'fess up!! what's the dumbest, most expensive mistake you've ever made with your car? - Page 3 - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

Hogweed · #31 08-23-2008, 09:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hogweed

her's a good one from last year: i bought 1996 jeep g.c. for a great price...then the rad went bad. decided to buy an all-metal one from radiator barn, which was good, but the trans cooling line fitting was 'different'. managed to get it on (i thought) and away i went. about 600 miles later (nad right in my driveway, thankfully, and not on the pa tpk) the line disassembled itself and emptied the tranny onto my street! that isn't the bad part yet.

i thought "hey, since all the fluid is now in the street, this would be a good time to do a trans service!" (said to myself in best opie cunningham voice). i noticed that the bolt on the corner of the pan, right above the exhaust, was a bit difficult to remove, so i decided to save $.03 cents and reuse it, only this time i would put it in another hole that had better access. i'm schmart.

only problem (other than reusing an effed up bolt) was that it was also longer than the other by just enough to bottom out on the housing and rip a giant hole in the case right above where the pan mates up to the case! see photo, and weep accordingly as i did. i do not tend to over tighten things and i later found out that chrysler used real cheap pot metal castings (emphasis on REAL CHEAP)...good to know

new transmission: $2100
new knee-caps from kicking myself in the a$$ for 3 months: priceless

eeeehhhhh, its like i'm inside my tranny. i think i'm having an acute stress reaction

86560SEL · #32 09-01-2008, 01:18 AM

It was the year 1995.... I had saved for YEARS for a car. I was 19 years old (and can I say, STUPID!)... had the "fever" for a late model (at the time) Camaro. Bought a 21K original mile 1991 Camaro for $7400 off of a vicious low-life liar lady that said the car was perfect. Drove it three weeks, discovered it had been salvaged in an accident (seller had title "washed" by her boyfriend that was in the "car business" - even the floors had been re-welded and later found out that the kid that had crashed the car... died in it - now that was scary). The car was a complete lemon! I could have been killed just driving it! I felt that her and her boyfriend were low-life liars and cheats, scoundrels, and some of the most corrupt low-lifes in the history of civilization! In my opinion a the time, she was nothing more than a common criminal! I hope they both have changed their ways!

Took a HUGE loss, sold the car for $3000 in 1997 (telling the TRUTH about the damage) and bought a 1984 Toyota truck 4wd for $2900.

It was a nice truck, but my $7400 was gone and I had to settle for a 1984 truck. That was the first import I had ever owned and have owned at least one import since then!

My first mistake? NOT HAVING THE CAR CHECKED OUT BY A MECHANIC BEFORE I BOUGHT IT!

paulpat · #33 09-02-2008, 06:16 PM

What a bunch of idiots! Not like me. Well......ok.
#1.Rebuilt engine in Ford Falcon after hearing a big rap. Reinstalled engine and "rap, rap,rap". Put in the clutch and gone. It was the tranny.
#2. Had dealer rebuild engine in old motorcycle (I won't bother you with the details and heartaches of that) only to find out it was the choke on.
#3. Today, overtightened valve adjustment on my 300tdt thinking I was going the right way and broke the valve stem. Dropped valve into engine.
Grrrrrrrrrrr

G-Benz · #34 09-02-2008, 06:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by paulpat

What a bunch of idiots! Not like me. Well......ok.
#1.Rebuilt engine in Ford Falcon after hearing a big rap. Reinstalled engine and "rap, rap,rap". Put in the clutch and gone. It was the tranny.
#2. Had dealer rebuild engine in old motorcycle (I won't bother you with the details and heartaches of that) only to find out it was the choke on.
#3. Today, overtightened valve adjustment on my 300tdt thinking I was going the right way and broke the valve stem. Dropped valve into engine.
Grrrrrrrrrrr

Ding ding ding!!! We have a winnah!!

Actually, the odds of making expensive mistakes is proportional to the willingness of delving into such projects...in your case, far more than most!

I suspect the master technicians on this boards have some REAL horror stories and are mum about them...so they chuckle at our clueless faults...

450slcguy · #35 09-02-2008, 08:04 PM

Removed the ECU on my car and gently set it down in the driveway. Took a 20 minutes break. Came back and decided to move the car to a shadier spot. Put it in reverse and ran it over.

LUVMBDiesels · #36 09-02-2008, 08:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 450slcguy

Removed the ECU on my car and gently set it down in the driveway. Took a 20 minutes break. Came back and decided to move the car to a shadier spot. Put it in reverse and ran it over.

This one is the top!

I have so many dumb @ss stories I could write a book...

#1 Buyng a 1963 Corvair Monza convertible with TERMINAL cancer for $1400. Thing conked out on the way home and I had to push it about three miles. Ran it with no brake shoes (bare metal hitting the brake drums) for a while.

Got it running really well then went off to college. Here is the big dumb@ss mistake -- Gave the keys to my littel brother and told him to 'take good care of it' He decided to surprise me by removinn and repainting everyting under the engine cover . Of course he had no idea what he was doing and completely F'ed up the engine. It took me all summer to get it to run again..

#2 same car running at night in a misty fog. defroster and wipers did not work so I dropped the top, stood up and drove home with my head over the windshield.

#3 not car related... I was getting my snow blower ready for winter when I realized there was still gas in the tank. I went to siphon it out, but could not find the thin clear tubing I usually used. I grabbed a four foot section of garden hose, stuck one end in the tank theo other in my mouth and gave a great big which turned into a great big swallow of gasoline

!!! When I came to (about 10 minutes later) I crawled into the house. Unable to speak, I croaked out what happened to my soon to be ex-wife who burst out laughing! The doctor said that as long as I stayed away from open flames for a few days, I should be all right! Burping that stuff up for a week was about the nastiest thing to ever happen to me

micalk · #37 09-30-2008, 01:00 PM

In '93 I bought a '70 VW van, went through the suspension because it sagged. Was prepping it for a trip from SoCal to Oregon for Christmas. I can't remember where I got it, but I had an aftermarket distributor with a hotter timing advance. I set the timing wrong - way too advanced. Burned a hole in the piston in a little town called Arbuckle, CA. Long story short - ended up rebuilding the engine at my brother's house in Reno between Christmas and New Years, then broke it in by driving it to OR to pick up my wife and her sister then back home to SoCal. BTW, put the original distributor back in.

AdvisorGuy · #38 09-30-2008, 03:29 PM

In 1988 I bought a 72 LeMans Sport (fake looking GTO) from my neighbor for $600. Had some rust in the quarters & bottoms of the fenders but not severe. One afternoon, it wouldn't start. Dead battery. I used my sisters car to run to Sure Start Auto Parts and got a battery. Still would only "click". Damn, the starter. Back to Sure Start for a starter. Roll it into the garage. By this time, it's after 6pm in early December (New Jersey) so I'm laying on the cold garage floor, trying to balance the starter in my left hand - starter bolts on the Pontiac 400 mount straight up - and the shims between the starter and the block for more than an hour. I was cold, cramping and pi$$ed off. Finally get it all lined up and reconnect the battery. "CLICK" MOTHERF&*&*(%^(&*^&^(& ER !! was heard for miles around. Walk out of the garage for a smoke. On the way back in passing my tool box, I eye my volt meter and grab it..........

Not so much as .1 volt on a brand spankie new battery. I call Sure Start. Ron, one of the owners that I've known for years said he'd wait the 10 minutes it took me to get there. Connected the second new battery and started the car....

CHECK THE BASICS ********* !!!! I thought to myself.....

jplinville · #39 09-30-2008, 04:11 PM

Two years ago...1986 Chevy S-10 belonging to my brother. I assisted him in fixing a few things on the tired 2.8l V-6. Started off with new cap, wires and plugs. We then had to pull the TB and rebuild it with a kit from the Zone. No biggie, right?

I fought hell putting the thing back on, had to take it off again to attach the throttle cable (should have remembered to do it in the first place) but the beer and gas fumes were getting to me. We get the cable attached, then remembered that we still had to put the inline fuel filter in. Loosened the 4 mounting bolts, and lifted it high enough to remove the fuel line.

After getting that done, we decided to make another beer run. Got back from the carry-out and decided to try to start the truck. it ran fine for about 30 seconds then caught fire. I forgot to put the wires back in the looms and it arced bad enough to ignite the fuel spewing from UNDER the TB. We also forgot to tighten the TB back down!

Learned a valuable lesson that night...Drinking beer while working on cars is a bad thing...a VERY bad thing!!

We got it all fixed, another TB from a donor, new throttle cable from the Zone, and a few new igniton wires later, it was running once again.