Changed the oil on my old motorcycle. Drain plug fell out on the freeway and toasted the engine shortly after. Normally people do their own oil changes to avoid [censored] like that from Iffy Lube, but I did it to myself
What's your DIY disaster?
- Thread starter newbe46
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I'll pass.. I'm pretty humble and self deprecating, Lord knows I've had my fair share of Homer Simpson moments but giving (some) BITOG(ers) anything to throw in my face at a later time is just not something I'm keen on doing. I did it once already in my short time on this board and I'm not going to make that same mistake again.
But it's good to hear I'm not the only one who's not perfect...
But it's good to hear I'm not the only one who's not perfect...
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When I was 18, I drove the grain truck into the Quonset (machine shed) with the hoist/box still in the air. It did significant damage to the building, and bent the frame on the truck. Thank goodness for insurance. I knew local farmers that did similar -- drove combine into machine shed with auger still out/extended.
The worst I've done while actually working on a car, we drilling a hole into the spare tire -- while installing a subwoofer in the rear hatch. My local Firestone dealer had a suitable replacement for $50.
The worst I've done while actually working on a car, we drilling a hole into the spare tire -- while installing a subwoofer in the rear hatch. My local Firestone dealer had a suitable replacement for $50.
Many of the DIY horror stories are from folks that were trying to improve something that wasn't broke in the first place. Result often enough is breakage.
Originally Posted by SeaJay
Many of the DIY horror stories are from folks that were trying to improve something that wasn't broke in the first place. Result often enough is breakage.
Boy ain't that the truth...or they had a solution in need of a problem and in the process created a bona fide problem....‚.. that's one of those, "why did I do that" things.
Many of the DIY horror stories are from folks that were trying to improve something that wasn't broke in the first place. Result often enough is breakage.
Boy ain't that the truth...or they had a solution in need of a problem and in the process created a bona fide problem....‚.. that's one of those, "why did I do that" things.
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In 1954,my first car, a used '47 Ford, had low compression on all cylinders. It used a quart of oil about every 400 miles. I decided to fix this and "free up" the rings with Bardahl. After the treatment, the oil consumption was a quart every 50 miles. I was buying "used re-refined" 40W by the case for $0.12 a quart, so it wasn't too costly. Because of the crankcase road draft tube, the underside of the car had a good oil coating. No fumes inside the car though.
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Too many to list, but all resolved in my garage, driveway, or roadside, with no more help than maybe calling my brother.
Most recent disaster, maybe 6 years ago, really took my time doing a Saturday front brake job on the 01 Dakota. Dialed-in both rotors with zero runout. Was really proud of myself. I was putting the last caliper pin in, and it spun in, and spun, and spun, and spun...
Next Monday took the day off, got another knuckle at the pick and pull, popped the ball joints and did it all over again. Thankfully the torsion bar front suspension made the job so much easier than on most vehicles, and it was no longer my daily driver.
Later I learned I could have just gotten an oversized pin with self-tapping threads, sold for my application because this is a common problem. Live and learn. (I bought a pack and keep them as spares.)
Most recent disaster, maybe 6 years ago, really took my time doing a Saturday front brake job on the 01 Dakota. Dialed-in both rotors with zero runout. Was really proud of myself. I was putting the last caliper pin in, and it spun in, and spun, and spun, and spun...
Next Monday took the day off, got another knuckle at the pick and pull, popped the ball joints and did it all over again. Thankfully the torsion bar front suspension made the job so much easier than on most vehicles, and it was no longer my daily driver.
Later I learned I could have just gotten an oversized pin with self-tapping threads, sold for my application because this is a common problem. Live and learn. (I bought a pack and keep them as spares.)
Sometime around 1973 decided to find the leak in the spare tire/windshield washer in the 66 VW Bug. A hose ran from the spare tire to the washer tank. After filling the washer tank and reconnecting the hose I was searching with the drop light when, pop, the light blew and the alcohol in the washer fluid caught fire. As I fell on my back the fire stopped burning. There was a very small pinhole leak in the tank that shot washer fluid onto the droplite bulb. This was one of many escapades with this thing.
I have multiple sockets that have fallen around the engine compartment of my 2005 Highlander...
Too embarrassed to say but it did encourage me to learn how to perform maintenance on my vehicles and learn about the various systems, what I can work on and what should be farmed out.
Originally Posted by dja4260
I have multiple sockets that have fallen around the engine compartment of my 2005 Highlander...
...‚...‚...‚ ditto. I've lost a whole set over the years.
I have multiple sockets that have fallen around the engine compartment of my 2005 Highlander...
...‚...‚...‚ ditto. I've lost a whole set over the years.
Where to begin?
1. Plugged supercharger silencer holes with quicksteel to make whine louder. Locked up blower.
2. Started engine during oil change before refilling with oil.
3. Swapped wheels, forgot to torque lugnuts (didn't make it very far before realizing something was wrong.)
4. Dropped hub with wheel speed sensor plugged in. Ripped wiring out of plug.
5. Countless stripped bolts, rounded off nuts, etc.
6. Caught hand on rusted leaf spring shackle while loosening with air impact - cost me a trip to the ER and almost my finger.
7. Over extended CV axle. Ruined axle.
8. Dropped bolt in intake manifold. Bolt is still in intake manifold.
I still enjoy DIY repairing my cars. Never a dull moment.
I think the most important thing is to plan on something taking twice as long as you think it will. There's always something that snaps/breaks/won't come loose. I enjoy the challenge, for the most part anyway.
BTW those are just while working on cars. Don't even get me started about lawn mower/boat/snowmobile disasters...
1. Plugged supercharger silencer holes with quicksteel to make whine louder. Locked up blower.
2. Started engine during oil change before refilling with oil.
3. Swapped wheels, forgot to torque lugnuts (didn't make it very far before realizing something was wrong.)
4. Dropped hub with wheel speed sensor plugged in. Ripped wiring out of plug.
5. Countless stripped bolts, rounded off nuts, etc.
6. Caught hand on rusted leaf spring shackle while loosening with air impact - cost me a trip to the ER and almost my finger.
7. Over extended CV axle. Ruined axle.
8. Dropped bolt in intake manifold. Bolt is still in intake manifold.
I still enjoy DIY repairing my cars. Never a dull moment.
I think the most important thing is to plan on something taking twice as long as you think it will. There's always something that snaps/breaks/won't come loose. I enjoy the challenge, for the most part anyway.
BTW those are just while working on cars. Don't even get me started about lawn mower/boat/snowmobile disasters...
Originally Posted by oilpsi2high
Where to begin?
1. Plugged supercharger silencer holes with quicksteel to make whine louder. Locked up blower.
2. Started engine during oil change before refilling with oil.
3. Swapped wheels, forgot to torque lugnuts (didn't make it very far before realizing something was wrong.)
4. Dropped hub with wheel speed sensor plugged in. Ripped wiring out of plug.
5. Countless stripped bolts, rounded off nuts, etc.
6. Caught hand on rusted leaf spring shackle while loosening with air impact - cost me a trip to the ER and almost my finger.
7. Over extended CV axle. Ruined axle.
8. Dropped bolt in intake manifold. Bolt is still in intake manifold.
I still enjoy DIY repairing my cars. Never a dull moment.
I think the most important thing is to plan on something taking twice as long as you think it will. There's always something that snaps/breaks/won't come loose. I enjoy the challenge, for the most part anyway.
BTW those are just while working on cars. Don't even get me started about lawn mower/boat/snowmobile disasters...
Great post.. hope you don't get mad if I say I laughed my butt off. Nice to hear someone else has "good grief" moments besides myself. Lord knows I've had plenty in the nearly 50yrs I've been breathing air on this planet....‚
Where to begin?
1. Plugged supercharger silencer holes with quicksteel to make whine louder. Locked up blower.
2. Started engine during oil change before refilling with oil.
3. Swapped wheels, forgot to torque lugnuts (didn't make it very far before realizing something was wrong.)
4. Dropped hub with wheel speed sensor plugged in. Ripped wiring out of plug.
5. Countless stripped bolts, rounded off nuts, etc.
6. Caught hand on rusted leaf spring shackle while loosening with air impact - cost me a trip to the ER and almost my finger.
7. Over extended CV axle. Ruined axle.
8. Dropped bolt in intake manifold. Bolt is still in intake manifold.
I still enjoy DIY repairing my cars. Never a dull moment.
I think the most important thing is to plan on something taking twice as long as you think it will. There's always something that snaps/breaks/won't come loose. I enjoy the challenge, for the most part anyway.
BTW those are just while working on cars. Don't even get me started about lawn mower/boat/snowmobile disasters...
Great post.. hope you don't get mad if I say I laughed my butt off. Nice to hear someone else has "good grief" moments besides myself. Lord knows I've had plenty in the nearly 50yrs I've been breathing air on this planet....‚
Hmmm.
I broke the aluminum coolant valve on one of my Kubotas. Took an EZ out style tool to it and basically destroyed the all threads but 2 or 3 in the block.
So far, Teflon tape is holding and currently not leaking, but I feel I need to ad some gap sealer. It originally was leaking though so I imagine rust is what's keeping it sealed. I'm currently just running traditional green coolant.
I broke the aluminum coolant valve on one of my Kubotas. Took an EZ out style tool to it and basically destroyed the all threads but 2 or 3 in the block.
So far, Teflon tape is holding and currently not leaking, but I feel I need to ad some gap sealer. It originally was leaking though so I imagine rust is what's keeping it sealed. I'm currently just running traditional green coolant.
It was possible to replace valve stem seals on my Mazda without removing the head, or using compressed air, or any special tools. That tedious routine involved making sure the relevant piston was always near enough to TDC to prevent the valve falling into the cylinder when the top of the stem was disconnected. One evening I was in a rush, and somehow got the crankshaft 180° from where it should've been. As soon as I took the semi-circular wedges out of the groove at the top, the valve stem disappeared into the cylinder. Therefore, the head had to come off after all.
In several times changing the valve stem seals (Why is another long story.), I made that horrible mistake only once, but another time one of the tiny retainer wedges fell and vanished. That required a two-day wait for a set of replacements.
In several times changing the valve stem seals (Why is another long story.), I made that horrible mistake only once, but another time one of the tiny retainer wedges fell and vanished. That required a two-day wait for a set of replacements.
Originally Posted by CR94
It was possible to replace valve stem seals on my Mazda without removing the head, or using compressed air, or any special tools. That tedious routine involved making sure the relevant piston was always near enough to TDC to prevent the valve falling into the cylinder when the top of the stem was disconnected. One evening I was in a rush, and somehow got the crankshaft 180° from where it should've been. As soon as I took the semi-circular wedges out of the groove at the top, the valve stem disappeared into the cylinder. Therefore, the head had to come off after all.
In several times changing the valve stem seals (Why is another long story.), I made that horrible mistake only once, but another time one of the tiny retainer wedges fell and vanished. That required a two-day wait for a set of replacements.
Oh man, that was a world of suck about then...
It was possible to replace valve stem seals on my Mazda without removing the head, or using compressed air, or any special tools. That tedious routine involved making sure the relevant piston was always near enough to TDC to prevent the valve falling into the cylinder when the top of the stem was disconnected. One evening I was in a rush, and somehow got the crankshaft 180° from where it should've been. As soon as I took the semi-circular wedges out of the groove at the top, the valve stem disappeared into the cylinder. Therefore, the head had to come off after all.
In several times changing the valve stem seals (Why is another long story.), I made that horrible mistake only once, but another time one of the tiny retainer wedges fell and vanished. That required a two-day wait for a set of replacements.
Oh man, that was a world of suck about then...
Didnt happen to me but my Dad. First off he rebuilt the engine in his flathead ford and was well versed in maintainence. Anyway when he was about 70 years old he changed the oil on his then new 2002 Mercury sable. Well those fram filters were notorious for leaving gasket on block. When he started the car it leaked out. To make matters worse he was in his new house with pavers. Thankfully the car was new and the oil was clean. Was able to clean it up with a cleaner from NAPA. Within a few weeks the sun had dried or bleached whatever was left and you couldnt see anything. I thought my Mom was going to kill him, I felt so bad. They are both gone now RIP...
I replaced some ball joints and filled them with sodium-based grease, but they already had lithium-based grease in them. I think only 6 months passed when the ball joints wore out and started banging at freeway speeds.
I once did a 4-wheel brake job on my truck but did only 3 of the wheels. Months later, one disk rotor developed a 1/2" wide groove from the completely worn-out brake pad.
I once did a 4-wheel brake job on my truck but did only 3 of the wheels. Months later, one disk rotor developed a 1/2" wide groove from the completely worn-out brake pad.
I somehow missed a rod cap when I was torquing down the rotating assembly on a 434ci SBC some years ago. It made an interesting mess of things when it came apart at 8,000 rpm. Ever since that happened, I've been anal about triple and quadruple checking all of my torque specs.
The worst single incident was when I accidentally swapped rod caps on two adjoining rods - ended up spinning a bearing about 200 miles from home. Limped it back and had to replace the crank and those two rods.
I guess the second one would have been when I had a fram oil filter blow off my bike at 13K RPM in top gear. Luckily, the safety wire kept the filter inside the fairing, which also gave me the opportunity to see that it was not due to an error on my part - it wasn't a DIY failure, but if I had a shop to it, they would have used an OEM filter and I wouldn't have lost an engine to the Fram gods.
The other things that happened were anything I touched on the (at the time) 3 year old, 40K mile Audi would break off. Check the oil, dipstick broke - try to fish it out, tube broke. Change multiple PCV check and jet valves (turbo) , plastic elbows break, oil-soaked hoses disintegrate. Try to open the hood to replace the alternator due to a bad clutch, the hood latch broke. Replace fan belt, shortly afterwards, an idler pulley broke sending the belt into the radiator. Change the timing belt ahead of schedule because one of the bad check valves allowed the crankcase to pressurize and push out the cam seals as well as many other rubber gaskets, and frequently the dip-stick. While doing that (now at about 50K) see that the rear timing chain tensioner was broken (it had a belt in the front and chain in the back) and one cam was flapping around - not noticed because I thought it was the alternator clutch making noise (which it was, just not that particular noise)
Essentially, every single thing I touched on that car disintegrated. It's the first car I ever remember selling before 65K miles, and we were the first owner. I don't count the new transmission and drive shafts and other things that were covered under warranty because they weren't DIY. The car drove very nicely though.
I guess the second one would have been when I had a fram oil filter blow off my bike at 13K RPM in top gear. Luckily, the safety wire kept the filter inside the fairing, which also gave me the opportunity to see that it was not due to an error on my part - it wasn't a DIY failure, but if I had a shop to it, they would have used an OEM filter and I wouldn't have lost an engine to the Fram gods.
The other things that happened were anything I touched on the (at the time) 3 year old, 40K mile Audi would break off. Check the oil, dipstick broke - try to fish it out, tube broke. Change multiple PCV check and jet valves (turbo) , plastic elbows break, oil-soaked hoses disintegrate. Try to open the hood to replace the alternator due to a bad clutch, the hood latch broke. Replace fan belt, shortly afterwards, an idler pulley broke sending the belt into the radiator. Change the timing belt ahead of schedule because one of the bad check valves allowed the crankcase to pressurize and push out the cam seals as well as many other rubber gaskets, and frequently the dip-stick. While doing that (now at about 50K) see that the rear timing chain tensioner was broken (it had a belt in the front and chain in the back) and one cam was flapping around - not noticed because I thought it was the alternator clutch making noise (which it was, just not that particular noise)
Essentially, every single thing I touched on that car disintegrated. It's the first car I ever remember selling before 65K miles, and we were the first owner. I don't count the new transmission and drive shafts and other things that were covered under warranty because they weren't DIY. The car drove very nicely though.
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