bonehead move... humility is good

[screamin_c102]

I just had my son make me a pot of coffee.... I wish he had used a filter.

[Botietruck]

Back in 1976, on a Friday I was on my way to work in my '69 Charger RT/SE, with a 440 Magnum/ 4 speed/ Dana 60.. I lost oil pressure, had the car towed home & called the boss to let him know I would not be in. Now, let me say that a good friend and I were planning on heading to Maryland Friday evening to visit his family for the weekend. I picked up a new oil pump, jacked the car up and started the task in the pouring rain. I knocked the steering linkage loose, dropped the oil pan and looked and looked for the oil pump. To my surprise...no pump. It was located on the outside of the block! What could have taken an hour or so, ended up in an all day, knuckle bustin', laying in water, oil dripping on my face, embarressing job. We pulled out for Maryland at about 5:00 and had a great time! I'll never forget that one. I wish I had that car now!

[jcueckert13]

my dad came over to my house and parked his blazer in the driveway. he had just bought a new printer and the box was sitting in the bench seat and when he pulled in to the driveway it slid forward and knocked the t case in to neutral. it took him 2 weeks to figure out why the truck would not move.

[franko72]

About 20 years ago I worked on my neighbors 77 Thunderbird. My rookieness was going thru reasons why his car wasnt running,I disconnected the fuel line at the carb to check the filter.A few hours and beers later we went back to check it out again. I had him crank it over.The disconnected fuel line shot gas all over the top of the motor.I had the dist. cap off, boy that made a nice big flame. Luckily we extinguished the fire in a couple of min. Only had to replace all the vac lines and some wiring. couldnt replace my pride at that time though.Duhh!

[Dean23]

i was doing an intake gasket job on a 94 gmc 454...i layed rags in the valley to keep the crap from falling dowwn i there. after setting all the gaskets in place i got a buddy to help set the intake on. we put it on and i torqued it all up.....it wasnt until i had to drop the dizzy in that I realized theres rags in there, tehrags wouldnt let the dizzy drop. Luckily i got both rags out with a long pair of 45 degree needle nose pliers. Other wise i would have been yanking the intake of again

[COBALT]

That's not bad at all. Just wait until you accidentally drop a small screw down the carburetor while working on something else. You get to hear it clank-clank-clank down into the intake. If you're lucky it stops there.

Guess what? Time to pull the carb and probably the intake to find it.

[72 CustomCamper]

Originally Posted by COBALT

That's not bad at all. Just wait until you accidentally drop a small screw down the carburetor while working on something else. You get to hear it clank-clank-clank down into the intake. If you're lucky it stops there.

Guess what? Time to pull the carb and probably the intake to find it.

Done that with the air cleaner wingnut before...


Chuck

[grayw0lf]

Yeah, I've heard of a few really stupid ones. Like "a friend" who put a new head gasket (leaky, but running) on his 89 S-10 & was so stupidly excited to get it all back together & run it again, that he forgot to put oil back in it. Big oops! I, oops, I mean my "friend" even ran it for about a minute before his dumb @$$ realized what he did.

After adding oil, it ran just fine. In fact, in ran better than it ever did.... (It really did!) Until about 20 minutes down the road the "friend" burned the #2 piston. Rebuild.

[Idaho68]

I might as well chime in on this one, my big oops, other than buying the wife a Mazda (dern thing had big time funkiness in the oil passages, to the point that the relief valve was stuck closed and it blew the oil filter accross the driveway), was not magnafluxing the origonal fan on the GMC.

Wife was heading down the road at 55 MPH heading to work, heard a big BANG and the truck started vibrating, and I dont mean a slight vibration, I mean vibrating like a paint mixer set on puree. She pulled over and grabbed her cell phone, called me, I got there, popped the hood and one of the blades had busted off the fan entirely, good thing it went to the drivers side, nothing there it can hit on the truck, the vibrations had eaten the water pump, and bent the pulley. After it was taken home on the back of a rollback I pulled the old water pump and started looking for a decent used fan (had the spare pump already)...yeah riiiight, never one when I need it.

After 20 or so junkyards I finally settled on an electric from the last junkyard I went to. Got back home, and popped the new pump in, got smart and installed the new pulley I picked up at a swap meet 4 years ago but never got around to installing. When I wired in the new fan I was in a hurry and got the bright idea to wire the positive to the coil BAD idea, test fired to look for leaks, fan works great, but engine would not shut off . OK, pull coil wire to shut her down, disconected the battery and rewired it...now here is the bonehead move...to the primary field on the alternator.

Two weeks later my cell rings again when the wife is heading to work, the truck shut off on her, so more mechanic words and another $50 tow bill later the truck is back in the yard, this time with no charge getting to the battery. Pulled the internally regulated alternator I had put in a month before, and got a replacement (not gonna tell THEM I did some hurry up brain dead wiring, still under warranty), got to looking at my wiring job, yup, the fan has a high enough current draw that the primary field windings werent getting enough juice . Rewired the fan to the battery, through an inline fuse, to a switch on the dash, been trouble free since.

Tow bills for that month $190, new water pump, $35, electric fan $10...realizing it coulda been worse...priceless.

Word of advice to those that have the origonal fan on their engines, check it over for cracks, from the looks of mine it had been cracked for quite a while and was hanging on by a bare thread of metal, and the opposite blade wasnt far behind. The cracks in mine were visible without magnaflux, but it still would be wise to go that route as well.

[shortymac83]

not a disastrous oops, but embarrassing enough:


about a month and a half ago, the olds was really down on power. I mean, hit the gas, it wants to crap out, get it on the highway, and in OD, it'll buck and jerk and not want to go anywhere, won't start in the mornings, etc. All the classic signs of being either really rich or really lean.

so I pop the hood (many times), and look the whole thing over. nothing visually wrong, and I can't hear anything out of the ordinary standing in the middle of the car while it's running. So one day, I decide, "I'm going to fix this damn thing once and for all." I fire it up, and as I'm walking toward the front of the car to raise the hood, I hear this "ssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss" coming from just under the hood on the driver's side. Well, I found my problem - one of the vacuum lines that goes to the cruise control on the wheel well was pretty short, and had popped about 1/2 way off, so it looked like it was on, but created a big leak. I stuck that on, backed it out of the parking lot, an smoked the balonies for a block.

[widow_maker]

jcueckert13 and 72 cheyenne k20 - I hear you. Last fall, I purchased my 72 k20 and started fixing the PO issues. After solving a few major and minor problems, I parked the truck in the garage. I didn't drive it for a few days then when I went to drive it the next time I opened the door to the truck and was greeted by a huge cloud of gasoline fumes. The tank was leaking into the cab of my truck! I was Pi$$ed and agressively started to remove the seat which was wet to the touch and the friggin' tank. In my haste to jerk the seat out, I must have moved the transfer case shift to the neutral position. After removing the source of the fuel leak, I left all the windows open to air it out. Later, I threw in a milk crate to move it into my barn for storage. Jump in, fire it up, drop it into drive and.........nothing. S**t, now what? I shoved the gear selector back into park and listened to the parking pawl clatter like a playing card in bicycle spokes. Now, really mad, I began to push the truck out of the garage in park. I wasn't thinking very clearly at this time. I managed to push the truck the eighty feet or so from my garage to the barn and closed the door. Much time later, I was talking with a family member at Thanksgiving relating the story and he asked.....is the transfer case shift in neutral? Hmmmmm? (deer in headlights look) why didn't I think of that? Drove right out of the barn!

[dubie]

This is a great thread, everyone pitchin in to look stupid we have all done something totally boneheaded before and this is a great way to show solidarity
Another one of my "bonehead" moves was trying to pre oil the engine. I have it on the stand dropped in an old distributor and started spinning it. 2 minutes pass by and still no oil. SO I pull the distributor out and look down the hole and all seems cool. I ask Dustin, a buddy of mine why it's not priming so he takes a look down the hole and says " where's your oil pump shaft?" Uhmmmmmm ya mean this thing? as I reach into my spare parts box. He says " ya thats it, you can't prime an engine if you can't spin the pump ya dummy" HAHAH so there ya go, another bone head move to start the week off right

[72 CustomCamper]

Originally Posted by dubie

This is a great thread, everyone pitchin in to look stupid we have all done something totally boneheaded before and this is a great way to show solidarity
Another one of my "bonehead" moves was trying to pre oil the engine. I have it on the stand dropped in an old distributor and started spinning it. 2 minutes pass by and still no oil. SO I pull the distributor out and look down the hole and all seems cool. I ask Dustin, a buddy of mine why it's not priming so he takes a look down the hole and says " where's your oil pump shaft?" Uhmmmmmm ya mean this thing? as I reach into my spare parts box. He says " ya thats it, you can't prime an engine if you can't spin the pump ya dummy" HAHAH so there ya go, another bone head move to start the week off right

Hey Tim, we did something sorta like that on a buddy's ford motor. Almost burned up a drill trying to prime the oil. Then we realized we had the drill going in the wrong direction...


Chuck

[Touch_Of_Madness]

I worked at a K-Mart Auto Center (back in the 80's) and was frusterated at being behind because of the Service Managers schedule. I got a bit ahead of myself and attempted to break a tire down without pulling the stem core first. Couldnt figure out why it wouldnt break down right off the bat and when I realized I had not let the air out first - lets just say I was wide awake for the rest of the day in what I did. Least it didnt pop on me. . .

[VetteVet]

My first lesson in automotive humility came when I was a know-it-all teenager and my buddy bet me 10 bucks that his 51 ford was positive ground. I knew he was nuts but the next day he was 10 dollars richer.
Vettevet

[Broken_down?]

Forgot to connect the yellow wire to back of the distributer and she just kept turning and turning turning but never starting. 2 days later and A call to my gramps to check the wire and she was runnig again.

[68gmcdually]

I had the wife's truck up on the hoist and I commented to my father about an exhaust leak, told me to jump in and fire it up, put the truck in the air and ran it for about 30 seconds when I realized that I had pulled the oil plug and filter before breaking for lunch, needless to say shut it down right away, and to this day haven't noticed a problem with it, thankfully. But at least we found the exhaust leak.

[TsgtE662]

A buddy of mine took his Ford Windstar in to the base hobby shop to change the oil. Pulled into the bay, set the rack, and proceeded to lift it. Then he noticed it didn't look right sittin there. Thats about when it started its slide forward off the lift to the floor!! Messed up pretty bad, but the insurance fixed it.

I've crossed spark plugs myself. Funniest thing is having a miss on the engine, hand your brother a regular pair of pliers and tell him to pull one plug wire at a time off the distributor. He found the one that was bad alright! lol

I always check when changing the oil to make sure the O ring from the old filter came off with the old filter before putting on the new filter. They don't seal up very good if you don't. HAHAHA Sure make a mess too.

Breakin down a tire = a guy in the squadron started a tire change on one of the planes one day. But he forgot to deflate it before he started removing the bolts around the rim!! I doubt he ever knew what happened. He ended up with several large bolts shooting through him at once!

One guy in the squadron went to enter one of the planes through the Aft Tail stairs. But instead of opening the panel for the Tail Stairs release handle, he pulled the handle for the Tail Cone Emergency Release handle instead!!! The Maintenance Chief wasn't to happy to see the Tail Cone on the hangar floor and the Evac Slide deployed!!!

Anyone ever put boxer shorts on in the dark early morning, and not realize there on backwards till you get to work and have to pee? HAHAHA

I'm sure the other military people have lots of stories like these.

[screamin_c102]

Originally Posted by TsgtE662

A buddy of mine took his Ford Windstar in to the base hobby shop to change the oil. Pulled into the bay, set the rack, and proceeded to lift it. Then he noticed it didn't look right sittin there. Thats about when it started its slide forward off the lift to the floor!! Messed up pretty bad, but the insurance fixed it.

I've crossed spark plugs myself. Funniest thing is having a miss on the engine, hand your brother a regular pair of pliers and tell him to pull one plug wire at a time off the distributor. He found the one that was bad alright! lol

I always check when changing the oil to make sure the O ring from the old filter came off with the old filter before putting on the new filter. They don't seal up very good if you don't. HAHAHA Sure make a mess too.

Breakin down a tire = a guy in the squadron started a tire change on one of the planes one day. But he forgot to deflate it before he started removing the bolts around the rim!! I doubt he ever knew what happened. He ended up with several large bolts shooting through him at once!

One guy in the squadron went to enter one of the planes through the Aft Tail stairs. But instead of opening the panel for the Tail Stairs release handle, he pulled the handle for the Tail Cone Emergency Release handle instead!!! The Maintenance Chief wasn't to happy to see the Tail Cone on the hangar floor and the Evac Slide deployed!!!

Anyone ever put boxer shorts on in the dark early morning, and not realize there on backwards till you get to work and have to pee? HAHAHA

I'm sure the other military people have lots of stories like these.

LMFAO

[atcavage]

Truck wouldn't start one day. Cranked and cranked so I figured it was the battery. My mom drives over and we try jumping it. Battery won't charge, won't start. Call the tow truck, he pops the hood and tells me to crank it. The positive wire wasn't fully screwed into the battery.

[Dean23]

when I worked at uhaul my buddy was running the mobile repair truck. one day he was out working on a 89 gmc 65oo series witha carbed 366 that was runnin like you know what. so he grabs the can of brake clean and sprays it around the carb to check for a vaccuum leak. Next thing he know flames every where.one of the plug wires was arching and lit the brake clean up. he runs to the truck and grabs the extinguisher and it was discharged. Luckily he had a slurpee with him. MAn de we laugh when he told us this

[shortymac83]

here's a couple military funnies from my time at a military school.

our school has 8 1972 Kaiser 2-1/2 ton trucks (deuce and a halfs...). They're multifuels, so they're pretty much diesel engines. Anyway, I'm at the motor pool wrenching on one of the 51 M37's that they have, and I hear Sarge (my military officer) get in a deuce, and it won't start...battery died. So he hops in an M37, towstraps it to the front of the deuce. Yells at one of the security officers (the security station is next door to the motor pool) to get in and pop the clutch when he yells. Now, a bit of information...the shift pattern on those deuces is strange...it's like this:

R 2 3 5
1 3 4

at least, to the best of my knowledge...I haven't driven one in a few years. Anyway, they're going down the road, and I'm watching them go (what a cool sight). I hear sarge yell "POP IT!" and both of the trucks almost come to a screeching stop as the deuce growls. Still doesn't start. I hear sarge go "WTF," but he fires up the M37 again, and now he's mad. Gets it up to 30 mph (about as fast as it'll go towing that huge truck), and yells pop it again. BOOM, and now oil is POURING out of the deuce's engine bay. Sarge says "KILL IT!!!" he hops in the cab, and the clown had it in reverse, and the engine was actually RUNNING in reverse. Strange, but true. so he gets back in the M37 after putting the deuce shifter in 1st, back up to 30, cop pops the deuce's clutch, and it runs normally after that. weird...


or, when I was first learning to start the M37's. Not hard, you say...well...with these, they had manual chokes on flathead 6 dodge motors. If you flooded them, you had to drain all the oil, and put new spark plugs in it and pull off the carb, drain it, and fill it again. Sarge was determined to have me start this thing, and I did about 7 oil changes in a row before I got it right. I was almost crying by the time I got it running. what a PITA.

[68C15]

OK, fine. I will be a man & admit my F-ups.
I did a head gasket job on a Cavalier with a 2.0. I was in a rush big time. (I was making book time look like a mere suggestion) went to start her up & it didnt even make one revolution before she locked up TIGHT. word of advice, make sure ALL of the hose clamps are accounted for. there is not enough room for one sitting on top of a piston.

and then there was the '94 S10 4.3 I did the upper plenum & tune-up on at the same time. once again, make sure all the tiny screws for the cap & rotor are accounted for. (I found the screw on top of the #5 piston)

as for the #s 5 & 7 plug wires, that is sooooo common. I even did it today. took a whole 15 seconds to diagnose that one (thanks to experience)