I had bought a BMW 325E and wanted to make it safe as a DD. Changed out the fuel filter, oil and air filter, then a couple days later as I was driving home from work, it started to get where it would only idle, wouldn't accept gas from the floor feed. Idled about 18 miles home down back roads. Started researching the problem and changed the second fuel filter, the TWO fuel pumps, fuel pressure regulator and every piece of rubber hose in the system before I finally decided to check the new filter I had first put on. Took it off, tapped it on the ground and out came all kinds of rust, it had stopped up in less than 50 miles of driving. About $400 spent because I didn't check a $12 filter.

Same car, about the same time... suddenly my power windows quit working. I started chasing wires, checking diagrams, anything I could think of to see why these dang things wouldn't go down. I worked on it off and on for over 3 months while I drove the car. Kept looking for a relay that was shown in the diagram that I couldn't find. Finally one day I was sitting in the driveway getting ready to go somewhere and thought "I wonder what that switch is for?" Hit it, nothing happened, then a few minutes later I tried the window switch, just for GP. They worked! Someway, when I was working on the fuel system I had hit the window deactivation switch on the dash and didn't know it. At least there was no monetary cost, just hours and hours of work and frustration trying to find out why the dang windows wouldn't open.

 

I was driving a 1986 Charger from Florida back to Maryland. About 30 miles from Washington D.C., the car started bucking and choking and died. I checked things out and determined the fuel filter had clogged up. I had no spare filter, and the fuel line wouldn't reach without it. So, thinking quickly, I cut off a section of the rubber hose used by the coolant recovery tank, replaced the fuel line with it, and we were back on the road again.

Within about 20 miles, I started to smell gas, and wondered if one of the ends of the hose I put on was leaking. I pulled over, opened the hood, and saw gasoline coming out of multiple holes in that hose. It looked like a sprinkler hose! That was when I found out that fuel line and rubber hose are not the same thing, and fortunately even though the engine and engine bay were doused in gasoline, nothing caught fire.

I did make up for some of my stupidity. Rather than waiting for a tow to someplace where I could get a fuel filter, I cut off another couple of inches of recovery tank line, and took a nail out of my toolbox and ran it through one end, with the end of the nail coming out of the end of the hose at a steep angle. Then I attached the other end of the hose to the output end of my clogged fuel filter. I put the end of the nose with the nail poking out over the tire stem on the driver's front tire, and moved the nail around until I could press down on the air release stem. Nothing happened at first, but within 10 seconds there was a pop and a wad of crud came flying out the input end of the filter. Apparently 32 PSI was enough to clear whatever was clogging it up. I put the filter back on, and we made it home without further incident.

 

Toss up between purposely releasing the Jack while still under my B250 company rig, and setting my halogen work light under my fuel pump in the Charger before disconnecting it. Yes, they get hot enough to ignite gasoline.

 

those are some good posts. back when i worked for oreilly's we had a firestone order up a set of front drums for a ford falcon. hwhen we delivered them they kept telling us that they wouldn't work because of they didn'thvae the center hub in them. so i went over and showed them how to seperate the hub from the old drum. now i work at auto zone. and we do have a few customers that tend to screw up installing the low beam headlights on their cars which is a 9006 and the high beams a re 9005. they pull he high beam bulb ten come back and start chewing me ot ecause i sold tem te wrong bulb. thn i make the feel like a complete butt uoing out and pulling the correct bulb. customer that installs a battery but frogets to remove the plastic cap from the battery post.

 

Mine all seem to be when working on Ford front brakes. The first time I did front brakes, I had a '92 Taurus. A co-worker had a '93 and said "oh, those are easy, I'll show you".

We broke a collapsible 4 point lug wrench trying to get a lug nut off. Went to a regular one, broke a stud off. Finally, I went to the shop that had last had the front wheels off and had them loosen all the lug nuts so we could get them off. Now, the guy was using an impact wrench, but he said they weren't overtightened.

The next was on my '99 Explorer. I was trying to do the front brakes, pads and rotors, before a trip. By that point, I'd done front brakes several times and several different vehicles, and could usually go from gathering supplies to clean up in 30 minutes. The right side went fine, but when it came to the driver's side, I couldn't get one of the caliper mounting bolts out. My socket started spinning on it, so I figured I'd rounded off the bolt head. After probably 3 hours and with sundown rapidly approaching, I ended up having to take the caliper apart, off of the mounting bracket, beat the mounting bracket out of the way as best I could, then tilt the rotor, which required repacking the wheel bearings (for which I did not have the proper grease, because I was installing new bearings), and had to install the new inside bearing, gasket, rotor and push them all together, rather than having installed it properly in the hub before putting it back on, beat the bracket back into place, etc. Fortunately, everything worked out fine. I was able to get the wheel bearings in without losing or contaminating the grease.

The next time I needed front brakes on it, I had it done at a shop and told him that bolt was probably rounded off and would need to be replaced. When I picked it up, he said "I don't know what you're talking about. The bolt was fine and came right out".

The worst two shop errors...on my Taurus, I'd had tires rotated or something. Went home, 6 miles or so down the interstate, changed and came back up the same stretch of interstate to go to work. It might have been the next day...it was a long time ago! Anyway, about halfway there, the front end starts vibrating violently. The shop was around the corner when I got off the interstate so I took it back over and asked what, exactly, they had done to my car. A few minutes later, the asst mgr comes out and says "you're all set". I asked what the problem was. He looks down and says "I don't want to tell you". I insisted...turns out the guy had only tightened two or three lug nuts on each wheel! The right front was so loose that if I had gone much farther, it would've come off.

The best though...my Dad had made friends with a mechanic at shop that he took his truck to. The guy would do our more expensive repairs after hours for . We'd buy the parts, he'd do the labor. Good deal.

It was the 3rd(?) time I'd put brakes on the Explorer. Had him do it because it was easier. This time I had to replace everything...calipers, rotors and pads. (The caliper going bad was the reason it needed brakes again) He tells us it will be a couple of hours, so we go have dinner and hang out. I was in town for the weekend. Hadn't heard from him, so we stopped by to check on it. He was "almost done" just needed to bleed the brakes, so Dad dropped me off and I waited. After another hour or so, and with me helping him, he just couldn't get them bled and couldn't figure out why. (He was drunk by this point. Never, ever, let a drunk guy work on your brakes!) He finally says "I don't know. I'll have to come back and figure it out tomorrow". Took it home, with barely functional brakes. It was late and it was only a couple of miles. It would stop, but not quickly, so I was VERY careful.

Next day, I'm supposed to be driving 5 hours back home. Dad says "let's just take it to Firestone, I'll pay for it". It was his guy and neither of us trusted him at this point.

Turns out he put the calipers on backwards. Right one on the left side, left one on the right side. The bleeder valves were on the bottom instead of the top. He'd also left the old gaskets on the inside of the wheel bearings. What an idiot!

 

Mine was pulling a blown up motor out of a 1984 S10 4x4. The oil pan is deep enough in the back that it won't hardly clear the front axle unless you get it perfect. We're trying to pull it out, and we get the bright idea to use an old flat iron Navy wrench in the goose neck to turn it around and wiggle it out. After breaking the goose neck, the motor all of a sudden moved backwards, and I bought a new distributor cap along with the goose neck. Good thing parts for the 2.8 are cheap!

 

Just recently installed a 3:55 sure grip in my roadrunner, it was a complete third member, also the first time I had done this on a mopar. Got it in and went to check the end play could not get it right. Called my knowledgeable mopar buddy and he asks me if the thrust buttons were installed and Im like thrust buttons? Learned something new to me that day

 

I had an old full size Blazer, that I had just finished rebuilding the top end on. It was the first time I had done something that major on any vehicle. It was pretty late and I had been working on it all day and into the night. I got it all buttoned up and didn't notice I had the battery cables on the wrong post. Luckily all I burned up was the fusible link.

Although in retrospect, with as much time and money as I poured into trying to keep that thing going I would have been better off if it burned to the ground.

 

Great story! I have 'kid' stories like that... Gotta love 'em!!