stupid mistakes

Gannon · Post by **Gannon** » Sun May 18, 2008 9:33 pm

Screwdriver through the middle of the palm

You're no alone,.. Im an electrician, ive done it many times.

Willie · Post by **Willie** » Tue May 20, 2008 8:59 pm

Boy, I could go on for a while on this thread. Alot of "mistakes" made over the years, especially when I was an apprentice!

One incident was when I was changing the head gasket on my HR Holden. 161 red motor. The old gasket didn't come off cleanly (of course), so I had to use a scraper to clean up the flat surfaces. A bit of the material went into the cylider bores, so I thought I would be clever and vacuum out the waste. I accidently passed the vacuum hose over a water jacket and the vacuum cleaner got a load of water sucked into it's internals. A few sparks and a big bang - and that was the end of my wife's vacumm cleaner. She didn't see the funny side of it!

Cheers,

Willie · Post by **Willie** » Tue May 20, 2008 9:03 pm

I also chipped a tooth when under a Series II Land Rover, trying to undo a shackle nut. Spanner slipped and I head-butted the leaf spring - mouth leading. Bloody Army Land Rovers!

Willie · Post by **Willie** » Tue May 20, 2008 9:10 pm

Then there was the time a friend and I were changing the clutch on my Pajero. We removed the drive shaft and undid the gearbox, ready to remove. We thought it wouldn't be too heavy, especially being a Jap mid sized 4WD, not a Land Cruiser. So I layed underneath it on a creeper and we pulled it out, intending to rest it on my chest and I would roll out with it.

Bloody hell, that thing was heavy! I thought I was going to be crushed to death - and my mate couldn't stop laughing.

Then we had to qwork out how we were going to lift it back into place! Well, low and behold, there was a gearbox trolley jack in the corner of the workshop. After all, it was one of the Army's newest and biggest workshop we were utilising - should have known there was a gearbox trolley there.

AlpineRaven · Post by **AlpineRaven** » Wed May 21, 2008 7:25 am

Was working trying put a spring back on with screw driver - short cut but knew how much easier if i do it properly but couldnt be bothered, so I did use the driver to push the spring back in place and almost did but it sprung back and hit my thumb - left with a black thumb and man it was painful - was sore for about a month bec it hit the bone in my thumb!.. that was 2 months ago.
Cheers
AP

Hamish71 · Post by **Hamish71** » Wed May 21, 2008 8:30 am

How do you learn unless you make mistakes....

I grew up racing go karts, simple 100cc two stroke engines. I could strip hone, polish, port, rebuild an engine and carburettor in a couple of hours by the time I was 12.

When I was 14 I decided I would do my dad a favour and fix the blown head gasket on his CBR600...whats the difference, right? He was away and would get a surprise whrn he got back.
Who knew what that funny chain and gear were for.....
Was slightly more wrong with it than a blown head gasket by the time i "fixed it".

Suby Roo · Post by **Suby Roo** » Wed May 21, 2008 1:35 pm

Lifting motor out of suby, Ea82. Lift it up using ratchet winch, Drag car out of way, go to lower the motor down and flick the switch the wrong way. Squashed toes and bent sump. Hurt a fair bit that one!

Gremlins · Post by **Gremlins** » Wed May 21, 2008 2:05 pm

Ford TX5 Turbo. Had been slack on servicing and hadn't got around to changing the spark plugs for around 60k km. When finally changing plugs one started to unscrew then got tighter and tighter until I couldn't turn it anymore. Not to be outdone by this went and found a bigger leaver but only managed about another half turn until the plug snapped leaving the threaded section firmly stuck in the head.

Also on the TX5 took the injectors out for cleaning (was a single point EFI system). Re-installed after receiving them back and couldn't get the car to start. Called up company who did the cleaning, guy came out, had one look at the car and swapped the fuel supply and return hoses around the correct way and started the car straight up!!

CPOCSM · Post by **CPOCSM** » Wed May 21, 2008 3:42 pm

Gremlins wrote:Ford TX5 Turbo. Had been slack on servicing and hadn't got around to changing the spark plugs for around 60k km. When finally changing plugs one started to unscrew then got tighter and tighter until I couldn't turn it anymore. Not to be outdone by this went and found a bigger leaver but only managed about another half turn until the plug snapped leaving the threaded section firmly stuck in the head.

Also on the TX5 took the injectors out for cleaning (was a single point EFI system). Re-installed after receiving them back and couldn't get the car to start. Called up company who did the cleaning, guy came out, had one look at the car and swapped the fuel supply and return hoses around the correct way and started the car straight up!!

Ooooops!!!:p

Half filled a mini with diesel due to some arse swapping the hoses over(yes the diesel was next to the unleaded - but the hoses reached!!!)

I was about halfway through filling the 7 gallon tank until I realised(hmmmm...why arent the numbers clicking over...). I was spewing!!

The attendant was great and let me drain the fuel out of the tank and let me fill up the equivalent in unleaded...at no extra cost!!!(thanks Dubbo!!)

Hooroo

FROG · Post by **FROG** » Wed May 21, 2008 4:44 pm

Every Time I Read One Of These I Think Of Another

Left The Daly Waters Pub Nt After A Huuuuge Night, Got To Next Servo Down The Road, Hangover Pounding, Girlfriend Not Happy With Me, Pulled Into Servo Filled Er Up , Attendant Looks At Me A Little Weird Got Two Kays Down The Road Car Coughs And Farts Then I Look In Rear View Mirror Cloud Of Smoke , I Knew What Id Done Straight Away Deisel Into Petrol Tank Damn Damn , Girlfriend Is Real Happy Now.... Middle Of Nt Tempreture Is Rising.... Looked Under Car Found Drain Plug On Tank (okay Thats A Good Start) Dropped Deisel Out Grabbed Jerry Can Start Walking Back To Servo , Attendant Looks And Laughs .... Yeah Mate Thanks..... Fill Jerry Can Up With Petrol, Start Walking Back To Car Bloody Jerry Can Weighs A Bit After A Few Klms I Can Tell You .,,,, Poured Cupfull Into Carby Put Rest In Tank, Fired Up Straight Away And Off We Go, Learnt To Watch What Im Doing At The Bowser.

As Long As You Learn

timmo · Post by **timmo** » Wed May 21, 2008 5:44 pm

haha done the wrong fuel thing myself. Work Hilux turbo diesel was my first week at work been to the same servo a thousand times filling up my car with petrol - routine kicked in and i started filling up with petrol looked down at the flap diesel looked at the pump oh shit 15 litres.. how am I going to live this down. Quickly hung that one up picked the diesel up could only fit 30 litres in - never told the servo guy about the petrol (fleet card - petrol would have seemed odd) drove off. Hilux never missed a beat I reckon it went better than ever.

Also done the wheelnuts and high pressure fuel lines thing aswell with the L series. Most annoying was after doing the heads on the ea82t put it all together hit the key wont start sounds like timing is out check it, still nothing... twice, 3 times. Sudden thought stuck valve - pull rocker cover off sure enough one rocker arm is still on the lifter but its sitting on the camshaft properly

timmo · Post by **timmo** » Wed May 21, 2008 5:47 pm

haha done the wrong fuel thing myself. Work Hilux turbo diesel was my first week at work been to the same servo a thousand times filling up my car with petrol - routine kicked in and i started filling up with petrol looked down at the flap diesel looked at the pump oh shit 15 litres.. how am I going to live this down. Quickly hung that one up picked the diesel up could only fit 30 litres in - never told the servo guy about the petrol (fleet card - petrol would have seemed odd) drove off. Hilux never missed a beat I reckon it went better than ever.

Also done the wheelnuts and high pressure fuel lines thing aswell with the L series. Most annoying was after doing the heads on the ea82t put it all together hit the key wont start sounds like timing is out check it, still nothing... twice, 3 times. Sudden thought stuck valve - pull rocker cover off sure enough one rocker arm is still on the lifter but its not sitting on the camshaft properly

vidler · Post by **vidler** » Sat May 24, 2008 4:30 pm

well i did something real stupid. pretty much havent been driving my car for the past few weeks because i thought the front wheel bearings were on the way out. had a distinct grinding/clicking noise coming from the front left. bought some bearings on friday, just went to start working on it, cracked the 32mm nut, then when to crack to the wheel nuts..... loose as:) tightened them and she's all sweet now:) hahahaha im a dick:)

fredsub · Post by **fredsub** » Mon May 26, 2008 12:18 pm

lost grip on unsealed road south of Queanbeyan, being a smart arse, overtook a local, hence going too fast- only had the subie a few months and before i knew better about using off-road tyres - went for combat outmaneuvers among trees, but managed to side swipe one on the rear wheel, pushed it out of alignment /. continued on, tyre was nearly thru by time got home - insurance paid all damage

reversed into a tree, oh somewhere up north-west from Mitchels Plateau,
broke rear window, hence followed 4000km of choking dusty travelling towards home....

reversed into someone at a car park - ouch insurance payout

reversed into mum's brick fence, knocked a good bit over, no damage to subie,

reversed into brothers car, pushed grill in, honest did not see it, it was dark and i didn't expect anyone behind....

:mrgreen:there is something about me and reversing....yeah watch out

YouTube · Post by **El_Freddo** » Tue May 27, 2008 1:32 pm

timmo wrote:haha done the wrong fuel thing myself. Work Hilux turbo diesel was my first week at work been to the same servo a thousand times filling up my car with petrol - routine kicked in and i started filling up with petrol looked down at the flap diesel looked at the pump oh shit 15 litres.. how am I going to live this down. Quickly hung that one up picked the diesel up could only fit 30 litres in - never told the servo guy about the petrol (fleet card - petrol would have seemed odd) drove off. Hilux never missed a beat I reckon it went better than ever.

Lucky...

Someone here at uni a few years back filled the uni mini bus with petrol. It got a few kms under the belt then fried the engine on a hill. - how this happened was that all the students used to take care of things - filling the tank, washing windows etc. the student who filled the tank failed to note that diesel buses take diesel fuel... $20,000 later the bus was operational again...

New policy at uni - students are not to fill buses at fuel stations, it is the driver's responsibility...

Cheers

Bennie

sven '2' · Post by **sven '2'** » Sun Jun 01, 2008 10:52 am

trying to undo the front 'nuts' for an L series front bumper - from inside the guards...

First car was a Renault 12 in uni - changed the rear springs using cable ties. jacked the car up, on stands, then compressed the spring using the jack. Cable ties whlist under load, spring out no problems. Had proceeded to next job, heard a 'ping' then another, then another, closer and closer together. Was the spring breaking the ties. Then BANG the spring unloaded and shot past my head, denting the carport roof - still smile when i look at the dent when visiting the folks all these years later!

Busdriver · Post by **Busdriver** » Sun Jun 01, 2008 7:20 pm

So many brain fades, and most of the ones already mentioned ring a bell, but I have not yet heard of anyone sweeping the floor and walking into the rear bumper bar of a car on a two post hoist and waking up on their back after being knocked out like a light! Bump on front of head from car, bump on back of head from concrete and two chipped teeth.Also, why cant I learn that when I am under a car on concrete and I bump my head on a part of the car, not to pull away quickly and do the double whammy thing on the concrete?

wrxtc · Post by **wrxtc** » Mon Jun 23, 2008 6:38 pm

yeap i too can remember when a girlfriend of mine was single so she had a few problems doing stuff round the house, well dog kept getting out so i thought i would help her out im a typical kind of person who will take anything on .anyway so i picked up a hammer and we started re vamping her gate that was like fence posts , well i did some work made it better was standing up tryin to get a nail out of a post and pulled a little too hard the hammer smacked me in the head above the eyebrow , sent me reeling backwards. yep i didnt fall but gees i was so dizzy, i was only dating mr dibs at the time , so rang him up my head was bleeding and my youngest daughter said to go to docs she was worried cos it came up pretty big straight away , didnt need stitches though i could at least see that.
but next day i got a huge black eye out of it and for a while there i had headaches , all is good though it healed and the black eye went away , mind you it was rather embarassing having a black eye people stare at ya?. only glad the damage wasnt worse.

rob83ke70 · Post by **rob83ke70** » Mon Jun 23, 2008 6:46 pm

i put brake pads in back to front in a pregio, ie with the backing plate rubbing on the disc and the calipers acting on the friction material... was working in a dark corner on a job i didn't pull apart (with heaps of missing bits) and didn't test drive car when done... got given heaps of crap about that one, from the guy who dropped a car off a hoist and keeps leaving sump plugs loose... go figure.

phillatdarwin · Post by **phillatdarwin** » Thu Jun 18, 2009 5:48 pm

i have seen a new 3208 cat start up and some one drive it across the yard and stop was in a forklift 32tone some one for got to put oil in it and tag it out .
the cost was to much so was sold as scrap and my mate rebuild it with a 2hand engine .

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