silliest mistake when fixing your car

I've never made any mistakes, ever

 

a few years back in the final stages of a head rebuild i started the engine up as a quick test. there was a god awful clacking noise coming from the cylinder 4 area which i thought at the time was a colapsed hydraulic lifter, and the engine was running rough. so i thought i would run the engine up to temp to see if the lifter would pump up and the engine would settle.it did quieten down, but the engine still idled like a bag of poo, and every few seconds there would be a WHACK noise, like someone hitting the cylinder head with a little rock hammer. i had all the tools there anyway so i immediately started undressing the head again. when i came to take the throttle bodies off i noticed one of the M8 bolts that holds the alloy trumpets on was missing. spurred on i continued to dismantle the head and sure enough there was the bolt, jammed between one of the inlet vale rims and the valve seat.

 

The stupidest thing I've ever seen anyone else do.

Years ago Two lads used to walk around the paddock at almost every race asking advice and stuff, and being the type of championship it was ever one used to help them out, they were building a Mk2 16v, spending serious money probably about 5k+ on the engine alone, shrick race cams, flat crank, forged pistons etc etc etc.

The next season, they turned up with their shinny new car and blew the engine to bits with Oil starvation problems after two races because they hadn't fitted a baffled sump. Never saw them again.

 

1) rounded off thermostat housing on a ZX, had to get a new housing that was 100

2) over torqued bolt on thermostat housing on capri as it was leaking after new thermostat and gasket... smashed housing to bits.

I must have something against thermostat housings, having broken two on different cars!

Not really done anything else stupid...

Anyone filled their petrol car with diesel?

PMSL at darrynk, you really are a credit to cack handedness

 

I take it back, i can see why ya wont attempt that clutch change now !

 

Iclosed the bonnet when the car was jacked up with a recovery guy & the jack fell over pushing a looseaxle stand through a full tank of petrol at the side of the road .

 

I also "parked" my scabby 530i into the back wall of the house when I was drunk - that was a year ago, and it's still there.....

 

Oh aye - I also have a habit of getting petrol, then driving off from the petrol station leaving the filler cap on top of the car...... must have lost 5 or 6 of them that way......

 

Mr TSC - yours don't count as stoopit things when fixing the car - your's are just being an idiot in general

 

It fixed the front bumper on the beemer - never quite sat flush before. Now it's dead flush - with the windscreen......

 

bloke at my work was changing a petrol tank on a mk2 astra gte and went about draining the tank by trying to whack a metal chisel through the quarter full metal fuel tank

 

I have to admit i laughed out loud too Very funny!

 

My Dad went to france years agao and filled his MK1 with diesel!
He had to clean the carb everyday!

Another one is some friends of ours. The guy (Pete) used to be a VW mecanic. Worked on Aircooled only though so he had a couple of beatle and beach buggys etc.
He lent a beatle to my dad for a week as his MK1 was somewhere?.

As he drove off Pete fogot that he hadent replaced the window seal and the glass was just placed in the door!
So when my dad went to open the window it fell out! It hit the floor and dident smash! Just slid accross the ground!

 

i remeber driving off after filling up the header tank and about 5 mins down the road the water light came on and all this steam from the bonnet

when i managed to pull off the road i realised i had left the cap off (ive done this a couple of times)

but its always still sitting on top of the thing where i usuall put it when its done.

 

oh and just to put my mind at ease darryn, you dont work at any kind of mechinics or any kind of engineering firm do you ?

 

(Not myself) but a good friend of mine borrowed his ex's pug 106 for two weeks while she was on holiday. He thought he would do the right thing and top up the levels etc for when she came back. To cut a long story short about a week or so after she came back from holiday all of the paint on the roof and windscreen pillars started to lift!!!




He had put brake fluid in the screen wash bottle!!

 

LMFAO @ this thread. some quality stories.

Darryn you rule

 

i guess some of us are just born loosers [:^(]

 

i managed to snap both bolts off a big end cap! put the first one down to bad luck then second one as the engine was dead only to be told by work m8 id bn tighting em up dont know me own strength!!