I did the ‘left hand thread’ oops to a '60s Dodge, lucky replacing a wheel stud is no big deal. A big deal was leaving the plug off a Falcon’s rear axle after checking the diff’s oil. Luckily (for me) that was the month I quit the gas station. I dropped by a month later to see the Falcon back on the lift, getting a new (used) rear axle put it.
I blew several mufflers wide open by turning the ignition key off while driving, just to hear the “boom” when the key was turned back on.
My favorite place to do this was in the tunnel on the Merrit Parkway in New Haven, CT. Looking back on it, those “bangs” were so loud in that tunnel, I’m surprised I didn’t cause any accidents.
9 out of 10 times, the muffler would withstand it.
Can’t do it with today’s cars. I suspect when catalytic converters showed up in 1975 that it could no longer be done. If anyone was able to trigger a bang with a pre-injection, pre-computer, catalytic converter-equipped car, I’d be curious. I would think any raw fumes would be burned by the converter.
1 Like
Lemme tell you, when you cant get down,you start feeling the miles and crashes-Kevin
Man oh man,what a downer.I dont know what gets in us sometimes-some materials are not as strong under the right conditions as one would think-Bill Lear used to demonstrate the impact resistance of his Learjet windshields,one day he smacked one in a demo to friend with a hammer and it shattered.
My big bugaboo,was control handles made out of anything but steel,if they were bronze or aluminum,I better not grasp them-Kevin
Well the wife did blow the muffler off a 86 Volv,.dont exactly remember now but either the coil wire or a plug wire,burnt in two against the exhaust manifold.My Volvo mechanic told that wasnt what happened,but I say “The proof is in the pudding”-Kevin
This was the cause of woes to a lot of folks,who didnt realize “outey” could be backwards-Kevin
starting out as a lube tech i accidentally drained the tranny of a subaru and pulled the tranny filter as well. The tranny filter alone was like 20 bucks. let’s just say everytime a subaru comes in a someone is new, i let them know which one to pull.
Well on these newer vehicles,you have to do a double take-Kevin
On the old cars the fuel would keep flowing with the mechanical fuel pump, and the engine would keep sucking it in through the carb. With the new ones, no fuel flow and no injectors running, so no backfire.
I remember getting the wrong size brake rotor from a junkyard. After a couple of hours wondering why it wouldn’t fit, I decided to put the old one back on. It didn’t fit either—in my overtired state I grabbed the wrong part again and wrestled with it for another hour.
I just thought of another one.
In 1994 an elderly driver pulled out in front of my 85 Buick Skyhawk. The car was totalled, but it was still drivable. However, on my way home, the trunk lid came loose, and popped open while I was driving. I was able to stop and pull over without hitting anything or anyone, but it cracked the windshield. Luckily, I had some dog chains in the car to strap the hood down and drive home.
- Injured a new Nissan Altima transmission by draining the fluid and then doubling the amount of oil in the crankcase. (Fluid is red, oil is black)
- Killed a Volvo 240 by incorrectly assuming that the oil pump drive gear bore no relationship to engine timing. Turned engine into lamp base.
- Set my son’s Jetta on fire by wrapping the headlights in cloth to keep them from rattling during the out bound trip to the dealer. (Forgot about the daytime running lights!). On the return trip, hood latch failed and the hood flew straight up into the winshield. It lived, but just barely. Later attacked by mice in the dashboard wiring harness.
The German proverb comes to mind, “Too soon old and too late smart.”
I didn’t do these, but here are some stories about my Renault LeCar (hey, it sounded good at the time-it had a sunroof!)
I got free oil changes from the dealer when I bought it. First time, I barely made it home. I popped the hood and there was a spark plug wire hanging loose. The next time I just decided to check when I got home. This car had the spare under the hood (probably wonderful for the life of the rubber). When they put it back, they bent the dipstick double. The dealer offered me more free oil changes as compensation!
There are so many other horrible things that happened with this car. But it had a sunrood!
But didnt you think it was a cooler car then the Alliance?-Kevin
Yeah, only in my case the miles and crashes were on a mountainbike!
OK, here goes. I was putting the tires back on a car and as I was installing the last one the shop phone rings. I stopped and answered it. Went back to the car and snugged the lugs, phone rings. Answered it and went back to the car. Phone rings, answered and went back to the car. PHONE RINGS AGAIN…this happened 4 or 5 times, honest. Went back to car saw the wheel installed and lowered it and off go the customers. My boss called 2 days later saying a rim fell off and after some details I realized what happened. I apologized to the customer and while I feel with the phone it was an honest mistake I felt about 2 inches tall.
This is another reason the mechanic shouldn’t be the receptionist, also: distractions can lead to mistakes. The more distractions, the more mistakes.
About 30 years ago we had to get a truck with a seized engine pushed a mile to a repair shop. The truck had no brakes because it needed the engine to run the air brake compressor). Part of the mile road included a down hill.
Since the truck had a stick shift, my idea was to put the shifter in 1st (very low granny gear) and hold my foot on the clutch as I was being pushed. If I needed to slow down or stop, I planned to slowly let my foot off the clutch - using the seized engine as a brake.
Well, I hadn’t considered how fast the clutch disk would be spinning while being pushed with my foot on the clutch pedal. Since I had put the trans in 1st, the clutch spun so fast, the centrifugal force blew it apart!
I was lucky it didn’t rip through the bell housing and cut my leg off.
That must have made you appreciate the courage of Don Garletts and drag racers like him who in the old days “sat on the pumpkin”.
I hadn’t heard of Don Garletts. If you do a google search of “Don Garletts clutch explosion”, you get lots of hits. Interesting reading. Thanks.
Apparently it was his clutch explosion that put an end to front engine dragsters.