DIY fails

[Ahow74]

Got a good laugh today, I went to help my father in law change out a wheel cylinder in his 97 Cherokee. I went inside to grab a beer and come out to him with a grease gun on the bleeder screw pumping away. Thankfully it was closed, but that had to be one of the funniest things I've witnessed lately. Glad a lack in confidence over powered his onions and he asked me to assist. Any one else have any DIY fails?


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[Chris]

The biggest DIY fail I ever witness (and took part in partially) was letting my friend put my wheel back on. I went in the house to grab something to eat and told him to put my wheel back on. He used an impact gun to put the lug bolts back in (didn't even thread them in first) and stripped the hub out in the process.

We went for a drive, and about 15 minutes into the drive, we're going about 45 mph down the road, and all of a sudden my driver's side wheel falls off and goes shooting down the road in front. We slid on the brake rotor (which was shooting up sparks like crazy) as I slammed on the brakes and we came to a stop on the side of the road.

Some guy drove by us and yelled out his window "Should have bought a Honda bro!" (which made me laugh out loud).

Anyways, the moral of the story is never let your friends do something for you, unless you're watching. I'm lucky we weren't on the highway or a busy road, otherwise it could have been serious. There were a few vehicles that witnessed it, and man... I would love to have been the guy to witness this from another vehicle. It had to have been funny as hell to see.

This wasn't on my Jeep BTW, this was about 16 years ago on my first car, a 1993 VW Corrado.

 

[Ahow74]

The biggest DIY fail I ever witness (and took part in partially) was letting my friend put my wheel back on. I went in the house to grab something to eat and told him to put my wheel back on. He used an impact gun to put the lug bolts back in (didn't even thread them in first) and stripped the hub out in the process.

We went for a drive, and about 15 minutes into the drive, we're going about 45 mph down the road, and all of a sudden my driver's side wheel falls off and goes shooting down the road in front. We slid on the brake rotor (which was shooting up sparks like crazy) as I slammed on the brakes and we came to a stop on the side of the road.

Some guy drove by us and yelled out his window "Should have bought a Honda bro!" (which made me laugh out loud).

Anyways, the moral of the story is never let your friends do something for you, unless you're watching. I'm lucky we weren't on the highway or a busy road, otherwise it could have been serious. There were a few vehicles that witnessed it, and man... I would love to have been the guy to witness this from another vehicle. It had to have been funny as hell to see.

This wasn't on my Jeep BTW, this was about 16 years ago on my first car, a 1993 VW Corrado.

That is insane! Would've been a sight for sure.


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[glwood]

The biggest DIY fail I ever witness (and took part in partially) was letting my friend put my wheel back on. I went in the house to grab something to eat and told him to put my wheel back on. He used an impact gun to put the lug bolts back in (didn't even thread them in first) and stripped the hub out in the process.

This wasn't on my Jeep BTW, this was about 16 years ago on my first car, a 1993 VW Corrado.

I was wondering why you referred to them as 'lug bolts' instead of lug nuts...until you said VW...

 

[glwood]

One DIY fail that shows up more than you would believe on the Tacoma forum I frequent is someone wanting advice after draining the auto tranny fluid, followed by putting in 5+ qts. of motor oil, then driving away thinking they had changed their oil. So now they are driving off with most of their transmission fluid gone, and double the amount of oil they're supposed to have. No good result follows. What's amazing is anyone admitting to doing that.

 

[Chris]

I was wondering why you referred to them as 'lug bolts' instead of lug nuts...until you said VW...

Yep. The older VWs didn't have lug nuts. Maybe the new ones do (I don't know), but the old ones didn't for sure.

 

[Bird]

I had one of those WTH moments about a month ago.
I was doing a tranny flush on my TJ and thought, i better call my brother and find out which line is the return line, he has a 2000.
Pulled the driver's side line, insert into jug, have my wife fire up the Jeep and now I'm enjoying a tranny fluid bath.....not pleasant.
Should have researched here.

 

[egclassic]

Several years ago, I was changing the oil on my wife's car in the driveway at our old house. Had the oil drained, plug back in the pan and the filter still off. I took a break to get something to drink, it was 100*+, when one of my step daughters needed to leave for work. Without even thinking, I jump in the wife's car, start it up to move it out of the way. I backed up about 5', then it hits me! DOH!

 

[sgtjdgelinas]

Not a fail, but still amazing.
A buddy of mine snapped the serpentine belt on his ford LTD, it was late and he needed to get home, so his idea is to cut the elastic band off a pair of his girlfriends panties and use it as a replacement. To my amazement when he fires it up, everything is turning, so him and his girlfriend take off. The panties failed just as he got home.
Wouldn't believe it if I hadn't seen it with my own eyes.

 

[Bird]

Not a fail, but still amazing.
A buddy of mine snapped the serpentine belt on his ford LTD, it was late and he needed to get home, so his idea is to cut the elastic band off a pair of his girlfriends panties and use it as a replacement. To my amazement when he fires it up, everything is turning, so him and his girlfriend take off. The panties failed just as he got home.
Wouldn't believe it if I hadn't seen it with my own eyes.

Hmmm I'll have to try that on my next date, serpentine belt failure......loose them panties girl !!!

 

[RaymondT]

I was at sea in the Navy years ago. Father-in-law decided to help my wife by changing the oil in my Toyota SR5 4WD wagon which was only a year or two old at the time (oil didn't need changing by the way). Drained all the oil out of the transmission and over-filled the engine by 3 or 4 qts. Wife drove it for a week until I got home . Didn't seem to cause any long-term damage. He wasn't the brightest bulb on the Xmas tree...

 

[FF_Jeep]

Quite a few years ago I changed the oil in my Nissan Frontier and headed to the store a couple miles from home. On my way home I notice white smoke/steam coming from my engine bay... pull off quickly and open the hood to realize that I left the fill cap off and it was still sitting on the core support. Limped home, filled back up with oil, and learned how to properly degrease and engine bay!

 

[Kiwi TJ]

A few years back I owned an old British 1963 Triumph Herald convertible loved that car (and so did the ladies lol, maybe that why I liked it) anyway driving it home the first day I bought it, maybe 5 miles from the PO house I lost all forward momentum... still revved just no go !!!...turns out my axle had come loose off the diff it had actually sheared the bolts. Luckily I was about 100 yards from a welding shop...pushed it in there they tack welded it back on for me.
I continued my journey home only to have it cut out on me and I crossed over the main bridge in my city (with no hard shoulder to pull off onto)...it was then I realised that the gas gauge didn’t work and I was bone dry haha in the slow lane on a main freeway just before rush hour..haha...Not my best car purchase.( Although I did keep it for 2 years)

 

[Kiwi TJ]

Oh yeah and the axel broke again the next day

 

[Phungki]

Not a fail, but still amazing.
A buddy of mine snapped the serpentine belt on his ford LTD, it was late and he needed to get home, so his idea is to cut the elastic band off a pair of his girlfriends panties and use it as a replacement. To my amazement when he fires it up, everything is turning, so him and his girlfriend take off. The panties failed just as he got home.
Wouldn't believe it if I hadn't seen it with my own eyes.

Serpentine belts are pretty big..........

 

[Kiwi TJ]

Serpentine belts are pretty big..........

Thanks Phungki...I think we were all thinking that ... hahaha

 

[JP13]

Serpentine belts are pretty big..........

 

[Ahoragi]

My two fails came with my Cherokee. Back in 2010 I was wrenching under the rear end. I had it on jack stands that were on top of concrete blocks due to the driveway being gravel. I needed a little bit more height so I put the factor jack under the diff and started jacking. My handle for the jack fell out so I got under there to insert it into the jack when I heard some creaking. I instantly rolled out from under it just as it fell off the jack stands and slammed on the ground. I am deaf and cannot hear anything without hearing aids and that day I just decided to wear my aids while working on the jeep which I normally do not due to dirt and grime. If I had not then I would've not heard anything and I would not be here today cuz no one would've seen me crushed under the jeep for another 4 hours.

It happened again last year but because of the 1st incident I decided to stack tires under the hitch and it dropped right on the tires.

I hate working on an uneven gravel driveway.

 

[Chris]

Ahhh, what a classic movie. At one point I had almost every line of dialogue from this movie memorized.

 

[Mike_H]

The biggest DIY fail I ever witness (and took part in partially) was letting my friend put my wheel back on. I went in the house to grab something to eat and told him to put my wheel back on. He used an impact gun to put the lug bolts back in (didn't even thread them in first) and stripped the hub out in the process.

We went for a drive, and about 15 minutes into the drive, we're going about 45 mph down the road, and all of a sudden my driver's side wheel falls off and goes shooting down the road in front. We slid on the brake rotor (which was shooting up sparks like crazy) as I slammed on the brakes and we came to a stop on the side of the road.

Some guy drove by us and yelled out his window "Should have bought a Honda bro!" (which made me laugh out loud).

Anyways, the moral of the story is never let your friends do something for you, unless you're watching. I'm lucky we weren't on the highway or a busy road, otherwise it could have been serious. There were a few vehicles that witnessed it, and man... I would love to have been the guy to witness this from another vehicle. It had to have been funny as hell to see.

This wasn't on my Jeep BTW, this was about 16 years ago on my first car, a 1993 VW Corrado.

Similar situation for me...I was working 12 hour shifts at work, during our busy season. I was working 7 PM to 7 Am. I would drag my ass home and sleep a couple hours, cuz I still had stuff to do at home. Well My wife's car needed the brakes done and back then (this was 12 years ago or so) I had more time than money. So, I have her drive my truck to work, so I can fix her car. I put the brakes on, no problem, took it for a test drive, and everything seemed good.

Next day, she calls me on the way to work. "What's wrong with my car?" I could hear something in the background, but wasn't sure what it was. I asked her what it was doing, and she said, "its shaking all over, and it feels like the wheels are falling off."

It IMMEDIATELY sprung into my head that I didn't torque the lugnuts down (I run them on by hand first). I told her to pull over, and I'd come get her...She didn't (she's very stubborn and didn't want to be late for work). Anyway, she made it (Thank God) and took it to the shop across the street from her place of employment. The guy was nice...Thankfully we didn't make eggs out of the holes in wheel, and he tightened them up for her. His famous quote (which I still hear about from time to time)..."Is someone trying to kill you? Every one of these lugnuts were Loose!"

We laugh about it now, but I can tell you that experience is in my mind EVERY time I take a wheel off now!