Oooops, shouldn't have done that!

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Robin
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Oooops, shouldn't have done that!

Post by Robin »

After Tom's unfortunate incident draining the auoto box fluid by mistake and the other 'confessions' I just wondered if a little light relief or 'confessions' which is supposed to be good for the soul anyway, could be collected here and then put together as a catalogue of 'things can only get better!'
Mine was back in the late 1960's when my Ford Anglia developed a nasty vibration on the way home from Birmingham. It was late Saturday evening and I got my father out of the house to drive for 2 hours to meet me at Watford Gap services with a spare prop shaft. At 1.30am we swapped them over only to find it wasn't the fault!!!! All the way home, about 70 miles, at either 50 or 5 mph. Fault was a gearbox tailshaft bearing. My Father never let me forget that one[:I]
I have also dropped valve cotters in the sump, put a spanner across the battery terminals and reversed over my own wheelbarrow having put there to move the car to avoid hitting it with the barrow[:(!]
Stuart McB
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Post by Stuart McB »

Ued to own a 1972 MG BGT. Nice car but had a noisey petrol pump. Armed with the knowledge that it was "in the petrol tank" Or so my dad told me. I started to take the rear apart. All came out acording to plan. Got to the tank sender unit and wheres the pump? why it's seperate to the rest of the tank and mounted in the near side rear wing just where you have easy access. Doh!! lucky no one was looking. Fixed the noise just needed new contacts. Or how about snapping off a sark plug in the block on a mates TR7?? He never let me forget that one. That's when I learnt about plus gas.
DLM
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Post by DLM »

Nice simple one - dropping a sump plug directly into a jerrycan-like drain pan - the sort with one small hole in the top. Great fun and games to remove it from that boiling-hot used oil......
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reblack68
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Post by reblack68 »

A friend of a friend spent a whole morning stripping his Land Rover for the removal of a half shaft. When he finally pulled the shaft out he realised he had parked too close to a wall.
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Post by VisaGTi16v »

lol
arry_b
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Post by arry_b »

Draining the gearbox oil before checking that the filler plug isn't seized in.....
jkirkwood
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Post by jkirkwood »

Leaving my roller load space cover on the roof bars whilst loading, then forgetting to pu tit back in the car.
Stayed on top for 4-5 miles and two 90 degree bends, before coming off and getting driven over.
Duh!
jkirkwood
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Post by jkirkwood »

And no, I don't feel any better at all for sharing that.
Paulee
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Post by Paulee »

Filling with new engine oil but forgetting to replace the drain plug first ! doh.....
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Post by oilyspanner »

Ran over my own motorcycle once, it was jammed under the rear of the car, ouch!
Have also been pouring gear oil, fork oil, engine oil into appropriate holes without putting drain plug back in...ooops
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reblack68
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Post by reblack68 »

My mate once had an Avenger with a rumble. He paid to have the rear axle replaced with an expensive used one- still rumbled. He paid to have the diff removed and adjusted and the rear wheel bearings replaced- no joy.
In the end it turned out to be a front wheel bearing, something you can replace in your lunch hour AND have your lunch (it was rwd, all you needed was a pair of pliers, a hammer and a screwdriver). It's a while since I've reminded him of that, I must rectify the situation ASAP.
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Post by JohnD »

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by Paulee</i>

Filling with new engine oil but forgetting to replace the drain plug first ! doh.....
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">
I didn't realize that other people might have done that besides me!!
Robin
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Post by Robin »

If we are into shopping mates then a few years ago I was asked by my then local publican to have a look at his wifes mini. He could not understand why it needed gallons of water to top it up and it was now leaking everywhere. You guessed it, she just kept filling it up via the oil filler in the rocker cover until it was full and she wasn't a blonde from Essex either!
No damage apart from pride and the dirty driveway which reminded us to tease her when she was behind the bar[:D]
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reblack68
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Post by reblack68 »

I've just remembered one of mine.
I had the engine rebuilt on my 305 van, taking the opportunity to install a 5 speed box (from a 305GT Petrol, it was very difficult to find scrap facelift 305s back then). I couldn't wait to hear the engine running and select my 5 gears so I started it up before I put the driveshafts in. A moment's thought would have told me that the diff doesn't really hold itself together without the driveshafts.
That was over 10 years ago and I still want to cry when I remember it.
shaunthesheep
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Post by shaunthesheep »

well, now that you mention this topic, i was once asked by a female friend why her car sounded so rough. on asking the usual questions eg has it got oil?, water? etc to which she replyed yep, its got water, but i didnt know that it needed oil to run, so after removing the "steaming" dipstick i said, heres your problem, "ITS GOT NO OIL"[:p] well if there was any oil in the engine it wasnt showing on the dipstick! after filling it up, it sounded as quiet as a mouse. as far as im aware this car is still running around somewhere!!
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