Whats the most retarded thing you've ever done while working on your car.

[AWDDSMCRAZY]

I just wanted to see how many things we've done while working on our car that made us feel stupid, because the problem was self inflicted.

For example, I intalled new front struts and used a jack underneith the A arm to compress the strut up into the mount, while lowering the hoist to bolt it in. The jack was just far enough out that when I bolted up the wheel the edge of the jack was touching the tire and when it was fully bolted on wheel wouldnt spin. I unbolted and bolted the wheel on about 15x before I figured out it was a stupid mistake by me.

 

[zilo900]

mine was painful. Had the rear of the car jacked up for ss brake lines install and strut tower bar. I did a little work, took a break, work, break....Finish up after 2 hours(yeah I know, long breaks) I go inside and clean up. I come back outide, and get in the car (I have my clutch wire unplugged so I can start the car w/out my foot on the clutch, and also had the car in 1st gear so the wheels wouldn't roll when the car was jacked) I turned the key and launched forward into my tool bench.... Needless to say after all the work, I forgot the car was in gear since it is always left in neutral because of the turbo timer. Scratched the fender a fair amount along with a dent the size of a cd. The bumper was scratched along and then ripped from one of the handles on the tool bench, about 6 inches of tear. That hurt to back up the car and look at the damages. Hurt more spending several hundred to get it it all back to normal and painted....o the mods that could have been

 

[leet]

MY front left fender has a few dents from when I was angry and punched the shit out of it.

 

[girlieracr4g63]

I think the absolute dumbest thing Ive ever done was was try to remove the bottom intake manifold bolts with a flip over type racheting wrench. Needless to say I got the bolt about halfway up and then couldnt get it any farther due to the slant on the back of the intake. Of course it wouldnt go back down either because of it being the flip over type. That was one I HAD to walk away from. However after some good breathers and about 30 mins I managed to get it off.

I guess the other dumbest thing I ever did was when I called my hubby at work and asked if we had a spare fuel rail. Because while I was in the process of putting the car back together. I got totally focused on watching my youngest son a few feet away. In the mean time just wrenching away, and forgetting what I was tightening. All of a sudden SNAP..

Oh well...Live and learn!
and thank God for spare parts...haha


Wendy

 

[FlipDsM]

uhhm, putting the waterpump pulley backward after doing timing belt. i ripped 2 serpentine belt before figuring out what in the heck was wrong. it was stupid...

 

[RipperXX]

First time I installed a ACT clutch in my firs DSM I didn't put all the nuts and bolts back. Ended up with a few left over. Since then on my 2nd DSM I always bag and mark/lable each nut/bolt/part so everything that comes off goes back on.

never had any real problems out of the first one though.

 

[Thomas91169]

did a oil change and forgot to put the drain plug back in, and 4 quarts later saw a puddle of black coming from the sides of the vehicle. took so long for the garage to not smell like a tire shop.

then again i was 15 and my dad said "here, figure it out", told me drain plugs on bottom of car, filters on side of engine, drain old oil, put on new filter, fill back up. i did in that order, but he left out the "put plug back on numnuts" part.

 

[Defiant]

Using "retarted" instead of "retarded" ranks pretty high up there.

 

[IHeartTurbo]

Using "retarted" instead of "retarded" ranks pretty high up there.

####. I wanted to correct him.

 

[AWDDSMCRAZY]

Ya, my bad.

 

[4BangR-x]

When I used an impact wrench to put intercooler bolts back on.

Also while wiring up an amp on an older car, I plugged the power into the ground, and ground into power. It took about a week for my car to stop smelling like a melted pile of wires.

 

[AWDDSMCRAZY]

Oh impact wrench, that sucks. I've had a few of those too not even thinking. Once I ran the outer 4 on the crank pully in this way, spent the rest of the day trying to extract them.

 

[IHeartMyHonda]

i was changing front rims once and decided that it was a job for the trust scissor jack as the car is too low to fit a real one under there, and hey it was only gonna take 10 mins to do anyway. after pulling one off, i reach up and grab the fender, like i always do, to pull myself up, not thinking that hey, theres a dinky jack under the front and the car is currently a tripod. so the car tips, narrowly avoiding my legs beneath it. that turned out to be the easiest way to warp a brembo rotor.

 

[ILLiCliPSE]

The definition of retarded is pretty wide here...

haha just kidding guys...Ive had my moments too

 

[95blackGsTurbo]

I just got my car back from the tire shop getting my Toyo's installed and I was gonna do my Brembo upgrade...got it all done nice and smooth and left for a nice 3 hour trip...put my directional tire's on backwards. Took about 2 days to realize it because they were bald as shit...blamed it on the shop though and got 4 new one's .

 

[4BangR-x]

Tires actually wore faster?

 

[Synapses]

Becuase they are directional tires they will pull therefore causing high ammounts of tire wear.

 

[IHeartTurbo]

i was changing front rims once and decided that it was a job for the trust scissor jack as the car is too low to fit a real one under there, and hey it was only gonna take 10 mins to do anyway. after pulling one off, i reach up and grab the fender, like i always do, to pull myself up, not thinking that hey, theres a dinky jack under the front and the car is currently a tripod. so the car tips, narrowly avoiding my legs beneath it. that turned out to be the easiest way to warp a brembo rotor.

Why the #### wouldn't you use jack stands? That really pisses me off.

 

[canucatchdis]

I personally think this was pretty dumb. My buddy didnt think there would be enough oil pressure to do this. Were were in the process of trying to figure out what a phantom noise was.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OhXJyyz3Ui8

 

[SAKONE]

Car slid off jack. I put a piece of wood on top of the 'saddle'. Their was grease on the part I was using as a jack point. The car's tires were still on the ground and the car wasn't lowered, but still felt stupid.

 

[fwdturbobov1996]

Close my hood with a wrenches laying over the fenders.

 

[98gst14b]

installed a turbo and almost done only to find out I had an extra coolant line that definatly was NOT bolted to the back of the turbo! Took everything back apart.....

 

[T9S1i]

vented my bov for a day just to see how it sounded....

 

[RipperXX]

^ I think everyone has done that.

 

[Booster-Shot]

Forgot to wear goggles when working underneath the car. I got a huge clump of oil/dirt/crap in my eye and had to go to the hospital to get it taken care of.

Dsm: 3,451 Me: 7