Embarrasing moments at the garage?
Discussion
Several years ago, I had a works HiLux. After using it off road and then coming down the track a little heavy and onto the main road, the wheels seemed to be 'wobbling' really quite badly. Like they were out of balance but 100 times worse. As I thought I had damaged something coming down the track, yet couldn't see anything hanging I called in recovery. They took quite some time to arrive as it was a hire vehicle.
Onto a flat bed it went and drove an hour to the hire depot where one of their mechanics was waiting over for me.
Turned out, when I had been off road, I kinda got stuck for a moment, managed to reverse out with diff lock on but then left the pickup there for several hours. Some of the mud/gravel that I had been stuck in had rested on the inside of the steel wheels and had solidified. On the road this was like a huge balance weight at the bottom of the wheels!!
I was like megga embarrassed but I guess relieved as I hadn't actually damaged the pick up!
Whats the most embarrassing 'non fault' you have taken a vehicle to the service centre for or called recovery for? (of course, been red blooded males, we won't admit to anything of the sort eh?)
Onto a flat bed it went and drove an hour to the hire depot where one of their mechanics was waiting over for me.
Turned out, when I had been off road, I kinda got stuck for a moment, managed to reverse out with diff lock on but then left the pickup there for several hours. Some of the mud/gravel that I had been stuck in had rested on the inside of the steel wheels and had solidified. On the road this was like a huge balance weight at the bottom of the wheels!!
I was like megga embarrassed but I guess relieved as I hadn't actually damaged the pick up!
Whats the most embarrassing 'non fault' you have taken a vehicle to the service centre for or called recovery for? (of course, been red blooded males, we won't admit to anything of the sort eh?)
My MGB GT once developed a bad misfire on my way home from work, so I pulled into a car park and set about replacing the condenser (I always have a spare). As I'd never replaced one before I was being very careful to make sure I removed the old one and fitted the new one in exactly the same way. Once fitted, I tried starting but the engine just wouldn't fire and I figured I should just call the AA and get them to do it properly. After a couple of hours the mechanic arrived, took one look and plugged in the final wire I'd forgotten about on the outside of the distributor. Bugger!
i had something very similar when out in my jimny with some other 4x4 people last Christmas
we'd all been up on salisbury plain, max speed for the day was about 15mph off road
anyway day came to a close and we all said our good byes, whilst doing that all the other chaps had been kicking the ice / snow from their rims.
Me being me i thought it would just come off when we got to 20mph on the road, got to about 30 and it was hard to hold the car wheel, it was wobbling that much
kicked the snow off and all was well
we'd all been up on salisbury plain, max speed for the day was about 15mph off road
anyway day came to a close and we all said our good byes, whilst doing that all the other chaps had been kicking the ice / snow from their rims.
Me being me i thought it would just come off when we got to 20mph on the road, got to about 30 and it was hard to hold the car wheel, it was wobbling that much
kicked the snow off and all was well
Drove to south Wales once for our family holiday.
There was a really annoying ticking sound the whole way down and so the next day popped into a small village Garage and asked him to take a look-
Called back later in the afternoon and the Owner / Mechanic said "that's all I could find" as he dropped a small stone in my hand that had been stuck in one of the tyre threads
Was most grateful to another English chap who reversed his car into the garage pit while said stone was being dropped into my hand.
At least I wasn't the MOST stupid customer that day.
Gave the man 10 quid to keep his gob shut.
There was a really annoying ticking sound the whole way down and so the next day popped into a small village Garage and asked him to take a look-
Called back later in the afternoon and the Owner / Mechanic said "that's all I could find" as he dropped a small stone in my hand that had been stuck in one of the tyre threads
Was most grateful to another English chap who reversed his car into the garage pit while said stone was being dropped into my hand.
At least I wasn't the MOST stupid customer that day.
Gave the man 10 quid to keep his gob shut.
OpulentBob said:
I stripped and replaced the entire fuel pipe system on a Mk1 Fiesta because there was a blockage somewhere.
It was only when I dropped the tank, I realised there was no blockage, I'd simply run out of petrol.
D, and indeed, 'oh.
Haha that's a good one. I guess the fuel gauge was massively inaccurate like the one in my mum's old mk2?It was only when I dropped the tank, I realised there was no blockage, I'd simply run out of petrol.
D, and indeed, 'oh.
Got a call from my Dad that the "front suspension has collapsed". Being 250miles away I couldn't fix it or verify it first. So I called our Merc dealer who sent a low loader to collect the car. The next day my Dad got a call to say the car was fixed. The service guy held up the culprit - a rubber bolted exhaust hanger. Cost £12 for a tyre repair and no charge for the tow.
I bet he goes on a service receptionists forum and says: mad guy calls up that his suspension has collapsed. Turned out he ran over an exhaust hanger.....
Cost £12 for a tyre repair and no charge for the tow.I bet he goes on a service receptionists forum and says: mad guy calls up that his suspension has collapsed. Turned out he ran over an exhaust hanger.....
Ohh where to start!
OK first off:
19 years old just had my MR2's engine rebuilt a week before due to a cracked cylinder head. Take the misses on a nice drive to the sea side. For some god only knows reason I decided to check the oil whilst filling up (probably in a bid to show off my manly mechanical skills) and was shocked to see the dip stick empty!! So with 3 liters of castrol's finest into the sump we set off. Managed to get all of 500 meters when an almighty black cloud of smoke pored from the back of the car, pulled over and called my old man for a tow.
Got it to the garage (owned by a friend of the family) and then got a lift back to my girlfriends house feeling rather gutted
Got a call around 2 hours later from the garage, the owner realised what I had done when he spotted the oil s
tting out of the dipstick hole and that it was well over the max line (oops) cost me a bottle of wine to sort. In defense the same weekend Toyota put too much oil in one of their F1 cars with a much more expensive outcome.
Second one is more of a "oh bks" moment. Took my second supra to the garage I mentioned above for an MOT, swang the car around their parking lot to line up with their workshop doors so we could get it on their ramp, I misjudged the width of the car and how close their door was managed to put a nice crease in my door ffs! As it happens it was off to the body shop to have some bits and bobs sorted but still felt really annoyed with myself.
Think that's it for now.
OK first off:
19 years old just had my MR2's engine rebuilt a week before due to a cracked cylinder head. Take the misses on a nice drive to the sea side. For some god only knows reason I decided to check the oil whilst filling up (probably in a bid to show off my manly mechanical skills) and was shocked to see the dip stick empty!! So with 3 liters of castrol's finest into the sump we set off. Managed to get all of 500 meters when an almighty black cloud of smoke pored from the back of the car, pulled over and called my old man for a tow.
Got it to the garage (owned by a friend of the family) and then got a lift back to my girlfriends house feeling rather gutted
Got a call around 2 hours later from the garage, the owner realised what I had done when he spotted the oil stting out of the dipstick hole and that it was well over the max line (oops) cost me a bottle of wine to sort. In defense the same weekend Toyota put too much oil in one of their F1 cars with a much more expensive outcome. Second one is more of a "oh b
ks" moment. Took my second supra to the garage I mentioned above for an MOT, swang the car around their parking lot to line up with their workshop doors so we could get it on their ramp, I misjudged the width of the car and how close their door was managed to put a nice crease in my door ffs! As it happens it was off to the body shop to have some bits and bobs sorted but still felt really annoyed with myself.Think that's it for now.
Had to get my car trailered by the AA all the way from a car show in Birmingham to Newport, South Wales, after it wouldn't start at the end of the day. AA man tried everything but couldn't start it, looked like there was no fuel getting to the engine so we suspected knackered pump.
Got home 5 hours late, car dropped off, me sat in the house pondering in a bad mood. All of a sudden I had a flashback to me slamming the bonnet hard earlier in the day....and then a further flashback to a post on the owners' forum warning this could cause the fuel cut-off switch to pop.
Went out, pressed switch, car started up flawlessly.
Bugger.
Got home 5 hours late, car dropped off, me sat in the house pondering in a bad mood. All of a sudden I had a flashback to me slamming the bonnet hard earlier in the day....and then a further flashback to a post on the owners' forum warning this could cause the fuel cut-off switch to pop.
Went out, pressed switch, car started up flawlessly.
Bugger.
didn't quite make it to the garage.......My missus came home one night with clutch problems. Car wasn't going in gear very well and low biting point. Got on my knees, unfolded the floor mat under the clutch pedal, laid it back down flat, perfect! Saved her a bit of expense the next morning!
TankRizzo said:
Had to get my car trailered by the AA all the way from a car show in Birmingham to Newport, South Wales, after it wouldn't start at the end of the day. AA man tried everything but couldn't start it, looked like there was no fuel getting to the engine so we suspected knackered pump.
Got home 5 hours late, car dropped off, me sat in the house pondering in a bad mood. All of a sudden I had a flashback to me slamming the bonnet hard earlier in the day....and then a further flashback to a post on the owners' forum warning this could cause the fuel cut-off switch to pop.
Went out, pressed switch, car started up flawlessly.
Bugger.
Sounds like a perfect trip home Got home 5 hours late, car dropped off, me sat in the house pondering in a bad mood. All of a sudden I had a flashback to me slamming the bonnet hard earlier in the day....and then a further flashback to a post on the owners' forum warning this could cause the fuel cut-off switch to pop.
Went out, pressed switch, car started up flawlessly.
Bugger.
My drive home from work is 5 hours each way. I get very tempted to do the same thing so I can relax for the drive!
My brother got stuck in the snow whilst trying to reverse his Rover SD1 off the drive. Apparently one wheel was spinning on ice while the other one stayed stationary so he took the whole rear of the car to pieces to locate and fix a broken half shaft. He didn't realise he had a diff and it was supposed to do that!
This was shortly after he changed the oil in his Mini. Forgot to put the sump plug back in and poured 5 litres of Castrol GTX all over his feet.
Before that he poured Redex into the cylinders of his Allegro to "clean the engine". He held a rag over the holes where the spark plugs were supposed to be whilst instructing my sister-in-law to crank the engine over. She did and the car covered him head to foot in red, oily fluid.
There are many other stories, bless him!
This was shortly after he changed the oil in his Mini. Forgot to put the sump plug back in and poured 5 litres of Castrol GTX all over his feet.
Before that he poured Redex into the cylinders of his Allegro to "clean the engine". He held a rag over the holes where the spark plugs were supposed to be whilst instructing my sister-in-law to crank the engine over. She did and the car covered him head to foot in red, oily fluid.
There are many other stories, bless him!
TankRizzo said:
Had to get my car trailered by the AA all the way from a car show in Birmingham to Newport, South Wales, after it wouldn't start at the end of the day. AA man tried everything but couldn't start it, looked like there was no fuel getting to the engine so we suspected knackered pump.
Got home 5 hours late, car dropped off, me sat in the house pondering in a bad mood. All of a sudden I had a flashback to me slamming the bonnet hard earlier in the day....and then a further flashback to a post on the owners' forum warning this could cause the fuel cut-off switch to pop.
Went out, pressed switch, car started up flawlessly.
Bugger.
Peugeot?Got home 5 hours late, car dropped off, me sat in the house pondering in a bad mood. All of a sudden I had a flashback to me slamming the bonnet hard earlier in the day....and then a further flashback to a post on the owners' forum warning this could cause the fuel cut-off switch to pop.
Went out, pressed switch, car started up flawlessly.
Bugger.
There was a bike shop just outside Stirling me and my mates used to go a run to down the back roads from Glasgow for a look at whatever they happened to have in, and have a chat with the owner who was a sound guy.
We go in one weekend and he tells us that a squadie from the local barracks brings his BMW R1150 GS in on the back of a recovery truck, frantic to get it looked at because he needs to get home,for reasons which escape me just now, and can he have a look at it because it won't start.
He starts giving it the once over, can't find anything obvious and the squadies still panicking and says sod it, make me an offer for it against the cheapest bike you've got. The owner weighs this up, makes the guy an offer well under list for his bike and sends him out the door on some old trade in.
Ten minutes into looking round the BMW again he notices that the kill switch on the handlebar is in the off position, flicks it on and fires it up!
He got in touch with the guy to sort something out and the guy said just forget it! Either more money than sense or too embarrassed to go back in!
We go in one weekend and he tells us that a squadie from the local barracks brings his BMW R1150 GS in on the back of a recovery truck, frantic to get it looked at because he needs to get home,for reasons which escape me just now, and can he have a look at it because it won't start.
He starts giving it the once over, can't find anything obvious and the squadies still panicking and says sod it, make me an offer for it against the cheapest bike you've got. The owner weighs this up, makes the guy an offer well under list for his bike and sends him out the door on some old trade in.
Ten minutes into looking round the BMW again he notices that the kill switch on the handlebar is in the off position, flicks it on and fires it up!
He got in touch with the guy to sort something out and the guy said just forget it! Either more money than sense or too embarrassed to go back in!
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