I managed a really stupid one this weekend.. refitted my S2 with standard brake calipers and didn't realise until Sunday that they were the wrong way round LH/RH and as such the bleed nipples were pointing down. I tried to bleed them for hours and eventually gave up, realised the mistake in the morning that it was perhaps wrong and bled them up in 10 minutes flat.

D'oh!

A couple things stand out for me...

1) Checking coolant level. Seemed ok, so I promptly shut the bonnet, only to hear a slightly odd noise and part of the bonnet sticking up from a funny angle. Hadnt put the cap back on the coolant tank and had rested it where the bonnet should go

2) Playing football with my mates. Finished then slung my boots and stuff in the boot and drove back home for a well deserved shower and grub. Literally turned down the first street and wondered why people were staring. It was only when I glanced in my rear view (and wondered why I had such a wide view all of a sudden) that I realised that Id set off with the boot open

.. a few years back in my Octy Mk 1.........drove over a stone in the road which had fallen from a wall.......wrongly estimated clearance required and ripped sump off !

a few things ive done:

lost control of my rover years ago on a bend and decided after going into a pendulum swing to try and rub the mud bank at the side of the road to find it was frozen and took off into the tree before being swung round 180 degrees and ended back out on the road facing into the bank on the opposite side of the road only to find im back on the road and not at the bottom of the ditch (was dark and icy).

Done the cambelt on my astra only to find it wouldnt start (8pm on sunday night work at 5am next morning). took the next few hours to get the pulleys all aligned right.

Decided to paint a replacement wing mirror cover myself one january and as i needed it done asap used a paint stripper gun to heat the paint. paint dried very quick but the shape of the cover did change and wouldnt fit.

My brothers ones are best:

1. didnt know why his car was over heating and turned out he filled the engine oil with water and not the coolant

2. ran out of petrol and couldnt get the petrol cap off, a 10 mile drive out to him at 3am on a sunday morning with my works screwdriver (a specially bent screwdriver for getting off fuel caps with on the lorries when drivers lost their fuel cap keys) and the money for him to replace the one i was to remove and he was sorted.

3. watching him spend 3 hours fitting chavvy blue led's to the underneath of his car only to ask him if he had informed his insurance company that he had added them and that the police would book him as soon as they saw him with them on for impersonating a police officer and then watch him remove them all my brother and cars are like a woman with a car neither have sense when it comes to checking oil levels etc and his electric skills are that of a used bulb filament (non existant).

.. a few years back in my Octy Mk 1.........drove over a stone in the road which had fallen from a wall.......wrongly estimated clearance required and ripped sump off !

a member who shall remain unnamed on here misjudged a hump bridge and ripped his sump off.

a member who shall remain unnamed on here misjudged a hump bridge and ripped his sump off.

Not just any member, Paul, an Uber member

once filled up the engine oil on a mini with one of the driveshafts out, i put in about 8 litres before i realised it was pi**ing out on the floor

Not just any member, Paul, an Uber member

i dont want to point fingers at this particular driver or his mk1 octy or that he lives not far from manchester.... cant think who he is :rofl:

.. a few years back in my Octy Mk 1.........drove over a stone in the road which had fallen from a wall.......wrongly estimated clearance required and ripped sump off !

I did something similar but it hit under my wishbone and put a big scrape on it. Fortunately it was sandstone and the rock shattered on impact

A few years back, managed to reverse my parents micra into a bloody great big white pillar in the underground carpark of the flats in which I lived. Bent in the boot lid, back bumper etc. Thought I ought to check the boot still opened, which it did.....it didn't close again though.

Cue gaffa tape to hold it in place, followed by a trip home to the folks to get it sorted.

Two days later, borrowed it again, only to have a woman reverse into me; crumpled the front wing and bumper etc....needless to say,my dear pa was NOT impressed!

My only two accidents in 9 years!

A few years back, managed to reverse my parents micra into a bloody great big white pillar in the underground carpark

Oohh I did that 29 days after buying my first car but go the front wing as I was too busy looking behind me!

It was a pea green Vauxhall Chevette!

While working in the summer I connected the drain to the 'oil' drain on the outside of a generator, sucked all the 'oil' out of the generator, wondering why it was taking forever, then i realised I'd confused the pipe routings and drained the coolant instead..... doh!!!

Not a car as such but I was loading a truck with the forks on a JCB military digger.

The field we were in was wet clay on a slope. I told my boss it was dangerous but he made me keep going.

I was approaching the lorry and lost grip, hit the brakes, nada, stuck it in forwards and floored it, nada.

Went backwards through a dry stone wall and off a cliff.

Hit the ground so hard three of the wheels and the engine snapped off the thing. The load I was carrying was 200 6' long metal spikes, they all slammed into the ground around me.

Nasty.

:eek:

:eek:

:+1:

Hope you didnt get any injuries from that one :eyepop:

One of my early classics, which was actually with fabia mark 1 pre-crash, was changing a lightbulb.... Did that OK, but after driving for about 3 miles the gearstick suddenly started getting real stiff.... Trouble getting into 2nd and 4th. In the end it went into 1 gear and would not move so I figured something bad had happened - pulled over and got the AA out (was in my 3 year period from new)....

Mr AA man looks under the bonnet and whips out the back headlight cover from inbetween my gearbox cables. I didn't know whether to feel embarrassed or extremely relieved (Both I think!)

I did a similar trick on one of my old company Cavaliers, but I put the headlamp cover on the top of the engine.

It wasn't until I noticed the two funny pimples in the bonnet after I closed it that I remembered leaving it there. Took quite a bit of explaining away, that one!

Phil

Not a car as such but I was loading a truck with the forks on a JCB military digger.

The field we were in was wet clay on a slope. I told my boss it was dangerous but he made me keep going.

I was approaching the lorry and lost grip, hit the brakes, nada, stuck it in forwards and floored it, nada.

Went backwards through a dry stone wall and off a cliff.

Hit the ground so hard three of the wheels and the engine snapped off the thing. The load I was carrying was 200 6' long metal spikes, they all slammed into the ground around me.

Nasty.

That explains your username, then..........

Phil

Mk2 Astra tried to change the rear drums. Couldn't get them off so I gave them a big tug and pulled the car off the jack. Luckily I'd put the wheel under the car out the way and that left enough space to get the jack under and get the wheel back on.

Hope you didnt get any injuries from that one :eyepop:

That explains your username, then..........

Phil

No, I was fine, I had my body armour and helmet on and I grabbed my rifle and hugged it so it wouldn't kill me, my thermos smacked me in the grid.

Lucky I had a seatbelt on really, I just got bruises and such.

My username eh?

I should show you the list of all the bones I have broken.

I used to race mountain bikes.

Most stupid thing I have ever done in a car was sell a MKII Golf and buy a Fiat Strada.

Most stupid thing I have ever done in a car was sell a MKII Golf and buy a Fiat Strada.

Ow, nasty :rotz:

ok...

1. lost a bulb in a headlight housing.....
   
2. ran over an exhaust smashing an alloy wheel
   
3. took a door off a fiesta
   

and a number of other things ive succesfully blanked from my memory

my best one was in one of my old cars. I had been at a mate's house 40 odd miles away where a few of us were doing various work on the cars. Me, I was painting brake calipers and drums. Spent all day doing it, and it looked awesome.

Drove home and showed my brother, and he calmly pointed out that I had managed to drive all the way home with my locking wheel nut still attached to one of the wheels

To this day I have no idea how it managed to stay on through the roads I was driving on home!

My other was a lot more recently, when replacing the Oil Flter on the Fabia, I removed the wrong end of the flter housing, and wondered why the bit I had removed looked nothing like the new Oil Filter in the box