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

Had an ex with a Pontiac Grand and her door lock knob somehow fell down into the door panel, but i could just touch the top of it with the tip of my finger, but no way to pull it up. So i got superglue and the plan was to put one drop on my finger, glue it to the knob and pull it up, then put acetone on the glue to release my finger. Put glue on finger, inserted into hole, and immediately glued myself to the side of the hole which my finger just fit into... Stood there in her driveway in the sun looking like an idiot for a long time and eventually had to pull the skin off.. lol

 

The worst one was with my 2010 Tacoma, went to do a radar detector install, had the dome light cover off and went to drill a hole in the little metal bracket for a ground wire. Brand new tiny titanium drill bit, cordless drill, was givin'er and it was hard to get started because that bracket had some flex to it, so I was leaning on'er. Finally she took, and the drill bit flew through it in a millisecond, and then continued right through the roof. Truck was about 1 week old with a 1/8 hole drilled though the roof. Had a dab of sealant on there for the rest of its life...

 

on my 1985 Toyota SR5 x-cab..
Adjusted the valve clearance when it was still hot (IIRC, manual specified to do this cold), which resulted in burning an exhaust valve.
Which resulted in me pulling the head to take it in for a valve job, in December, in Colorado above 9000 feet with no garage.
Oh, the 22r has an aluminum head and cast-iron block, so when you have the head redone, you're supposed to do some work on the block so they seat properly, but my 22 year old self was too broke to do that. So I did my level best to sand and clean the block myself (again, December, Colorado, 9000 feet, no garage, etc, etc).
Which resulted in a blown head gasket a few hundred miles later. And another a few hundred miles later. When the head gasket blew the second time, I was 4-wheeling (longwater gulch) and slid backwards downhill into a tree on the passenger-side, trashing the passenger door and front fender.
Traded it in on an 88 4-runner the next day, and have been extra careful when doing maintenance ever since.

 

Thouht i would be nice and drive a friend home after work. Went to shift my car (04 dodge neon) into R and wouldnt shift. would go into 1-5 fine just not R. well i drop her off and i start looking at my car. luckily i had some tools in the car and i started taking the center console out, everything looked fine. So then i try to get eyes on the tranny. well the battery tray was in the way so i start popping bolts out. wasnt paying attention on the last bolt and i had the rachet wrench end on the bolt. next thing i know, the bolt is just a few threads from coming out but with the wrench on, its stuck against the transmission. and there was no way to get the bolt back in at all to get my wrench back. sold it to the dealer for my 2018 Tacoma. And atleast i know where one of my 10mm wrenchs went.

 

My '80 Yamaha XS1100 rounded the second gear dog in the transmission which was the very last part that comes out of the engine cases. So I split the cases and took a Dremel tool and undercut all the dogs (never missed another shift but neutral was hard to find). Anyway after putting the whole thing back together as I'm putting the cam caps on I drop a washer and watch as it goes right down the opening for the cam chain. I tried for the longest time to get it out with a magnet but ended up having to split the cases again to get it out.

Lesson learned … cover all openings every time.

 

Has anyone successfully replaced an 04 ford f150 5.4L spark plugs, without breaking one?

 

Working with a sprocket on my race bike, I needed to tap lightly with something. Should have gotten a small hammer or wrench but I was in a small space between my wife's car and the garage wall and didn't want to walk to my work bench. Within reach was a can of flat black spray paint and I thought 'hey, I can just use the rim on the bottom of the can'. A few light taps later and I punctured the can, emptying the contents all over the side of my wife's two week old Civic. I quickly grabbed a rag but it was almost immediately dry and it did nothing. Lots of laquer thinner, and LOTS of elbow grease later, it was gone. She forgave me. Eventually....

 

Not me, but my dad tried changing the oil on his brand new BMW Adventure and just torqued the screw in how he saw fit...started leaking. Had to ride it like that from Mission up to the nearest BMW motorcycle dealership aka the one in Austin.

 

Gasoline plus styrofoam= Napalm

Atleast that’s what I learned from the anarchist cookbook

 

Ever notice how paint applied normally takes forever to dry. But paint applied accidentally...dries almost instantly ?

 

bought a TORNADO gas saver for my 3.4l TRD truck, of course. I still have it as a momento if anyone wants it i'll send it to ya but u pay the shipping. fits 3.4l intake hose and your guaranteed to get 30 mpgs. https://youtu.be/yRxTwzOvS7Q

 

Please tell me you’re joking?

 

nope

 

Using a cheap torque wrench on an $1,800 aluminum jet ski head.
$40 dollar wrench wound up costing me $1,840.00.

 

ouch!

 

Lesson learned.
Far better off using your own good judgement over putting faith in a cheap torque wrench.

 

Came close once. BP has green for regular gas and black for diesel. Was trying to fill up diesel on a hazy morning so I went for the green, which is the color of diesel at most stations. Tried at least 4 times and couldn't get it to start. My credit card wasn't working luckily. Finally figured it out before the pump would kick on. A worn credit card strip saved my butt.

 

But there are so many people here who swear by their harbor freight tools....

 

Was running Nitrous Oxide on a small block Chevy, lots of fun. Decided it wasn't enough and stepped it up a notch with a 125HP jet. It was alot of fun the first 3 times I hit the button. Mind you that this was at Pismo Dunes Comp Hill, someone on here might have even seen this go down. On the 4th time I pushed that little button of joy, the motor let me know it had had enough in a real bad way. Lots of fire, smoke, the smell of oil and and a trail of parts where it decided to just shit its insides out all over the hill. Was done with this toy after that. Live and learn.