Have you seen something on your vehicle about to kill you?
Discussion
Sort of further to my 'lack of maintanance' thread - but with a twist?
Talking about hideous things on vehicles that are on the verge of spectacular failure - have you ever noticed something on one of your vehicles that if it had gone un-noticed, it may well have resulted in a heinous death within a monstrous fireball?
On my cars, I've not had anything too terrifying - I've only really noticed a couple of bulges in tyre sidewalls, after hitting potholes.
But I've had a couple of horrors on motorbikes that, had they gone un-noticed, would probably have resulted in my early demise....
First one - I had a local dealer fit some new tyres to my bike. It was lucky that I gave it a once-over before I rode away, because he hadn't bothered to screw in and tighten the bolts holding the single front brake caliper on
Second one - I had just ridden up to a tea stop / meeting place for bikers, on a 1,000cc machine - involving about 100 miles of riding like a total mentalist with my friends. Imagine my surprise when, whilst having a cup of tea and chatting, one of my mates happened to look down at my bike and spot that one of the long bolts which was supposed to be holding the rear shock to the linkage had lost it's nut and was hanging out by a few centimetres
A few more miles and it would have come right out, the rear suspension would have collapsed, the rear tyre would have locked solid and it would have been Goodnight Vienna...
Anyone else had any close shaves?
Talking about hideous things on vehicles that are on the verge of spectacular failure - have you ever noticed something on one of your vehicles that if it had gone un-noticed, it may well have resulted in a heinous death within a monstrous fireball?
On my cars, I've not had anything too terrifying - I've only really noticed a couple of bulges in tyre sidewalls, after hitting potholes.
But I've had a couple of horrors on motorbikes that, had they gone un-noticed, would probably have resulted in my early demise....
First one - I had a local dealer fit some new tyres to my bike. It was lucky that I gave it a once-over before I rode away, because he hadn't bothered to screw in and tighten the bolts holding the single front brake caliper on
Second one - I had just ridden up to a tea stop / meeting place for bikers, on a 1,000cc machine - involving about 100 miles of riding like a total mentalist with my friends. Imagine my surprise when, whilst having a cup of tea and chatting, one of my mates happened to look down at my bike and spot that one of the long bolts which was supposed to be holding the rear shock to the linkage had lost it's nut and was hanging out by a few centimetres
A few more miles and it would have come right out, the rear suspension would have collapsed, the rear tyre would have locked solid and it would have been Goodnight Vienna...
Anyone else had any close shaves?
I bought a ford puma which had a bit of a knock when coming to a stop, didn't think much of it to be honest, was expecting to have to change the wishbones or anti roll bar bushes. Drove around for a week, including a couple of times with one if my daughters in the car before i went back to work, after a spirited drive down some country lanes, to get it in the workshop to have a look.
Jacked it up when at work and spotted this
This being the front wishbone mounting bolt which had sheared off. I then removed the wishbone and discovered
It had obviously had a fairly large smack on the lh front wheel. I noticed at the same time that the lh strut was new!
Jacked it up when at work and spotted this
This being the front wishbone mounting bolt which had sheared off. I then removed the wishbone and discovered
It had obviously had a fairly large smack on the lh front wheel. I noticed at the same time that the lh strut was new!
Cfnteabag said:
I bought a ford puma which had a bit of a knock when coming to a stop, didn't think much of it to be honest, was expecting to have to change the wishbones or anti roll bar bushes. Drove around for a week, including a couple of times with one if my daughters in the car before i went back to work, after a spirited drive down some country lanes, to get it in the workshop to have a look.
Jacked it up when at work and spotted this
This being the front wishbone mounting bolt which had sheared off. I then removed the wishbone and discovered
It had obviously had a fairly large smack on the lh front wheel. I noticed at the same time that the lh strut was new!
Jacked it up when at work and spotted this
This being the front wishbone mounting bolt which had sheared off. I then removed the wishbone and discovered
It had obviously had a fairly large smack on the lh front wheel. I noticed at the same time that the lh strut was new!
..previous owner or his mechanic had neglected to refit the retaining pins on both sides! Even more worrying was i'd had a weird brake feeling so took it to garage to check them over and they didnt notice this (the pad was worn in a way that suggests it had been hanging out like that for some time!)
First trip out in a car after getting a new clutch fitted. Pulled into a car park noticed a knocking sound from the front. Had a quick glance for anything obvious and noticed both front calipers not sitting in place properly and hitting on the inside of the wheel. Not enough space for them to move any further off the disc. Knocking noise was one of them hitting a balance weight. Managed to get the wheel brace in through the alloy and wedge it back into place got it home using gears and handbrake. Same bolt missing off both sides. Phoned the garage to see if they had any spare parts left over!
I once had a floating caliper which wasn't torqued up to the vertical link properly. The bolt which fell out was the lower bolt on a forward mounted caliper so when I braked the caliper swung away from the hub centre and was stopped by the inside face of the alloy wheel.
It wasn't ideal, but not the end of the world either. Luckily I wasn't going fast and hadn't gone very far.
It wasn't ideal, but not the end of the world either. Luckily I wasn't going fast and hadn't gone very far.
The worst one I've had, was my own stupid fault.
My first car was a mk6 Escort and I was forever tinkering with it and doing the odd DIY jobs on it myself.
One particular job I was doing required me to remove both front wheels, so up the car goes on the jack and under go some axle stands.
Once the jobs done, I put on the wheels, hand tighten the nuts and then lower the car back onto the floor.
On way to driving to the motorway, I noticed a vibration that wasn't there before. It gradually got worse and worse until the point I was literally fighting the steering wheel to keep in a straight line.
It suddenly clicked. So I jumped out the car and tightened the wheel bolts with the spanner. I had hand tightened them when the car was in the air but I had then forgetting to fully tighten them, once it was back on the floor. I dread to think what might have happened if I had made it to the motorway.
Another stupid thing I did, was when I had a Mondeo. I couldn't be bothered getting the axle stands out, so kept the car lifted on a cheap jack from Argos. I was a bit nervous about the jack, so put the wheel I had removed under the car, just incase it did drop. Just as I slid under the car, the jack fails and the car drops onto the wheel I had put under it. That wheel saved my life.
My first car was a mk6 Escort and I was forever tinkering with it and doing the odd DIY jobs on it myself.
One particular job I was doing required me to remove both front wheels, so up the car goes on the jack and under go some axle stands.
Once the jobs done, I put on the wheels, hand tighten the nuts and then lower the car back onto the floor.
On way to driving to the motorway, I noticed a vibration that wasn't there before. It gradually got worse and worse until the point I was literally fighting the steering wheel to keep in a straight line.
It suddenly clicked. So I jumped out the car and tightened the wheel bolts with the spanner. I had hand tightened them when the car was in the air but I had then forgetting to fully tighten them, once it was back on the floor. I dread to think what might have happened if I had made it to the motorway.
Another stupid thing I did, was when I had a Mondeo. I couldn't be bothered getting the axle stands out, so kept the car lifted on a cheap jack from Argos. I was a bit nervous about the jack, so put the wheel I had removed under the car, just incase it did drop. Just as I slid under the car, the jack fails and the car drops onto the wheel I had put under it. That wheel saved my life.
Forgot to re-tighten the wheel bolts 20 or so miles after changing a tyre, then drove to Aberdeen...
I got to Finavon before I noticed a funny rumbling noise. 2 bolts missing, a 3rd hanging half out. And this was on the wife's Clio, so it's got bolt-in hubs, rather than studs.
Pinched a bolt from the opposite side, tightened everything back up and continued my drive up the road. Slowly.
Stupid boy.
I got to Finavon before I noticed a funny rumbling noise. 2 bolts missing, a 3rd hanging half out. And this was on the wife's Clio, so it's got bolt-in hubs, rather than studs.
Pinched a bolt from the opposite side, tightened everything back up and continued my drive up the road. Slowly.
Stupid boy.
Poopipe said:
Does fuel pissing out of a busted pipe near the exhaust count?
I was taking the fuel rail off once, but planning to leave the injectors in the rail. Ended up pulling an injector from the rail resulting in fuel pissing everywhere, including hissing and sizzling all over the hot bits.Went into emergency mode ready to push the car away from the house and watch it burn, but nothing ignited thankfully.
Lessons were learnt that day.
My 306 was.. not in the best of conditions when I bought it but it was my first car and with a mighty 1.4 it was nippier than all my friend's 1.0/1.2 boxes and I was thrilled. This was until I was driving home one day and the left and right engine mounts failed. The bolts had been sheering one by one over time but an enthusiastic change into third for a nice left-hander was all it needed to snap the final two bolts and I limped the mile home with just the trans-mount in place :O finding gears was.. interesting 
Robb F said:
I was taking the fuel rail off once, but planning to leave the injectors in the rail. Ended up pulling an injector from the rail resulting in fuel pissing everywhere, including hissing and sizzling all over the hot bits.
Went into emergency mode ready to push the car away from the house and watch it burn, but nothing ignited thankfully.
Lessons were learnt that day.
Yes, fuel is harder to ignite than you might think Went into emergency mode ready to push the car away from the house and watch it burn, but nothing ignited thankfully.
Lessons were learnt that day.
Poopipe said:
Does fuel pissing out of a busted pipe near the exhaust count?
Had this happen to me on my old 205 gti... I had the clutch cable replaced a few weeks earlier the garage that did it didn't notice/care that the clutch cable rubbed against the fuel pipe each time I changed gear.So very slowly it wore a hole through a week or so before it was actually bad enough to spot I noticed I was getting horrid fuel economy but still couldn't find the leak wasn't until it was literally pissing out and I could smell it that I noticed it was a leak it was actually leaking on the exhaust and evaporating!
Took it to the local peugeot specialist in the end to get it done properly.
Mrs mave complained about the steering on her camper feeling weird a few days after her mot. I put it down to New tyres and tracking- much nagging later I took a look and found the idler box cracked most of the way round, every time you moved the steering the box opened up enough to put you fingers inside! Very very close to total steering failure :-(
jamieduff1981 said:
I once had a floating caliper which wasn't torqued up to the vertical link properly. The bolt which fell out was the lower bolt on a forward mounted caliper so when I braked the caliper swung away from the hub centre and was stopped by the inside face of the alloy wheel.
It wasn't ideal, but not the end of the world either. Luckily I wasn't going fast and hadn't gone very far.
Exactly the same thing happened to me after changing the pads on my MX5. Being the ham fisted wIt wasn't ideal, but not the end of the world either. Luckily I wasn't going fast and hadn't gone very far.
ker that I am, I'd stripped a thread when bolting the caliper back on, but didn't notice because it felt like it tightened up. Driving around the town centre later that evening, pressed the brakes and there was a nasty clunk followed by a squealing sound. Nursed it to safety the caliper had swung away from the disc into the inside of the wheel.Luckily I had only been going quite slowly when it failed. Felt like such a plonker :/
friends mx5 who had done a 13b conversion on it, ran the fuel lines through the tunnel opposite the exhaust pipes. Turned out even though they were opposite by quite a distance, the braided fuel lines still burnt up and split. we noticed after going on a spirited drive and the smell of fuel became overpowering.
he bought new fuel pipe and some heat protectors and sold the car. hes since bought it back from the buy after he had a fire (due to this again somehow)
My friends now hard lined the fuel lines well out of the way :P
he bought new fuel pipe and some heat protectors and sold the car. hes since bought it back from the buy after he had a fire (due to this again somehow)
My friends now hard lined the fuel lines well out of the way :P
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