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Your worst screw-up with a car?

Irish_Tom

Irish_Tom

Irish_Tom

Soldato
Joined
18 Oct 2002
Posts
15,761
The Mondeo has been pulling to the left recently and I've been on a mission to find the cause.

I had the geometry checked on a Hunter after I bought it in September and it was still pulling but less so.

I thought that the old alignment might have caused uneven tyre wear so I was hoping that the new tyres I got last weekend would have helped, but alas they didn't cure it. In fact, they did another geo check on the Hunter after fitting the tyres and according to the readout, it should be pulling to the right slightly!

Today I thought I would finally crack it so I jacked up the car and tested for any unusual wheel movement but there was non.

I then tried to spin the wheel and noticed a distinct rubbing noise at a certain point of the spin. It was also freewheeling for a lot less that the other side. This lead me to conclude that the brake on this wheel was sticking slightly.

I decided to strip it all down, give it a clean and put it back together, hoping this would solve the problem without requiring a replacement calliper.

All was going well until I tried to unscrew the calliper from the break hose – I stupidly managed to twist the hose to the point where it split. :(

Being a Sunday, there's no where for me to get a replacement and I'm now relying on a colleague to give me a lift to work tomorrow. :rolleyes:

So please Motors, make me feel less crap about my mechanical ineptitude by regaling me with tales of your own mistakes. :)
 
Stuck ST on axle stands and forgot to chock rear wheels, rolled back,landed on trolley jack and bent front wing out of shape! A few choice words followed.
 
Replaced the engine in my Cavalier SRi with one from an Astra GTE, I really had no idea if it would work both 1.8 8v of the same era so I gave it a go, used the forklift from work as a hoist, done it in a weekend but there is a long spline that goes in from the gearbox to the flywhel I think, its just a rod but could I get it to slip in, ended up late at night phoning a mate who said whack it, so I whacked it, and whacked it till it went in and I could screw in the cover plate.

In my amazement the car started and drove but every time I wanted reverse it would just grind, so I had to switch it off put it in reverse and start it up again, made a bugger of 3 point turns but it ran.
 
A couple of minutes after setting off from home I thought "my passenger window looks a bit steamed up". Got to a give way / crossroads, planning to go straight on and thought "Can I see properly? Shall I wind down the window? I suppose I can just about see". Pulled out of give way. Part way across the road noticed that the car on the opposite side of the junction (not indicating so presumably also going straight on) hasn't pulled out. Start to think that's odd, just as my bonnet flies off to the right, the steering column judders violently and I notice a bright red Vauxhall Astra trying to stop having just hit the front nearside wing of my car.

Everything north of the front wheels was turned 45° and the radiator was destroyed which meant curtains for a 1.0 Mk1 Micra that only cost me £300 with a TPFT policy.

The good bit was I was in the last two days of being a named driver on my parents insurance before I got my own first policy. Rang the new insurer (Direct Line) to tell them about the accident and cancel the new policy but they said if I got another car of the same insurance group within a month they would not increase the price. That was 2003. I'm sure the same wouldn't happen these days.
 
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Does this one count?

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Trusting a mate who was a mechanic to look over a potential car buy and give me an honest appraisal of whether to buy it or not...
 
Drilled the floor pan of a mk1 3 litre capri to fit shiny chrome side exhaust pipes. wrecked the ground clearance, was so noisy I was getting stopped nearly every day and leaked whenever the road was wet.
Ended up scrapping the exhausts and welding the holes up again. Bought a complete new exhaust and cost a fortune.
 
In a moment of utter stupidity, I once started a car with the auxilliary belt half off.
 
Wrote off an old Rover on a dual carriageway when I was drunk in my student days.

Pigs picked me up at the side of the road trying to push a crumpled wreck home!

In hindsight I should have just legged it lol.
 
SKYNHEDD said:
Wrote off an old Rover on a dual carriageway when I was drunk in my student days.

Pigs picked me up at the side of the road trying to push a crumpled wreck home!

In hindsight I should have just legged it lol.
Click to expand...

Shining example of a fine civilised English gentleman.
 
SKYNHEDD said:
Wrote off an old Rover on a dual carriageway when I was drunk in my student days.

Pigs picked me up at the side of the road trying to push a crumpled wreck home!

In hindsight I should have just legged it lol.
Click to expand...

wow I can see you fitting in around here just fine.
 
Sheered the head from a bolt in my f20c engine head......

Half my fault as I was torquing to spec, someone must have over-tightened it in the past. Spent a good hour getting it out....

This one was TOTALLY my fault. Dropped a spanner into the engine bay, located it, out of hands reach. Bent a BBQ skewer into a hook so I could get it down, into the ring side of the spanner and extract.

It got caught on something also. So the skewer, now stuck on the ring spanner was also stuck in the engine bay. Took me 2 hours to get both out :(
 
Driving-wise, when driving along some lanes I was coming up to the brow of a hill over a corner and a white van came blasting over halfway into my lane - swerved to avoid, hit the verge and spun the car 360 degrees to end up neatly parked on the verge facing the right way with all 4 tyres off the road. Massive bricking it but was lol in hindsight and a lucky escape!

Mechanically, replacing the fuel pump and I managed to tighten it too far and flatten the cam tabs which meant it was a) not tight enough and b) stuck. In the end I had to use a screwdriver as a chisel to cut off the tabs and finally got it out - 1 brand new fuel pump ($50) completely screwed and had to get another one :p
 
Copper-greased the pads on my first car to stop them squealing, then accidentally put them back on the wrong way around. Realised before I drove off though. Another time, doing the same thing on the same car I forgot to pump the brakes before I set off, got to the Give Way at the end of the road and nothing happened when I put my foot on the brakes. Sailed out of the junction and tried to pretend it was what I intended. Don't think the oncoming car was impressed.


M
 
Carrying out preventative maintenance on my old golf, new ball joints. Everything was in place, needed to put drive shaft back in hub. No problem until I couldn't get hub nut on. I'd damaged the thread on the drive shaft. Bought a new cv joint in a hurry, fitted it in the dark, and did exactly the same thing, bear in mind I'd removed golf drive shafts easily 100 times before then.
 
Sometimes if I've got to move my van a little bit I just give it a push with the door open and then use the handbrake to stop it. Did this once in a field, backwards, and somehow managed to run my own foot over. Much hilarity ensued as I vainly tried to push the van off my foot, was stuck for a good five minutes!
 
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