Many, many years ago when I had my Cadillac convertible, it was a nice day and I thought it would be nice to put the top down. Instead of stopping like you are SUPPOSED to, I continued to drive at about 45 MPH when I undid the clasps and hit the switch. OMG!:eek: WOMP! FLUMP! BANG! That top came open like a spring trap and nearly tore off! I hit the brakes and immediately stopped the barge. I spent what seemed like an eternity at the time by the side of the road trying to put the jammed top down the rest of the way. :o
It never looked quite right with the top up nor down after that stupid incident.

Never really botched a project, but then again, I don't try anything too hard. Just major and minor services, DIY type stuff. No tranny pulls or T-chains, yet.

Once installed a brand new Antenna. Backed the car out of the garage with the door halfway down. Snapped the antenna right off. That didn't catch my attention and I continued to pull out, scraping the side of the car against the chair I had set outside the garage. A couple of nice scratches. I never fixed them so they would be a reminder to be more careful. That and the cost...

Last summer I had a couple classes at college, not many people there so the parking lot is empty. I go to class like normal, when I came back I walked right to the isle where I left it, hmmm, where did it go?!? I KNOW it was right there! I look about 5 rows down and it was parked sideways across it. The e-brake was set when the brakes were warm but as they cooled down it lost its grip and let go. It had some stress marks on the car so it must have rolled into another car before making it to where it parked. :( Fortuantely, miraculously, that was the only damage done after it rolling down through around 15-20 parking spots missing the cars left in that area! I now use the e-brake AND leave it in gear!!

That pretty well sums that up!

I've had quite a few mistakes but I don't normally just say oops I'm a little more, verbal, about the whole matter. ;) Here is a good one (that I almost think I didn't swear, probably to shocked), I was swapping out the timing chain and as soon as I grabbed onto the chain it slipped about 5 teeth!!! I had my dad strap it there as I pondered WTF to do, so I grabbed it hard and yanked it back, thankfully nothing else slipped off.

While I could go on for quite a while, one more story. My dad wanted to pick up some equipment for his tractor that he let my cousin borrow (discs or brush hog) so he hooked up the trailer to the new truck and head over there. He got there and started driving the tractor on to set the equipment on the deck, only problem was the trailer wasn't latched onto the truck. It began rolling towards the truck as the tractor drove up it and put a nice deep gouge into the perfect tailgate on a brand new truck! Doh! At least the safety chains were hooked up otherwise that could have made for a fun ride!

Really Big Oops
 

Bought a complete '71 3.5 liter V8 drivetrain for $200 (1983, Frankfurt Germany). Pulled the heads, had a beautiful 3 angle valve job done on them, pulled my '72 280SE 3.5 into our shop, pulled the top end, replaced the heads with the fresh ones, put it all back together and proceded to destroy my valves.

Seems the marks I was lining up the cam with were the wrong ones.......not sure where that second set came from, but I was about 30 degrees off.......

Arggghhhhhhhhhhh:eek:

opps
 

after replacing a tire on my bug
i was cruzing down the road and head a
thump, thump, thump, thump stoped the car and saw that my lug nuts were coming off some thing like one left found the rest ferther back ....com to find out that the lug nuts need somthing like 50 fpds of torqe

I always put on 90-100ft-lbs, probably more than they need but if you figure most shops put ~350ft-lbs on them with their air tools.... Anyway I was working on my talon around midnight one night, I swapped the rims using the air ratchet to speed things up but I don't go insane on torque like most shops do so I set it to a very light torque setting figuring I'd do it by hand but never got to it that night. Well I couldn't figure out this weird grinding noise I heard driving it later, I pulled over twice checking the brakes and stuff as I got to my friends house I told him about it we started jacking it up to take the tires off when we realized they had virtually no torque on them! :o

I've done that twice. Once was just down the street and back for a test drive. Once was on the way to work... Got about 10 miles there and figured it out. Also made the mistake of leaving the lug wrench at home!!! Fortunately I had somebody follow me as I was going to get the car aligned.... Sad thing was we left 1.5 hours earlier than normal, and ended up getting to work a half hour late.

John

I removed the tri connector on the vacuum valve in TN and put it back on wrong. I had the restricted end to the vacuum valve so full vacuum was going to the transmission all the time.

By the time I got to OR, the transmission started slipping. I nursed it to home to PA and got a rebuilt trans and installed it. Almost worth the cost to have the updated transmission since it shifts much better than the old one. The original transmission had 200,000 miles so it was probably about time for a rebuild anyway.

P E H

Kind of like...
 

"If it jams, force it. If it breaks, it needed replacing anyway."

E brakes are important
 

I was helping a friend out by changing his clutch on his 1968 2002. I was alomost complete except bleeding the clutch hydraulic system when we decided to stop for lunch. Went up stairs for a quick bite and when we came back, no car. The car could not have been driven since the clutch system was not yet working. We looked out the garage and the car is parked across the street in the neighbors driveway. My friend had not set the parking break and the car rolled out the garage into my neighbors driveway and stopped on the lip of the curb. Any further and the car would have rolled down the driveway into the garage door. Now my parents live on a very busy street, and 90% of the time you have to wait for traffic to clear to back out. How the car every made it across the street with out being hit is pure luck. Then not to roll over the curb into the garage is trult amazing.

Henry

I remember going into a firestone store for something to be done to my'64 190D. They wouldn't let me drive it into the shop because of insurance reasons or some other BS.

One of their employees drove it in and didn't set the brake. It rolled out of the shop backwards, but not fast enough to do any damage when the back wheels hit the curb and stopped it across the street.

I wish there would have been a car there to see how good their insurance worked.

P E H

OOOOOOPS!

Busting the front sway bar after trying to avoid one of God's creatures after locking up the brakes.

http://www.ejzcars.com/suspension.jpg

I have way too many to post here. It would double the number of posts on this thread thus far.

I'm glad to see that folks here can laugh at themselves.

I will only post one. It's not my worst one, but I think the most humerous if you can look at it that way. Damage was absolutely minimal, especially considering what it could have been.

My existing shop building has doors on either end and room for two cars parked in front of two other cars. About 12 or 14 years ago I had my four wheel drive truck apart with both rear axles out and the rear third member out. The rear was on Jack stands and the front of it was at the back door of my shop.

Behind it was my 240D in its much younger days when I pampered it and worried about every little rock chip. It was absolutely pristine in those days.

My nieces were visiting on Labor Day weekend so I wanted to spend some time with them and my own family that afternoon. I was outside at first light to get some things done before they got up. I pulled my tractor to the front of the truck, nose to nose, so I could fill the tractor with diesel fuel from the tank in the bed of the pickup.

Remember it was very early and I don't even think I had coffee yet. The tractor was almost touching the front bumper of the truck and when I started it up to back up, I put it in a forward gear and let out the clutch just enough that it moved forward pushing the truck off the jack stands and into the front of the 240D. As it turned out, the drop hitch on the truck, barely hit the bottom of the license plate on the 240D. It could have been much worse.

Even though the shop is not real close to the house, the noise woke up the house and ladies started pouring out of the house in housecoats to see what had happened. I don't know if it was the noise of the truck hitting the floor or my yelling that woke them.

You just have to laugh at yourself though. It was like a line of dominoes.

Have a great day,

My very first oops--

I must have been about 5 at the time.

Dad was working on the '56 Studebaker in the carport, and I asked him if I could help him.

Being the ace mechanic he was, he must have thought I carried enough of his genes to know better, but that was yet future.

Car was in neutral, brake was on. When he asked me to step on the gas, I did. Floored it. Left it there.

Put a fan blade thru the radiator.

He understood that training, not punishment was in order, but it was awhile before I had enough nerve to come near that car while the hood was up.

Youthful Oil Change
 

My first OOPS must have benn when I was 9 years old. It was on my Dads 69 220D that I eventually came to own. I wanted to help him change the oil and he said I could take of the oild plu. I was under the car with the ratchet and loosened the bolt and took it off. I did not quite understand what would happen until the oil hit me in the head. Lucky for me that my Dad never change the oil on the car when it was hot. Imagine my Mom's expression when I walked upstairs with black oil dripping all over my head. Spent the next hour in the shower.

Henry