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

Screwed up installing a transgo shift kit in my old 95 firebird. Ended up having to get the transmission fully rebuilt.

 

As for working on this 3rd Gen, I dropped the end of the ECGS tool into my front diff, had to literally fish it out. Can’t believe it worked.

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/ecgs-bushing-i’m-in-a-better-place.564238/


Found out I wasn’t the only one which made me feel a little better

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/dropped-ecgs-remover-into-front-diff-help.504263/

 

1. A buddy of mine changed his oil, got distracted, forgot to put oil back in the family car... mom went grocery shopping and siezed the motor.

2. Was helping a buddy do an axle seal on a 63’ Bug. We couldn’t find the carter pin and he didn’t think it was important. Took a bunch of girls to Santa Cruz and the rear wheel and drum came off just as he got off Hwy 17. Went right through a plumbing shop and stuck about 6ft up into a wall.

3. Me? I installed an oil pressure guage on a 65’ Mustang Fastback, but didn’t have time to mount the gauge and tach housing. Was on my way to the movies with my date. Pulled up to a stoplight and a guy in a 72’ Camero wants to race to the next light. Light turns green, I punch it and the oil pressure gauge goes flying into the back seat, snapping the plastic hose and showering my date and I in hot 30 wt. oil. It was summer and she was wearing a white spaghetti strapped dress... kinda killed the date...

 

Just put a clean plastic bag into the diff, you’ll be fine. Remember to take it out after you’re done.

 

Ive had a few over the years...
Most recent was pretty minor but still threadworthy: I was doing the ECGS bushing installation and drove the seal in too far. Put everything back together and drove around for a test. Pulled back in to a trail of gear oil up the driveway and about half a bottle pooled in the skidplate. Damnit! Pull everything back apart just to pull the seal out a few mm's.

 

So glad I had EGCS do mine. I would probably do the same thing.

 

I used to be a lot attendant at a Ford dealership. When someone bought a new car or truck we'd take them, wash them, and fill them up with gas. Some dude bought a brand new F350 crew cab dually, so I washed it, took it to the Chevron, filled it up with gas and drove it back to the lot.

The damn thing was a diesel. Somehow I didn't get fired.

 

The year was 1977. Myself and another airman were working around the front of a TF-33 jet engine, one of four on a C-141. Plane was towed out of the hanger for final systems check before returning plane to flying status. This included starting all four jet engines and running them up to "Take off rated thrust". Now it is nighttime, and as the number 2 engine revved up, a shower of sparks flew out the back. Apparently, one of us young airmen left a 1/2" wrench in the nacelle, and FODded out the engine. We caught hell, our Sgt took the brunt... Anything I've fubared since pales in comparison

 

He just asked for the worst mistake, not confess all your sins!

 

i changed the spark plugs in a girl friends Thunderbird {the new version}, it has aluminum heads and getting the old plugs out it felt like they were striping, they did not just break loose and un screw. had to muscle them all the way out, it did not feel right. they were so tight coming out it felt like they would break. there were different brands of plugs in it so guess previous boyfriend did not use anti-sieze on them. in the end i got it done but for a while i thought what have i gotten myself into now.

 

put one sides brake pads in backwards. went on a test drive like wow this sounds like shit.

rotor was hosed, but being a broke 20 year old with a 16v scirocco i just flipped the pads over and bed the pad to the ground up rotor.

worked fine.

 

While not on my own vehicle one time i did not check that the oil filter seal came off with the filter. I installed the new filter on top of the old seal. I put the new oil in and proceeded to back the car out and one of the other techs noticed that oil was dumping out.
Shut the car off and pushed it back into the shop. Luckily no damage was done. Hardest part was cleaning up all the oil.

Eta. Another time on my own vehicle i forgot to put the drain plug back in before i started putting in oil. Also made a mess.

 

oofff

This isnt automobile related, but when I was a real small kid I took off the fill cap for the heating oil tank in our house. Didnt see anything down the fill pipe.. figured Id help out by running the garden hose till that bitch was full. That didnt go over very well

 

If only.


I’ve spent long travel money on heating oil.

 

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=8wpFrdevEhs

 

Here's a good one !!!!

While rebuilding my sbc a few years ago a friend and myself couldn't find a couple of tools . We both looked at ea other and he mentioned i think I know where they might be . We both looked at the intake manifold and without delay started to loosen the intake bolts then lift the intake

Within a few minutes we look down into the lifter Valley and find a shop rag with (2) screw drivers and ratchet wrench, extension and socket laying there . We both then look at each other again and I say that would have been ugly once it started

All those tools and shop rag would have bent all the pushrods and destroyed the roller lifters

 

In my Frontier, my transmission was shifting rough when going from 1st to 2nd. I did some research and pulled the code and it said one for the valves in the trans was bad. The part was $400 and i had no idea how to change it. I found 1 you tube video that showed how to replace it. I proceeded to take the pan off and the filter. Then removed this module that was attached to the trans. At that point, an odd shaped rod fell out and into the pan below. I had no clue where it came from and the video didnt show it at all. After hours of searching the internet, i found out where it went and put it back in. It didnt seem like it did anything but I figured it would just work...lol. I changed the valve and put it all back together. Took it out for a test drive, it wouldnt shift out of 2nd gear and reverse didnt work. I took the trans apart 3 more times to figure out what was wrong, still couldnt get it to work. I was going to have it towed to a trans shop but since i hardly drove it, i waited for a month before doing it. When i was just about to have it towed, i figured i would do some more research one more time. I then found I inserted that rod back incorrectly. I was supposed to make sure that the shifter would engage that rod so it would place the trans in the proper position. I took it apart one last time and sure enough, the rod just sat there, not connected to the shifter. Lesson learned and luckily it didnt cost me a new trans! I used a shit load of trans fluid though since i wasted a lot opening up the pan multiple times.

 

Not quite as good as the other stories, but anyway...
My son was replacing the valve cover gasket on a Jeep Comanche and his friend had a new electronic torque wrench they wanted to try.
So the first bolt snapped off, dam they said, must be metal fatigue. The second bolt snapped off, dam they said, same thing. I stepped in and asked what torque setting they used, while looking at the Chilton manual. Anyway, there’s a big difference between inch and foot pounds.
So they proceeded to remove the head as well, and took it somewhere to be overhauled and bolts removed.

 

And gasket seal

 

Yup, forgot about that. I bought a spare gasket seal and the new trans filter had a one. I used the first one on the first opening, the second, third and fourth, i re-used the first one since i wasnt sure if it fixed the problem. On the last one when i figured out about the rod, i put the new one on since i was positive that i fixed it.