Your dumbest 911 moment?

[Quickstep192]

I have one of those oil drain pans that holds 3 gallons of oil. It has a single hole in the center, a spout to empty it which has a cap so you can use it to store the oil before recycling.


After a long spirited fall ride, I decided that it would be an ideal time to do the pre-winter layup oil change. I put the big pan under the drain and removed the plug. Just as I was pulling the plug, a leaf wafted into the drain pan. I thought eh, screw it, it’s just a leaf and I left it.

As the searing hot oil began to flow, the oil tsunami, sent the leaf onto the center drain plug, covering it

I didn’t want to reach into the hot oil in the pan, and putting the plug back in was out if the question too.

So, I stood there helplessly while three gallons of hot dirty oil covered my garage floor and flowed into the driveway.

[Funracer]

Originally Posted by Quickstep192

I have one of those oil drain pans that holds 3 gallons of oil. It has a single hole in the center, a spout to empty it which has a cap so you can use it to store the oil before recycling.


After a long spirited fall ride, I decided that it would be an ideal time to do the pre-winter layup oil change. I put the big pan under the drain and removed the plug. Just as I was pulling the plug, a leaf wafted into the drain pan. I thought eh, screw it, it’s just a leaf and I left it.

As the searing hot oil began to flow, the oil tsunami, sent the leaf onto the center drain plug, covering it

I didn’t want to reach into the hot oil in the pan, and putting the plug back in was out if the question too.

So, I stood there helplessly while three gallons of hot dirty oil covered my garage floor and flowed into the driveway.

Haha. Well that was just plain bad luck.

[DonNewton]

Thinking that 911 ownership would make me as cool as Steve McQueen. Didn't happen in 1983 when I bought the car, and has remained a constant.

[Cevan]

My dumbest moment: did a full engine rebuild last year. Drove trouble free for 1,500 miles until the car died on a busy road and had to get towed back to my house. Got to trouble-shooting. Engine seemed flooded but would run briefly if I pulled the fuel pump fuse. Got help here on the forum. Turned out I had failed to fully plug in the CHT sensor connector in the engine bay. Pushed the connector together and heard “click”. Fired right up. Doh!

[GH85Carrera]

On my 85 3.2 I replaced the snapped cruise control Bowden cable with a used one. At the time there were no new ones anywhere. It did not have solid clips to hold it in place, but I figured that would be fine for a test drive. A few miles later that cable slipped out and caused a WOT throttle. I shut the engine off, and coasted to a safe spot. I pulled the cable off the throttle bracket, and drove home.

Now I have two zip ties in a cross pattern holding it in place. I can't come out again without cutting the zip ties.

[tk32]

^ great life lesson: When zip ties are the answer, always use two

Great thread so far this shows the beginnings of a PP classic, keep it up! Dumbest moment so far (surely there will be more): convincing myself that a project 911 was a good idea. Thanks a lot fellow Pelicans for so many inspiring build threads, whole lotta help those did. Buy a project 911, they said, it will be fun, they said. You'll have it on the road in no time .. said no one ever. 5 years on and its further apart than its ever been, actually not sure I can get it any further apart.

That slope is so steep and slippery

[SCWDP911]

Here is mine, selling two of them right before the market blew up… like literally 3 months before, haha. DOH!!!!!!!!
My rubinrot 83 cab…

My 69 I bought from a friend but then backed out so they could sell it for a charity auction.

[rokemester]

Originally Posted by GH85Carrera

On my 85 3.2 I replaced the snapped cruise control Bowden cable with a used one. At the time there were no new ones anywhere. It did not have solid clips to hold it in place, but I figured that would be fine for a test drive. A few miles later that cable slipped out and caused a WOT throttle. I shut the engine off, and coasted to a safe spot. I pulled the cable off the throttle bracket, and drove home.

Now I have two zip ties in a cross pattern holding it in place. I can't come out again without cutting the zip ties.

I bet that got your heart racing Glen!!

[rokemester]

Originally Posted by GH85Carrera

On my 85 3.2 I replaced the snapped cruise control Bowden cable with a used one. At the time there were no new ones anywhere. It did not have solid clips to hold it in place, but I figured that would be fine for a test drive. A few miles later that cable slipped out and caused a WOT throttle. I shut the engine off, and coasted to a safe spot. I pulled the cable off the throttle bracket, and drove home.

Now I have two zip ties in a cross pattern holding it in place. I can't come out again without cutting the zip ties.

I bet that got your heart racing Glenn!!

[RSTarga]

Got a rear flat just outside of Laredo in mid August. Used the factory jack to lift the car and just managed to get the spare on as I watched the jack sink into the hot asphalt.
I had to drive off the jack leaving it sunk at the side of the road.

[Jjm4life]

For some reason I turned that gain control for the windshield wipers (for lack of a better term for it) and proceeded to forget. When I went to turn my wipers on they obviously didn’t work leading me down a path to pulling fuses etc. only to later remember I turned that stupid dial on the dash.

[JmanB]

Selling my ROW 79 SC 😭

[FA-18C]

Too many to list, and thankfully most have been harmless. The most embarrassing was replacement of oil level sensor and involves several instances of idiocracy. The first was related to attempting to install the aftermarket level sensor which, for those that have done this, takes some Mcgyvering to insert, rotate and seat the sensor. Well I could just NOT get the sensor to seat, and after a couple of hours gave up and ordered one from the dealership using PCA discount.

When the part arrived and I went to install, I noticed a notch in the seal that I had not aligned, which precluded full seating of the sensor. So now I have a spare.


Related, while doing the install, I cleaned up the take and put a magnetic flashlight in the rear wheel well so that I could see well. Excited to have a gauge that wasn't pegged after install, I washed my hands and went for a drive to get the oil up to temp to test out the gauge. At my 10 mile turn around point as I was merging back onto the highway I heard an awful banging around in the right rear wheel that went away shortly. I figured something in the road, right? When I got home and went to grab my light to check for leakes, I had to use a different light and quickly figured out that the noise was the light slamming around in the wheel well. No damage, but that was an $80 light. So a $200 afternoon based on not paying attention all around.

[MikeD930]

My dumb moment was driving off leaving the rear engine lid up. I noticed it after driving a several hundred feet when I took a look in a rear view mirror.

[ChrisHoover]

I spun my 911 in a light mist at low speed. It was at a four way stop. The ass end bounced up on the curb. A couple of guys who witnessed the whole thing pushed me off the curb where I was stuck. Grateful for the help but hella embarrassed. At least it was very minor unlike the time I rolled my Datsun 510 totaling it and getting concussed

[KMoore68]

I bought my 1977 911 S Targa 6 years ago, one of the first things I did was buy new front strut inserts (Bilstein B6) and rear shocks hoping to improve the ride.

I lowered the car also and over the years have replaced the various bushings, the car drove much better but I always felt the front end was a bit bouncy and harsh.

After thinking about it I decided to pull the front struts yesterday and cut down the bump stops to help with the ride.

Much to my surprise, I hadn't removed the original bump stops and they ended up in a complete mess at the bottom of the strut tube. The original rubber was completely destroyed and bunched up, I am assuming make the strut have even less travel.

I've cleaned out the driver side, cut the bump stop and will be working on the passenger side next, lesson learned the hard way

After it is all buttoned up, I'm hoping it will improve the handling substantially, we'll wait and see!

[cmcfaul]

I wreaked my fathers 73E when I was 13. Lost the back end going around a corner with sand on it prob. 2x speed limit.

[ErrorMargin]

I was adjusting the valves on my 84 Targa. I set the feeler gauge down and then I could not find it.

After some looking, I realized that I set it on the cylinder and it slid down in between the fins of the cylinder.

The engine was not on a stand, so could not just flip it over.

I had to fish it out, it took 30 min.

[Crow911]

Did the same thing….after owning my 911 for 5 years and having changed my oil 5 times, I drained oil from engine, forgot to drain sump. Completed valve adjustment, oil filter change, and various other “while you are in there” tasks and put everything back together and filled her up with 10 quarts of new oil and started her up and presto—I was in the mosquito fogging business. Totally forgot to drain the sump. Drained all oil again and refilled new oil. Car smoked for a couple of hundred miles until all oil burned out of intake system. I now know why race teams use check lists—no matter how many times you do something, unless you have a list you will forget something…..

[tobluforu]

Not my 911, but I have had a few mishaps during 30 years of ownership. But related to changing oil..... My 2002 Saab viggen has the oil plug on the side pointing toward the rear of the car. Didn't think anything of it the first time I drained the oil. Pulled the plug and the oil shot about 6 inches past the oil pan and all over my garage. Unreal how fast it came out and how far.
Now, for the old 911. I bent a rear trailing arm, bought another, used and did not lay it side by side next to the original. Installed it and well, whoops.