Duh Stories

Lets hear em! We've all got those stories of when you spent hours/days/weeks on an issue with your truck just to find out it was something stupid. I've got 2 to start us off:

Back when I had my '01 and used to take it off road occasionally, I had my windows partially open one nice afternoon driving home from work. Stop at the supermarket and discover my driverside window won't go up or down. So I leave it partially open and go into the store wondering what the hell. Drive all the way home and start taping up the open gap because it's supposed to rain cats and dogs the next day and I wouldn't have time to look into it until the weekend a few day later. So I get it all taped up and about an hour later when telling my wife about it she says "do you have a window lockout button?" Duh! I felt so stupid. hit the button and window worked fine. All that time I was thinking maybe I corroded the motor in the door after sinking my truck 6" above the door sill in a mud hole a few months earlier.

Second story: just today I had this rattle that sounded like it was coming from the passenger side. Leaned over while driving to try and hear where it was coming from. While leaning into the passenger side, it sounded like it was coming from the driver side. WTF? I spent my whole lunch hour checking my glove box, inner door panels, etc... Started thinking since I just had my windshield replaced a few days earlier that some broken pieces of glass ended up inside my dash and started cursing the installers. Then it hit me - my sunglasses in the overhead console were put in akwardly the last time I put them away. That was it. The rattle was coming from my sunglasses in the overhead console. Duh! Re-positioned them and no more rattle.

 

It does not have to do with my Toyota but, I got a brand new Honda in 2002 first time out up in the woods. At least at good 5-7 miles from anything. I was going up a steep hill and all the sudden it just died. I had to grab a handful of front brake to keep it from rolling. Went backwards to the bottom of the hill. Tried to turn it over and it just cranked over and over and over. I tried the choke on, off, on, off. Messed with key switch. Still nothing. I thought WTF brand new honda what a piece of shit. By this time it was 15-20 minutes gone by. Got the tools out. Pulled the spark plug. Tested for spark. WTF no spark? How could this happen on a brand new honda 4 Wheeler? Roll it down to a meadow with better light and start thinking what the hell am I going to do? No cell service. No real water/food. Spent close to 2 hours dickin around with it. When I was finally reading the manual I came across a chapter that talked about the Ingition kill switch! After stressing for 2 hours I look at the switch and sure a shit it is switched off. So I put it all back together and what do you it fires right up. I guess my thumb hit the switch going up the bumpy hill?

 

Just the us two I guess.

 

Nobody else here has the balls to except that they have had a stupid moment in life?

I just say "acknowledge move on".

I have done that same stupid window lock thing also

 

I call them DAMs, Dumb Ass Moments, have too many to document......

 

I had this spot on the back seat that would not come out no matter how hard I scrubbed. I tried several different cleaners with no success. One day doing something in the back I brushed against the dangeling seatbelt,what do you know the spot moved!THE "SPOT" WAS REFLECTION FROM THE GD SEATBELT CLIP!!!

 

Hahahahahahahaha - That's friggin awesome! Love it.

 

I used to have a very annoying rattle coming from my intake rubbing against my heat shield. I fixed it by shoving a piece of rubber in between the two to silence the vibes. After taking it for a test run, about a mile in I started to hear a really funky clunking noise which seemed to be coming from the damn intake. I freaked out and pulled over and it was totally fine, everything was rigid and in place. I took off again and started to hear it right away. So I kept driving just to try and pin point where and as im leaning over the passenger seat to listen, I look right in front of me and it's the god damn sun visor. It wasn't fully attached and was bumpin against the clip. DOH!

 

Good stories guys, I have had a few but this one haunts me from time to time.

Bought a honda accord from my brother for a winter beater. It needed suspension work for sure and some body work too. Put about $300 into it and then the washer fluid pump was shot. i was ripping the tank out and testing the leads of the pump two hours into the job when my brother asks if i even knew how to operate it, sure enough, operator error i was pulling instead of pushing the lever. ugh!

 

That's awesome, I don't know of any cleaners that will remove reflections or shadows.

 

i could not get my lockers to engage or even the light to come on in the dash. Well after getting stuck because i couldnt turn them on and then just reading stuff on tacomaworld for a couple months. Yes months without my locker. I realized i took the 4X4 fuse out when putting in an add-a-fuse because i have 2wheel drive. apparently when they say 4X4 they mean lockers

 

Bump for some more stories

 

I'm a refrigeration mechanic and early in my career I had my first service van. I walked out to my truck on a hot day and noticed fluid dripping on the ground. I immediately drove to the ford dealership, called my manager and said the van is leaking and I would need him to drop the rest of my route for the day. Well they bring the van in and get it on the lift and drive it back out. Mechanic says, "there's no leak, it's just your condensate from running the air conditioning". I call my manager back and he asks whats it was. I say, it's just condensate and not antifreeze. He goes "aren't you an air conditioning mechanic". I felt like a major derp.

 

Back in my off roading days I was off roading after school in my truck. I decided to go up this dirt hill which was big but shouldn't have been a problem. So I drive up it slowly (stock height) and sure enough I came to a stop, I was too easy on the gas and not enough momentum. (again, stock height. I was aware of the limits) I then proceeded to apply more gas but the truck stayed at idle. I go "huh thats weird" so I floor it and to my dismay the truck stayed at idle. I go whats wrong with my truck I floor it again for a few more times and getting the same result of it just sitting there at idle. I look for answers and sure enough I had forgotten to turn off my vsc, which is weird because I normally do that when I fasten my seat beat. So now with the vsc off I floored it and the rev's climbed up as did my truck over the hill.

 

I can't believe I'm even repeating this one...

My old Toyota was my first adventure with 4WD. It had manual hubs. So here goes:

I got a beach permit for the Cape Cod national seashore and was down at race point. I had gotten there on a Friday and drove all over the beach with with GF with zero problems. I had 31x10.5 BFGs, ARB bumper, 560W for forward lighting, so I felt pretty indestructible for something as small as minor sand.

Fast forward to Saturday night. My friends were down and we wanted to check out the beach around 10:30 before it closed. My friend volunteered to lock my hubs as I was deflating my tires.

We got about a quarter mile out onto the access road when I started to bog. No worries, so I backed out. I started to dig down a little. Being naive, I threw it into 4LO and goosed it a little, no dice. I got out and realized I was dug in pretty bad...bad enough that my rear bumper was on the sand, axle completely articulated.

This nice couple in a completely basic F-150 pulled up next to me and offered to help pull me out. They had highway tread tires that were narrower than most passenger car tires. Here I am with everything I had. I felt like I just bought a pair of Air Jordans and I botched a layup in the championship game.

They yanked me out (after yelling at me to kill the light show) and started lecturing me on dropping the pressure on my tires. I was down to 11 psi at the time, but with the stiff sidewalls they looked fully inflated.

So I set out again and instantly start to bog, so I kill it (while the nice couple were still there). On a whim I was shining my flashlight around and I spy my front hub (the one my buddy "helped" with) and sure enough, it wasn't locked.

Locked the hub and drove the rest of the way in without any issue. Ended up being the only truck on the beach that night in a heavy heavy fog, it was awesome.

 

Not toyota related but when I first started riding I wasn't used to not having a fuel gauge. I had been out on the bike and was about 2 or 3 miles from home and had just gotten off the interstate when the bike started to sputter and then just died. I was going downhill so I coasted to a stop and pushed it into a parking lot and looked it all over. I had just put new spark plugs in and had sent my carbs out for a complete overhaul and had a brand new battery so I was pretty sure it wasn't any of those. My wife was out and I didn't want to call a truck and pay to get my bike home so I started walking back. Walked maybe 3 or 4 blocks when it suddenly occurred to me that I had forgot the tank has a reserve switch. Walk back and flipped the reserve lever and it started right up. I've paid close attention to the trip gauge ever since.

Same bike and its happened a few times, I used to flip the kill switch to off when I would stop. I go to get back on and it won't start, feel stupid once I realize kill switch is on, now I don't touch it.

 

Anyone ever stop at a stop sign and wait for it to turn green? ...um me neither... me neither.

 

when i was young (i was 19 and this was almost 20 years ago) i was taking off the calipers on a 1973 Mercury Capri. The first time i had ever done brakes by myself outside autoshop class. in high school.

I forget which side (driver or passenger) i was doing but i kept turning the ratchet the wrong way because i was thining about it backwards.

righty tighty lefty loosey but because the bolt was facing the other way i thought it spun the other way ....blah blah blah. I is dumb.


so since i couldnt get it off i got a pipe and put it on the ratchet to act as a breaker bar and give me some leverage. stripped the guts on the ratchet. went to Sears and got a new one with the lifetime replacement. Went home....snapped that one 5 mins later!!!

I figure im crazy and its some hwo welded itself to the caliper. Iget the 3rd one for that day. Get down to loosen it again, and said "am i turning this the wrong way?" .......yep.

 

I was driving to work early in the morning when luckily their was no other cars around and I stopped at a green light waiting for it to turn green. I sure did feel stupid.

 

I've done that a few times...blame having to wake up at 4am for work


So I returned my Blackvue DR400G-HD dash cam cause it thought it died from a popular over-heating problem/concern and they sent it back...turned out to be the 12v plug got loose where I had it installed and didn't supply any power to the unit...it was "broken" for the last 4 months