What is the worst mistake you made doing your own wrenching?

Flux core or solid wire? I use solid wire to keep it from getting porous. I've also heard that using flux core can harden the bolt, so if you do end up having to drill it's even worse, but don't have anything scientific to back it up.

 

I use solid core and 75/25 gas, never heard about that on the flux core, interesting info.

 

I heard it from a grouchy old mechanic. Might be total BS, but he's the one that taught me the trick with the washer so I was inclined to believe him

 

The washer sounds awesome cause of the increased contact area, gonna give it a try next time a broken bolt happans.

 

He had a lot of neat tricks for stuff. I learned a lot working with him; he'd been wrenching since he was a kid and was probably 60 or so when I was working with him.

 

I have used flux core, solid core and also a stick welder to weld nuts on broken bolts, I always tried to use a washer too if I could hang one on the broken bolt. Also Left hand drill bits work real good to, the left hand drill bit will snag/grab while drilling and back the bolt right out.

 

After turning wrenches for a living for 40 years I resemble this remark

 

My buddy drained his tranny oil instead of engine oil without knowing, and continued to put oil in the motor...$6k bill later and the solution was solved.

 

I changed my leaf packs out and forgot to put the bumps back in. No idea if this will end up being a problem. Still rolling without bumps....

 

Well, I guess I better fess up. I had a Subaru hatchback - fantastic car and easy to work on, once you knew that the spare was on top of the engine and purchased a copy of "How to keep you Subaru Hatchback ALIVE"

So, I was moving and the van rental guys wouldn't let me have a trailer for the car, just a front wheel dolly. Quick check of the magical HTKYSALIVE book, and they said just remove the drive shaft from the rear diff, and tie it up out of the way with some wire. So, I didn't have a piece of wire handy, and used a short rope. Fully intended to change the rope for wire before leaving.

Did not do so.

1000 miles later, and I'm shopping for a prop shaft.

Funny part is, I had earlier replaced the valve thingy for the heater. So, this car cost me a cock and a shaft.

 

I've done that. Realized my mistake after a molten squeaker tab went flying out of the driver-side front wheel on the test drive.

 

I replaced my caliper on my 99 Grand Am (POS) that I had before the taco. Found out it was bigger than oem when I had to roll home 40 miles on a donut, while the inside of the rim intermittently scraped the caliper and shot sparks out all the way home... Guess the spare was bent too.

 

Used a cheap torque wrench when changing the oil pan gasket on a ‘93 civic. Snapped one of the bolts cause the damn wrench didn’t want to click at such a low setting (those studs were pretty small). Did the rest by feel. Surprisingly it didn’t leak much oil missing that one bolt. Leaked less than the old cracked gasket. Put 100k miles on that car after that job, even drove it coast to coast twice with 280k on the clock with no worries whatsoever. Miss the ole shit box.

 

Many moons ago...my mistake was doing it myself.....without the correct tools!

 

One time I had my windshield wipers up while washing and then I opened the hood on them. Yikes.

 

I’ve done that before

 

Not disconnecting the battery when swapping out the alternator on my wife's Camry. Blew the 40A megafuse in the fuse box. Nothing worked, just when I though I had the screw in there, it would go juuust out of sight. A TOTAL PITA to replace. Took me 4 days of frustration. I'd work on it for 1 or 2 hours before I peeled off every obscenity in the book and retreated to the A/C inside the house. Thankfully my wife was out of town for the week.

As usual, the first time you do something it's hard. Although I've never had to do it again, I'm sure I could do it in about twenty minutes

 

Done that but instead of opening the hood, the wind blew and they fell into my windshield and cracked it. I was replacing the wipers....

 

If there’s ever problems with this i.e. nut not holding, prep the washer and nut. Often times there’s a zinc coating and when you get on it, it falls apart. I’ve seen people in a rush skip this part and it takes even longer to un-botch the job. Blast it/grind it

 

Years ago had to pop the spare on the 4Runner and decided to go top speed the car...not the smartest idea to begin with but it was a full spare and top speed on a 4Runner is not that fast. Of course it was under 70 mph...

Anyways, after top speed I felt an odd rumble especially on turns or swerves. Thought it may be rotors going bad but got out to check it out. Turns out, I was yapping while I was changing my tire and forgot to torque the lugs down. Somehow by the grace of God one stayed tight and didn't snap the bolt...during a top speed test.

Wonder sometimes how I'm alive...