I've done so many stupid things over the years I hate to even start. Several threatened my survival.

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[SIGPIC] Diesel loving autocrossing grandpa Architect. 08 Dodge 3/4 ton with Cummins & six speed; I have had about 35 benzes. I have a 39 Studebaker Coupe Express pickup in which I have had installed a 617 turbo and a five speed manual.[SIGPIC]

..I also have a 427 Cobra replica with an aluminum chassis.

You mean like sweating out a 606 GP R&R, finally working out he stuck GP and then inadvertently frying the relay by touching a GP plug to ground while the relay was on? Blew one of those copper "tongues" right in half. $200 later.....

So far for me the dumbest things I have done are parts I left in the junkyard I should have taken home.

On the mechanicing level, it was starting the engine and realizing I had left the ratchet and socket attached to turn the engine over for the valve adjustment. Glad I didn't use the breaker bar!

W.

Just installed a 2F engine into a FJ60 Land Cruiser and realized I'd left out the clutch fork.

Drained the oil from a '60 Beetle and proceeded to start it up and let it idle for 2 - 3 minutes. No harm done, apparently. Ran great for years after that one.

Got the cam gear out of whack on a VW cam shaft and only found out when I realized the thing was sucking through the exhaust while turning it over.

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- Greg -
1973 220D, The Prodigal Benz
1974 240D

Not a Mercedes but...

I was trying to get the rear drums loose on my Dad's 4wd Chevy pickup. An old rust belt trick to get drums loose is to jack up the rear and take the rear wheels off. Then start the engine and alternate between drive and reverse while applying the brake. That usually breaks them free of the hub without too much violence.

In this case I had one foot on the brake through the open door of the truck so I could watch the drum. It wasn't moving so I hit the accelerator. The truck lurched back and knocked me over. Before I knew it the rear of the truck was on the ground!

After a few moments of stunned silence I realized the truck was in 4wd! Duh!

The driver's door hit me so hard it took hours of straightening to close it. The drums hit the cement hard enough to break free though!

At one point before nearly killing myself I noticed the drums didn't spin when I let off the brake. I ignored the small voice that wondered why not. I didn't want to do the job and I didn't want to take the time. I still occasionally ignore that voice and it nearly always bites me in the end!

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1969 220D 5 Speed (OM616)
1983 240D 4 Speed
1985 300D Auto 376K
1985 300D Auto 275K

Wow. some of these stories are more perilous than I expected. There are a few lessons to be learned here:

- Disconnect the battery when working on your car, even though it's a hassle to reprogram your radio.

- Don't inhale break cleaner.

- Check what gear your transmission is in before starting the car.

- Don't work on your car without someone being within shouting distance.


I don't know how many of these stories that have been told happened while working on daily drivers or under a time constraint, but I think that stress leads to forgetting the simple things.

Having a 34 year old car as your daily driver can be stressful and I know that most members of this forum would recommend purchasing a 2nd Mercedes in case the first one gives you problems, but that's not always practical. I'm going to start renting cars more frequently when big jobs come up so that I can relax and be patient with my repair work.

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'81 300SD

You want bad things to occur. Work on a car when really tired or have a headache or flu etc. You have only limited concentration when not up to scratch. That just greatly increases the odds of some form of issue happening.

I have probably by just good circumstance had little happen and nothing serious fortunately when working on cars. When it is something I do not practice almost every day. I kind of keep it in the back of my mind what dangers may lurk.

At the same time I have had things occur not car related that could have maimed or even have killed me. There is an old saying that is basically. If you do nothing. Nothing will happen. The inverse is also true in that doing a lot of things. Undesirable things will occur on occasion as a result.

Just try to prevent or avoid the really stupid very serious ones. The other component is a persons aptitude. You have to do hands on to learn. There exists a small segment of us guys that have no natural aptitude. Usually this is created by not enough doing things of a mechanical nature when very young. You can always play catchup if you try though.

For example when a guy asks me what way you turn a nut to remove it usually. It would be unwise for me to suggest how to change just his timing chain. Now if I dig in and help him there is a chance he may cope the next time. Usually the guy that does not know the way to remove a nut will have no tools either. Some jobs are extremely hard to do without suitable tools. Plus the chance of that individual hurting himself is fairly high. Repairing cars is still fun to me or at least enjoyable after all these years.

The way this is starting off I thought it was another oil thread. LOL

yeah I have done my share of dumb things through the years, some like falling off the peddles of your bike and hitting the bar. you don`t ever forget, or never want to do again.

I was changing the oil on the 85 300D, the oil was drained, plug back in the pan and filter installed and tightened down.

We were to meet my Son in Laws mom and friend down at natural bridges State part to see the monarch Butter Fly`s. they migrate to the area each year by the millions.

My Wife walks out to the barn to tell me to hurry up because we have to meet them, Iam in the process of dumping in the engine oil as Iam listening to her. I dump in the first jug and grab the next and dump it in as Iam saying uhuh, yeah , ok etc...

get done, run to the house and shower and off we go.

I notice the engine sounded different and didn`t have the usual power, Iam running through my mind, tightened pan bolt, filter nuts and O Ring etc... Oil pressure it at 3 bars, Water temp is ok.....I`ll check it later and we continue down the Freeway.

Get to the park and the lot is filled up so park out on the street. lock the car and head in, then remembered something I forgot and go back to the car, Oil is running out onto the ground behind the R/F Head light.
open the Hood and the oil is running out the Genuine Imitation Chinese K&N style Air filter. (yeah I know they are bad, don`t yell at me, another long story )

OH Crap, I must have blown the engine or something.
Later we head off to the Pier for Dinner.
say our good by`s and head for home nursing the engine along to make it back up the hill.

Around 2am I sit straight up in bed with this realization I put in 8 gallons instead of 8 qts of engine oil. I had two 2 gallon jugs instead of the usual two one gallon jugs of oil. Listening to my Wife and not paying attention I goofed up.

Next day I drain out the extra oil, and all was well and the engine ran as if nothing had happened.

I used the oil for make up oil, sure was strange dumping in black oil.


Charlie

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there were three HP ratings on the OM616...

1) Not much power
2) Even less power
3) Not nearly enough power!! 240D w/auto

Anyone that thinks a 240D is slow drives too fast.

80 240D Naturally Exasperated, 4-Spd 388k DD 150mph spedo 3:58 Diff

We are advised to NOT judge ALL Muslims by the actions of a few lunatics, but we are encouraged to judge ALL gun owners by the actions of a few lunatics. Funny how that works

I'd owned and worked on GM cars for a few years. I decided to tune the Olds up a bit with plugs, points, rotor button distributor cap and condenser.

I snatched everything off and reassembled it all exactly as I had done my 67 ChevyII SS. It wouldn't fire a lick

I had to call my brother in law to get it going again. Guess?

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84 300SD
85 380SE
83 528e
95 318ic

Disconnected fuel line?

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'81 300SD

Coil wire off?

Or firing order out... Olds firing order is weird, as cap is in front... What year olds?

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John HAUL AWAY, OR CRUSHED CARS!!! HELP ME keep the cars out of the crusher! A/C Thread
"as I ride with my a/c on... I have fond memories of sweaty oily saturdays and spewing R12 into the air. THANKS for all you do!

My drivers:
1987 190D 2.5Turbo
1987 190D 2.5Turbo
1987 190D 2.5-5SPEED!!!

1987 300TD
1987 300TD
1994GMC 2500 6.5Turbo truck... I had to put the ladder somewhere!

When I got my MB, it was dead due to a bad starter. Bought it, was blessed with the help of a friend of installing a new starter w/o my help. I was installing an alternator and brackets, also sourced from the same friend. Got that done, and decided to take it for a drive. I did so without confirming that the hood was latched; shattered the windshield, and put some fresh dimples into the windshield cowl... Yay me.

A new windshield gives you such a new lease on an old car though; I am glad I replaced it.

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1998 VW Cabrio
2001 Audi SomeRoad A/T (no air suspension)
2003 Audi DeadRoad M/T (no vroom, for later)
2002 Audi NoRoad A/T (nothing under the hood, being rebuilt)

My grandaddy told me he knocked himself through a fence starting a hand crank start car while it was in gear, which I always had a hard time believing but IDKY someone would lie about that. Once I started a 22R with a breaker bar on the crank bolt as I had just finished adjusting the valves. I always tell that story when someone asks "what's the easiest way to remove a crank bolt?"
I definitely beat that though when I was cutting a gasket for the oil pickup tube on the same truck. I cut the bolt holes nice and pretty but got distracted and forgot to cut out the most important hole I wondered why the oil pressure wasn't coming up and then quickly cut the engine before remembering what I forgot . drove it a couple more years and then traded it for my 240 (from a dealer)
Ok I going to stop now...

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1980 240D 185k "Miss Las Cruces"
1990 300SE/SD 245k/175k
1991 560SEL 250k soon to be 300SD manual trans

Had a rear corner of a W123 lifted using the screw jack (changing tires, checking brakes or something) and forgot to chock the wheels. After some time, I realized the car was rolling forward, and the jack was leaning increasingly until the car fell onto the pavement on that corner. It fell onto the brake backing plate and I thought "oh darn, now I've done it". But you know when I jacked it back up (chocked wheels this time!), and looked at the backing plate, there was hardly a mark on it, no dent, no bend. Made me impressed (once again) at quality of components MB put into these W123's and I've never forgotten to chock the wheels since... :-)

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1983 300TD 240K - 1982 240D 215K - 1996 Dodge Cummins 70K

I swapped a 617 into a Toyota pickup.

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617 swapped Toyota Pickup, 22-24 MPG, 50k miles on swap