Silliest thing done whilst maintaining a car. - Page 2

Starman · 12th November 2010, 05:55

Hi all. Well Many years ago when I first started driving. I was 17. My best mate and I were in the process of gettin my mothers mk1 escort going after standing still for a few years. Flat tyres, stagnant fuel, dry engine etc etc.

We had the brainwave of using his WWII Willys M38A1 jeep to tow me round the block to unbind everything. Great. All going good. Paul accelerated as we left the first junction and stopped at the next.

It was here I realised a couple of things.

1) no brakes.
2) steering lock had clicked on.
3) no electrics to honk horn or flash lights.
4) keys were on the rear passenger seat, of the jeep!

He stared in disbelief as I overtook him on a gentle arc across his offside and into the traffic the other side of the road. The tow rope broke. I missed the one car coming at me. Missed a parked car. Went across the pavement, through a picket fence and came to a stop in the quiet area of the old peoples home!

It was then a mission to get the car and me out and away before they could catch us and exert bodily harm by beating us with walkers and sticks!

I hate being towed to this day.

Regards. Steve.

Mr Edd · 12th November 2010, 07:47

I once spent a whole day trying to get the ball joints out of my Fairlane in Oz. Eventually did the unmanly thing of asking a friendly mechanic only to be told that the ball joints on that particular model were an integrated part of the structure and the whole thing was a ten minute job to replace if the correct parts had been purchased.

I decided never to do that sort of thing again.

Edd

Number 6 · 12th November 2010, 09:34

Once owned a Bond Bug ,Jacked the back up to adjust the rear brakes!Youve guessed it,with one wheel on the front it tipped over

stobby · 12th November 2010, 12:18

i work with this lad years ago, and this day he was late for work, when we asked him , he said that he had a crash in his van,, but the best thing about it was he hadn't told us the full story, it was a cold frosty morning and his van wouldn't start and he had no jump leds so he thought to himself that he would tow it off, yeah thats fine so he got his wife's brand new K reg Golf GTI to tow it , conneted to the van put it in gear and towed his van ,,, by himself,

well the van struck up and clipped the back of the car stapped the tow rope and crashed in to 3 more cars before it stopped,
how we all took the pi## for weeks,

Paulifa1 · 12th November 2010, 14:42

Well... 2 years ago I fitted a new head gasket to my fathers Skoda favorit, very straight forward and all went well. Having finished it, I was running it up to temperature, stood chatting to my dad with a cup of tea commenting on how well the job went when I spotted a greasy mark to the left hand end of the rocker cover, I picked up a cloth and went to wipe it off. As I did a stray thread from the cloth got picked up by the alternator belt and within about 0.1 of a second had pulled my hand between the said belt and pulley cutting off my left hand middle finger!!!

I wasn't very amused...

rushed to casualty to have the finger sewn back on and the best part of 18 months to get it back to nearly normal function!

I knew there was a reason for that rotating part warning sticker! Broke a 20 year record of working on cars without an accident too!!

Paul

Jud75T · 12th November 2010, 16:00

Quote:

Originally Posted by Paulifa1

Well... 2 years ago I fitted a new head gasket to my fathers Skoda favorit, very straight forward and all went well. Having finished it, I was running it up to temperature, stood chatting to my dad with a cup of tea commenting on how well the job went when I spotted a greasy mark to the left hand end of the rocker cover, I picked up a cloth and went to wipe it off. As I did a stray thread from the cloth got picked up by the alternator belt and within about 0.1 of a second had pulled my hand between the said belt and pulley cutting off my left hand middle finger!!!

I wasn't very amused...

rushed to casualty to have the finger sewn back on and the best part of 18 months to get it back to nearly normal function!

I knew there was a reason for that rotating part warning sticker! Broke a 20 year record of working on cars without an accident too!!

Paul

Sheeeeeesh Paul!! ...

I met a guy not so long back, in the summer, at this layby burger van, I stop at occasionally on my way into work, and we were talking about such things .. bloke standing there taps his eye with a tea spoon ... "chink chink" !!!! - he'd been tightening a ratchet strap on his load and it snapped taking his eye clean out!!!! ..

I've hurt myself a few times, badly on the odd occasion ..but I've not removed a body part as yet!
(touching wood everywhere now! )

As for stupid things done working on cars, when I was a young un .. we swapped an engine out of a car, I lay underneath it, arms locked out holding the bottom of the engine .. and my mate undid the relevant bolts!
I was supposed to be steadying the engine ..and HE was supposed to have put the hoist around it, neither of us noticed before we got involved!!! ...damn heavy them engine thingys..

Have also tried starting a V8 "Bedford van" conversion -where the engine comes in to the cabin - we're being towed, trying to get her started -pouring petrol into the carb and using the palm of my hand as the choke.. engine caught ..pulled my hand away, carb spat back throwing now buring petrol throughout the cabin!

Teenagers, you can't tell them .... Boy was I a stupid kid!

carl · 12th November 2010, 18:46

only thing ive done was change the trailing arm on the ZT and when finished there was a squeaking noise - put the handbrake on then off , and it stopped for a while - drove round with it like that for 6 months , took it for a service and MOT and mentioned it - went to pick it up and the fella at the garage told me what was wrong

Id put the handbrake shoes on upside down

trebor · 12th November 2010, 20:27

repaired the front brakes with my brother on a Mk2 Jag, and left him to tighten the passenger side wheel nuts whilst i started the other side and he forgot ! ( i should have double checked so my fault too )

Took it on a test drive to try the brakes and the passenger wheel came off and overtook us on the nearside, damage to disc and wing as the car dropped down, luckily no one hurt and the wheel was recovered from nearby on a grassy area

12th November 2010, 05:55	#11
Starman Posted a thing or two 03 CDTi Tourer Conn SE auto Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: Shrewsbury Posts: 1,405 Thanks: 0 Thanked 15 Times in 4 Posts	Hi all. Well Many years ago when I first started driving. I was 17. My best mate and I were in the process of gettin my mothers mk1 escort going after standing still for a few years. Flat tyres, stagnant fuel, dry engine etc etc. We had the brainwave of using his WWII Willys M38A1 jeep to tow me round the block to unbind everything. Great. All going good. Paul accelerated as we left the first junction and stopped at the next. It was here I realised a couple of things. 1) no brakes. 2) steering lock had clicked on. 3) no electrics to honk horn or flash lights. 4) keys were on the rear passenger seat, of the jeep! He stared in disbelief as I overtook him on a gentle arc across his offside and into the traffic the other side of the road. The tow rope broke. I missed the one car coming at me. Missed a parked car. Went across the pavement, through a picket fence and came to a stop in the quiet area of the old peoples home! It was then a mission to get the car and me out and away before they could catch us and exert bodily harm by beating us with walkers and sticks! I hate being towed to this day. Regards. Steve. __________________ [SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]

12th November 2010, 07:47	#12
Mr Edd From the Horses Mouth 2012 Honda Oddessay and 1996 Ford Ranger Truck (Splash) Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: Fort Myers, Florida Posts: 1,045 Thanks: 0 Thanked 13 Times in 7 Posts	I once spent a whole day trying to get the ball joints out of my Fairlane in Oz. Eventually did the unmanly thing of asking a friendly mechanic only to be told that the ball joints on that particular model were an integrated part of the structure and the whole thing was a ten minute job to replace if the correct parts had been purchased. I decided never to do that sort of thing again. Edd __________________ I'd be dyslexic if I could spell ti.

12th November 2010, 09:34	#13
Number 6 This is my second home Rover 75 tourer Club CD/Limo Tints Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: Meneac Posts: 6,759 Thanks: 5,007 Thanked 1,609 Times in 869 Posts	Once owned a Bond Bug ,Jacked the back up to adjust the rear brakes!Youve guessed it,with one wheel on the front it tipped over __________________ ] "I started out with nothing, and Ive still got most of it left!"

12th November 2010, 12:18	#14
stobby Regular poster mg zt Join Date: Jan 2010 Location: scunthorpe Posts: 96 Thanks: 0 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts	i work with this lad years ago, and this day he was late for work, when we asked him , he said that he had a crash in his van,, but the best thing about it was he hadn't told us the full story, it was a cold frosty morning and his van wouldn't start and he had no jump leds so he thought to himself that he would tow it off, yeah thats fine so he got his wife's brand new K reg Golf GTI to tow it , conneted to the van put it in gear and towed his van ,,, by himself, well the van struck up and clipped the back of the car stapped the tow rope and crashed in to 3 more cars before it stopped, how we all took the pi## for weeks, __________________ if things all around you are exploding it's probably us,,

12th November 2010, 18:46	#17
carl Posted a thing or two MG ZS 180, MGF 75th Aniversary and Kirsts ZT CDTi 135+, MG ZT-T CDTi Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Scunthorpe Posts: 1,721 Thanks: 14 Thanked 6 Times in 6 Posts	only thing ive done was change the trailing arm on the ZT and when finished there was a squeaking noise - put the handbrake on then off , and it stopped for a while - drove round with it like that for 6 months , took it for a service and MOT and mentioned it - went to pick it up and the fella at the garage told me what was wrong Id put the handbrake shoes on upside down __________________ Is attempting a bit of refurbishment

12th November 2010, 14:42	#15
Paulifa1 Loves to post 75 launch car Join Date: Aug 2010 Location: North East Lincs. Posts: 367 Thanks: 42 Thanked 56 Times in 41 Posts	Well... 2 years ago I fitted a new head gasket to my fathers Skoda favorit, very straight forward and all went well. Having finished it, I was running it up to temperature, stood chatting to my dad with a cup of tea commenting on how well the job went when I spotted a greasy mark to the left hand end of the rocker cover, I picked up a cloth and went to wipe it off. As I did a stray thread from the cloth got picked up by the alternator belt and within about 0.1 of a second had pulled my hand between the said belt and pulley cutting off my left hand middle finger!!! I wasn't very amused... rushed to casualty to have the finger sewn back on and the best part of 18 months to get it back to nearly normal function! I knew there was a reason for that rotating part warning sticker! Broke a 20 year record of working on cars without an accident too!! Paul

12th November 2010, 20:27	#18
trebor This is my second home Rover 75 CDTi Connoisseur SE & MG ZT Saloon 190 Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: Coven Posts: 12,523 Thanks: 526 Thanked 1,877 Times in 885 Posts	repaired the front brakes with my brother on a Mk2 Jag, and left him to tighten the passenger side wheel nuts whilst i started the other side and he forgot ! ( i should have double checked so my fault too ) Took it on a test drive to try the brakes and the passenger wheel came off and overtook us on the nearside, damage to disc and wing as the car dropped down, luckily no one hurt and the wheel was recovered from nearby on a grassy area __________________ www.midlandsnanomeets.co.uk Robs Car Gallery Coven near Wolverhampton WV9 2000 Cowley Built Rover 75 2.0 V6 Club SE/ Atlantic Blue/ Sandstone/Walnut (daily driver) 2003 Land Rover Freelander 1 TD4 HSE Helsinki Blue/Black Leather (swmbo daily driver)