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

There's that mild mistake I made of installing a new fuel sensor, and not calibrating it.
Leaving me stranded away from home with what I thought was a half-full tank, walking home took me around 50 minutes, was quite a bit late for work that day.. :grin:


Another "mistake" with the same car, was assuming the previous owner had cared even slightly about it. Hindsight being what it is, I should've doublechecked the entire car. First and by far the worst thing that happened was total loss of braking power because the pedal was insecurely attached to the master cylinder. :oops:
Sometimes you're extra grateful for mechanical handbrakes.
 
The list of "oops" and "well duhhh's" is far too long to take lightly. In the early '70s, I had just turned 21. Old enough in Florida to buy beer for myself. I was stationed at Mayport Coast Guard station, on the old road down to the ferry. I was driving an old Dodge and busted an axle while in Birmingham. My younger brother loaned me his Plymouth and repaired the axle in a couple of days. He then drove to Mayport with a cousin and we swapped back. They being 17 and 16 respectively. Little brother enlisted shorly thereafter.

In the interim, I had found, and bought, a couple cases of Coors at the Naval Station PX. At that time, Coors was not sold east of some arbitrary line. But had not transferred it to the ship. Beer Any alcohol on a military ship in those days was a serious NO-NO. I forgot the beer, meaning to take it down state the next weekend. They were stopped in a "dry" county on the way home. The arresting officer took a dim view of two minors in a "dry" county carrying a trunk load of bootleg booze.

Pop ended up bailing them out, with no charges, by some legal shenanigans he knew of. And got the beer back from the county. But it took me years to live that one down.

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Line was Mississippi River. Coors was supposed to be kept cold. Was transported in refrigerated trucks west of river. Here it’s not. NC.
 
Not really a mistake on my part, but someone got sorely frustrated. I used to drive a '49 Chev 3800, basically a dualie when I bought it. The lock ring rims were dangerous to work on a tire. And 18 inch tires were expensive. . . ! So I converted(?) it to 16 inch singles. It had an OEM electrical system at 6 volts, which I converted to 12 volts. Except the foot starter. Built my own electronic instrumentation, but that is another tale by itself. An old battery with a shorted cell (I think), standing overnight it was around 8-10 volts. With a 6 volt starter of course, it started quickly even on cold mornings. And the generator was very forgiving, coming up to 12 volts in seconds, so all the lights worked the way they should. If it was running. . . One morning I went out and the hood was up and the battery was gone. I did lose a few hours but wasn't working anyway, so all it cost me was another "blem" battery. But whoever it was that got mine was in for a very rude shock. . .

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mmcmdl said:
Can't say I ever did that .................................................at least not in a Triumph ! Maybe an 84 Trans Am , but never a TR6 . :rolleyes:
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Did it once on a Plymouth Duster. Kinda. Had a friend over who decided to help, and we got too caught up in talking than paying attention to what we were doing. He thought I replaced the plug; I thought he did.
 
I Had a starter motor fell out on a first date with a very popular girl. I just finished engine swapping that car, and the clutch fell apart. And i crashed my other car, so i changed the clutch in 2.5 hours on a FWD car on the ground. I barely had time to clean up and get ready and i left few bolts loose, staff like engine mounts, exhaust of the turbo, starter motor bolts. Mid date started to get a bit loud so i shut down the engine when we pulled in. Time to get going, i turn key and i hear wzzzzzzz, starter motor free spin. First thought was to tell her get out and push but 48kg blonde against a 2 tone car wasn't going to happen even on level ground, also i know that she will tell everyone about it. So i pop the hood reach in stuck the starter in its hole hold it in and tell her to turn the key. Continue with the date, at the club i park one street over because is steep downhill. And she complains why are we so far away, i told her don't worry i'll get the car when we leave so she doesn't have to walk. My thought was she may hit the windscreen when i bump start it. I must have been interesting because she did not noticed all the thing that went wrong.
 
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