Murphy's law in wrenching: What's your best story about a routine repair going completely to hell? 

"DC3 LS, will be perpetually replacing cars until the end of time" (dc3ls-) 10/31/2016 at 14:39 • Filed to: None

1

36

It seems like the more experience I get working on cars the more nervous I get about working on them. To the point I don’t even work on friends cars anymore, even though I’ve never messed anything up on someone else’s car. It’s sort of one of those “The more you know, the less you know” things. The more you learn, the more you learn about what could go wrong and eventually experience it.

So what’s your worst story about wrenching?

Pic of wrenches on a lovely tablecloth(?) for your time.

crowmolly > DC3 LS, will be perpetually replacing cars until the end of time 10/31/2016 at 14:48

6

Small air cleaner nut falling down the carb (throttle propped open) of an expensive drag motor.

DynamicWeight > DC3 LS, will be perpetually replacing cars until the end of time 10/31/2016 at 14:50

1

On a whim I bought delrin door blocks for my miata. One night, being a little buzzed and bored I thought to myself: I’m hot shit, I should totally take twenty minutes and drunkenly install these silly door blocks. I cross threaded one of the fucking bolts. Installing goddam door blocks.

Spoon II > crowmolly 10/31/2016 at 14:52

0

ouch

TysMagic > DC3 LS, will be perpetually replacing cars until the end of time 10/31/2016 at 14:54

1

Replacing this mother f***ing hose on my old Land Rover Discovery.
Simple in concept: undo all hose clamps, remove hose, reinstall with hose clamps. Why does it run to to so many things? Why is that plastic tree at the bottom so impossible to maneuver around everything? Why was this NOT the thing that was leaking when it was so obviously leaking? Why would it not all line up correctly? I really don’t know, but it took hours on end to get the old off and the new one on.

crowmolly > Spoon II 10/31/2016 at 14:54

0

Just back from the dyno break in.

TheBloody, Oppositelock lives on in our shitposts. > DC3 LS, will be perpetually replacing cars until the end of time 10/31/2016 at 14:58

2

Left a socket wrench on the crank pulley bolt of my Jetta TDi, turned the engine over, pulley came off along with the timing belt... bent the valves so ended up having to rebuild the cylinder head.

DC3 LS, will be perpetually replacing cars until the end of time > TysMagic 10/31/2016 at 14:58

2

This is why I’m scared of European vehicles lol

DC3 LS, will be perpetually replacing cars until the end of time > DynamicWeight 10/31/2016 at 15:00

1

That’s why I don’t start drinking till I have a plan and have started working lol

TheBloody, Oppositelock lives on in our shitposts. > TysMagic 10/31/2016 at 15:00

1

Those fuckers get stuck real good. My trick is to take a channel locks, grip the hose and then twist until it breaks the seal. Hose comes right off then.

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > DC3 LS, will be perpetually replacing cars until the end of time 10/31/2016 at 15:01

0

I know I’ve got worse ones, but past year, that would be helping a friend swap a PS pump on a 6.2 diesel Suburban. It’s a perfectly ordinary GM PS pump, so readily available, but the brackets on it fit in an arcane way. Filthy, filthy job, which a number of lines had been leaking on, and which was murder to get the lines off of the pump on. Also, it requires taking the A/C compressor and a number of other things loose. Up on the lift, down on the lift, up again, PS fluid in the face, down again...

In the process of removing it, I tweaked my elbow (still got some golfer’s elbow months later). Then, there was getting the pulley off the old pump - which I didn’t get the puller on straight, and then had to carefully straighten the pulley. 6.2s use a pulley which is unique to them and hasn’t been available in years. Then I put the pump back on, and I’d gotten the brackets wrong. Back off, fix the brackets (twice), spend a long period fighting with the hoses - the tubes for which, by the way, were fighting with the brackets.

Then, a long ordeal trying to bleed the system. A 6.2 has hydraulic assist brakes as well as steering, so you have to bleed one through the other. Finally got it about bled... SCRREEECH. Seems I hadn’t quite caught up with the dumping of fluid, and it had gotten an air pocket. In the pump. Shut it down, refill, hope to get it bled, and eventually it was bled, but from that point on, suffered from poor assist when slowing down dramatically and steering. With the new pump. Trash in the steering valves? Damage to the pressure valve in the pump? Who knows?

Within six months, the engine and trans were both leaking to the point that it was going to need a trans job, and with other issues, it finally went off the road for good. With a “new” power steering pump. Fuck me.

Worst part was that I was trying to do this on work nights, so starting after 6:00PM every day I was on it, dead tired.

gogmorgo - rowing gears in a Grand Cherokee > DC3 LS, will be perpetually replacing cars until the end of time 10/31/2016 at 15:05

1

Back in August I went to change the oil in the Niva. As a result, the engine is currently sitting on the ground. Hurray!

DC3 LS, will be perpetually replacing cars until the end of time > gogmorgo - rowing gears in a Grand Cherokee 10/31/2016 at 15:05

0

wut

Urambo Tauro > DC3 LS, will be perpetually replacing cars until the end of time 10/31/2016 at 15:08

0

Changing the water pump on my brother’s 2004 Sebring (2.7) due to a coolant leak.

The car hadn’t been driven in a while, and needed a few other things done, like charging and testing the battery, plugging a tire, and changing valve cover gaskets.

I’d done a few water pumps before; shouldn’t bee too bad, right? Undo the belt, remove the pump, clean the surface, put a fresh one on with new gasket, and reassemble. Piece of cake; shouldn’t take more than a couple of hours.

Ah, but this wasn’t going to be so easy. THIS water pump was behind the timing cover, driven by the timing chain itself.

I did my research and decided that it was still within my ability. I would have to remove the tensioner, guides, and basically do an actual timing chain job, even if the parts were going to be re-used. I warned my brother that this could get real expensive if he needed a complete timing set at 175,000 miles.

I took my time with the repair, carefully learning about OHC timing chain setup, and being extra super duper mega ultra meticulous with everything to avoid having to take it all apart again.

Fortunately, the chain and its components were within spec, and could be re-used. I swapped the pump out and reassembled everything, making sure that the timing was perfect .

I started the car up, and everything was great. Until it warmed up.

The engine was completely silent while the engine was still cold, but once it warmed up, there came a knocking sound from the bottom end (likely a rod bearing or something). All that work, and now the car needs a new (or rebuilt engine). *sigh*

If only EssExTee could be so grossly incandescent > DC3 LS, will be perpetually replacing cars until the end of time 10/31/2016 at 15:09

0

Rust issues caused us to have to drill out the sway bar mounts (and weld them back in when done) and then we had to procure a 1 inch drive airgun to remove the control arms in order to replace the lower bushings.

That Bastard Kurtis - An Attempt to Standardize My Username Across Platforms > DC3 LS, will be perpetually replacing cars until the end of time 10/31/2016 at 15:13

0

Making a long story very short: Sold my 95 Trans Am on eBay, that day the radiator lets go. Borrow a ‘new’ radiator from my uncle, install, car runs super hot on the way to the airport to pick up the buyer who was going to drive it home to Kentucky. Several hours later we finished removing all of the mouse nest material from the ‘new’ radiator and the guy started his drive home at like 2am.

PowderHound > DC3 LS, will be perpetually replacing cars until the end of time 10/31/2016 at 15:14

1

Literally any job on my old 99 Legacy wagon. Thing was rusted to hell and it was near impossible to get a bolt out without shearing it apart, rounding it to dust, breaking the entire area it was around. Tried to clean the carpet after having some sunroof leaking issues and standing water which led to every bolt holding in the front seats broken.

With my WRX it would be when I had to remove any of the old vacuum lines they were so baked on and brittle I had to use an exacto knife to slice it off the connector nipple. This would lead to broken connectors and more broken hoses and pulling off more shit to get to the broken connectors/hoses rinse and repeat.

DC3 LS, will be perpetually replacing cars until the end of time > Urambo Tauro 10/31/2016 at 15:16

0

Was the timing off or just a coincidence?

DC3 LS, will be perpetually replacing cars until the end of time > PowderHound 10/31/2016 at 15:19

2

The automotive equivalent of death by 1,000 cuts lol

Urambo Tauro > DC3 LS, will be perpetually replacing cars until the end of time 10/31/2016 at 15:21

0

I triple-checked the timing and it was all still perfect. It’s still kind of a mystery as to why it seems to have started knocking just now.

Could be that he hasn’t driven it in several months, and may not have noticed the knock while driving to my place.

Could be that he brought it to me low on oil (barely visible on the dipstick).

Could be just a straight-up coincidence. It’s of the right age to develop this issue (apparently common on these engines).

gogmorgo - rowing gears in a Grand Cherokee > DC3 LS, will be perpetually replacing cars until the end of time 10/31/2016 at 15:23

3

So the previous owner was an idiot. The Niva’s drain plug required a 12mm Allen wrench. Somehow he stripped out the plug. He also absolutely jammed it in there, so the first time I tried to pull it out, it simply turned into a circle. I managed to change the oil a couple times by borrowing a sucking tool and pulling it out the dipstick tube, but it took forever and I was never sure I got all of it. And I was planning on taking it on the Lemons rally (didn’t happen) and I knew I’d need to change the oil again on the way so I figured it would be best to just pull the plug out and replace it. So I drill a hole in the plug, bust out the easy-outs, and break one off because the plug is jammed in there that badly. So I drill that out, and move up a size. No Bueno. This one breaks too. I go to the biggest one, and guess what, it breaks too. So now I have hole in the bottom of the pan and I have to leave the next day. So I bust out the welder. Only the drain plug is not very accessible (I could barely get a drill onto it) and I couldn’t get at it very well with the welder, because of course you never want to be underneath a welding process. Plus I just have a shitty welder. So the result was a ton of porous slag that didn’t actually seal the hole. And a ruined oil pan.

In order to change the oil pan, you either need to blow the whole front suspension apart to drop the front diff, or else pull the engine. I went the second route because I figured I’d break fewer things. I’m currently waiting on a new clutch before putting it back together. Parts take a while to ship from Ukraine.

Pyrochazm > crowmolly 10/31/2016 at 15:27

0

Please tell me it didn’t make it past the valve.

crowmolly > Pyrochazm 10/31/2016 at 15:28

0

2.25" intake valves. See if you can guess.

JRapp: now as good as new again > DC3 LS, will be perpetually replacing cars until the end of time 10/31/2016 at 15:30

2

That tablecloth may be lovely, but those wrenches look like they’re Made in China. If there’s ever a fitting image of wrenches for Halloween, it’s this - I can just imagine how scary it is wrenching with these, not knowing when they’ll let go and result in some gnarly bloody knuckles.

DC3 LS, will be perpetually replacing cars until the end of time > JRapp: now as good as new again 10/31/2016 at 15:32

1

Or worse strip a bolt!

Smallbear wants a modern Syclone, local Maple Leafs spammer > TheBloody, Oppositelock lives on in our shitposts. 10/31/2016 at 15:41

2

Always the “yay I’m almost done” moment things go wrong, isn’t it...

Ted > DC3 LS, will be perpetually replacing cars until the end of time 10/31/2016 at 15:47

2

Went to do an oil change on my jeep compass. When I got it on the jackstands I noticed that the passenger side lower control arms / ball joint and tie rods were looking pretty floppy so I decided to change them out. Normally, this would be a pretty easy job (it’s the 3rd time I’ve had to replace them, yay for Chrysler garbage quality). Take out 3 bolts for the control arm, hit it with a pickle fork, slap the new one on and get an alignment done. Usually takes less than an hour, should be easy right? Right????

I had no idea what I was in for. Got the first two bolts out no problem. Went to take the 3rd bolt out on the ball joint itself and everything went to hell. The nut came off just fine, but the head of the bolt snapped right off. Tried the old torch / hammer technique to get to get the old bolt out and it wouldn’t budge. Tried drilling the bolt out and ruined a few cobalt bits in the process, Then hit it with the fire again.... Still stuck. Moved to a bigger hammer (16 pound sledge) and nothing. Decided it would be a good idea to take the steering knuckle off and move to the bench. Ruined the CV joint in the process of removing the steering knuckle, so now I need a new one of those. Took the steering knuckle to the bench, spent hours drilling the bolt all the way through, then finally a careful combination of angle grinder and air hammer eventually got it dislodged.

Now I went to remove the ruined CV joint. Picked up the part, opened the box and.... Wrong part. After trying several shops, it turns out my goofball jeep needs the CV joint for the model with a manual transmission (even though it is an automatic). Eventually got the right part, went to take the broken CV out and it is rusted solid to the intermediate shaft (broke my reverse hammer CV puller in the process). Had to cut the old CV off of the intermediate shaft with my old buddy the angle grinder.

Got the new CV on, and now to replace the bad tie rod aaaaaand... You guessed it, rusted solid. Managed not to destroy anything this time getting it off though... After I finally got it back together, I finally changed the oil.. Which is the only thing that I was originally planning to begin with when I started this process 3 days earlier.

The sway bar links on the thing have recently started rattling.. It’s only 2 bolts holding those on right, what could possibly go wrong?

Pyrochazm > crowmolly 10/31/2016 at 15:51

0

OMFG that is terrifying. Way spookier than any ghost story.

TheRealBicycleBuck > DC3 LS, will be perpetually replacing cars until the end of time 10/31/2016 at 16:27

1

Despite my many adventures with cars, my worst wrenching story involved a bike. I bought a used Cannondale R600 which was the right size, but needed some adjustments to make it fit just right. One of those was raising the stem. For those who haven’t wrenched on older bikes, the old-school method for attaching the handlebars to the fork was a quill stem which was wedged in place. The upside to this method is that the handlebar height could be adjusted with a single allen wrench. The downside was that it was hard on steerer tubes and it could wiggle a bit if not tightened by the Hulk.

These were replaced with “threadless” headsets which clamp onto the top of the steerer tube, allowing the tube to be much lighter. The biggest downside to threadless is that small changes in handlebar height require a new stem.

But I digress! I was talking about my newly-acquired used bike which needed a minor adjustment to the handlebar height. I loosened up the bolt, gave it a firm tap on the top to knock the wedge loose. The wedge didn’t un-wedge. So I gave it a bigger tap. No dice. I had to break out the 5-lb sledge to get the wedge to budge.

Thinking that everything was good to go, I blocked the front wheel with my legs, then starting cranking hard on the handlebars. Again, no dice. Not even a little movement. I tried everything I could to get the bars to move, but no amount of force would work. I then broke out the PB Blaster and let it soak for a couple of day. It still wouldn’t move.

I finally broke down and asked for advice. An old crusty fellow by the name of Jobst Brandt called me an idiot and told me to get out a hacksaw. At least he was nice enough to tell me to look up galvanic corrosion. It used to be a common problem with aluminum stems inserted into steel steerer tubes. It’s worse when the rider sweats profusely and is positioned so the sweat drips straight onto the stem.

Jobst further berated me when I couldn’t get the remains of the stem out of the steerer tube and told me to get my head out of my ass. His advice? Take the blade off my hacksaw and use it to create a slot in the remains of the stem that was in the steerer.

I finally caved and did as he said. After much sawing and swearing, the remains came loose and I took it all apart. Liberal use of sandpaper made the fork roadworthy again and once a new stem was installed, I was on the Cannondale again.

Although the frame was later destroyed in a wreck, I still keep that fork in a box in hopes of using it on another project someday.

MasterMario - Keeper of the V8s > crowmolly 10/31/2016 at 16:28

1

I can feel that moment when your heart sank and you just stared at it mumbling “oh fuck” to yourself

DynamicWeight > DC3 LS, will be perpetually replacing cars until the end of time 10/31/2016 at 17:21

0

That’s the plus side. I know the web, and society in general, is all about mixing alcohol and car repair, but I have separated them and it’s done me nothing but good.

DC3 LS, will be perpetually replacing cars until the end of time > Ted 10/31/2016 at 17:51

0

Wow, this is a textbook example of Murphy’s law lol

Saracen > Urambo Tauro 10/31/2016 at 18:10

1

Even a rebuilt engine is probably worth twice the value of the rest of the car.

Captain of the Enterprise > DC3 LS, will be perpetually replacing cars until the end of time 10/31/2016 at 19:22

1

The first time I did an oil change on my Corolla I accidentally drained the trans fluid instead of the oil(new to me car/same bolt and late at night and tired). I realized my mistake when I couldn’t find the oil filter by the pan I drained. I had to leave the car there until I could pick up new transmission fluid from the dealership and refill it. I was planning on doing it anyway just not then and it turned into a multi day escapade.

Junkrat aka Rick Sanchez: Fury Road Edition > JRapp: now as good as new again 10/31/2016 at 21:19

0

Even Craftsman are made in China now. I don’t think there are good middle of the road tools anymore.

Ted > DC3 LS, will be perpetually replacing cars until the end of time 11/01/2016 at 08:33

1

Yeah, the Compass is easily the least reliable car that I have ever owned. A constant stream of strange things breaking that normally don’t break on cars. At this point, I’ve replaced the lower control arms / tie rods 3 times, replaced the front and rear cross-members because they rusted so bad you could poke holes in them with your finger (I don’t know how people aren’t constantly dying from the wheels popping off considering these problems alone).

Replaced the throttle-body because the nylon! gears inside of it disintegrated, all of the wires for the rear hatch because the insulation turned into confetti and they shorted out... destroying the totally integrated power module, which also had to be replaced. Alternator because it went bad (another thing that should have been an easy job turned difficult because of lazy Chrysler engineers). The list goes on and on....

JRapp: now as good as new again > Junkrat aka Rick Sanchez: Fury Road Edition 11/01/2016 at 12:28

0

The best place to get tools is still Estate sales. You can find 30 year old Craftsman stuff on the cheap. Also, if you look hard, you can still find some Craftsman tools thare are Made in the USA. That said, I’m not sure that it’s really where they’re made that you need to look for. There’s some crap that’s also Made in the USA. You just need to make sure they’re not nickle plated or just plain don’t feel cheap. Even if made in China or Taiwan or whatever, you can find some worthwhlie tools.