What has been your worst injury as a Dieselhead from working on cars? A Treu Story. - Page 2 - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

WINGAS · #16 07-11-2007, 09:19 AM

How about a 17 yr old gearhead. Rebuilt the carb and took the car for a very short beat run. FOr some reason decided to pop the rad cap using a big rag to hold it down some.

Nope. Major steam burn on right arm. BUT the funny part was some councilwoman walking around canvassing for votes. Doesnt she walk up the driveway jsut in time to see the incident and my tearing my t shirt off which is also tearing my skin off with it.

Oh man, you should have seen her face. Swear she was going to faint, but I had to hit a cold shower ASAP.

BTW, a few hours later when my body came out of shock and registered the pain _ YEAOW!!!!!! Dang, I'll take knife wounds, bullet holes anyday. Well, I have a glancing bullet wound, no hole. Still, nothing as compared to 2nd degree on a big part of your body. Holy crap it hurt.

winmutt · #17 07-11-2007, 09:24 AM

Heh, bet you learned your lesson about closing your mouth when working under cars! I should make a habit of wearing a light dust mask.

My first engine rebuild was a VW. 275 ft/lb for the 32?mm bolt that held the fly wheel on. At some point the fly wheel slipped and my little finger managed to find a pinch point on the gearing on the fly wheel.

A friend and I did some drunken demolition in my house last year and took out a wall. I was wearing flip flops. He dropped a 2x4 with a nail in it right through the side of my big toe. THUNK. I learned my lesson about that.

In fact the list of non car related accidents I have had is pretty lengthy, I am very careful around cars. Its just a bloody flesh wound!

barry123400 · #18 07-11-2007, 09:48 AM

Boltectomy"s are not that common. Trust you to have one.

I am happy there were no more major complications from it . Although it was bad enough.
Forget about putting it back on the car. Just frame it instead. I would. Trust it to be an expensive bolt. Most people just swallow cheapies.
I imagine sitcom writters are always looking for original material and ideals. If nothing else you might be able to capitalise on your experiences. Your oil spill at very early hours really got my attention awhile ago.
Quite a few things have happened to me over the years as well. They just are not classics it seems. The other senario is that if you do enough things you are going to get hurt one way or another ocassionally.
I guess one or two examples of mine will not hurt. I was in a hurry. By driving a quick spike it would save fifty dollars or so. The spike got into a knot. So I wouind up and really hit it hard. The hammer rebounded off the spike and entered my mouth. Of course the mouth was semi open as I was really straining to wind up the hammer.

I quickly checked to see how many teeth I had left after removing some fragments. Luckily the dentist only had to do major repair on two of them. Yes I really saved fifty dollars that day. Hope you totally recover quickly.
You could also look at it this way as well. You have gone to the extremes of recovering a lost bolt from inside your body. Without getting your hands dirty.

Or perhaps not if you spent a few days earlier on looking for it.
A car related story with a gas tank. The extremely low flash point of a chemical I was using was not posted on the label. I managed to blow myself up at 4am in the morning. Second degree burns on all of one hand. Blew through the clothes I had on somewhat as well. Lower abdominal burn including about 50 percent of my private parts.
At the hospital I asked my surgeon to have someone give the wife a call so she would not wonder where I was. When she got the call she initially thought I was in bed with her.
The surgeon also assured my wife after waking her up that I would be totally functional sexually he thought when healed. My wife informed him it was not what she was concerned about right away as she could get that anywhere. How was the rest of me? He was still chuckling as he related her responce to me.
My own treat was having the skin debrided from my privates and hand twice a day for a week by four attractive nurses. They wore masks as I was in isolation so it was about ten days until I found they all had atractive faces as well. The pain of it all is still a distant memory. I would not wish it on anyone. I also had to drive myself to the hospital before shock set in if it was going to. That trip was a story in itself.

Douglas.Sherida · #19 07-11-2007, 11:19 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mustang_man298

When I worked in HVAC construction, I was at a house, had to cut a hole in the inside ceiling to pass a vent pipe thru, marked my spot, sunk a nail centered so I could see it from above. Spent half an hour then cleaning up the pile of nail-end boards that was next to my ladder, bending over the nails and tossing them away. Went up the ladder, cut out my piece, came down, got 2 steps from the bottom and hopped off....right onto that nail I had sunk into the piece which fell right at the base of my ladder tip up... At least I had the sense to keep a first aid kit in the truck....Murphy was laughing his arse off that day.

Did almost the exact same thing. I went to take my next step and the board I was standing on went with the foot. I could see the tip of the nail poking out between the laces.

rs899 · #20 07-11-2007, 11:38 AM

I had almost completely forgotten about it, but years before I was ever interested in cars, my girlfriend's '73 Gremlin overheated. I stupidly opened the radiator cap and it blew up and hit me on the forehead spewing boiling coolant down my face. Ouch.

Rick

DZL_Damon · #21 07-11-2007, 11:48 AM

I learned in diesel's class about a 1st engineer that got trapped inside the scavenge air plenum on a large crosshead 2 stroke engine.... they found him next port pinned to the side of the liner... THey figured he lived for quite awhile

vwbuge · #22 07-11-2007, 12:00 PM

I was diagnosed with cancer in late 2003. (some of you may remember)
I had about an 8 inch incision on my right side just below my ribcage. During the lengthy recovery process I found an '82 300SD for cheap. I towed it home and used the parts to covert my SD to federal emissions.

Anywho, it is hard to work on a car with a major incision on your belly. My wife found me at the computer at about 3am the next morning. I had a burning pain at my incision so bad I could not sleep. I was wating until she woke so she could drive me to the ER. It seems the car thing was too much and I split open my incision and it got infected.
It was kind of weird watching the ER doctor partially recut my incision to irrigate it.

Island300D · #23 07-11-2007, 01:06 PM

Gruesome stories. Makes me feel very, very lucky to have escaped nails in feet and bolts in gut. Haven't lived a bubble life though. Another coolant story. I'm 18 and my Aunt's Cadillac is overheating. I tell her, let's go for a drive and I'll look into how quickly it is overheating. We went 400 yards to the corner gas station and the gauge was pegged. Me, in my youthful confidence and familial bravado, popped the hood, thought it couldn't be that hot that soon, put a towel over the cap, popped it off, and it exploded boiling coolant all over my neck and shoulder. I moved my head away just fast enough to avoid a face full. This from a guy who grew up inside an engine compartment! 2nd and maybe small areas of 3rd degree burns over an area the size of a dinner plate. What the hell was I thinking?????????? There's a reason draft age is 18.

Like everyone else who reported this experience--It hurt like nothing else I've done. Also like most everyone else, I KNEW better, but didn't DO better. Still have scars for sure, luckily not visible with a shirt on.

Otherwise just a huge pile of torn off skin and fingernails and small burns always on my biceps from tugging on wrenches in hot places.

vstech · #24 07-11-2007, 01:11 PM

in all the years I have been working on cars and homes, I have never seriously injured myself... that said, I did manage to blow up my pinto when I was 17... loose fuel line on the carberator kept popping off, and I stupidly put it back on... after it sprayed fuel all over the hot motor... and of course I started up the car, and BOOM@! up it went. I tried to open the hood to put out the fire, the flames had already melted the hood release cable and most of the grille. BLACK sooty smoke billowed out of the car and the heat was INTENSE! the fire department finally arrived, and they just told me they were going to keep the forest under control and let the hulk burn... oh well. it's not like no other pintos ever cought fire.

pjc · #25 07-11-2007, 01:28 PM

Awesome story, Carrameow. I would definitely get that bolt framed.

My worst: being hit by a catastrophically decompressing W116 spring. Luckily, it did not hit me in the head, or I'd be dead now.

Lesson learned: Never, ever, ever, try to compress a W116 (or W123, W126, etc.) spring without the proper spring compressor.

Cheers.

LUVMBDiesels · #26 07-11-2007, 01:48 PM

Right now I have a 4 inch by 1 inch scar from 2nd degree burns on my left wrist. I opened the block drain on the BMW when it was hot and ignored the 'slight tingling" sensation which was me holding my arm against one of the header pipes! I have the usual scars from various slipping tools etc plus a couple of nail puncture wounds. I go for a new tetnus shot every two years as I spend time either working on my old house the cars or rummaging through junkyards.

The worst thing I did to myself was siphon out some old gas from my snow blower. Since I could not find any small diameter hose, I used a four foot piece of garden hose. I gave it a good suck and swallowed about a quart of gas!

When I woke up a few minutes later I had to be driven to the hospital. The doc said I would be alright as long as I stayed away from open flames for a few days!

It was no fun burping up gas fumes for the next week!

rudolfgreen · #27 07-11-2007, 02:00 PM

now that is a dieselhead classic, glad to hear you are feeling better.

dbn1066 · #28 07-11-2007, 02:05 PM

Good one about the bolt. Now you can say instead of really being "into" Mercedes for a while, Mercedes has been "into" you for a while

I only have a near bad injury. I was 18 and in a rush to back my 220D out of the garage. I hadn't closed the one rear door. Had it cleared the garage door jam and not been taken off its hinges, it would have sent my little sister flying into the neighbors yard (and, no, I really didn't know she was there). And, yes, a 220D can reach 10mph, in 10ft, in reverse, when driven by a teenager.

vstech · #29 07-11-2007, 02:21 PM

now that I think further, my AWD astro van slipped off the floor jack one time and hit my dad in the chest spitting him out from under the car... he started sliding under the car while I was still jacking it up! who says father knows best?
that vehicle has a really slick front crossmember right upfront, and the jack just did not stick to it.
once I realized he was OK, it sure was funny. the van sprang down fast, and the plastic air dam flexed just right and swept him right out from under the car. I wonder if it was designed to do that?

Diesel Dan · #30 07-11-2007, 03:13 PM

Back when I lived in New England, and had to deal with rust repair, I slipped when attacking some rust with a crowbar, and cut my wrist open on a piece of sharp metal. Fortunately, being a teenager, I was immortal, and thus after some stitches and tetanus shot, I was good to go. Still have the scar to remind me of it. I'm not sure, but I think I've lost my immortality somewhere along the way, and so now I'm a lot more careful.