What automotive mistakes you have made and are willing to admit to

I had a friend in the corvette club (he had a way hot girlfriend) and he was working on something to do with the fuel line and a bunch of gas came out and filled one ear and all over his face. He lost his hearing and had balance problems, possible brain damage, eye damage.

He was an engineer for warn winches and he was literally brilliant.

The way hot (did I sat hot) GF dropped him like a hot potato after that. To me she wasn't that hot anymore after it happened.
 
slow-poke said:
I‘m young and a bit too careless, I’m was working after hours alone, changing the fuel level sender in a 69 Mustang. The car is inside shop at work ( car audio install shop in the middle of nowhere). Idled it forever on what I thought was empty it just kept on going. I’m underneath laying on my back, incandescent trouble light beside me. I have a little bucket expecting a couple of cups at most. I take out the ring and pull the sender and about 1-2 gallons pour down my arms and back and onto the floor. The little pool is flowing towards the trouble light. Visions of being incinerated alive flash before my eyes. I’m out from underneath in about 400ms, drag the light away. Remove my gas soaked clothes and thank my lucky stars.
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Trouble lights are called trouble for a reason! Some time before 1998, the Ontario Ministry of Labour, banned incandescent trouble lights from commercial garage shop for exactly that reason. Our dealership/garage and every other in town were inspected at that time.
Pierre
 
@slow-poke

Your story was serious, but it reminded me of more light hearted experience.

I was 17 or 18 YOA (1966) and working alone at a Standard Oil Company station south of Tucson, AZ on the Benson Highway (now Interstate 10).
I think it was a Sunday, pretty quiet. One of the jobs was to "mop the islands" which meant moping all the exterior concrete using Stodard solvent (mineral spirits?). That job cleaned up any oil spots and left everything looking spiffy.

The solvent was stored in a 55 gallon drum with a hand pump. We kept a large coffee can there for the job. While filling the can, I fumbled the job and splashed a bunch of solvent onto my clothing at belt level and below. Oh Shucks!!!

Nothing I can do about that. It will dry quickly. I'll just carry on.

After about a minute my priorities changed drastically. That solvent was substantially irritating my tender young parts.

I ran back into the storeroom, dropped trousers, etc., and used an air hose to dry everything.

The good news is that I lived and no customers showed up while I was indisposed. After work, I may have asked my girlfriend to treat the effected area.
 
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Few years back i bought a Peugeot 405 1.6 carburetor, it was a special order car, all the others had fuel injection. I bought it like 10% of the going rate for those cars. It would not run and before it die it was running like crap and its been to all the mechanics shops around town. After it died no mechanic would touch it, so i drag it home and spent an entire evening, going thru the fuel system took the pickup tube and seen it had more than 1/2 tank of fuel, prime the mechanical fuel pump, took the carburetor hat and seen the accelerator pump spraying fuel, removed clean and return the spark plugs like 20 times, it has spark, its in time, check the timing belt, no fire. After lots of frustration i had a propane torch setting in the work bench, i shaved it in the carburetor and try to start it and it fired, tried to rev it it backfired and throw a gallon of liquid out of the exhaust, i took the now burning torch out of the carburetor and tried to light the black liquid and it did not light on fire. So took the fuel pick up out of the fuel tank again, suction out all the content of the tank and found someone has filled it with water, it had only few liters of gasoline on top, put some gasoline back reasembled it, and it fired up. From then on first step check the state of the fuel. To finish the story with that car, i stayed all night , found it to have a intake gasket leak. Cut a new gasket tune the carburetor, changed the locks, it had no keys. Next day drove it to get the title transferred, and the seller bought it back, for 2K higher. He drove that car till recently and had 860 000 km on the clock, which is a lot and was going strong but a runaway dump truck made it in a pancake. I was sad when i've seen it in my local junkyard, never thought i'll be sad to see the ugliest 405 die.
 
alloy said:
I had a friend in the corvette club (he had a way hot girlfriend) and he was working on something to do with the fuel line and a bunch of gas came out and filled one ear and all over his face. He lost his hearing and had balance problems, possible brain damage, eye damage.

He was an engineer for warn winches and he was literally brilliant.

The way hot (did I sat hot) GF dropped him like a hot potato after that. To me she wasn't that hot anymore after it happened.
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hey, you stole my Hot GF double take... ;)

That sucks about your friend. Not sure how gas can do that. many guys have sucked gas in their mouth while trying to prime a siphon.
Maybe he didn't close his eyes and it went into his system.
 
Oh man.... Where do I start?

I spent an afternoon teaching my GF (at the time) many years ago how to change oil. After she topped it off, I told her to fire it up, check for leaks. She opened the door, leaned in, turned the key. It started.... Having been left in or been nudged into reverse gear. Carried her backwards, holding onto the open door clean across the parking area and would have kept on going had I not run over, dived through the open window and turned it off.

I had an RX7 (contender for most unreliable car ever made) which developed a leak in what turned out to be a turbo coolant line. In those things, they're so tightly packaged you have no choice but to remove the engine for anything but changing the oil. Out the motor came for the seventh time in fewer years... I found the leak, replaced the steel hose buried behind the turbo pack, put the engine back in. Quite quick at it by this point. All looking good. Better go under and connect the clutch... On these infernal things it's a pull clutch. Rather than pushing the clutch fingers, the release bearing pulls on them. Don't ask me why! It's the dumbest design I've ever had misfortune to experience. There's a silly cage collar which carries a spring steel ring that seats in a groove inside the clutch cover and outside of the release bearing which goes inside. To remove, you have to push the cage forward and pull the bearing back. The cage comes out on the bearing Reassembly, you have to put the cage in the clutch cover, then ram the bearing in and pull back to seat the ring. Guess who forgot to swap the bearing onto the clutch, not the bearing? Yep. After three hours of swearing and fiddling with screwdrivers through the tiny inspection hatch, I admitted defeat, undid all my work and removed the engine for the 8th time. Then sold the **** car and have been happier ever since.

I have a mate who has the worst luck with cars, though. Actually several. I'll type up some more tales tomorrow - it's getting late here. First one involves going over a small bridge at high speed and full throttle, ripping the driveshafts out of the transmission which promptly shred the entire front suspension. I saw the same man counter balance a ford Granada - which had had the front subframe and engine removed - on it's rear wheels by loading railway sleepers into the boot (trunk) until he could wheel it around like a giant wheelbarrow. Which he promptly lost control of down the small step out of the workshop. More comedy automotive antics to follow...

Great thread!
 
Pull clutches offer a lighter pedal effort with better feel and control than the antique bellcrank style. They have been a staple of the performance cars since.... gaaaaa... I think they start showing up in the 1980s. Porsche 930s is the first place I ran into them. Now most everyone uses them. Well, the few that still offer manuals.
 
Let's have some minor thread drift. We've all read what we're willing to admit to. How about stuff that we wouldn't want our parents or anyone else know?
 
Bone Head said:
How about stuff that we wouldn't want our parents or anyone else know?
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Ha , this thread would go on forever . :grin: Got stopped at a road block after being clocked at 142mph+ ( LEO said the radar gun was buried ) coming home from a bluegrass festival . A GTO Judge vs. a SS RS Camaro . The Judge out ran the Camaro for what its worth . Ahhhh......................the good ol days . :big grin:
 
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