Silly screw ups

[krayzie]

Originally Posted by Tcoat

Why would the cap being off cause those issues in such a short drive?

With the cap off and the car started the engine will start to rock back and forth with a shortness of breath sound as if it's being choked it's quite hilarious.

One time I was checking my dipstick and all the plastic balls on the rod broke off and fell into the hole just as I was pulling it out. Like oh shit and the people on Vortex was worried about lint on the dipstick end after cleaning pffff.

Anyway the next day I went to pickup a new dipstick at the dealer, this other dude was showing me how the plastic neck for the dipstick to go into just snapped right off as he was pulling the stick out on his Passat. When he showed me the bill it was $90 bucks. Gotta love German plastics.

One time when I helped a friend to replace the engine air filter on his GTI, we spent 30 mins just trying to get the dam plastic engine cover off, then split it open so we can change the panel filter (awesome German Engineering). By the time we were ready to pop the engine cover back on, it didn't fit. So we tried to jam it back onto the grommets hard and *CRACK*. My friend spent $200 bucks the next day for a new one.

Another time when I helped another friend change the HPFP cam follower on his Jetta, we didn't know there was a way to prime off the excess petrol before disconnecting the fuel lines, and gasoline started spewing out in the engine bay like non-stop. We panicked and started jamming as much rags as we can to stem the flow and the hot fuel started melting the rags lol!

[Tcoat]

Originally Posted by krayzie

With the cap off and the car started the engine will start to rock back and forth as if it's choking it's quite hilarious.

Again why? I have never experienced this ever and have left way more than my fair share of caps off.

[fumanchu1]

Originally Posted by Tcoat

Again why? I have never experienced this ever and have left way more than my fair share of caps off.

Shit you just reminded me, back in early 2000s my first car was a Saturn SL2 and I worked out of town so did long drives daily... Anyways had noticed a faint oil smell and after abnout a week noticed the oil light come on.


I checked, noticed the cap was no longer on (weird, hadn't removed it since last oil change a month or two ago) but I couldn't find it. Ended up finding it 2 weeks later incrusted inside the hood and the hood heatshielding... To this day I have no idea how it got there or how long it had been off...

[krayzie]

Originally Posted by Tcoat

Again why? I have never experienced this ever and have left way more than my fair share of caps off.

Yea beats me, it's the only time I've seen that on a car, again must be a German Engineering thing.

[Tcoat]

Originally Posted by krayzie

Yea beats me, it's the only time I've seen that on a car, again must be a German Engineering thing.

Hmmmmm maybe a vacuum thing? Weird.

[humfrz]

Well, OK, since @Ultramaroon called me out and @Tcoat supplied me with a spreadsheet, I might as well start from the beginning of my motorized screw-ups.

The first car that I built (see picture – no, that’s not me, that’s my ugly, big mouthed, hillbilly cousin) had a steering “flaw”.

The engine was shared with my mother’s washing machine (I forgot to put the engine back on one Sunday night, and Monday was wash day …. but that’s another story).

The transmission consisted of a rod connected to an idler pulley that took up the tension between the engine pulley and the axle pulley.

Staggered wheels of course.

The steering consisted of the steering wheel from an old tractor, bolted to a piece of water pipe that was “boxed” by two 2x4s. An old (discovered to be rotten) piece of cotton clothes line was wrapped around the boxed part of the steering mechanism and fed through two small pulleys on each side to a front axil (a 2x4 pivoting off a piece of 4x4) which held a bolt on each end for the wheels. Got the picture .. ??

One day, I was on a test run on the road in front of our farm house at a screaming 30 mph (by my butt speedometer) ……. when the damn clothes line broke and I drifted across the road in front of a car (most likely the only one to come by that day). I had only one brake and that was on the rear wheel that “aided” my drift across the road.

I crashed into the ditch ….. the driver of the car stopped to see if I was OK. I had to push my machine about ½ mile back to the farm house.

Lesson learned – don’t use rotten clothes line for steering a motor vehicle.



humfrz

[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. = (.

[RobertPaulson]

so, i was helping my buddy with his RX8, he needed to change the fluid on his transmission. no biggy, we drain it, put the drain plug back on and start to fill it up. as we're cleaning up, i notice the washer for the drain plug sitting in my oil catch pan. so my buddy and i hatch this stupid fucking plan to remove the plug, catch the good oil. (this idea is sooo fucking stupid i hate telling the story) the problem we ran into was the oil came out faster than we could fill up our makeshift canisters and transmission fluid is going everywhere and now i'm bathing in it. once it hit my lips i gave up, just pulled my oil catch pan back and told my buddy i was going to buy him new fuild. I swear my skin smelled of transmission fluid for 2 days and i did not get laid by my then wife for much longer because she could smell me.

[fumanchu1]

and fuck does that oil; ever smell like hell

[mazeroni]

Originally Posted by Tcoat

Why would the cap being off cause those issues in such a short drive?

Not sure. A brief google search on gti forums suggests that the engine is under pressure at idle, and there is some kind valve under the oil cap that regulates that. So when the cap is off, the car starts to run lean and eventually you'll throw a code. Since the car was sitting and not being driving, pressure wasn't building and eventually the entire drivetrain leaked out and it got bad really fast.

I could be wrong about how I interpreted what I very quickly read over. I am not a mechanic / engineer.

http://www.golfmk7.com/forums/showthread.php?t=14613 < The MK7 uses a slightly different motor motor but I guess there is no MAF sensor in the TSI so instead of altering the revs to compensate it just stalls.

[Fishbed77]

Sucks living in small town with only one Toyota dealership. No rebates or incentives and service sucks ball.
They told me I have to pay full MSRP when I was shopping for Rav4. Dealership told me Toyota and Lexus do not have incentives or rebates to keep resale value high. Which was BS. Drove 3 hrs to Atlanta and bought it 4k cheaper than my local

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.

[new2subaru]

Originally Posted by fumanchu1

and fuck does that oil; ever smell like hell

Tastes even worse! Was draining the last bit into a.....beer bottle.

Guess who mixed up his beers?!

[Ultramaroon]

Originally Posted by anewprelusion

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".

^^^this!^^^ Years ago I resolved to never work on a vehicle after dark. It can wait.

I am slow as molasses these days because every move is deliberate. That seems to be the answer for me because I quit busting stuff. The end of the project is much more rewarding that way.

edit: ok, I bust stuff MUCH less frequently. Better admit that or Imma get called out big time.

[Braces]

Not really a mechanical screw up. As a teenager with my 1st car in Alaska. My sister asked me to drive her hot girlfriend home. As I'm driving her home ... I just couldn't keep my eyes off her legs. Next thing I know ... I drove off the road and hit a tree. No one was hurt except for my ego and my totaled car.