stupid mistakes made with your car maintenance

[aschen]

lazy way to fill wife's odyssey with transmission oil is through the dipstick. Such an easy job, I just wasnt paying attention and put the transmission fluid in the crankcase. I had drained the tranny of course.

Drove 3000 miles with a half full transmission and an engine full of oil + 4 quarts ATF, before I discovered my stupidity.

That was more than 10k miles ago, no CEL or shifting issues. Changed the transmission fluid a few times after for good measure and it all seems fine.

[stevej37]

^^^ Wow...that's a testament to that Honda's engine and tranny.
In the 90's their transmission were not the best. (at least in the Prelude)

[Bob Kontak]

Originally Posted by aschen

Drove 3000 miles with a half full transmission and an engine full of oil + 4 quarts ATF, before I discovered my stupidity.

Wow is right. On the bright side it probably knocked some sludge cooties loose.

Do the trans again if you only did one iteration of drain and fill.

On topic, beer and just learning about lifting the sensor plate on my CIS engine hydrolocked the cylinders.

[Jims5543]

Classic case of too many cooks in the kitchen.

Son came over to do an oil change on his 2006 Cooper S.

I was just there to help his dyslexic ass with the oil filter cartridge. In the past he has tightened it instead of loosening it. I got it off and jumped away for him to finish the car.

We were both working on it at the same time, a friend stopped by and I stopped working on the Mini. He took over, he knows what to do.

I was up in my garage chatting when my son turns to me and asks, how many quarts does this take? I thought I would see a dipstick reading at 4.5 quarts?

I start to walk over when I see his error.

4.5 quarts of Mobile 1 are running down the driveway behind the car..

He forgot to put in the drain plug. He did remember to do the oil filter, he blamed me and said he thought I put it in.

I blamed too many hands on the car for a simple task. Took a bit of pressure washing to clean that mess up.

[911 Rod]

I cursed my uneven paved driveway for 15 years.
Finally pulled the trigger and had it paved.
Doing oil change in the girlfriend's Ranger and don't tighten up the oil filter enough.
All the oil all over my new driveway.

[Robert Coats]

I had a '72 Corvette in decent shape I bought from the original owner in 1981.Was in college and living at home when Dad says he and mom are moving, and suggest I find an apt. and stay in school. I decided I'd better make sure the Vette was in top shape, as I was going to loose the garage and most of the tools. Drove up on a set of ramps and knocked out an oil change, then looked around the underside for anything that might need attention. The gear oil bolt/fill hole on the side of the manual transmission called out to me. A quick skim of the Haynes manual delivered a simple drawing to check the level by removing the bolt and confirm the gear box oil was up to the threads. Okay, bolt out and gear oil starts pouring out. Well, how about that? The last idiot who did this clearly overfilled it. So I let it pour out and confirmed the oil as right at the threads.

Cleaned up and patted myself on the back, and rolled the Vette. Missed the part about doing this when the car is flat and level. Fast-foward a month, and in a new apartment, mom and dad in new house 350 miles away....and hey, why won't it go into 1st and 3rd anymore !!?! Transmission is shot, but local shop had a line on a used one for the princely sum of $1100. Wiped out savings but learned a valuable lesson about reading and understanding the ENTIRE procedure before jumping right in.