Question of the month.
 

I think i forgot to ask the question last month but whatever...So today I was trying to get my engine out of my car again. I need to remove the 4 bolts on the bell housing so i figured it would be a good idea to spray it down with some penetrating oil (bad idea since it drips). So i sprayed it down and then i went to get out from under the car so it wouldt drip on me and right as im almost out from under the car it drips right in my freakking eye. GOD THAT HURT! I ran for the sink to rinse it out with cool sothing water. I love water. Now im sitting here on my computer with my eye still hurting and not being able to work on my car. So my question is ...

Whats the worst thing that has happened to you while fixing your car?

Not being able to work for a week after doing just what you just did.

I was stripping the black paint off the phone dials on my first 944 and rubbed my eye. Paint stripper in the eye seriously sucks. Yes, we all love water.

hmm, first time doing timing belt. it was about 36f, very cold in my garage, and one of the lock nuts for either the alternator, or pwr steering link bar would not budge. i give an extra heave, and the wrench slipped,and i banged my hand into the drive pulley{the one with the multiple grooves}. not sooo funny, when your hands are almost blue with the cold, and it gives you some crazy cuts across your hand.

Gasoline in the ear - from changing a fuel filter

AFJuvat

Does that hurt? Never had that happen before.

Yes, extremely painful..

One hospital trip and a chemically burned eardrum later......

4 weeks of medicated ear drops to heal the eardrum.

AFJuvat

so far the worst that has happened to me has been a few scraped knuckles from frozen bolts suddenly giving free

*knocks on wood*

I'm restoring a 1960 Corvette Fuellie, and while sanding a section of fiberglass, I realize I wasnt wearing any eye protection....it took about a month to recover - it was almost like having a month long flash burn (for those of you who have done some welding!).

A close second (and I mean a very close second) was when i replaced an a/c bracket on an old suburban and i had to finness the 1/2 inch thick bracket with a 12" crescent - it slipped and my arm slammed into the top of the radiator support. I immediately grabbed my arm and held it real tight for about a minute - then when i let it go it spurted blood all over the engine bay....20 stitches later following an absolute gut-wrenching cleansing with a black looking alcohol wash, and now i have a permanent smiley face on the underside of my arm..!!

The Porsche hasnt hurt me yet!

Always always always ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS wear eye protection when working under a car. I don't care how hot it is, how much it screws up what you can see or how clean you think the car is. If you don't you'll ALWAYS end up with oil or grease or rust or crud or something in your eyes - which is never good. At the very least, close them before you touch anything!

1. When I firts got my 87 924S out of the junk yard it had old gas in it, So me being stupid said lets syphone (cant spell) it out, SO as I was sucking on the hose to get the fuel going BAM like a gallon of 10year old nasty fuel was in my mouth, It took like 3 days to get rid of the taste.

2. At work the lift failed about a inch off the ground (before the locks could ingage) and the car landed on my toe, Thank God for steal toes saved my big toe.

3. I tend to work on my P-car alot during the winter So Im with you guys on the cold weather cuts and bangs.

i always practice saftey first when working on anything (proper eye-wear, mechanics gloves, steal toed boots and pants and long sleave shirt, and ear protection (when nessisary(SP)).) better safe than blind, loss of a digit or limb.

but sometimes saftey doesnt always work well in some conditions.

after getting a flat tire on icey roads with my torino (thanks snow plow blade chunk for going through my rear tire.) the jack slipped out (rear bumper lifting kind) went flying about 40 feet and i didnt have the spare tire on yet so i broke my rear drum brake. i had blocking at the time but they slid while the car was jacked up. now i carry a small margirine container full of kitty litter durring the winter so i can place it under the jack before jacking. and two 2x4's with just long enough nails that go through the wood and pointy ends sticking out in em for extra grip on ice while blocking front tires.

didnt happen to me but someone i used to work with and a good safety story for ya.

when i worked at Sun Auto Tops installing sunroofs we used a LOT of prep solvent ,ascetone (spelling), to clean a lot of things... well almost everyone there drinks lots of gaderaid (spelling again...) because its a giant shop in 90F weather... well we used to just keep the prep solvent in some of the old bottles with holes in the top so we could just squirt it. well one day a guy was drinking the new kind of gaderaid that was clear... while i was taking a quick breather i look over at this other guy reach over and grab his drink... 20 seconds later after taking a big swig i see his face turn blue and him throw up. guess what, he grabbed the WRONG bottle!!! he looks over and say "yo, i dont feel so good". after the shop owner gets back from a ride to the hospital with him we have these new stainless steel bottles labelled "pain thinner" and "prep solvent"...

Man, some of you guys have had some nasty stuff happen. I'm not sure which hurt the most for me because they all sucked at the time, but here we go...

I've gotten ____ in my eyes, where ____ is:
Rust
GL-5
Dex
Oil

It's actually pretty painful, especially when it's hot.

Once, we had a car come in that was over-heated, and the upper-bay tech didn't tell me he was pulling the rad. hoses/cap so while I was cracking the filter, it shot ungodly hot Anti-Freeze all over me. I know it sounds like fun, but trust me kids, don't try that at home:-P That's what sucks about working at a fast lube place, it doesn't matter how hot it is, you can't let it cool down first.

Definately a runner up for my most painful was when I was changing the filter on a newer Taurus. I slipped on my stool and my arm went to the side and down--right into the exhaust manifold that was so hot it was actually smoking. You could hear (and smell!) my bare forearm (the nice, tender underside) sizzle on it. Yup, screamed like a 10 year old girl.

And then there was the time when I put my forearm (same as the one above) on a Honda flex pipe by accident after he had driven it all over God's green earth. The burn was of course in the weave of a flex pipe. Oh man, such good times at GoofyLube.

I think that about does it...

Didnt happen to me....but my cousin managed to get his finger in the clutch while we were bleeding/pumping the pedal...

It almost cut it off...all the way to the bone.

oh i remembered another story of mine. when i first got my car i was driving around with one of my buddies when i noticed my car was overheating. we pulled into a gas station and i popped the hood. and it looked like that that little tube that goes to the radiator on the top drivers side was being squished by the headlight actuating bar. so i reach in there to try to unsquish it... well the moment i touched it that stupid little nipple broke off and sprayed my hand with VERY hot antifreeze, got a nice little zizzle noise out of it too. my buddy was like "wow that must be hot, i heard it hit your hand." and replied with a quick "WTF DO YOU THINK?!"... luckily after it cooled i had some silicone in the back from making my sub box and i was able to get it not to leak and make it back home to replace the radiator.

:eek: oh that's gonna leave a mark!! jesus, I don't know whether to laugh or cry! I've had some wacky things happen to me but thankfully never anything quite this traumatic. hope things eventually went better

learned to work with your sleeves down yet? :D

Ronin,

Heh, it sure did leave quite a mark. The flexpipe scar is actually rather good looking, just discolored skin and then two pink scars below it. The burn from the Ford, though, is rather new and still very pink. I think because of its location it's going to stick out quite a bit:-P

Work with my sleeves down? No way, tried that, and I quickly learned why Chachi (my basement buddy) told me not to--I got my shirt caught on something after I gave a filter a good spin and it poured hot oil down my arm/shirt. They also charge us for ripped shirts.

Don't worry, you can laugh. Everyone else did!

pluss if you did it with your sleeves down they could have caught on fire and burned a lot more!

nope, clothing must be flame retardant by law. it may smoulder but it should not catch fire. and if the exhaust temperature was at the flashpoint of that type of clothing, methinks the wound would have been much worse :eek: