Self inflicted stupidity
Cargo Master
Joined: Nov 2011
Posts: 3,354
Likes: 49
From: Great American SouthWest
My first car-73(?) Dodge Dart Swinger w/ 318
Decided one day to change the oil. Parked in front of my grandparents house. Got a pan, pulled the plug, drained the oil and changed the filter. Went to dump the old oil in the barrel. Came back and poured 5 or 6 quarts into the motor. The puddle around my feet made me realize I forgot to reinstall the drain plug
Expensive oil change!
Decided one day to change the oil. Parked in front of my grandparents house. Got a pan, pulled the plug, drained the oil and changed the filter. Went to dump the old oil in the barrel. Came back and poured 5 or 6 quarts into the motor. The puddle around my feet made me realize I forgot to reinstall the drain plug
Expensive oil change!
Fleet Mechanic
Joined: Sep 2014
Posts: 1,626
Likes: 78
From: NE Texas
Ah yes, the brake job where I assumed my daughter would pump the brakes after a quick pad replace...note the word assume. Nope, put her car in gear and drove it into the workbench... oneo f a zillion dumb moves over the years.
Helped fix a real dumb one - a former girlfriend was all stoked over what a great mechanic her new boyfriend was, till he changed the oil on her SAAB and it ran like crap. I had her bring it over and found out that Bucko the Wonder Mechanic had carefully drained her transmission and added 5 quarts additional oil to her engine. Luckily no long term damage to anything but their relationship.
Helped fix a real dumb one - a former girlfriend was all stoked over what a great mechanic her new boyfriend was, till he changed the oil on her SAAB and it ran like crap. I had her bring it over and found out that Bucko the Wonder Mechanic had carefully drained her transmission and added 5 quarts additional oil to her engine. Luckily no long term damage to anything but their relationship.
Post Fiend
Joined: Apr 2002
Posts: 19,311
Likes: 97
From: Waterloo, Iowa
Trying to get the horn to work on my 64, removed it and hooked it straight to a battery. That didn't work so I banged on it with mallet. No joy there.
So I sprayed a very generous slug of WD-40 down there... peering intently right down the barrel.. What's wrong with this &$#% thing? Uh-oh. Right about the time, in the dim recesses of my mind, realizing this might be a bad idea, it spit out a super loud KA-CHUK! that echoed on the houses across the street and then this huge horn blast of WD right in the ol' kisser.
Horn works great now!
So I sprayed a very generous slug of WD-40 down there... peering intently right down the barrel.. What's wrong with this &$#% thing? Uh-oh. Right about the time, in the dim recesses of my mind, realizing this might be a bad idea, it spit out a super loud KA-CHUK! that echoed on the houses across the street and then this huge horn blast of WD right in the ol' kisser.
Horn works great now!
Regular User
Joined: Sep 2014
Posts: 1,798
Likes: 15
From: Bathurst, New Brunswick
About 6 weeks ago had a friend help me set the camper shell on my truck to get it ready for winter storage. Remember saying to myself "don't forget to put the clamps on before driving the truck" 
. Was doing some work on the truck including rebuilding the carb. A week later, installed the carb and it fired up like a champ 
. In my excitement of taking it for a test drive ... yep, no clamps on the camper. It ended up in the middle of the 4-way intersection around the corner from my house 
. Luckily little damage (except to my pride). Lots of cars went by gawking. One guy, in a half-ton, jumped out and gave me hand. 
. Was doing some work on the truck including rebuilding the carb. A week later, installed the carb and it fired up like a champ . In my excitement of taking it for a test drive ... yep, no clamps on the camper. It ended up in the middle of the 4-way intersection around the corner from my house . Luckily little damage (except to my pride). Lots of cars went by gawking. One guy, in a half-ton, jumped out and gave me hand.
Laughing Gas
Joined: Apr 2001
Posts: 868
Likes: 3
From: New Glasgow, Nova Scotia
My first car-73(?) Dodge Dart Swinger w/ 318
Decided one day to change the oil. Parked in front of my grandparents house. Got a pan, pulled the plug, drained the oil and changed the filter. Went to dump the old oil in the barrel. Came back and poured 5 or 6 quarts into the motor. The puddle around my feet made me realize I forgot to reinstall the drain plug
Expensive oil change!
Decided one day to change the oil. Parked in front of my grandparents house. Got a pan, pulled the plug, drained the oil and changed the filter. Went to dump the old oil in the barrel. Came back and poured 5 or 6 quarts into the motor. The puddle around my feet made me realize I forgot to reinstall the drain plug
Expensive oil change!
I had a water pump fail on my way to the NASCAR race in New Hampshire, pulled off the interstate and found a VIP auto that had a pump, replaced the pump in 90 heat right in the parking lot, and on a 460 motor that's a bit of a job. Put on the new pump and it leaked at the gasket, had to pull it completely apart to fix it, I quickly found my problem, both water pump gaskets were on the same side on the cover, I had glued one to the TC cover and one to the cover on the rear of the pump but hadn't noticed they were on the same side. Big time consuming , hot, frustrating day in a parking lot.
Fleet Mechanic
Joined: Aug 2004
Posts: 1,311
Likes: 31
From: Nevada
I consider myself the king of doing everything twice, so no worries........... Cant even begin to explain the hard knocks education my poor wife and kids have 'heard' over the years.....I once was mowing some weeds down and was all proud of myself for stopping to move my little Toyota truck so that I didn't bust a window, only to look over at it and see I already had..... $200 later....
Laughing Gas
Joined: Apr 2001
Posts: 868
Likes: 3
From: New Glasgow, Nova Scotia
I consider myself the king of doing everything twice, so no worries........... Cant even begin to explain the hard knocks education my poor wife and kids have 'heard' over the years.....I once was mowing some weeds down and was all proud of myself for stopping to move my little Toyota truck so that I didn't bust a window, only to look over at it and see I already had..... $200 later....
I spent my life in the military as a mechanic, I could go on for days with some of the things I have seen . Some of our techs should have never gotten past the Fisher Price stage.
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Postmaster
Joined: Nov 2015
Posts: 2,769
Likes: 7
From: O-O-O-Oreilly's
Water pump on my bronco started leaking badly so I pulled it into the garage (120+°) and tore it down. Bought a new water pump and gaskets, had everything all lined up, and went to reassemble. Got everything squeaky clean and used RTV in all the right spots. Everything was going swimmingly. Just got the last radiator hose on when I saw a white piece of cardboard next to me. I flip it over and I'll be damned if it ain't one of the new gaskets. Of course it leaked. Pulled it apart, put the gasket back in, more RTV and put it back together. WAY too much RTV and uneven so it leaked. Pull it apart again, buy more brand new gaskets, new RTV and get everything squeaky clean. Got it together and it is perfect. What a PITA!!
Must be a genetic thing though. Back in the day my pop had a '70 international 1210 4x4 392 727. Great shape too. He had just finished some work on it and was taking it on a test drive. He forgot to properly fasten the fuel lines and thus, the fan wore through it and fuel hit the exhaust. Poor ole truck burned up right there. He sold it to a friend who either fixed it or used it for parts, so at least there didn't get crushed.
Must be a genetic thing though. Back in the day my pop had a '70 international 1210 4x4 392 727. Great shape too. He had just finished some work on it and was taking it on a test drive. He forgot to properly fasten the fuel lines and thus, the fan wore through it and fuel hit the exhaust. Poor ole truck burned up right there. He sold it to a friend who either fixed it or used it for parts, so at least there didn't get crushed.
Cargo Master
Joined: Nov 2011
Posts: 3,354
Likes: 49
From: Great American SouthWest
My first truck -79 F250 460
Pulled the distributor to replace the intake manifold. Put the distributor back in, but didn't engage the oil pump drive shaft. Couldn't figure out why it wasn't making any oil pressure. Couldn't get it in time, and figured the distributor was a tooth off. Pulled the distributor back out and found the reason!
Pulled the distributor to replace the intake manifold. Put the distributor back in, but didn't engage the oil pump drive shaft. Couldn't figure out why it wasn't making any oil pressure. Couldn't get it in time, and figured the distributor was a tooth off. Pulled the distributor back out and found the reason!
Post Fiend
Joined: Apr 2002
Posts: 19,311
Likes: 97
From: Waterloo, Iowa
About 1947 my dad was tasked to pull an all nighter rush job to help out a feller get a torpedo ready on their boat for some big training live fire display thing with a bunch of high level brass watching them blow up an old hulk or something.
At the appointed hour the fish was launched ... and it was a dud. Oops. He said he later found a bunch of springs and gee-gaws in his pocket.. and promptly threw them overboard. LOL Way to go, Dad!
At the appointed hour the fish was launched ... and it was a dud. Oops. He said he later found a bunch of springs and gee-gaws in his pocket.. and promptly threw them overboard. LOL Way to go, Dad!
New User
Joined: Jun 2006
Posts: 18
Likes: 0
My first car-73(?) Dodge Dart Swinger w/ 318
Decided one day to change the oil. Parked in front of my grandparents house. Got a pan, pulled the plug, drained the oil and changed the filter. Went to dump the old oil in the barrel. Came back and poured 5 or 6 quarts into the motor. The puddle around my feet made me realize I forgot to reinstall the drain plug
Expensive oil change!
Decided one day to change the oil. Parked in front of my grandparents house. Got a pan, pulled the plug, drained the oil and changed the filter. Went to dump the old oil in the barrel. Came back and poured 5 or 6 quarts into the motor. The puddle around my feet made me realize I forgot to reinstall the drain plug
Expensive oil change!
I may be mistaken but judging by your car you were probably a kid when this happened so it's a little forgivable. I've been changing my own oil for 35 years and did the above for the first time two months ago on our Fusion. Mine poured into the container at least but 6 quarts of Mobil 1 down the drain.
Elder User
Joined: Oct 2016
Posts: 712
Likes: 1
From: Mesa, AZ
I had a charcoal canister fail on a Nissan Frontier, and it sucked charcoal up the vac lines into the engine bay and clogged up a number of emissions components. When replacing it I had disconnected the lines under the hood and at the canister end under the bed of the truck. I had asked my now ex-wife (LOL) to watch to see if anything came out the other end when I put some compressed air to the lines.
Well I didn't know she put her face right down by the end to watch as carefully as she did. A big poof occurred as soon as I put air to it and she came out looking like a Vaudeville actor in blackface. It was so, so hard not to laugh....
Well I didn't know she put her face right down by the end to watch as carefully as she did. A big poof occurred as soon as I put air to it and she came out looking like a Vaudeville actor in blackface. It was so, so hard not to laugh....
More Turbo
Joined: Jul 2010
Posts: 644
Likes: 28
From: Hobart, WA
Not my stupidity, but a guy I saw. I was at a gas station, and I watched a guy pull up to the gas pumps in a rental box truck. He stopped so the passenger's side was next to the pumps. He got out to begin filling up, and found that gas cap was on the other side of the truck. He got in, pulled a U-turn in the truck and pulled up on the other side of the pumps, again with the passenger's side next to the pumps. He got out and walked around to the pump, and his shoulders slumped as he realized the gas cap was still on the other side of the truck from the pumps. So, he AGAIN got in the truck, pulled ahead, made a U-turn, and pulled up to the other side of the pumps where he originally parked, which again put the gas cap on the other side of the truck from the pumps! He got out and walked around to the passenger's side and threw his arms in the air and shook his head while muttering to himself. He then got back in the truck and drove away from the gas station without ever filling up.