Today I was working on the ac clutch, to remove shims. In the process i cracked off the shaft hold the pulling and the senor. So I had to go buy a complete compressor and clutch assembly. $155 bucks I did not plan on spending. And a slight melt down in the drive way when i realized I did nt to take those two pieces off.

 

I changed my fuel filter, and an oil change and started it up. Looked good so I test drove it.

Got home did some tasks then had to run an errand. I started it up then went inside to get something. Came out to see a heavy flow of diesel pouring onto the ground. Popped the hood and say a high pressure jet of fuel shooting out of the fuel filter lid. Apparently the gasket didnt seat properly. An easy fix, but cost me about a gallon of fuel (or more if it was doing it during my test drive and I didnt notice!)

 

.way too many to list.....makes me think sometimes Homer Simpson and I are related....

 

Did a turbo swap on my buds truck. About 8 people there grilling out. Turbos swapped out,and then I see the o rings I put in a safe place off to the side. SON OF A #$%@*!!!

 

Back in college doing a last second late night/early morning valve job on my 64 Lincoln, I forgot the breaker bar on the balancer nut, went to fire up and it banged around horrendously for what seemed an eternity. Some cosmetic damage only! That car had seriously hefty engineering. Loaded the posse and headed to Disneyland at daybreak.

 

I do all of my own own car maint, everything from engine remval to tranny swaps, you name it.

The last time I changed the oil in my wifes honda civic, I almost made a fatal mistake. She cam home from work the next day, 10 miles in, 10 back, and I see an oil spot under the car. Jack it up, and I didn't tighten the drain plug past finger tight . Only lost 1/4 quart, but dam, that could have been an engine, about kicked my own azz around the block on that one, me being mister torque wrench......

 

well there was the time i thought the AC was all the way evacuated and got R134a in my eyes/face. You know you dont have to go to the hospital for R134a, posion controll said just rinse for 20mins...

or the time i serviced my now wifes transmission, and forgot to install the filter...didnt shift at all...oh look theres the new filter on top of the box...

SBC 350 put new heads on couldnt get to run for 6 months. compression good on all cyl but wouldnt run. took it to a shop they found all the valves were too tight. No compression onced started due to hydrolic lifters filled up with oil...

 

I was replacing my power steering pump and had the intake tube pulled off. So I was all careful and stuffed a rag in the turbo pipe to keep any crap out since it was a windy day. Get the pump all back together and fire it up real quick to see if everything is okay and it starts up and then dies. Well it was a cold day so I didn't even think about it and cranked it over again. No start, couple more times and it hits me........I left a rag in the turbo pipe. All the horror stories about people sucking up stuff in the turbo hit me all at once. I jumped out of the seat and went around to find the rag sucked up to the turbo. Pulled out easy and she started right up after that. I was sweating a little on that one.

 

First time I changed the fuel filter on my truck I forgot the gasket. Well rather than just turn the key to check for leaks I started the truck. The gasket wasn't there so fuel spewed out and as luck would have it directly onto the now spinning fan. This resulted in a line of fuel across the underside of my hood and both shop walls.

A year or so later I was doing a John Wood valve body. Everything was going very well. Got everything undone, new valve body in, torqued properly, pan back up and torqued.

Then I went to where I had my trans fluid... and realized the filter was still there. Fortunately it was before any fluid went in the pan but anyone who has had the pan down knows it's a million bolts and a regular PITA.

 

I was changing the timing chain on a Chevy 350 and broke my harmonic balencer puller, rented one from autozone, but forgot that I had taken the balancer bolt out.
I broke the end of the puller off in my crank.... drilled a hole to Easy Out the broken piece, but then snapped off the Easy Out in the crank ...
bad bad day, had to have the crank drilled and tapped by a machine shop while it was still in the truck.

 

I had to replace the ball joints on the passenger side and one of them refused to budge from the bracket on the axle, so i torched the sucker out. Somehow the red hot stub of a bolt ended up on the ground next to me and when I put my hand down to push myself up, I landed right on the bolt. You could see the threads burnt into my hand!

I've also whacked my head on the sharp corner of the hood at least 3 times, drew blood once.

 

First engine I ever assembled was a 1600cc VW Beetle engine.
I woke up the next day realizing I had put the oil slinger washer in backwards.
Had to return to work and re-do the whole thing.

 

Doing ball joints on my F350. Got everything buttoned back up on the driver side and started on the passenger side. Then the thought hit me... So I went back to the driver side and tore it back down and put the dust shield on. Kinda sucks.

 

One that comes to mind is an oil change on the Excursion. I had left the pan plug out to let it drain really good, and went inside for a half hour. I came back out, pulled the drain bucket out, and started pouting a gallon of oil into the engine, when I see a brown river flowing down my driveway. I dumped about 3 quarts of oil right through the system and onto my driveway. I felt like a complete idiot.

This weekend I saw a screw next to my tools that I KNOW came out of one of my vehicles, but can't for the life of me figure out which one, or where it goes. Hmmmmm....nothing like having an extra screw left over.

 

I once underestimated the repair time and failed to stock the cooler appropiately. It infuriates me to have to stop a half finished project to restock a cooler. For the most part now, all of my days begin with a freshly and fully stocked cooler.

just sayin............