admit to your stupidity

[ghnat]

Quicksilver,

You have a PM...

[yasir]

Showing my friend how easy it is to change oil in my Camry so i pulled the car up on the ramps,drained all the oil,replaced the filter and put 5 qts oil and viola oil change done.
Now this was when the fun began,checked the dipstick noticed the oil was way above the mark,told my friend no biggie so lets drain some oil,checked the level still full drained some more checked again still ful drained again checked again and the friggin oil level still high never moved not even a little bit.
Well after thinking for 10 minutes still baffled i decided to let Toyota help me figure this out.It only took 2 minutes for Master tech to reveal me that i kept checking the transmission oil while draininig the engine oil and lucky for me that i still had some oil left in my engine that oil light never came on.

[jimbo]

Happened to a guy at my high school eons ago. He buys a brand new Dodge Challenger muscle car - hemi engine - all the bells and whistles. Probably worth $100k today.
Anyways, he's driving down a long incline road hauling a$$ and he hears a noise. So he shuts off the ignition to better source the noise. Dumb A$$ forgot it was the first year of steering wheel lock/ignition interface. Wheel locks up taking car towards ditch doing 80mph + and he can't turn key back on to unlock steering wheel.
Would've been a nice car today...

[Kurt Anderson]

1. Left the throw-out bearing out altoghter (356, 20 years ago).

2. Replaced the oil and filter on the "79SC. Started it up. Walked to the back. Out of the corner of my eye I see the filter still sitting on the work bench. It was like someone turned a garden hose on the engine. Only the hose was full of oil.--Almost dislocated my shoulder getting to the key to turn it off. (Last year)

Not getting any smarter. Just making a bigger mess!

Kurt

[ghnat]

Almost forgot, I came home from a bike ride with bike on top of my Jeep. Hit the button for my garage door and slowly drove in. I was thinking, Hmmm why is my Jeep not moving...... Well I trashed my bike.

[pmillikin]

Waaay back in high school autoshop. My buddies and I are the smart guys doing tuneups on teachers cars for free. My buddy is setting the idle on an automatic with the car in gear. Me the smart ass walking by reaching in and bliping the throttle. Car lurches forward almost pinning us both against the wall.

[mwbaum]

While in college in the 80s....I briefly owned (before being totaled by a drunk running a red stop-light).....a 1965 Lincoln Continental.....with suicide doors. I bought it for 300 bucks and it was a Sweet college ride. One of my best memories is taking that car to Glacier Park and back. The gas tank leaked.....so I bought a junk-yard replacement and then spent an entire weekend taking out the old tank (which was not quite empty and still leaking)......and installing the replacement used tank from the wrecking yard. I did this on the side of the street where the car was parked.......and with only the spare-tire jack to give me a few extra inches to slide under the 6000 lb beast. It was the most stupid, frustrating, dirty, and dangerous job Ive ever done on a car.

At least I dinged the drunk's insurance company for 2 grand after he T-boned and totaled me. The cop let the drunk go because they were both retired vets....they were swapping stories.........dude reeked of alcohol mid-morning, and I was just a "college kid" and the cop didnt give a damn.

[darkbeer]

Sold my beloved T-5 Roadster # 88755, at Pomona (many years back) for $3,500......WHAT WAS I THINKING ?????

"BA-DING"....sheet metal screw down Solex PII...Valve was OPEN !!!....#3 cyl...you can probably figure out the rest...

Ignored that "tap tap tap" in my '72's 2.4 until it became "RATTA-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG", SHUT IT DOWN...coast off the Fwy...do not pass go, please spent $6,000 (you fool)....

Met my wife (& best friend) in 1970.....didn't marry her till 1989!!! I was SO stupid to wait so looooong !!!

[Driver Ed]

Here are some recent ones:

Pulled over to check the oil after dark -- dropped the dipstick into the tank.

Drained the oil and redid the valve adjustment twice trying to figure out the problem -- and it turned out to be that I had put the oil sump cover on rotated by 90 degrees. Many helpful Pelicanites were very patient and helped diagnose the problem.

And a classic:

While working all stinkin' day on fixing up this horrid old '73 Mercury I had been given, I had everything all fixed up and tools all put away and I noticed that I hadn't put one of the inside door panels back on. No problem -- it's a simple job that requires no tools -- all you have to do is align all six hundred or so of those little upholstery clips with their respective holes and it snaps together. I fiddled for a half hour or so, getting more and more frustrated, and finally decided that if I just get ONE of them snapped in I could work my way around and get them all snapped into place. Because I had put all of my tools away, I just used my fist and there was a nice satisfying snap -- of two knuckle bones in my right hand...

[austin552]

I have missed something in one I have caught in the other so many times I am ready to go into business. Watch out M.M. here I come!

[Hugh R]

Recently bought a 72 Old Cutlass for my son and I to work on together. First night with it we jacked up the front of the car to grease the front end, with the jack stands about a foot back from the door hinges (2 door car). Got underneath and pushed the grease gun onto a fitting, and the whole car see-sawed back and forth! It turns out we had perfectly balanced the whole car on the two jack stands with all four wheels off the ground! Needless to say, got out from under it real quick and moved the jack stands forward. Forgot rule No.1 when putting a car on jack stands, make sure its solid. I was too quick to want to show off to my son how much I knew about cars.

[tiorio]

Flew out from L.A. to Kansas City to look at an '89 930 (which I now own). Went with all the tools; flashlights, spot-rot, panel gap gauges, tool kit for my own personal PPI, made them do a leakdown (which I made them pay for) while I watched etc...

As I'm being a total a-hole nitpicky buyer and arguing with the salesguy about the price with all the 'issues' with this car (which there were almost none), I nonchalantly pull the dipstick to check oil level and...drop it into the tank. Took the tech about an hour to get it out...

At least I had an extra hour to check things like brake lights and check the tool kit...

[rickdm]

I'm 15 about to start driving and I manage to talk my Dad into buying a new '72 Oldsmobile Cutlass S. White with a white vinyl top. With this car I am definitely going to make an impression on the female population of my high school.

While reading the paper Dad sees an ad for this little gadget you put on your fuel line that oxigenates your fuel and gives you 50mpg, 'what the oil companies don't want you to find out about'. Dad being a sucker for this kind of stuff buys it. To install you cut the metal fuel line going into the carb, insert this gizmo, and tighten fitiings on either side. As I am installing this I notice that the metal lines have a twist and seem to want to make the fittings come loose. No problem, I just muscle the fittings a bit tighter and they hold.

Two days later Dad is driving down the street and there is a huge explosion under the hood, flames shooting 10' into the air from the fender/hood seam. Dad has just enough time to get the car to the side of the road and jump out. The car is a lump of coal in about 10 minutes.

Fortunately the insurance company never figured it out, but Dad went out and bought a Delta 88 and it was the last cool car I talked him into.

rickdm

[ronin]

Originally posted by JCR
(Who engineered this thing?)

a guy who didn't think anyone was doofy enough to drive through standing water

[BlueSideUp]

About two years ago I was assembling a bumpstop/dustboot assembly on a friend's Passat. In order to do this I used a flat blade screwdriver to force the bumpstop into the boot. Now a normal person would have placed them on the ground and pushed the bumpstop in....

Not me! I held the boot in my left hand and shoved the bumpstop in using the screwdriver. Unfortunately the screwdriver slipped and stabbed through my left palm.

Needless to say I was in shock as my latex glove filled with blood! I ran inside and attempted to bandage myself up.

The worst part came two weeks later.

I was doing the suspension on my own Passat and actually managed to stab the same screwdriver through my left palm again. It actually went right through the exact same scar.

So as a token to my stupidity I now have a three inch scar on my left palm.

Then there was the time I accidentally drank coolant and was sick for three days....

[austin552]

I took a wire brush to clean up some heavy corrosion on battery connectors. Thought about my safety glasses but did not get them. I won't ever forget them again!

[bagpiper47]

1979 I had to change the water pump on my 1962 buick electra (that was a big car). after I thought all the bolts were off I still couldn't get the pump off. Had a handy 20 guage single shot shotgun (unloaded) and pried it off. I guess I did not see one of the bolts which was now sheared off. Put the new pump on and drove a few more years until I tuned it up and dumped the sediment from the glass fuel filter housing. put it back on (I thought) and forgot to tighten it down. Revved up that 401 and the glass 1/2 cup size fuel filter landed right on the headers!
Flame erupted and being a smart person I slammed the hood to attempt to suffocate the fire. Well a 12 yr old could climb up through that engine bay from under the car with out too much problem. Needless to say by the time a garden hose got to it it was never the same. A few weeks later it ran but not good and sold it. I'll miss that car. . . .NOT!!!
Also on a 68 chevelle in 1976 coasted down the hill to start it once, popped the clutch but could'nt understand why it didn't start. Aha!! turn the key! BOOM!! nice hole in the muffler.

[Zeke]

This thread is starting to get scary!

[ronin]

Originally posted by bagpiper47
Also on a 68 chevelle in 1976 coasted down the hill to start it once, popped the clutch but could'nt understand why it didn't start. Aha!! turn the key! BOOM!! nice hole in the muffler.

damn! I just pulled a muscle in my side! I'm gonna sue, I tell ya!

[patkeefe]

Took the 968 to a wake tonight. It started snowing just before I left the wake, 3 hours before the weatherman said it would. Made it 25 miles before I had to abandon it on a hill near home. Of the 25 miles, 10 miles was sideways in third gear. The absolute worst car in the snow ever built.
The whole trip back, I kept thinking I may be back in that funeal home soner than later...