken so I tightened it between the two door pull handles nice and tight. Reached in through the window flicked the window switch to close, ducking out like Indiana Jones. I then locked the door from the key fob all smug.

As I was walking back to the house it suddenly occurred to me there was no way to get into the car again...

Edited by msduk on Friday 16th August 01:19
I'm curious about the eventual outcome of this one!
I tried to go in from the boot but it was extremely tricky.

As it was a new car to me I was unaware that the roof could open by holding down the keyfob. It took me two days to try this!

MG CHRIS

9,077 posts

166 months

Saturday 17th August 2013
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QuantumTokoloshi said:
Mound Dawg said:
No the engine was fine. Pete bought the car 2 weeks after it "seized". Plenty of time for it to cool down dontcha think? Pete took the head off and it still didn't turn. I took the alternator off and realised THAT was jammed solid so I grabbed the front pulley on the engine and it turned with a twist of the wrist.

We didn't think that the belt would have enough grip to stop the engine either but it did. It wasn't a poofy V belt, it was one of those flat ones with the ribs so it didn't just slip it gripped.

Trust me please, I'm not making this up!
Certainly sounds possible, the real solution is to do more weight training, then a twist of the wrist would have spun the whole motor up ! biggrin
Does happen in work we had a focus which wouldn't crank which we believed to be a snapped timing belt it was only when we took the serpentine belt off and took the top timing belt cover off noticed it was still intact. Cranked the engine over and it started. Took the alternator off and the inside had seized and cracked the casing in half never seen it before on another car though.

anonymous-user

53 months

Wednesday 8th April 2015
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In the olden days I had to change a brake caliper, I think in a mk3 Cortina. Picked up one from local breakers, left & right are the same I was assured. After much bleeding to get the air out, my dad started to help. It helped when he moved the bleed nipple to the highest point in place of the blanking plug!

Doofus

25,732 posts

172 months

Wednesday 8th April 2015
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I may have already said this, somewhere in the prevous 20-odd pages, but if I can't remember, then you probably won't either.

I once spent a long and difficult morning trying to undo the head bolts on an old Viva, which culminated with me, a friend and an eight foot scaffold pole on the end of the socket, and we gave it all we had, repeatedly, trying to shift it.

Retired to the pub, tired and sweaty, and the first gulp of beer cleared the clouds and bestowed upon us the gift of clear vision.

We'd just spent several hours tightening all the fking bolts...




Edited by Doofus on Wednesday 8th April 21:57

gazz81

172 posts

131 months

Wednesday 8th April 2015
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As a teenager I had a Saturday job working in a local garage that specialised in the restoration of mg's One quiet Saturday I decided to see to the leaky exhaust on my mk2 Cavalier. Anyway, got the job done dropped the car back on its wheels and leant in through the open window to start it. You guessed it!!! Car was in gear, auto choke used to idle around 2k rpm and off she went!
Straight across the forecourt and head on into the front of a beautifully restored Midget that had undergone a 2 year restoration and the owner was turning up on the Monday to collect..
I will never do that again.

Falsey

449 posts

138 months

Thursday 9th April 2015
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I was swapping the air intake on my car, had everything up to the turbo intake pipe removed but this bit was stuck and was going nowhere fast. Couldnt get the horrible compression clips off, every time I tried the clamps just dropped into the engine bay in the few cm gap between the turbo and the firewall and it was a trip under the car to retrieve them from on top of the suspension. Impatience got the better of me and I decided just to pull it with everything I had, a crack and a pop later I had the intake pipe in my hands and the now broken rocker cover breather pipe half attached to the engine below. Crap.

Had to order the bit from VW and by after the many hours ordeal of getting the old intake off, just put it onto the back of a lorry and had a bigger boy fit the new intake.

Not my proudest hour.

liner33

10,642 posts

201 months

Thursday 9th April 2015
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A fail into a win ?

I wanted white led style sidelights on my 370z , wanted to match the xenons as the factory R501 bulbs looked yellow

Ordered a pair of the super bright white ones on ebay , the type that fit on a circuit board

Fitting isnt straightforward as the front wheel and arch liner need to be removed and even then is a long reach to unclip the bulb holder, of course fitting is easy, just push in the new bulb, I didn't realise though that whilst I felt the bulb push home into the holder what had actually happened was that the circuit board had pushed up into the bulb and was only just inside the holder.

As I manoeuvred the bulb holder back into place I heard something drop and withdrew the holder to see no bulb. It would have been extremely unlikely that the bulb would have dropped inside the light so I checked the floor , no bulb , dug out my bore scope and checked inside the side light and there at about 6" from the hole was the bulb.

No problem I would need to remove the head lamp BUT hold on there are explosives on the 370z that extend rams on the bonnet , the sensors for these are on the inside of the bumper , removing them WILL trigger a warning light the dealer needs to reset and can damage the system resulting in a very large bill

Cue hours of various tries involving magnets, grabbers and blu tack, I mean hours I tried every evening for three days !

Eventually a sticky pad on a piece of thin wire and a screwdriver pushing said pad onto the bulb succeeded