Worst Working Moments On Cars

[harryskid 193]

Your worst ever moments working on cars !

I will start with one of mine, several years ago i had a Cortina 1600e and i had to pass an mot. The problem was the top of the inner wing by the strut top had rusted and needed plating. At the time i worked for an industrial heating firm and had gas welding kit to hand. I came home from work at about 6 and got out the gear and started welding the Ford wing plate, part of this plate was very close to the bulkhead and as i was gas welding you can imagine the heat build up. As i got near the end by the bulkhead the horn went off and the head lights , indicators all started flashing, Smoke was coming out of the car and flames from the dash board . In my great hurry to get this job done , as i had to get the welding gear back to work next day i had not disconnected the battery . Result one burnt out loom and a very sooty interior, the welding was fine. It cost me a megga clean inside the car, a rewire and a new secondhand dash. To cap it all every time i drove it, i kept thinking about it and actually hated the car because it reminded me of how careless i was. I was only a young lad then but no excuse. I sold the car at a profit but could kick myself as later they were worth a hell of a lot more. Over to you lads

[dumbiron 0]

Probably removing a rear halfshaft on a range rover only held by its handbrake (works on the rear propshaft for those that don't know ) As the last drive flange bolt was removed, the Range rover rolled off the drive and through the neighbours wall

[SurGie 54]

Tip, always disconnect the battery when ever working on a car

 

Cant say i have one thats worth mentioning really, only small mishaps maybe, that i cant remember.

[Cameron 16]

I remember my sister got a puncture so me and a couple of mates were helping her out, one of them insisted on jacking it up where it was, pointing downhill in the car park. You can probably guess what happened.. We all told him to take it down but he was confident it would be fine, as soon as he took the wheel off.. THUD. It rolled forwards off the jack and onto the sill.

 

Trying to jack it up again was fun.

 

I think one of my best moments has to be when I got a courtesy car beached up to the subframe when testing it's off-road potential. Me and my mate spent about 30 mins digging a foundation to jack it up from, then built a rudimentary road under the front wheels to be able to drive it out again. Worked a treat!

Edited November 19, 2011 by Cameron

[EdCherry 34 1 Cars]

Finding one of my 2nd's had not only forgotten to tighten a set of wheels as the car left the assembly area, but also put the wheels on the wrong way! Quickest I've probably ever run to get that torque wrench!

[allye 530 3 Cars]

Tip, always disconnect the battery when ever working on a car

 

 

Wow, cheers for that. Will always know now

 

Cross threading a thread on a brand new caliper, throwing away the correct clutch arm for my vts box then taking weeks to get another! Trying to get a dead eacort GTI of a towing dolly then ripping its front bumper off

[allye 530 3 Cars]

 

 

I think one of my best moments has to be when I got a courtesy car beached up to the subframe when testing it's off-road potential. Me and my mate spent about 30 mins digging a foundation to jack it up from, then built a rudimentary road under the front wheels to be able to drive it out again. Worked a treat!

 

haha! I did this with a chevy matiz in wales, had to rock it out, took ages. That was a courtesy car as well, only did 98..... so I'm told

[Andy_C 50]

haha! I did this with a chevy matiz in wales, had to rock it out, took ages. That was a courtesy car as well, only did 98..... so I'm told

 

Try nearly running over some early morning hikers at the bottom of the Devil's Punchbowl in a 95 Escort in my defence the garage had just taken my car back for the fifth time in as many days to fix yet another issue (driveshafts from memory but it was 16 years ago).

 

Biggest bugger at the moment is trying to blend the paintwork on the rear quarters. Getting right on my tits now

[Cameron 16]

This one was a Toyota Yaris, I was told they wouldn't go over 97mph but on a private test track we managed to get 105.

[steve@cornwall 100]

My worst wasn't a car, but a bike. Started the job with 10 fingers, finished with 8.........

[ross009 0]

My worst wasn't a car, but a bike. Started the job with 10 fingers, finished with 8.........

 

 

your gonna have to elaborate.....

[HERMAN 33]

My worst was a bobcat with a leaking main ram and only me in the workshop. Ended up trapped between the bucket and the frame of the machine for nearly on hour. I only gained consciousness after a couple of blokes had returned to the workshop and jacked it apart. Ended up in an ambulance and a few weeks off work. I never even considered that they are back heavy and thing just tipped up as I removed the ram. Doh

[allye 530 3 Cars]

My worst wasn't a car, but a bike. Started the job with 10 fingers, finished with 8.........

 

Is it bad taste to ask for pictures?

[JoshGti 8]

Working on an auto corsa for a mate when I was 19 (now 24), my driveway is "T" shaped, so to move it around you have to towards the house and then turn off the drive.

 

Throttle got jammed open (I left a few tools in the footwell) straight through neighbours wall....

 

Cost me a new front bumper and a weekend with a cement mixer and a pointing trowel. Luckily the wall was only a year old so the bricks were still decent. Chipped all the cement off and only had to buy 12 new bricks to rebuild.

 

Needless to say I tidy up after myself every time I work on a car now.

[steve@cornwall 100]

Is it bad taste to ask for pictures?

 

 

Been done!!! (more than once!!!) basically don't get your fingers caught in the chain :-(

Edited November 20, 2011 by steve@cornwall

[Matt Holley 11]

One that stands out for me is trying to get the gearbox back on an old Orion on my own, I was leaning over the wing and all of a sudden the whole car went sideways and tipped off the axle stands, dended floor, cracked sump and an unhappy me trying to lift the car back up with whatever jacks I could find as mine was now wedged under the engine that it was supporting.

[GLPoomobile 958]

your gonna have to elaborate.....

 

It's gonna take him ages to type a reply though

 

EDIT: should have finished reading the topic before I got smart

Edited November 20, 2011 by GLPoomobile

[GLPoomobile 958]

I've never had any bad incidents. I'd love to say I always take the utmost care at all times, but I don't. Just been lucky.

 

But the one that always makes me shudder is the memory of how I nearly caught my dads wrist with an angle grinder. I was chopping through the downpipe on a BX 16V as the manifold to downpipe bolts were seized and it was the last thing stopping the engine coming out. He was holding the engine forwards, I was grinding away and then it just caught in the metal and shot forwards towards him. Missed his arm by.....well, it was too damn close lets say.

Edited November 20, 2011 by GLPoomobile

[steve@cornwall 100]

It's gonna take him ages to type a reply though

 

EDIT: should have finished reading the topic before I got smart

 

 

I only use 2 fingers anyway

[Toddy 7]

1) Had an AX GT which the engine went pop, my mate picked me up an engine from the a salvage yard, we fitted the engine and road tested at about 3 a.m. it felt a little slow, I measured the height of the head and this confirmed it was a 950cc engine, engine out, cash back from the salvage yard and installed a 1360cc.

[swordfish210 20]

I remember my worst day, although it was a toss up between this time and the time i got squashed in my garage between the wall and the 205 that had slipped off the jack.

 

So it was a few years ago and i had finished putting the engine for my 205 back together (my first build) and was ready to install it. I had rented an engine crane and managed to get the engine back in pretty quickly. I then put all the ancillaries back on and got the gearbox back in and before long the car was back on it's wheels. I spent a bit longer going over the thing making sure everything was allright and after filling up all the fluids i was ready to start it .

 

I got the thing started after a few minutes of cranking and priming and it was idiling nicely. I was about to congratulate myself on a job well done when it started making a horrible grinding noise and i grabbed the key and shut it off. I stood around for a bit not knowing what to do and eventually i cranked the engine over by hand and it was making the same noise. I got heavily pissed off then and after kicking a lot of things i drove home .

 

I spent the next day thinking about what i was going to do and i came to the conclusion that i must have facked up the build and i had to pull the engine apart again to see what was what. I went to the workshop and began undoing things and i went to take the starter motor off only to notice that it was already off...sort of. There was only one bolt in it and it wasn't done up properly, in my hurry to get the job done i had put the motor in to hold it and then done the wiring up and forgotten to bolt it up properly. Massive D'oh! moment and definetly my worst day working on the car.

[harryskid 193]

Another one i had was when i use to rally a mini cooper with a 998 high spec motor and it was a B for head gaskets. On this occasion i removed the head and forgot to give the push rods a little wriggle when i removed them and when i went to put it all back all the cam followers had fallen over. Then to get them back i had to take the covers off at the back of the engine, which on the old style mini was a right B. At the same time i had got a second hand starter moter to replace the faulty old one. With every thing back in i tryed to start her and it turned over ok but would not start. I spent the next couple of days checking and rechecking what i had done but no good. So bit the bullet and got a friend who worked in a garage to come over and have a look. It turned out the starter was not a mini one but a ford and the engine was turning over backwards.

[EdCherry 34 1 Cars]

I remember my worst day, although it was a toss up between this time and the time i got squashed in my garage between the wall and the 205 that had slipped off the jack.

 

So it was a few years ago and i had finished putting the engine for my 205 back together (my first build) and was ready to install it. I had rented an engine crane and managed to get the engine back in pretty quickly. I then put all the ancillaries back on and got the gearbox back in and before long the car was back on it's wheels. I spent a bit longer going over the thing making sure everything was allright and after filling up all the fluids i was ready to start it .

 

I got the thing started after a few minutes of cranking and priming and it was idiling nicely. I was about to congratulate myself on a job well done when it started making a horrible grinding noise and i grabbed the key and shut it off. I stood around for a bit not knowing what to do and eventually i cranked the engine over by hand and it was making the same noise. I got heavily pissed off then and after kicking a lot of things i drove home .

 

I spent the next day thinking about what i was going to do and i came to the conclusion that i must have facked up the build and i had to pull the engine apart again to see what was what. I went to the workshop and began undoing things and i went to take the starter motor off only to notice that it was already off...sort of. There was only one bolt in it and it wasn't done up properly, in my hurry to get the job done i had put the motor in to hold it and then done the wiring up and forgotten to bolt it up properly. Massive D'oh! moment and definetly my worst day working on the car.

 

You sure it wasn't the day when you had to take the head off with lots of probing down holes and headbolts in the workshop? or shall I not bring that up...

Edited November 20, 2011 by EdCherry

[Alan_M 66 1 Cars]

Not disconnecting the battery when replacing a throttle cable

 

Choice of battery exploding (throttle cable shorted between both posts) or burnt hand. Still got a slight scar to this day and it f*cking hurt.

[welshpug 1,629]

having the bonnet on my Fiat Brava get blown right over onto the windrcreen+roof one windy day