Silly screw ups

[Tcoat]

Originally Posted by anewprelusion

So I've changed the oil on my BRZ several times, and also numerous times on other vehicles. On the previous oil change, that was the first time I used a non OEM oil filter (ran out of the OEM ones and grabbed the best one that FRAM had to offer).


Typically after I remove the oil filter, I would wipe the area where the oil filter is installed before putting the new filter on. Sun down was approaching, and visibility was decreasing, so I thought "what's wrong with a little bit of oil. If anything it'll help lubricate the new filter anyways".


Installed the new filter, and continued with the normal oil change procedure. Again, I would typically fire up the car, and do my last minute checks to see if everything is tight and squared away. This time however, I thought "nah, I got this, this ain't my first rodeo, should be good".


Later that night, needed to run an errand and started the car. Drove off my driveway and noticed a puddle of oil on the driveway.


In the end, turns out the little rubber gasket on the old filter had come off during removal, so when I installed the new filter, I was running on 2 gaskets, which resulted in an improper seal.


Wasn't too much of a mess, since the oil just flowed out the sides and down to the floor. But nonetheless, I won't be taking any more shortcuts anymore. Could've easily prevented this by just doing my normal oil change routine. And I'll probably avoid aftermarket filters if possible. Never had the rubber gasket come off of the OEM ones. = (.

If it makes you feel any better there have been several people on here that have done that. One dude posted he couldn't get his filter to seal over the other seal and then proceeded to argue with us for two days when we tried to tell him that the existing seal was just from the old filter.

[Ultramaroon]

Originally Posted by Tcoat

If it makes you feel any better there have been several people on here that have done that. One dude posted he couldn't get his filter to seal over the other seal and then proceeded to argue with us for two days when we tried to tell him that the existing seal was just from the old filter.

I remember that. *derp*


Oh, I pulled the oil cap bonehead move once on my Z. Oil fucking EVERYWHERE. I was down 2 quarts in the hour it took for me to notice the oil streaking out the hood vents.

[MuseChaser]

Originally Posted by Ultramaroon

...
Waaay before I knew any better, I repaired a leaky AC hose on my Datsun 210 ..

Never did fix it properly. Just went without.

My first owned car was a Datsun B210. I didn't know A/C was even available on those econoboxes. Mine was a 4-speed which really sounded like it needed a 5th gear when it got above 50mph. Great gas mileage, and I loved it... of course, I think we all love our first cars. Wish I had taken better care of it, but I was young and dumb. Now I'm old and dumb.

[MuseChaser]

Originally Posted by Fishbed77

Over the years I've learned that Toyota dealerships are the absolute worst. Without a doubt. Every one of them seems to operate on the "stealership" model.

You, my lucky friend, have never dealt w/ a Mercedes dealership. I'm fortunate that they guys in my local parts department are human beings and helpful. If I had to pay for repairs there, I'd be a pauper. Well, no.. I just wouldn't own a Mercedes.

[gramicci101]

My biggest financial screwup was keeping a 4runner well past its expiration date. After multiple thousands of dollars worth of engine and transmission rebuilds, I finally got fed up when the brake caliper froze and I couldn't get the wheel off to fix it. Turns out in a very salty environment, the aluminum wheels will corrode to the steel hubs and become impossible to remove. Sold it on eBay for a fraction of what a working 4runner was worth.

My dumbest car maintenance screwup was during an oil change, when I started to pour a bottle of old, used oil into my car. Old, used oil that had been sitting in the drain pan while the grass was being mowed, so there were a bunch of grass clippings floating in it that I promptly poured into my car. I noticed after about half a quart and had to drain the oil again. Then I poured a quart of clean oil through it, drained that, and crossed my fingers that that washed any grass out.

[MuseChaser]

Haven't done anything real stupid w/ the FR-S yet, but there's still plenty of time.

Probably my favorite bonehead move was replacing the bearings on a light-duty boat trailer I have for a Sunfish that I had converted to accept a 14' aluminum fishing boat that I was going to go pick up about 5 hours away.. They old ones were shot, rusted on, and a bear to get off, but I finally finished the job, put new tires on the trailer, and me and my family headed downstate to pick up our new-to-us fishing boat. About two hours into the trip, the trailer starts vibrating like crazy. One of the wheels was only held on by one bolt; I had forgotten to torque'em down, and had only finger tightened them. Sigh.

Another fun story.. I had stopped w/ my wife to get gas. Next to us was a pair of young chicks trying to put gas in their car, laughing their butts off because they couldn't fit the nozzle in the hole. They were probably slightly wasted, but they asked for my help. Turns out they had grabbed the diesel pump instead of the regular gas nozzle. Duh. I sorted it out for them, and my wife and I had a good chuckle while I finished filling up our car, talking about the two morons. Then I drove off without our gas cap. NEVER make fun of someone else's stupidity.

Barry

[ajaxthebetter]

In high school, coming back from a basketball tournament, I was passenger in my buddy's Acura Legend. Good car. Strong. We drove way too quickly for way too long a distance on I-5. Then promptly hit stop and go traffic. Car started overheating. Finally we limp it to a gas station. Pop the hood. He didn't have a hood prop so he asked me to hold it open--he was going to pop off the radiator cap. We didn't know anything, but something almost primal in both of us knew something bad was coming. But being stupid we continued onward, with at least some modicum of fear. I grabbed a cigarette cone and placed it under the hood to hold it open. He wet down a shirt which he woild use to twist off the cap. These were our ways of mitigating, albeit minor, what our stupidity was propelling us to do.

I stood beside him as he twisted off the radiator cap, kind of leaned over it courtesy curiosity, kind of leaned back based on instinct. Hard to explain. A geyser erupted out. A man pushing coca cola products into the gas station let out a, "whoa!" No one was hit by the scalding hot liquid. It somehow sprayed all about us. The sidewalk was drenched. Not to be deterred by narrowly dodging serious burns, we then went inside and poured cold water into the radiator. Strong engine. Car ran fine till he sold it. The brakes did go out on it as he was pulling into a parking spot--jumped the curb.

I've also done the oil cap left in engine bay thing. Civic handled it no problem. Japanese make some tough engines. I've jacked up a car on a slight gravel slope. Nothing happened, but still stupid.

I'd like to think these stupid things have built up my mental toolkit, but I'm sure I'll do much more.

[Impureclient]

I thought about this hard and know I have to be missing something owning 9 vehicles so far but all I can come up with is not putting the oil cap on on a prior car and it melting a little before I realized it was off.
I try to follow the measure twice/cut once method while I work which when transferred over to automotive speak is probably install once/check twice and maybe that has been why I haven't really screw up bad...yet.

[Ultramaroon]

[humfrz]

Originally Posted by Impureclient

I thought about this hard and know I have to be missing something owning 9 vehicles so far but all I can come up with is not putting the oil cap on on a prior car and it melting a little before I realized it was off.
I try to follow the measure twice/cut once method while I work which when transferred over to automotive speak is probably install once/check twice and maybe that has been why I haven't really screw up bad...yet.

Now, @Impureclient , before ol @Ultramaroon goes into a tizzy fit and sticks himself with his knitting needle ..... do you mind telling us how many years you have been wrenching on cars ....


humfrz

[Impureclient]

22 years ago since my first car doing routine maintenance but the real wrenching(transmission change) started on the second car at 18.

Also, doesn't that picture of @Ultramaroon look like she's already got some cookies baking in the oven? I miss my grandma.

[WryGuy]

Thirty odd years ago, my first car was a Ford Escort with a blown piston. I believe the former owner paid me to haul it away with our John Deere and, Yay, car for young little me.

Manual transmission. No a/c. No electro-ecu-gizmos. Absolutely no bells nor whistles for that matter. Literally. Radio? Not even an antenna. I installed an air horn at a later date. It scared half the county. But a 3 second blast when idling would make the car stall. Alas, that is a story for another time.

"Perfect first car" my dad said. "Rebuild it and I'll cover the insurance" - foolish man.

Couple months grease monkey to rebuild the engine. Nice learning experience that's for sure.

First day after I get it running and back together, I think to myself "Let's wash it top to bottom". But I wasn't going to use just any old cleaner - no dishsoap and garden hose wash for my baby. Time to run into town and do it right. And maybe splurge for the DIY wash in the next town over.

First of all, the mechanical aspects of car were sound. As much as a could be expected. At least, nothing exploded.

Second of all, small town. Could count the township's population without removing your shoes.

Thirdly, probationary license (moped) since I only age 15. But I was used to driving tractors on the farm and, frankly, nobody really paid much attention to little details like that.

So, off to the store.

Punctured a front tire on the way.

As I'm changing the tire on my baby, who should pull up behind me but our local peacekeeper. Actually, he was shared not "ours" since his area included about 8-10 neighboring townships. Even so, friendly man and everyone knew everyone.

So we have a smoke and shoot the breeze as I wrench on the spare tire. Then off we go our separate ways.

I buy like everything there is to be had in the car wash isle. Soap, wax, towels, wheel cleaner, degreaser, interior armor all, stuff that does stuff, and more stuff. I load it in the back and set forth once again.

Well, an important detail here is, by "load" I really mean "toss". Did I see my tools laying there too? Yeah, sure. But it's just towels and cleaning supplies. And there's that relatively big freaking tire in there looking pitiful. No big deal. Plus, I'm hungry and the tire episode has delayed my simple going-to-the-car-wash adventure.

Hungry, I stop to grab chow. Peacekeeper was apparently hungry too. Wave.

Return to car and it has a lovely soapy scent. That's odd. Turns out I punctured one of the cleaner bottles and it leaked all over the back.

Hindsight is screaming for me to call it a day and go home. Nope.

Fine. Soap. So what. I'm going to the wash anyways, right? I'll just clean it up at the same time.

Wash time.

I do everything I can think of. Dash and seats shine. I hand wash the car before power spraying it then hand washed it again. Washed the flat tire too - patching it later so may as well make it pretty too. Windows sparkle. Olive green paint job looking so good you can almost use to comb your hair. No grit or grime in those wheel wells. And no spare tire ever looked so good!

Ever put hand dishwash soap into a dishwasher? How'd you like swimming in all those bubbles?

Well, you can now picture my futile attempts to "clean up" the spilled cleaner from the back. Long story short, wherever Betsy is now she probably still has soapy bubbles in unreachable areas.

And, of course, I washed the engine.

Degreaser this. Soapy stuff on that that. Hand scrubbed the engine block, hoses, timing belt, and all the other innards. Brass colored carburetor all spotless. Did I mention the tire degreaser? Yes? Good. Did I mention I was at a DIY power wash bay? If not, you know now. Have we figured out I was young and enthusiastic?

Turns out, grease/oil/lubricants are kinda important in the "engine bay area". But, golly, it's marvelous how well a heavy-duty degreaser and vigorous scrubbing can clean a zillion year old car engine.

True, no _real_ harm can be done without, oh, opening up the head gasket or something. But there are a lot of moving parts exposed to the elements... And, oh, exuberant me.

I probably went around through the bay a half dozen times that day. Hand wash. Power wash. Hand wash. Vacuum. Brush clean wheels and Wells. Power wash. Back trunk bubble bath fiasco. Turtle Wax. Scrub engine and...

... I'm sure @Tcoat and @humfrz have nodded off by this point. Okay, I'm almost done ...

Last lap in the DIY car wash learn-your-lesson circuit was to (*cringe*) power wash the engine. How do I know it was the final lap at the DIY auto wash?

I remember how I hand towel dried the wet parts of the engine with no dirt showing up on the towels. It wasn't show car quality or anything close. But it "looked good".

Proud of my accomplishments, I happily packed everything up (a little more carefully this time).

Betsy turned over with a nice (um, "nice") sound. All good.

The late evening sun was setting as I shifted into first gear. (how scenic)

I made it maybe 500 feet before the engine died.

WTH?!?

My stomach drops and I feel nauseous even now recalling the moment Betsy Fainted. Months of labor and a day of wash bay love. And she faints in the middle of a two lane highway.

Can we say carburetor?

Lord knows what magical cocktail of chemicals I pushed down poor Betsy's throat that day. I'm sure it all burned off well enough.

Meanwhile ... Power washer ... Water... Gasoline ... Carburetor. Doh!

As I'm pushing her to the side of the road for the second time that day, my new best friend, the peacekeeper, blips his sirens and pulls up behind me with lights all spinning - although that was just to help warn other cars.

I swear I could hear him laughing inside his air conditioned cruiser as he watched me struggle to move a ton+ of dead metal (riding on a spare tire) out of way of traffic.

He listened to my lamentations while we waited for the engine to dry out. Eventually, he's on his way. A somewhat longer while later, me and Betsy are too.

Final item in this way too long narrative.

I arrive home. Get out. Pat Betsy lovingly. And, oh my, there is a burnt rubber/hot metallic smell coming from under the hood.

Oh, no.
Concerned maybe my engine wrenching was faulty, I open the hood. Fortunately, it wasn't a problem with the rebuilt engine. Not exactly.

Recall the degreaser, overly thorough scrubbing, and power spraying? Seems the fan belt and, well, basically all of those mechanically spinning moving leaping and frolicking bits and pieces were "mysteriously" under lubricated. (Easily fixed.)

Goodness, gracious, what a day that was.

And, yeah, that was essentially my first time driving a car.

Betsy stayed with me for more than a decade after Fainting Day. Bless her warm steel heart.

[Braces]

Here's another screwup. Out 4wheeling in my lifted Toyota 4X4 in and around a small Arizona wash with water in it. Spent all day there just thrashing the truck.

On the way home .... I heard a screeching sound and the truck started to brake by itself. I pull over and my buddy gets out to look as I try to move the truck. One of the front brake calipers had seized shut from all the mud and water.

So ... what to do? Okay. I decided to put the 4X4 into 4 wheel drive. Locked the hubs (old school). Gave her gas and nothing. A smart person would have stopped at that moment. Not me though. Gave it full throttle and boom. The truck moved. I then noticed that my brake peddle went limp. Outside there was a puddle of brake fluid. I had ripped the caliper from the frame mount.

I had no brakes. I had to limp home using only the handbrake.

Yeah .... I'm an idiot.

[FrostedFlakes]

Don't know if this is a screw up. A year ago, I changed out my whole exhaust system removing all cats and resonators and threw out all OEM parts. Its obnoxiously loud with a rattling tin sound at high rpms. I get negative comments from random people on the streets to drivers just calling me out. I cannot go auto x and some track days because the dB is too high.

Been waiting for a chance to fix it with a resonator or two. A screw up that shouldn't cost me money if I have thought it out carefully. I miss the subtle low tones of my car when she only had a non resonated catback.