Backyard/Garage/Driveway Mechanic Oopsies

[Member 5605]

I'm 34, I've been working on my own cars since my first car that I was required to rebuild the engine before I could drive it at 15. I've rebuilt countless engines, done countless timing belt, motor swaps, transmission fixes, brake jobs etc.

I was dreading the work that was coming on my wife's 2007 Honda Pilot because well.... I've gotten tired of working on vehicles to the point when we bought a house I didn't mind not having a garage, then nobody would bring their crap here and leave it hoping I'd fix it to get it off my property.

So my wife's Pilot was due for its timing belt (includes tensioners, idler pulley, water pump, cam seal(s) and crank seal) with new serpentine belt and the idler and tensioner for that - if it needed it or not.

I set out and got it done after a day of dicking around on it because I wasn't in a hurry.

Two days later.... It's leaking oil. I have yet to have a seal leak on me after installing.... Except for one in a 2003 Ford Focus-rear main.. That seal is huge! I digress...

I went through the roof because I knew this wasn't going to be fun. It's always fun with cams that ride on the top of a lobe not on the bottom, 2mm either way sends the cam springing back out of alignment.

I goofed when putting the front bank cam seal in on the first go-round.



To add insult to injury the wife decided to tell me that "you better have it done before I go to work tomorrow morning because I'm not driving the Geo..." I reminded her the thousands I've saved us and earned by doing this work for us.



So who else had made these stupid errors. And you have any photographic proof of your humanism?

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[Joe13]

Nothing as bad as what you went thru but I had a bit of mental confusion after I yanked these spark plug wires all at once and forgot what length went to which plug.

Took me about 4 hours cuz I'm out of practice and had to yank the intake manifold.

Wife still praising me for saving us $300+ but mostly I'm just happy it fixed the issue and I'm not still trying to fix phantom problems.

I worked for the money to buy my first car and then bought a used motor for it, then rebuilt it at 17.

I used to enjoy working on cars but now it's more of a chore and I just want it done.

 

[v0lcom13sn0w]

i fix cars all day long. i'll be damned if i do it at home ha ha

 

[etrain16]

I'm not a great mechanic - my dad could rebuild an engine, do body work, upholstery, all that stuff - but never did train me on any of it - he was gone working or doing other things. I did learn some basic auto maintenance from my grandfather and step-father - at least enough to change plugs, change oil and filters, lights, and in my older cars - belts. I did learn to replace the water pump in my old '69 Bonneville and had to do that about 5 times because the gasket kept leaking on me. On another car, I had to replace the heater core and managed to ruin the first one trying to force it in place under the dash due to my impatience with the process.

The most recent blunder wasn't really a repair issue - we have a car we rarely drive, so the battery is always going down. From time to time I attach a trickle charger to bring it back to life - but I don't leave it connected all the time. So about 6 months ago, I hooked up my little charger and let it go until the battery was done. I disconnected the extension cord, but hadn't yet removed the charger from the engine compartment as I had to break off to take care of something else. I ended up forgetting the charger was still in there and went to start the car later that day. I spent the next hour or so pulling pieces of the charger cables out of the timing belt pulleys and the cooling fan. Destroyed the charger. Big fat mess and an incredibly stupid mistake. Unfortunately no pics to share.

 

[Fast Eddie]

I arced a freshly milled head putting it back in my jeep. I was listening to the radio in the garage and forgot to unhook the battery when the head came back from the machine shop.

 

[Stomper]

No photo evidence, but I get no higher satisfaction than being able to tear apart a complicated machine and outdo the design engineers by putting it back together again and having extra parts left over!

 

[Sgt Nambu]

i fix cars all day long. i'll be damned if i do it at home ha ha

I'm with vOlcom! I have a dusty old Associate degree in Automotive Technology. I wouldn't touch an engine with the proverbial ten foot pole!

Dyjital, you can actually pay for people to do that for you!!!

 

[Member 5605]

I arced a freshly milled head putting it back in my jeep. I was listening to the radio in the garage and forgot to unhook the battery when the head came back from the machine shop.

Sounds like me. I had an Optima yellow top in the back of a Civic for the audio power and a wrench slipped, crossed both posts.

"I saw the light.." Took half of the post with it during the chaos! I couldn't undo it fast enough.

 

[Member 5605]

Dyjital, you can actually pay for people to do that for you!!!

Some day, probably sooner than later my hands aren't cooperating much anymore. When we are out of debt and the custody is over and disposable income climbs where it should be... "Hard" stuff will probably be contracted out. Hard = what I don't want to do.

Sadly I'll probably buy my next car based on what needs a motor rebuilt.


And @Stomper i didn't have extra parts this time. It's been a while since I reengineered a car with extra parts.

 

[Sgt Nambu]

Some day, probably sooner than later my hands aren't cooperating much anymore. When we are out of debt and the custody is over and disposable income climbs where it should be... "Hard" stuff will probably be contracted out. Hard = what I don't want to do.

Sadly I'll probably buy my next car based on what needs a motor rebuilt.


And @Stomper i didn't have extra parts this time. It's been a while since I reengineered a car with extra parts.

Trust me, Dyjital, don't wait until you've pounded them into lumps of near useless flesh!

 

[308]

No photo evidence, but I get no higher satisfaction than being able to tear apart a complicated machine and outdo the design engineers by putting it back together again and having extra parts left over!

Great minds think alike. when I was a kid I could put my Schwinn forks back on with less ball bearings than those doofusses at the factory

 

[Mark W.]

I have dug the biggest hole I could think of. I do all my own carpentry, Electrical, plumbing, Painting, I built custom kitchen cabinets, I have built furniture both free standing and built in, I do all the mechanic work on our cars (except alignment and tires) I'm pretty much self sufficient. Where the problem comes in is that now I'm the contractor that gets yelled at when something ain't done on time or I put something off.

 

[bolus]

This is the worst I've done

 

[308]

This is the worst I've done

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Thankful that is the worst you done Sir. I'd hate to read a post about some procedure followed by a "oops...anyone see my hemostatic clamp"

 

[Member 5605]

This is the worst I've done

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That sir is impressive. Suddenly all hell broke loose when the clutch was released...

 

[bolus]

That sir is impressive. Suddenly all hell broke loose when the clutch was released...

pretty much. I was on the dyno and you never want to see purple anodyzed metal flying across the shop floor.

Luckily, Exedy replaced it for free since they said that at the time they had never seen one of their clutches in a more destroyed state. I guess I impressed them on the damage I did (though I still think it was a part failure)

new pretty one installed

 

[308]

pretty much. I was on the dyno and you never want to see purple anodyzed metal flying across the shop floor.

Luckily, Exedy replaced it for free since they said that at the time they had never seen one of their clutches in a more destroyed state. I guess I impressed them on the damage I did (though I still think it was a part failure)

new pretty one installed

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I'd like to see what all that is attached to

 

[Sgt Nambu]

This is the worst I've done

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Well........Oops!

 

[PBinWA]

I have dug the biggest hole I could think of. I do all my own carpentry, Electrical, plumbing, Painting, I built custom kitchen cabinets, I have built furniture both free standing and built in, I do all the mechanic work on our cars (except alignment and tires) I'm pretty much self sufficient. Where the problem comes in is that now I'm the contractor that gets yelled at when something ain't done on time or I put something off.

I'm in this category. I rarely can justify paying someone to do something I can do myself. I probably should offload some of my backlog but I just can't bring myself to do it.

It's not a finished project unless I've left some of my blood on it.

 

[bolus]

I'd like to see what all that is attached to

That's on my '06 (ten years old this year) Ariel Atom midlife crisis car