just read a thread where sombody has hit themself in the face by accident trying to get the gear nob off.......

my question is what is the stupidest thing you've done??

i could tink of a thousand things i've done, once when i left a 22mm spanner on the scuttle panel on a car, then tried to shut the bonnet, the spanner smashed the windsreen....

I've done the old tinker around under the bonnet with a spanner without being arsed to disconnect the battery - and sooner or later contact is made - at the alternator end in my case.

I was working on my car & put my spanner down on top the battery. This was in the 'good old days' when the lugs were proud of the top of the battery.

:thumbdwn:

It's surprising how hard you have to pull to remove a spanner that is is the process of welding itself to your terminals!

1. Didn't attach headlight cover properly - It worked loose and got into my gearbox cables, jamming it up! Long time ago now, but it sticks in the memory

2. Took face and internals out a boost gauge trying to change the bulb - which was accessed from the back all the time!

3. Used battery supply to power a sign at a car show. Put back terminal but forgot to tighten it up - Car died when starting it up 2 days later as it worked loose.

4. Countless times dropped/missed with the wrench and hit an alloy. :( Now have duck taped the end of the wrench.

No more spring to mind right now.

a few more!!!!!

on the a series mini engines with the combined gearbox/engine sump..... with one of the driveshafts out i was filling up the oil, and of course it all ****ed out the bottom.......

i dropped a propshaft out of an army truck when i was doing my apprenticeship.. the impact was quite big!!! big enough to rip one of the gear wheels clean out of the transfer box

"cough"

Fabia vRS, refitted standard calipers ....... upside down..... ooooops

I always remember an occasion on holiday in Tenby some years ago - late at night, driving between some temporary traffic lights - single lane - and the gearstick came out in my hand ! Car in neutral, I just managed to roll out of the single lane bit and pulled in the side !

I'd had a few bevvys and christ did I sweat screwing that gearstick back in ! it had a very fine thread and I couldnt get the bugger to screw in, kept cross threading! eventually got it and shot off like a bullet from a gun !

A relative of the Wife's had done the clutch for me and forgotten to press the locking tabs back down after replacing the gearstick !

Welding spanners seems popular LOL.

I hastily cut the aux belt off my cav turbo - I couldn't work out how to get the new one on - then it dawned on me that the only way was to undo an engine mount and slip it past - no chance with my puny socket set!

single lane - and the gearstick came out in my hand ! !

reminds me of the time when i drove a car up the road with a pair of mole grips where the steering wheel should be:eek:

Fitted the PD160 intake on my Fabia vRS and left the old on the battery. Was happy I'd fitted it, then went to take it for a drive. Slammed the bonnet, and left a great big lump of the standard intake pressed into the bonnet.

We towed my old Audi project home from York to Wakefield, not realising that a previous front-end repair had rusted away and the tow loop was not attached all that well. I let the rope go slack, he pulled away...

I've punched myself in the eye with a bike pump before... I used to keep the bike under the stairs in my old house, and I was on my hands and knees next to it pumping the tyres up. They're on schrader valves I think (the ones with the little metal bit you unscrew before you can pump them up) and you have to build up a fair amount of pressure in the pump before it'll crack the seal and start to fill it. I slipped as I was doing this and got smacked in the eye by the pump handle as it sprung back against the air pressure in the pump. Really hurt and gave myself a black eye. My girlfriend thought it was hilarious! :thumbdwn:

Lol, just re-read the topic title, so thats another silly blunder lol

Heres a stupid blunder to do with a car. I'd just fitted some foglights to one of my old cars, but had forgot the wiring diagram, so decided to guess how the wires plugged into the solenoid (don't know if thats right, my minds gone completely blank... its like an electronic switch) and flicked them on. The wire I was holding burst into flames! Guess I got it wrong lol. Phoned my mum up and got her to read out the instructions after that!

Worst thing I did had to be with the 312m brake upgrade - never done any brake work before (although a fair amount of other stuff), always scared off of anything to do with the brakes.

Anyway, the brake upgrade and brake bleeding went smoothly ("I did it like a King"!) BUT

I had put in the inner and outer pads the wrong way round - the fabia was squealing "like a virgin" for 3-4 days! It was embarassing in traffic and I kept waiting for them to bed in....

Lummox and Stu had a great laugh at my expense....

I switched the pads round - problem solved.

I'll never make that mistake again..... Doh!

Bas

Knocked off the electric mirror control **** thingy on my Octavia while cleaning it......£26 to replace......ouch.....

Several times I've torn nail from nail-bed (and other bits of flesh tearing) while waxing/polising the front grille region. I did it so badly that I ended up in A & E twice in a seven day period - both times a sunday morning and got the same doctor stitching me up. He thought it was highly amusing.

Not car related, but my Dad had an outboard motor sat in a barrel of water testing it. He had popped one of the spark plug leads off testing each cylinder, and was trying to coax the lead back on with an insulated screw driver. I came along and saw that he was having trouble with the lead, and thought I would pop the lead back on to the plug for him... so I grabbed the lead - I ended up in the garage!

Got into my VW411 after changing a wheel and drove off with the car still jacked up on one side. Fortunately no damage! A friend changed the front discs and pads on a Renault 16TS then drove it into his garage without first pumping the brakes. It bounced back off the end wall when the brakes failed to work.

Many many dumb moves, usually when rushing and trying to beat the clock.

The most memorable are,

1. Taking the end of my thumb off on the fan belt of my 2.8 Capri. I knew it was moving, but thought I'd check the tension.:confused:

2. Putting a set of brake pads in back to front on a Fiat Panda. What a lovely noise that made.

3. When testing the newly installed radiator on a 3.0 Capri, I decided to remove the hose straight after a 20 minute run. Needless to say there was a bit of a gushing, scalding steam-filled garage for a while. The missus wasn't too pleased either as it was an integral garage and the living room above turned into a sauna.

1) I had a chevette when I was 17.

The front wings were rusty, so I saved up and bought a new steel one - no cheap fibreglass for me!

Decided to try and fit it myself on the pavement outside my parents house.

Half way through I noticed the old one had welds as well as bolts holding it on so I had to admit defeat. Drove the car off the pavement...and promptly drove right over my brand new unpainted wing sitting beside the car.

The bodyshop I took the wing to had a great laugh at my expense.

2) Took my girlfriend up to Kingussie for a beer festival in my 1978 MGB GT. I had For Sale signs in the windows. Pulled into Kingussie, stopped at an autoteller and when I jumped back in the battery was dead! (unknown to me the alternator was not charging it).

Not a good For Sale advert with both of us pushing it up the main street.

The landlord of the hotel we were staying in charged the battery for me overnight whilst I sampled the delights of Orkney Skull Splitter, etc.

Next day feeling slightly hungover and dopey I attempted to refit the battery (in the metal recess below the MG rear seat for those who don't know).

Couldn't remember what order to attach the leads, so put the earth on first and tightened it, then proceeded to fit the live...touched the metal bodywork with the spanner and promptly welded it to the body :lol:

It did get rid of my hangover pretty smartish tho!

Eventually sold the car, and the girlfriend is now my wife so ended up good in the end.

thanks for this thread, don't feel quite such a prat now.

At xmas, whilst prepping the car for a long journey and only a few weeks after having

Finally ordered the Milotec grilles from Awesome and eager to fit them I couldn't wait till the weekend so I attempted to fit them in my lunch break at work. It will only take 5 minutes is what everyone said, but unfortunately they didn't have a huge FMIC pipe blocking access to the locking pins of the centre grill

So I had to leave it off and admit defeat until I arrived home and was in a position to take the bumper off and put it back into place. Of course we are talking the middle of winter here, so it was pitch dark when I got home. Now why don't I drive the front of the car into the garage is what I thought, so I proceeded to drive it up a slight slope into the garage...

Damn, what a tight fit...

Hang on, I can't get out anymore :eek:

Let me reverse back for a minute

Screeettcchhh!

Oh ****

Some good one's in here .

When I was 18 I crashed my first car into a ditch while trying to overtake two cars (middle one pulled out, I swerved, he didn't stop ), was too scared to call my mum and stepdad so I got my dad to come over with his 12 seater landrover - we attached a tow rope and attempted to pull it out of the right side ditch.

All went well when it started to move onto the road until I realised the steering was still locked (keys in ignition, just no on ) so it slammed straight down the oposite side ditch which made the damage go from slight scratches to two new wings, front valance and crossmember.

And to top it all off my mother went passed as we were hitching up the landy and witnessed the whole thing - cue lots of swearing at me and my dad!!

The most recent calamity was taking home a large sheet of kitchen cupboard chipboard from wickes (only about 1/2 mile too!) which for some stupid reason I put on top of the dash so I could close the boot in the old escort.

Result was, one small bump and the windscreen cracked.

Chipboard -

thanks for this thread, don't feel quite such a prat now.

At xmas, whilst prepping the car for a long journey and only a few weeks after having

when i had my old 309 i swapped the battery and the altenator then took it for a test drive, all went really well, no problems until i did an emergency stop, felt a bit of a clunk then the car wouldn't start, radio dead, no electric. pulled the bonnet release went to the front of the car and saw the battery sat on the road in front of the car . not forgotten to strap a battery in since.

Working on the car - Mis-wiring the new points and condensor set, then wondering why the car wouldn't start.

Driving it - Nearly (but only nearly) going on a green man phase at traffic lights.

Resealing my front ancillary carriers, I managed to drop my 13mm spanner into the centre of the door before I'd unscrewed the (13mm) bolts holding the ancillary carrier on, thus preventing me from getting to aformentioned (and only) spanner...

Driving around for days with a spanner in me door, p***ing me right off, until I found a toolshop.