When simple jobs are anything but......
Discussion
I'd set aside this morning to change the oil in my Merc. Simple job...Get it up on some jacks, undo the sump plugs, empty out, replace plugs, insert new filter. Job done.
Unfortunately it didn't work out like that....
I started by undoing the filter and taking it into the garage to swap it over. I then moved round to the side of the car and attempted to jack it up. Unfortunately the jack wouldn't go under the car so I decided to get inside the car and press the button to raise the air suspension. Nothing happened on either of the first clicks of the ignition so it looked like the car needed to be started....
BIG MISTAKE
Queue a fountain of oil exiting from the filter hole! What a TIT
Oil was everywhere. Worst of all I'd only just replaced the serp belt and supercharger belt last week and both were now completely covered in oil along with all of the pulleys.
Spent the rest of the day cleaning the engine bay with carb cleaner, removing the oil from the belts, talc'ing everythign up to soak up the oil and then jetwashing it all.
What simple jobs have been anything but for you?
Unfortunately it didn't work out like that....
I started by undoing the filter and taking it into the garage to swap it over. I then moved round to the side of the car and attempted to jack it up. Unfortunately the jack wouldn't go under the car so I decided to get inside the car and press the button to raise the air suspension. Nothing happened on either of the first clicks of the ignition so it looked like the car needed to be started....
BIG MISTAKE
Queue a fountain of oil exiting from the filter hole! What a TIT
Oil was everywhere. Worst of all I'd only just replaced the serp belt and supercharger belt last week and both were now completely covered in oil along with all of the pulleys.Spent the rest of the day cleaning the engine bay with carb cleaner, removing the oil from the belts, talc'ing everythign up to soak up the oil and then jetwashing it all.
What simple jobs have been anything but for you?
iva cosworth said:
You started the engine with oil filter removed !!!!
Epic Fail
Whay a mess
Yep I know. Such an epic fail, I find it hard to believe it was me who did it Epic Fail
Whay a mess
Thing is just before I started the engine, I had that little voice in my head say "aren't you forgetting something?". So I had a quick look under the bonnet in case I'd left any tools or rags under there. All clear. Start engine. SPLOOOOOOOOOSH!!!!!!!
jimxms said:
iva cosworth said:
You started the engine with oil filter removed !!!!
Epic Fail
Whay a mess
Yep I know. Such an epic fail, I find it hard to believe it was me who did it Epic Fail
Whay a mess
Thing is just before I started the engine, I had that little voice in my head say "aren't you forgetting something?". So I had a quick look under the bonnet in case I'd left any tools or rags under there. All clear. Start engine. SPLOOOOOOOOOSH!!!!!!!
Changing a headlight bulb in my new Touareg today, you have to turn a winder, which turns a gear, which ejects the whole headlight assembly so you can change the bulb. Of course the winder snaps. 3 hours later and I've hacked the whole adjuster off and got the light out, to realise it was the other side that the bulb had gone anyway.
Dom
Dom
Slightly O/T but reminds me when I used to work in a garage, we had big drums for draining engine oil with extending oil catchers which were emptied using an air line...after you screwed the top down of course. Well one day one of the lads forgot to do this important part. Cue a fountain of oil with said lad covered head to toe in used engine oil.
As for OP, ummm oh dear.
As for OP, ummm oh dear.
Changed the rear discs and pads on my Focus the other night. Had to use someone elses garage as my door is broke.
Was going smoothly until I discovered one of the sliding pins on the caliper bracket seized. Few taps with a hammer didn't work, neither did trying to spin it with a spanner.
A little voice in my head said "just leave it, buy a new part and fit it tomorrow" So what did I do? Attach it to the hub and use the biggest spanner I had on it and shear the bloody thing off, rendering the car useless on someone else's driveway miles from home!!
£89 for a new bracket from Ford!!!!
Was going smoothly until I discovered one of the sliding pins on the caliper bracket seized. Few taps with a hammer didn't work, neither did trying to spin it with a spanner.
A little voice in my head said "just leave it, buy a new part and fit it tomorrow" So what did I do? Attach it to the hub and use the biggest spanner I had on it and shear the bloody thing off, rendering the car useless on someone else's driveway miles from home!!
£89 for a new bracket from Ford!!!!
The Plan:
My dad had a spare couple of hours one Saturday and decided to change the spark plugs on my sister's Ka. Probably 30 min job with time for a cup of tea.
Reality:
One spark plug so rusted that it broke in half!
(offender on the right)
Resulting in this mission:
My dad had a spare couple of hours one Saturday and decided to change the spark plugs on my sister's Ka. Probably 30 min job with time for a cup of tea.
Reality:
One spark plug so rusted that it broke in half!
(offender on the right)
Resulting in this mission:
g3org3y said:
Some good weather today gave opportunity to try and sort out this long standing issue.
This was purchased last week
Apparently the equivalent to Plusgas they had in Halfords. Daily sprays to soak the plug.
Also purchased a set of screw extractors like these:
As ever, a hammer was found to be invaluable. 8)
Lined up the screw extractor with the broken plug and plenty of 'taps' from the hammer to try and get it secured in place.
Then fashioned a cunning tool (comprising a socket, an allen key and a random metal pole) to allow the extractor to be used (none of the metric sockets seemed to fit snuggly).
Plenty of elbow grease....and then 'click' - winner!
Hurrah!
Unfortunately, this is what was left of the end of the spark plug. :?:roll:
Which of course raised the question of the debris remaining in the cylinder - the electrode, bits of ceramic, which really, in the scheme of things, is not a good place for them to be.
So, how to remove? A quick search online suggested a number of methods including a vacuum, magnet on a stick, shaving foam.
We decided to remove the rest of the spark plugs and then crank the car, hopefully blowing any crap out. Did it, and pleny of fluid came out (no doubt all that penetrating fluid) but not really obvious debris that I could see.
We decided to take a risk - plug in the other 3 cylinders, start the car and with luck, the debris should be blown out. Of course, the risk is that it'd ruin the cylinder but b
ks to that, this car was £250, it's do or die time. One has to balance it up!
Started, revs, plenty of crap blowing out, left it for a few mins. Now, with luck, the cylinder was clear.
New NGK spark plugs:
With baited breath, the engine was started...perfect. Very smooth, much more than previous to all these issues. Given the state of the old spark plugs, that's hardly surprising though. Car left to idle, no issues, 20 minute test drive (60-70mph cruise), no issue. I assume (maybe wrongly) that if there was crap in the cylinder and it was going to cause failure/seizure/explosion/mass destruction, it would have manifest itself during the drive.
I am happy.
This was back in Dec '10. Car still works fine! This was purchased last week
Apparently the equivalent to Plusgas they had in Halfords. Daily sprays to soak the plug.
Also purchased a set of screw extractors like these:
As ever, a hammer was found to be invaluable. 8)
Lined up the screw extractor with the broken plug and plenty of 'taps' from the hammer to try and get it secured in place.
Then fashioned a cunning tool (comprising a socket, an allen key and a random metal pole) to allow the extractor to be used (none of the metric sockets seemed to fit snuggly).
Plenty of elbow grease....and then 'click' - winner!
Hurrah!
Unfortunately, this is what was left of the end of the spark plug. :?:roll:
Which of course raised the question of the debris remaining in the cylinder - the electrode, bits of ceramic, which really, in the scheme of things, is not a good place for them to be.
So, how to remove? A quick search online suggested a number of methods including a vacuum, magnet on a stick, shaving foam.
We decided to remove the rest of the spark plugs and then crank the car, hopefully blowing any crap out. Did it, and pleny of fluid came out (no doubt all that penetrating fluid) but not really obvious debris that I could see.
We decided to take a risk - plug in the other 3 cylinders, start the car and with luck, the debris should be blown out. Of course, the risk is that it'd ruin the cylinder but b
ks to that, this car was £250, it's do or die time. One has to balance it up!Started, revs, plenty of crap blowing out, left it for a few mins. Now, with luck, the cylinder was clear.
New NGK spark plugs:
With baited breath, the engine was started...perfect. Very smooth, much more than previous to all these issues. Given the state of the old spark plugs, that's hardly surprising though. Car left to idle, no issues, 20 minute test drive (60-70mph cruise), no issue. I assume (maybe wrongly) that if there was crap in the cylinder and it was going to cause failure/seizure/explosion/mass destruction, it would have manifest itself during the drive.
I am happy.
Eighteeteewhy said:
Slightly O/T but reminds me when I used to work in a garage, we had big drums for draining engine oil with extending oil catchers which were emptied using an air line...after you screwed the top down of course. Well one day one of the lads forgot to do this important part. Cue a fountain of oil with said lad covered head to toe in used engine oil.
As for OP, ummm oh dear.
I worked in a garage with that palavre and that ^^^ happpened a few times too,also the oilAs for OP, ummm oh dear.
went into a huge tank under the showroom.
Sometimes that would overflow.......onto the showroom floor........oh dear
jimxms said:
What simple jobs have been anything but for you?
every dam job i start on any car under 20 years old !today i had 2 jobs, service a 1990 merc diesel + fit a new downpipe and change a headlight bulb on an A class merc, the service and exhaust took less time and was easyer than the 1 headlight bulb
Mine was similarly embarrassing...
Rear brake pads on my old Vectra. Easy enough. Jack up, axle stands, wheels off. Pad change completed successfully, and car reassembled. 5 bolts back in each wheel, all done hand tight ready to be torqued up when the car was back on the ground...
You know where this is going, don't you?
Tools away, washed up and went out for dinner with the OH. Up and left the house at 5am for work the next morning, and as I drove off I heard a sort of vibration, which varied with the road speed.
"st", I thought, "I've got some crap caught on one of the pads". Mental note to clean them up better next time. Never mind though, a few stops and it would work its way out, right? Wrong! as I drove, the vibration got worse and worse, and I was racking my brain trying to work out what it could be. Then, sitting at a red traffic light, a horrible realisation dawned on me...
Lesson duly learnt!
Rear brake pads on my old Vectra. Easy enough. Jack up, axle stands, wheels off. Pad change completed successfully, and car reassembled. 5 bolts back in each wheel, all done hand tight ready to be torqued up when the car was back on the ground...
You know where this is going, don't you?
Tools away, washed up and went out for dinner with the OH. Up and left the house at 5am for work the next morning, and as I drove off I heard a sort of vibration, which varied with the road speed.
"s
t", I thought, "I've got some crap caught on one of the pads". Mental note to clean them up better next time. Never mind though, a few stops and it would work its way out, right? Wrong! as I drove, the vibration got worse and worse, and I was racking my brain trying to work out what it could be. Then, sitting at a red traffic light, a horrible realisation dawned on me...parapaul said:
5 bolts back in each wheel, all done hand tight...
Yep, while basking in the glory of a job done without a single hiccup, I had completely forgotten to tighten the wheel bolts! Luckily, I had a decent wheel brace in the boot with the spare wheel, so there I was, at 6am just as it was getting light, frantically tightening all the bolts by the side of the road as early morning traffic buzzed past, wondering what the hell I was doing!Lesson duly learnt!
Doing a fuel lift pump change and fuel filter change on my (now sold) Defender.
Easy job.
Except I left a large towel like rag over the viscous fan area,started the engine and voila.Large towel rag now wrapped around the fan and fan coupling as tight as you like...
Doh!!!
Took quite a long time cutting and unwrapping.
Easy job.
Except I left a large towel like rag over the viscous fan area,started the engine and voila.Large towel rag now wrapped around the fan and fan coupling as tight as you like...
Doh!!!
Took quite a long time cutting and unwrapping.
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