derekderek

The screws were stopping or slowing down the fan, causing the low speed overheat.

Dusky

Most stupid thing I ever did was fire up my engine after changing the fan. ( On my classic mini). Forgot I left the ring spanner on the last bolt, didn't even fly off instantly!
2 miles down the road I heard a load BANG and saw a bump in the bonnet..

Brian74n81

Yep

Brian74n81

Wanna here my throttle getting stuck story?

doorgunner

Sure......as long as no one was killed!

0Willcox Corvette

Like Dub… I’ve got too many to mention but one that I found was the funniest from a customer was the guy that hooked the lighter hot wire to the ground terminal, then injected expandable foam in the shift console to keep the heat out…

http://repairs.willcoxcorvette.com/w...ll-of-fame.jpg

68/BB

If there is a way to put something together wrong, that will be the first way I do it. I would have too many examples to list. However here is one that I read on another forum years ago that still breaks me up when I get the mental picture of it. This guy says he is working on an old car trying to get it started. Its turning over but wont start. So his BIL or someone comes out and starts telling him and his buddies they don't know what they are doing, let HIM take a look at it. So he says let me see if you have power to the coil. He pulls the coil wire off and says okay turn it over and let me see if I can get a spark on this. So the guys starts cranking the engine over blasting voltage thru the wire, his BIL is screaming and alternately banging his head on the raised hood and hitting his knees on the bumper as he is near convulsions from the electric shock.

drewwill

This one happened with my sister's at-the-time boyfriend and a 90s GMC Jimmy.

Truck wasn't starting, would only crank. Sister's bf gets the bright idea he's gonna pull a spark plug and make sure it's getting spark. He's holding it next to the block to create the arc and did NOT turn off the fuel pump. I think we all know what comes next.

Spark plug plus gas shooting out of the now empty hole quickly became front end of truck on fire. With his toddler in the back seat. Thank god nobody was hurt and we had a garden hose handy....

GregX1

1) I wanted to add some oil in the car.
Car was very hot, and I had no funnel.
Spread some oil all over, and on the exhaust it started to burn, with nice flames.
I took the 1/2 gallon of wiper-liquid and stopped the fire with this improvised-extinguisher.
This is when I learned wiper-liquid is also (very) flammable.
Fortunately, the time I went to get something that may really help, fire stopped on its own.

2) (on another car): I checked the oil level, but forgot to put the cap back on.
I realized that a few months later, when I checked again, and had to add a LOT of oil.
Strangely, a few months after, my engine blew up. My car was something like 2 or 3 years old... :-(
Bought second-hand engine, put it all back together to sell the car, and forgot to put oil in the gear box (manual).
Sold the car, and the day after, the guy came back.
I purchased the gearbox to the guy who sold me the engine, so engine and gearbox are now matching-number.
The guy then left with the car he purchased.

To be honest, the story is not absolutely finished at this step, but being so stupid then becomes embarrassing.
All I will say is the second time the guy came back, I reimbursed him and kept the car.

scrappy76

Putting the Big block in my 76 by myself. After it went in place and I put the motor mount bolts, then moved to the Transmission mount bolts. As I was putting the last Transmission mount bolt, I looked over and noticed I forget to change the flexplate to the correct one needed. Had to pull the motor back out. Ugh.

That's not the only time I did something like that. There was time I was putting in a rebuilt transmission in my jeep grand cherokee, I actually had the transmission lined up in place before I looked over next to me and noticed the torque converter sitting on the ground. lol.

oldgto

Old girlfriend, MANY years ago, takes my 69 Camaro to the store. A couple hours later, she walks back.
I ask "Where`s my car?" She said the "round thing on top caught fire",
so she had to put it out, but now the car won`t start.
HOW did you put it out?
There was a paper cup on the ground, so she filled it with sand and poured it into "the round thing on top".
Walked to where the car was, and found the carb full of sand.

Cavu2u

Steve

spikebot 81

Early 1970 I had a 67 Plymouth. Drivers rear brake was locking up. Found the axle seal wasted with 90w everywhere. Pulled the axle cleaned everything up installed new seal and bearing. My thought was no need to pack the bearing with grease cause it is lubed by the 90w. Lasted 2 weeks with the loudest grinding noise I've ever heard

WKM

Good friend of mine bought his wife a brand new Cadillac several years ago. She was so proud of her new car that she decided to wash it with a Brillo pad. I could hear him yelling a block away

Indiancreek

Yeah, I know what you mean. I don't have time to type "War and Peace"

Indiancreek

Well, all muncie parts don't interchange. Mix up the wrong slider combination and things can go wrong. Late 60s, rebuilding a muncie for a 68 Chevelle 396 375 hp. none of us knew what we were doing. Finished it, backed it out and without even slowly running it through the gears, lit them up heading down the highway in front of the Sunoco where I worked. First gear wound nice and tight, hammered second gear, (headed to the local "cruse in" to impress everybody) wound it up tight, slammed it into third and holy ---- trans locked up solid as a rock, back tires stopped and the Chevelle slid about 300 yards right past the cruse in, followed by a huge cloud of smoke. And yes they sure were impressed

cmhidinger

Umm, where do I start with stupid repair stories after a body off restoration?.... Oh I know now. I had just gotten the Corvette back from the paint shop. I spent A LOT of money on the paint and body work. A LOT...! I proceeded to drill out and tap the screw holes that hold the headlight shrouds in the headlight assemblys.

I drilled all the way through a freshly painted headlight door.

I almost threw up right then and there in my garage. Partly because I couldn't believe what I had just done and partly because my wife was going to be furious at me spending more money on getting it repaired. In the end, the shop in Raleigh that painted it, B Macs Auto Restoration, fixed it for free and did a fantastic job.

Then there was this one time where I didn't line up the dots on the crank and the cam and tried to start the engine....

Chad

409/409

I have done so many brake jobs I couldn't begin to count. 2 or 3 on my wife's '09 Escape. The last time I put new pads and rotors on it I installed 1 pad with the metal side to the rotor.

sullyman56

Many years ago I was helping a friend do the timing on his built 327 in his 64 Impala. We had it running well and he decided to give the carburetor one more adjustment. He found a screw sitting on the intake and somehow managed to drop it into the carburetor. He yelled and I quickly shut down the engine. I looked into the quadrajet and was able to see the screw. For some reason he refused to try to pull the screw out and drove the car home. It was small enough to make it past the intake valve and pounded a nice hole in the top of the number one piston. I still don't know why he didn't try to get it out of the carb.

449er

Now that is a shocking experience!!