Your worst DIY disasters?

The Continental Op

Feel free to post what an idiot you feel you are by turning a simple job into a nightmare or taking on a job that's above your ability.

Today I was changing the rear springs on my 2010 Ford Focus. Easy job done it before on other Focuses but sometimes the bolts holding the rear arms in place need grinding out. No problem this time plain sailing. Up until I took one of the bolts out and in the process smashed one of the pipe fittings off the EVAP canister that was hiding behind the bolt. OK so a €77 plus VAT rookie mistake. But of course life isn't that easy the EVAP canister is factory fitted on the rear axel strut before its attached to the car so you can't get to the fixing screws. Well you can sort of get to the fixing screws but not with any tools sold anywhere. In the end I bought a really expensive pair of needle nosed Irwin mole grips and got one of the screws out and the second I got out by grinding down a suitably sized torx bit so it was less than half its original size and holding it in a pair of mole grips to unscrew the bolt about a sixth of a turn at a time. I've still to got to get those bolts back in when the replacement EVAP canister arrives

corks finest

The Continental Op wrote: »

Feel free to post what an idiot you feel you are by turning a simple job into a nightmare or taking on a job that's above your ability.

Today I was changing the rear springs on my 2010 Ford Focus. Easy job done it before on other Focuses but sometimes the bolts holding the rear arms in place need grinding out. No problem this time plain sailing. Up until I took one of the bolts out and in the process smashed one of the pipe fittings off the EVAP canister that was hiding behind the bolt. OK so a €77 plus VAT rookie mistake. But of course life isn't that easy the EVAP canister is factory fitted on the rear axel strut before its attached to the car so you can't get to the fixing screws. Well you can sort of get to the fixing screws but not with any tools sold anywhere. In the end I bought a really expensive pair of needle nosed Irwin mole grips and got one of the screws out and the second I got out by grinding down a suitably sized torx bit so it was less than half its original size and holding it in a pair of mole grips to unscrew the bolt about a sixth of a turn at a time. I've still to got to get those bolts back in when the replacement EVAP canister arrives

Spilled a few litres of oil on the driveway after being uber careful using a sealey vacuum pump to suck it out etc, as it's a hybrid i was back under to get at tyranny oil filter, course on the way back out from underneath I feckin stupidly kicked over the Sealey container full of shagging engine oil all over my concrete driveway

The Continental Op

corks finest wrote: »

Spilled a few litres of oil on the driveway after being uber careful using a sealey vacuum pump to suck it out etc, as it's a hybrid i was back under to get at tyranny oil filter, course on the way back out from underneath I feckin stupidly kicked over the Sealey container full of shagging engine oil all over my concrete driveway

Oh for the divine bliss of a concrete driveway. Working on gravel is a pain particularly when using a trolley jack but at least the odd bit of spilled oil can be covered over with a quick raking.

corks finest

The Continental Op wrote: »

Oh for the divine bliss of a concrete driveway. Working on gravel is a pain particularly when using a trolley jack but at least the odd bit of spilled oil can be covered over with a quick raking.

Took me 2 hours,a box of daz, deck scrubber, old clothes, sand paper and lots of boiling water and elbow grease to sort it

The Real B-man

Snapped the Dipstick housing on 1.9Tdi while trying to change the Thermostat which in turn put the car into limp mode until it was repaired and faults reset.

corks finest

The Real B-man wrote: »

Snapped the Dipstick housing on 1.9Tdi while trying to change the Thermostat which in turn put the car into limp mode until it was repaired and faults reset.

Nice one,,,, that hurt the pocket

MrCostington

During the summer I was checking my spark plugs and crossed a thread putting one back in. It's not like I've never took out plugs in before having owned many 2 stroke bikes, was kicking myself! Managed to save the day and clean the thread with a great tool (but off the road for over a week waiting for it), details here:

https://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2058101325

Another one, doing an oil change, drained the oil, then could not get the filter off! So had to put the new oil in, buy another better filter wrench and more oil and do the job again! Pro tip: make sure you can get the filter loose before draining

corks finest

MrCostington wrote: »

During the summer I was checking my spark plugs and crossed a thread putting one back in. It's not like I've never took out plugs in before having owned many 2 stroke bikes, was kicking myself! Managed to save the day and clean the thread with a great tool (but off the road for over a week waiting for it), details here:

https://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2058101325

Another one, doing an oil change, drained the oil, then could not get the filter off! So had to put the new oil in, buy another better filter wrench and more oil and do the job again! Pro tip: make sure you can get the filter loose before draining

Sounds familiar

Tzardine

Snapped the head off a sump plug once. Rookie mistake, put an air gun on it and had it set to tighten.

Pain in the hole. Had to fit a new sump. Luckily it was easy to get a used one.

Hellrazer

Heres a few - Sometimes Im better at leaving stuff to the professionals!!!



Couldn't get an oil filter off my old Coupe and decided to use the old screwdriver through the filter to get it off which worked successfully.

The problem--I never checked to see if the new filter was the right one--It wasn't and it ended up costing me a fortune in a taxi to get the right filter.

---

Another one--had an old fiesta that was running crap.The head was all carboned up and my friend said to pour redex into the plug ports and let it sit for no more than 10 minutes.
My phone rang and I went out over an hour later having forgot about the redex.Refitted the plugs and started the car. Well it was like something out of that movie "The Fog"
The whole estate was literally covered in white smoke so I decided to take it up the M50 to clear it out.
Talk about a bad idea.I couldn't see 2 feet behind me in the mirror and cars behind me were pulling in to wait until it cleared.The whole m50--all 2 lanes of it were completely covered in this white fog.

Mind you the car ran like a new car.

---

About 15 years ago when Id just started in the parts trade I was changing a customers front wipers.So I lifted up the 2 wipers and left them sticking up while I got the new ones from the parts department.
As I was fitting the second one my elbow hit the wiper arm and it went straight through the customers windscreen...not a good day.

---

Next one wasn't me but it happened to my own car.

Got on eof the apprentices to throw a wheel bearing on to my old mazda 323.
So he went off and fitted the bearing.I head off home and next I hear a loud bang and the front wheel bouncing past me down the road.

Turned out that he locked the centre hub nut up with an air gun instead of locking it up and turning it back a quarter turn to allow the wheel to turn...now that was scary as fook!!!!!It had sheared the hub right off.

corks finest

Hellrazer wrote: »

Heres a few - Sometimes Im better at leaving stuff to the professionals!!!



Couldn't get an oil filter off my old Coupe and decided to use the old screwdriver through the filter to get it off which worked successfully.

The problem--I never checked to see if the new filter was the right one--It wasn't and it ended up costing me a fortune in a taxi to get the right filter.

---

Another one--had an old fiesta that was running crap.The head was all carboned up and my friend said to pour redex into the plug ports and let it sit for no more than 10 minutes.
My phone rang and I went out over an hour later having forgot about the redex.Refitted the plugs and started the car. Well it was like something out of that movie "The Fog"
The whole estate was literally covered in white smoke so I decided to take it up the M50 to clear it out.
Talk about a bad idea.I couldn't see 2 feet behind me in the mirror and cars behind me were pulling in to wait until it cleared.The whole m50--all 2 lanes of it were completely covered in this white fog.

Mind you the car ran like a new car.

---

About 15 years ago when Id just started in the parts trade I was changing a customers front wipers.So I lifted up the 2 wipers and left them sticking up while I got the new ones from the parts department.
As I was fitting the second one my elbow hit the wiper arm and it went straight through the customers windscreen...not a good day.

---

Next one wasn't me but it happened to my own car.

Got on eof the apprentices to throw a wheel bearing on to my old mazda 323.
So he went off and fitted the bearing.I head off home and next I hear a loud bang and the front wheel bouncing past me down the road.

Turned out that he locked the centre hub nut up with an air gun instead of locking it up and turning it back a quarter turn to allow the wheel to turn...now that was scary as fook!!!!!It had sheared the hub right off.

Love it, think there's a few of us ordered the wrong filter and found out too late, always when the motor factors are closed of course

Hellrazer

corks finest wrote: »

Love it, think there's a few of us ordered the wrong filter and found out too late, always when the motor factors are closed of course

Or when you are doing the job in a friends shed on his farm 40 kms from anywhere!!!!

I was doing a rush job oil change on the missus car.
Couldn't understand how there was so little oil coming out.
It was the auto gearbox plug oil plug!

corks finest

Hellrazer wrote: »

Or when you are doing the job in a friends shed on his farm 40 kms from anywhere!!!!

Sorry for laughing but this thread is giving me hope that I'm not alone in the disaster lobby

endacl

Not very handy with the tools, but I tried to change a wiper blade a few year ago.
Didn’t go well...

Hellrazer

corks finest wrote: »

Sorry for laughing but this thread is giving me hope that I'm not alone in the disaster lobby

Its funny in hindsight!!


Theres more but I dont want to encourage anyone with my misadventures!!!


For example -I had a 1999 Ka that failed an NCT on sill rot - common enough for them.

So anyway I wasnt paying anyone to weld a sill. It wasnt structural so I knew once I got it solid "enough" it would pass.

Anyway I got a 2x2 inch plank and cut it to size - full length of the sill, screwed it into the body and filled around it with expanding foam from woodies.

Then I isoponned it and sprayed it.

That car passed the NCT 4 years in a row before I ended up scrapping it.

fancy pigeon

Do personal injuries count? I've been:

• Electrocuted with welders/shorting off batteries
• Had many harsh chemicals/acid spilled on me
• Hit with hammers (a sledge a few times)
• CO poisoning
• Glued my eyes shut with bead seal (aged 15, rushed to a&e)
• Gearbox fell on my foot (aged 16)
• Pinned against a wall with a live rear axle (aged 20)
• AC condenser exploded in my face (aged 23)
• Smashed out my front teeth taking out half shafts (aged 27, dentist did a fabulous job fitting replacement teeth)

Along with the usual bruises/skinned knuckles/lacerations that go with working on vehicles. As a direct result I don't feel the best in places for many years now



I got most of my diy disasters out of the way in my teens, such as letting a hiace engine wobble on a crane on crooked ground which strained it, car on blocks falling foreward onto the ground, setting my car on fire accidentally, oil exploding everywhere from the high pressure feed for a turbo, wringing countless bolts, crossthreaded a driveshaft hub nut, forgetting to pump the brakes


Thankfully I keep the mistakes to a minimum these days which are easily negated with picturing the job in your head and going over what you've just done, I haven't much left of me that hasn't been injured!

corks finest

fancy pigeon wrote: »

Do personal injuries count? I've been:

• Electrocuted with welders/shorting off batteries
• Had many harsh chemicals/acid spilled on me
• Hit with hammers (a sledge a few times)
• CO poisoning
• Glued my eyes shut with bead seal (aged 15, rushed to a&e)
• Gearbox fell on my foot (aged 16)
• Pinned against a wall with a live rear axle (aged 20)
• AC condenser exploded in my face (aged 23)
• Smashed out my front teeth taking out half shafts (aged 27, dentist did a fabulous job fitting replacement teeth)

Along with the usual bruises/skinned knuckles/lacerations that go with working on vehicles. As a direct result I don't feel the best in places for many years now



I got most of my diy disasters out of the way in my teens, such as letting a hiace engine wobble on a crane on crooked ground which strained it, car on blocks falling foreward onto the ground, setting my car on fire accidentally, oil exploding everywhere from the high pressure feed for a turbo, wringing countless bolts, crossthreaded a driveshaft hub nut, forgetting to pump the brakes


Thankfully I keep the mistakes to a minimum these days which are easily negated with picturing the job in your head and going over what you've just done, I haven't much left of me that hasn't been injured!

FFS you're dangerous 😂

tikkamark

I’ve had plenty of mishaps but lucky enough mostly minor.....the one that nearly cost me my life was emptying the oil drainer tank in my shed for the first Time and not fully tuned in on how to correctly do it properly but sure thought what’s the worst that could happen.....I hooked her up to the air line with about 40psi in it and only one 20l can to fill with the waste oil so obviously when the can was nearly full I disconnected the air line but as the pressure was way too high she kept on flowing so i panicked because I didn’t want oil all over my workshop floor so opened the valve on top to release the pressure and sure enough I got myself and the entire shop covered in a wonderful black fountain!Even worse than that herself was sitting at the far side of the workshop just putting the finishing touches to her architecture drawings for an exam the following day and sure enough all those got covered too......it took days to clean but a valuable lesson learned:)

corks finest

tikkamark wrote: »

I’ve had plenty of mishaps but lucky enough mostly minor.....the one that nearly cost me my life was emptying the oil drainer tank in my shed for the first Time and not fully tuned in on how to correctly do it properly but sure thought what’s the worst that could happen.....I hooked her up to the air line with about 40psi in it and only one 20l can to fill with the waste oil so obviously when the can was nearly full I disconnected the air line but as the pressure was way too high she kept on flowing so i panicked because I didn’t want oil all over my workshop floor so opened the valve on top to release the pressure and sure enough I got myself and the entire shop covered in a wonderful black fountain!Even worse than that herself was sitting at the far side of the workshop just putting the finishing touches to her architecture drawings for an exam the following day and sure enough all those got covered too......it took days to clean but a valuable lesson learned:)

Say she was delighted with you

beauf

Cross threaded sump plug is the one that sticks in my mind.

Stoolbend

Worst i had was the threaded part of a front strut broke while the spring was under load and the shock top hit me square in the face. It was the type with studs sticking up. Lucky it didn't take my eye out.

Also got a sledge to the gut full pelt in a hold this while I belt it out moment.

TheChizler

Successfully changed a timing belt and pump for the first time ever a few years ago and was delighted with myself. Couple of hours driving later at midnight the blower suddenly went cold and coolant temperature indicator took a dive with warning lights coming on. Turned out I didn't reattach the radiator hose properly after removing it to drain the pump. I left it cool for a few minutes and drove the remaining km to in laws where I could borrow some tools, luckily I had some spare coolant in the boot.

Another time I topped up the oil before driving down to West Cork to for a wedding. Stopped in Castletownbere after 3 hours, there was a smell of burning oil near the car but I thought it must have been the trawlers so ignored it. Drove another half hour to Allihies, stopped the car and smoke started putting out from under the bonnet. I've never seen the passengers move so fast. I hadn't secured the oil cap after topping up, actually didn't lose too much oil but it made one hell of a mess. Spent the morning of the wedding being driven around West Cork by the father of the bride trying to find a new engine cap. Amazingly we got one!

PsychoPete

Doing an oil and filter, drained the oil and changed filter. Went for a cup tea, came out started the car and left it running then realised I never filled it with oil

corsav6

Doing my own 1.6 petrol astra in the driveway, clutch and release bearing. Had the car on axel stands and about 3" between the gearbox and engine as I didn't want to remove the box. All went well until I restarted and heard a horrible grinding. All apart again to find the steel pipe to the release bearing was about 1mm out of line and catching on the clutch plate. Pipe was destroyed and took 2 weeks to get a replacement.

Bmw123d

Tzardine wrote: »

Snapped the head off a sump plug once. Rookie mistake, put an air gun on it and had it set to tighten.

Pain in the hole. Had to fit a new sump. Luckily it was easy to get a used one.

That wouldn’t be a rookie mistake I don’t know any mechanic that would put a air gun on a sump bung are you mad. That only comes with years of the correct feel.

Snotty

First car, my pride and joy, in preparation for a long journey I decided to flush the coolant for no reason what so ever, I also decided to replace a blub on the dash that was leaving part of the speedo dark. All went well, car was ready for the journey, after about 30 minutes driving I realised that i hadn't attached all the cables to the dash, the fuel and temp gauge were both stuck at the bottom, no big deal I'd a full tank of fuel and the temp gauge NEVER budged from the mid way marker.
Driving down the road, radio blaring and I hear this whistle, actually ignored it for a few minutes, car was overheating, radiator boiled dry, head split, car was scrapped shortly afterwards.
When I flushed the coolant, I pulled a wire out of the fan by accident so it wasn't working at all.

corks finest

Snotty wrote: »

First car, my pride and joy, in preparation for a long journey I decided to flush the coolant for no reason what so ever, I also decided to replace a blub on the dash that was leaving part of the speedo dark. All went well, car was ready for the journey, after about 30 minutes driving I realised that i hadn't attached all the cables to the dash, the fuel and temp gauge were both stuck at the bottom, no big deal I'd a full tank of fuel and the temp gauge NEVER budged from the mid way marker.
Driving down the road, radio blaring and I hear this whistle, actually ignored it for a few minutes, car was overheating, radiator boiled dry, head split, car was scrapped shortly afterwards.
When I flushed the coolant, I pulled a wire out of the fan by accident so it wasn't working at all.

Feckin hell nightmare

Hellrazer

Another one I just remembered....actually 3.Two are not so much DIY disasters but I think they`ll fit in here.

First one we had this 1st year apprentice and he was asked to check the acid level in a battery - yep old school so it was a good few years ago.
Im standing at the service desk and I hear this explosion.
The poor lad had opened the battery caps and used his cigarette lighter to look into the battery.
He blew the wing off the car and there was a lump of battery embedded in the roof of the garage. He was lucky he wasn't killed.


Second one - again standing at the service desk and I look up to see a car coming straight at me through the window. Mechanic had reached in through the drivers door and started the car with the wheels on the ground and the car in gear.Missed us by a few feet.

I keep one of those plug kits in the car for doing punctures on the side of the road - the one with the big needle. So anyway I get this puncture,think Im great fixing it on the side of the road - none of this changing to the spare for me.
Plug the hole and drive off. Hear this strange noise coming from the wheel I had just plugged. Got out and realised I had left the needle part of the kit dangling from the wheel.It was still attached to the string that I had forgotten to cut off the excess and it wrecked the wing liner!!!

passatman86

Topping up the oil in my first ever car. Went on a nice drive only to see smoke a mile down the road. You guessed it - i left the engine oil cap off and it came out onto the closed bonnet and engine block... Didn't make that mistake again

Tropheus

Nothing major, but managed to snap a plastic non-return valve on the top of the fuel filter when servicing my Audi Allroad a few years back. I didn't have a replacement so the car was off the road for a few days.

When I rang Audi North Dublin, the guy in the parts department said, "I don't believe it". "I had one of our mechanics that did the exact same thing yesterday". The bad news was that they used the one they had in stock and I had to wait a couple of days to get one from Germany.

I ordered two so always have a spare that I'll likely never need.

corks finest

Hellrazer wrote: »

Its funny in hindsight!!


Theres more but I dont want to encourage anyone with my misadventures!!!


For example -I had a 1999 Ka that failed an NCT on sill rot - common enough for them.

So anyway I wasnt paying anyone to weld a sill. It wasnt structural so I knew once I got it solid "enough" it would pass.

Anyway I got a 2x2 inch plank and cut it to size - full length of the sill, screwed it into the body and filled around it with expanding foam from woodies.

Then I isoponned it and sprayed it.

That car passed the NCT 4 years in a row before I ended up scrapping it.

Initiave

corks finest

passatman86 wrote: »

Topping up the oil in my first ever car. Went on a nice drive only to see smoke a mile down the road. You guessed it - i left the engine oil cap off and it came out onto the closed bonnet and engine block... Didn't make that mistake again

Did it

corks finest

endacl wrote: »

Not very handy with the tools, but I tried to change a wiper blade a few year ago.
Didn’t go well...

Beautiful

tikkamark

corks finest wrote: »

Say she was delighted with you

No I wasn’t popular for about a week after that incident!

The Continental Op

A very minor one recently. Wife bought a new second hand car. Low mileage very clean. I noticed it was a bit low on coolant so topped it up. Only problem was as I remembered after filling the coolant reservoir up with about a liter of old engine oil was that I'd used the old 5 liter bottle of Halfords Oat Antifreeze to store old engine oil in.

My wife later asked me what I was doing when she saw me with the coolant reservoir out of the car giving it a good rinsing it out. I just said it looked dirty so I thought I'd clean it Luckily the was just enough coolant in the reservoir to stop the oil getting into the rest of the pipe work.

Spanishpoint

lol hilarious post. I swallowed gas once

landmarkjohn

Changing the rear shock on 7 series. Could have done with help from SWMBO but we'd already had words over the spring compressor process so kept going (I don't need your help, I can do this by myself!) :mad:

Managed to cross thread lower shock bolt going into the big expensive alloy suspension carrier (would have been €1200 for new part). :mad::mad:

Got the thread cleaned up with a tap but it was close!:D

listermint

BrownFinger wrote: »

I was doing a rush job oil change on the missus car.
Couldn't understand how there was so little oil coming out.
It was the auto gearbox plug oil plug!

Did that one. Classic.! She lets me know regularly.

corks finest

Spanishpoint wrote: »

lol hilarious post. I swallowed gas once

On purpose? Laughing?

PsychoPete

landmarkjohn wrote: »

Managed to cross thread lower shock bolt going into the big expensive alloy suspension carrier (€1200 for new part). :mad::mad:

Got the thread cleaned up with a tap but it was close!:D

A bit of loctite and ugga dugga the b*****d in

shanec1928

Gave the car a full service think it was the second or third time I ever serviced a car, hadn’t put the o ring on right on the oil filter so leaked everywhere after I took it for a spin.

newmember2

Changed the steering rack in the Bora and only noticed after fitting that I fitted it one notch off-centre. Strange sensation going forward now when on full lock (feels like the car nearly wants to go backwards) and the tyre hits control arm. As I know about it I was able to drive allowing for it.
Car's been off the road a while now but I'm gonna have to redo the whole thing before it'll get an NCT.

johndaman66

TheChizler wrote: »

Another time I topped up the oil before driving down to West Cork to for a wedding. Stopped in Castletownbere after 3 hours, there was a smell of burning oil near the car but I thought it must have been the trawlers so ignored it. Drove another half hour to Allihies, stopped the car and smoke started putting out from under the bonnet. I've never seen the passengers move so fast. I hadn't secured the oil cap after topping up, actually didn't lose too much oil but it made one hell of a mess. Spent the morning of the wedding being driven around West Cork by the father of the bride trying to find a new engine cap. Amazingly we got one!

I completely overlooked putting the oil cap back on a 2000 Toyota MR-S after an oil and filter change. Done a 13 mile round trip by the time I realised. Some bad smell of oil that flew out and burnt on the exhaust manifold. Luckily didn't loose enough to do any damage and picked up another oil cap handy enough as they were the same across all Toyota petrol's of the time.

My latest one was just before Christmas. More an unfortunate mishap rather than a DIY disaster. The central locking in my sisters petrol car seemed to be locking every 20 odd seconds I heard as I was passing it. Told her about it and it would flatten her battery but it wasn't like she was going to do anything about it. Next day she called me to ask for me to help as her battery was dead. I didn't want to clutch start it as battery was very dead. Took the battery out of my diesel Avensis and holding the battery sideways I managed to connect one lug and hold the other lug up to the battery terminal when she started the car, fine, reconnected up her battery to charge up. Putting the battery back into my own I no more than tapped it off a plastic 90 degree bend coolant pipe at the top of the engine. On it there was a smaller plastic pipe feeding a hose back the expansion tank which I broke. Picked one up at a breaker about 35 miles away. He told me not to break it as it was the only one he had. Sure enough broke it the following morning when I was putting it on, broke so easily. Went to another breaker about 50 miles away to pick up one. He brought it into the portocabin, asked him could he carefully remove the rubber pipes still attached as he had just cut them to get it off car. When he was removing the same small pipe it broke with him. Luckily he had another one which he brought into the portocabin with all rubber hosing removed. With the help of WD40 and some due care I got it all attached on without breaking - was a lot of hassle more than anything else as part was not costly from breaker.

A final one - wasn't me though. I worked in a filling station part-time when I was in college. Coming towards the end of the era where we had forecourt attendants. When I came in to start my shift at 3PM the manager was dealing with a customer who had asked the forecourt attendant on the earlier shift to top up her oil. Obviously him not having a clue filled it right up to the top until it was coming out the oil filler cap....well I think you can guess what happened.

corks finest

PsychoPete wrote: »

A bit of loctite and ugga dugga the b*****d in

God almighty

corks finest

newmember? wrote: »

Changed the steering rack in the Bora and only noticed after fitting that I fitted it one notch off-centre. Strange sensation going forward now when on full lock (feels like the car nearly wants to go backwards) and the tyre hits control arm. As I know about it I was able to drive allowing for it.
Car's been off the road a while now but I'm gonna have to redo the whole thing before it'll get an NCT.

Brave heart,


Fair oul reliable motor The bora

mk7r

Not a DIY but painful all the same, was doing a 1.2 ibiza with a snapped timing chain, head repaired, cleaned, new gasket and bolts and making record time on re assembly, re filled the coolant ready to start it up and the horrible sound of coolant dripping. Head gasket was on the wrong way around, everything fit it just missed a coolant gallery on the chain side......:( Still painful to think about

newmember2

mk7r wrote: »

Not a DIY but painful all the same, was doing a 1.2 ibiza with a snapped timing chain, head repaired, cleaned, new gasket and bolts and making record time on re assembly, re filled the coolant ready to start it up and the horrible sound of coolant dripping. Head gasket was on the wrong way around, everything fit it just missed a coolant gallery on the chain side......:( Still painful to think about

Did that before on a bike, although to be fair I went at completing the reassembly many months after initially going at it. Couldn't for the life of me figure out why I couldn't get it started after I got it all back together. :eek:

kirving

Not the worst in that I got away with it. But stupid mistake below.


Bought a service kit for my parent's Focus and sister's Corsa. Motor factors put the parts at opposite sides of a big box and I took it.

Ignored my dad who asked if I wanted to specifically separate the parts our into different boxes.

Started on the Corsa, changed the plugs one by one in about 2 minutes with me unscrewing and my dad handing over the new and taking the old. Only compared the first two to check sizing as I was distracted by a plastic cover someone had broken previously.

Started the Corsa once it was all done. Running on 3 cylinders only.... Thought it was leads - nope.

Turns out a 1.6 Focus spark plug is exactly the right length to fit into a 1.4 Corsa cylinder, and the electrodes to be crushed together, but not be broken by the cylinder at TDC. Lucky escape.

TheBoyConor

A lot of stories of useless apprentices. You'd think an apprentice would have to have some sort of aptitude for to get onto a mechanic apprenticeship. Unfortunately that isn't the case. Most dealers just want a dumb cheap apprentice to use as a general dogsbody.
For some reason, probably the terrible pay, mechanicing attracts a lot of not terribly bright lads.

newmember2

TheBoyConor wrote: »

... mechanicing attracts a lot of not terribly bright lads.

Hmm...you don't say