Whats the stupidest diy job you've done on your supra/car???

[Jord]

Glad you bumped this, hadn't seen it before and it's been a great read.

 

Not quite as bad as the others and not really a diy jobbut I went on holiday with my gf to Germany in the Celica which I had before the Supra. Went to put some more oil in before returning home and knocked the cap down which managed to land itself on the undertray. I couldn't get my arm down there to grab it. Girlfriend had to reach down while I used a long stick to move it closer for her to grab and pull it out. I always place it on the ground now

[straightsix]

.....And when a Haynes manual tells you to check for a spark by running the engine and then pulling one lead off at a time while holding it with a rag, DON'T DO IT!!!

 

I've been asked to change someone's brake pads on their Citroen C1 and after looking online at what tools are needed (sizes), I found a thread on another forum saying the Haynes manual tells you to remove the hub instead of just Torx screws to change the disc..

 

This lesson was learned about 20 years ago. I'm sure the Haynes mechanics just get bored writing the books so throw in things like this out of sheer devilment!!

[Dan_Q]

Sorry to drag up an old thread, doing a search for something unrelated and this came up- great read! Some absolute crackers in here

 

.....And when a Haynes manual tells you to check for a spark by running the engine and then pulling one lead off at a time while holding it with a rag, DON'T DO IT!!!

 

not strictly true........... as long as you don't earth by leaning on the car body with your other hand its fine isn't it?* I assume you've had a good old belt of HT through you mate

*disclaimer- if it hurts its not Dan_Q's fault

 

Aside from forgetting to nip up wheel nuts more than once, only one other springs to mind at the mo (i'm sure there's more).

 

I had a Gen 5 celica for 8 years, and early ish on in ownership, the passenger window stopped working. No grinds or noises, just stopped altogether. A few weeks (could have been months) later, after researching what to check, I realised that the window lock button was pressed on the drivers side. That'l be it then.

 

To add insult to injury, exactly the same thing happened years later, towards the end of ownership. The girlfriend I had this time smoked, so I got it in the ear about the window not working. For some reason it only dawned on me by the time the passenger door card was half off......... yep i'd accidentally pressed the window lock button again.

 

Any more for any more?

[SPG]

Back when I was a young Pup, I was not wise to the way of the health and safety movement. I basically jacked my car up (Peugeot 306 at the time) from the subframe, then instead of putting Axel stands in to support the load, I left them at a lower height but in-line with the bodywork (by chance). As I worked away under the Pug, I heard a ting'ing noise, but continued, a few minutes later I thought to myself " I could have swore there was more room under here, then SNAP!!!

 

My Jack had malfunctioned thus dropping the Car onto my chest, I then died. The End..............

 

Actually what had happened was, the Jack broke sending the car down to land on my chest, but luckily the stands were just high enough to catch it

[kraig]

Back when I was a young Pup, I was not wise to the way of the health and safety movement. I basically jacked my car up (Peugeot 306 at the time) from the subframe, then instead of putting Axel stands in to support the load, I left them at a lower height but in-line with the bodywork (by chance). As I worked away under the Pug, I heard a ting'ing noise, but continued, a few minutes later I thought to myself " I could have swore there was more room under here, then SNAP!!!

 

My Jack had malfunctioned thus dropping the Car onto my chest, I then died. The End..............

 

Actually what had happened was, the Jack broke sending the car down to land on my chest, but luckily the stands were just high enough to catch it

 

Did you swear?

[SPG]

Did you swear?

 

I would have, but my mates were watching when it happened, so I casually slide out from underneath the car and grabbed my other jack from inside the house, whilst in the house I must have been in shock as my mates came looking for me and found me 15 minutes after the incident, sitting quietly in the Loft. if I was of lesser will, I would have nuttella'd the place

[tooquicktostop]

Took the wheels off my mini to clean them (1989!), jacked up front left, removed, cleaned and refitted, same with the rear left, when I jacked up the right side both wheels came of the ground together so I took them both off, fitted them back on, BUT only the nuts to the rear, that was an interesting drive to college, the front wheel managed to bounce 100's of yards down the road scattering folk, my Mini was badly damaged !

 

Same car, fitted a roll cage, spend all day getting it in, when it was in I realized it was the wrong way round, in a fit of rage I yanked it out and broke both the windscreen and drivers window

 

Same car again, managed to do a colour change in my mom and dads garage from white to racing green with rattle cans, no mask on my face or my moms fridge freezer/washing machine, I was in deep trouble and coughing green for a week!!

 

I stopped tinkering after that car really !

[Scott-tt]

When I was also a young pup my mate had a corsa with a 2.0 cavalier Sri engine in it, well we were changing the clutch when I had the idea of standing on top of the front wings put a rope round the engine removed engine mount and held the weight of the engine up while my other two mates worked beneath the car everything went well but thinking back if I let go or slipped this could have been bad

[Pulley]

Probably trying to diagnose a weird clunking noise from my supra , put the car up on sturdy axle stands, started and put it into gear and crawled underneath to investigate , then the fun began as my hoodie sleeve caught on near side driveshaft and proceeded to undress me and rear my hoodie arm off

Then thee was my first outing with my newly modded TT plenum , got to my fave stretch of road, planted the throttle and then panicked as the throttle stuck fully open , brown adrenalin moment (tb mechanism caught on tps wire)

 

Also , fitting a bloody heavy v160 box , especially mated to a bigger osgiken triple clutch on your own with car on axle stands, having gearbox on your chest and "bench pressing" it into place whilst neighbours cat decides to "make friends" with you

[James]

I almost had a bit of a moment with my last Supra. I put my passenger window down to offer a work colleague a lift home. He jumped in and I drove off. Attempted to put the window up but it wouldn't go. This was when it was wintery last year so I thought that the cold had maybe gotten to the window motor regulator or something.

 

I figured I'd get him home and then investigate by using the forum when I got in. He suggested to take the door card off and see if it would be possible to get the window pulled back up. I thought this might be an idea as it started to rain when we were driving along (and it was cold and windy, so he was probably just wanting to heat up ). I stopped at the side of the road and went round to the passenger side. We didn't have any tools or anything and I didn't want to damage the door card by pulling at it so told him I'd just get him up the road.

 

When I got back into the car I looked at the driver side door. I had pressed the window lock button. I pushed it again and put the window up and drove him up the road feeling like a fool.

 

It was a close one, I would have taken the door card off and searched for a problem that didn't exist. Phew!

[WildFiresupra]

Probably trying to diagnose a weird clunking noise from my supra , put the car up on sturdy axle stands, started and put it into gear and crawled underneath to investigate , then the fun began as my hoodie sleeve caught on near side driveshaft and proceeded to undress me and rear my hoodie arm off

Then thee was my first outing with my newly modded TT plenum , got to my fave stretch of road, planted the throttle and then panicked as the throttle stuck fully open , brown adrenalin moment (tb mechanism caught on tps wire)

 

Also , fitting a bloody heavy v160 box , especially mated to a bigger osgiken triple clutch on your own with car on axle stands, having gearbox on your chest and "bench pressing" it into place whilst neighbours cat decides to "make friends" with you

 

I had to laugh at your cat bonding moment!! Haha

[Guest supra&starlet]

my worst was on the supra, when i was taking off the stock twins, i was underneath the car removing the rear coolant hose off the twins, and well, lets just say, soon as i removed that, i had a full mouthful of coolant, and my face and eyes had been washed by coolant. Never mind, the mouthful, it burned my eyes like hell, then mixed with the taste of coolant in my mouth did not end well.

[Big Supes]

my worst was on the supra, when i was taking off the stock twins, i was underneath the car removing the rear coolant hose off the twins, and well, lets just say, soon as i removed that, i had a full mouthful of coolant, and my face and eyes had been washed by coolant. Never mind, the mouthful, it burned my eyes like hell, then mixed with the taste of coolant in my mouth did not end well.

 

 

 

PMSL. I had a face full of gearbox oil when I removed the prop shaft from my old 200sx. Didn't taste so good to say the least!

[Twisted]

Being a mechanic in the marines I've done a fair few stupid things. Too many to remember all.

 

1. Checking the drum brake pads on a really really old recovery truck and forgetting to put a vital part back on that keeps the drum and wheel studs attached, it lead to someone having a hairy moment when test driving it around the base and a rear wheel almost came off. L I'm usually very careful to keep things together that I take off and had left these bits out during our clean up day and I'm positive to this day someone moved and lost the part I needed. This was put back together a week later by me so I'd forgotten what parts i should expect to see in the pile to put back on.

 

2. Jacked up a land rover, on a slant, using a small 4 tonne jack, to check wheel bearings, whilst two guys were in the back sorting out the comms equipment. Upon lowering it down it slipped off the jack and scared the shit out of the bloke in the back

 

3. Cam belt change on the surpa, putting it all back together, just put the fan back on, looked at my tool box and saw a thin circular metal plate that is supposed to go behind the crank pully...

 

4. Not my doing. My mate who was helping out with the cam belt change re-attached the battery but forgot to tIghten it up. Drove home 105 miles, no problem, drove all weekend around bristol, no problem, driving back I got to the bottom on my road, put my footdown, it kicked down the suddenly everything died whilst I was rolling along at 40mph, managed to roll it to the side of the road without steering wheel locking up, luckily it was on a sort of back road industrial estate area. Opened the bonnet and found the terminal had popped off. Pretty lucky I think. Could have been much worse.

 

5. Recently changed my front bumper and basically took the old one off in a way that meant there was no way I was getting it back on without fiberglass in it first to repair it. So the newly painted one was going on regardless. Only problem was that I didn't have the clips required that allow me to put in a bolt or screw without a nut the other side. What should have taken less than an hour took me all day. Finding bolts, washers and nuts that fit securely in the holes was a task in itself as our nuts and bolts area is rubbish. Then I realised the importance of these little clips and I'm forcing my arm into the smallest gaps to get a nut on the inside of the bumper, in the process I managed to flake off loads of paint from the underside of the bumper it can't be seen unless you look underneath. But now that required repainting! I'll note that I bought some of those clips in the end and replaced the nut and bolts with clips and screws

 

Generally I've gone about doing things the hard way because I was being impatient and didn't stop to think whether there was an easier way to do the task. 9 times out of 10 there was.

I regularly do stupid things through being impatient and I shall update you all as I go

[rider]

I decorated it (my first MK3) with an open wrapped kebab going round a roundabout.

 

G forces man - who would have thought...?

 

I made a 36 egg omlette in the passenger footwell after an emergency stop. Carpet came up looking refreshed.

[mr bean]

Well after trimming a double piller pod with a craft knife I decided to trim my palm an a tendon as well. Safe to say no driving for 8 weeks. Due to get my full retrim back this week an carnt use car. Gutted :-(

[dangerous brain]

How many people have forgotten to put the sump plug back in after an oil change and got themselves wet feet? Pretty much a whole 5L can of oil before I noticed it the time I did it.

[bignum]

I once filled my ford escort van engine right to the top with oil then tried to drive to london......... i didn`t make it:blink:

[natony]

How many people have forgotten to put the sump plug back in after an oil change and got themselves wet feet? Pretty much a whole 5L can of oil before I noticed it the time I did it.

 

Lol i've done that a couple of times... not as bad as my brother though, I walked up the drive and saw hit topping up the fluids on his car.... blue oil ?? i said ...."s#@t i've just filled the engine with anti-freeze".....lol

[KamaSupra]

How many people have forgotten to put the sump plug back in after an oil change and got themselves wet feet? Pretty much a whole 5L can of oil before I noticed it the time I did it.

 

Another member and I done that only a couple of months ago on my old Supra just before it sold!!

[TheTurtleshead]

I've seen DavidP fill an engine up with oil… only to realise the filter wasn't screwed on properly…! With it being re-located it was at the lowest point in the system. It made a mess!

 

Personally… The worst is normally the DIY job I do on myself..! The below is a bit nasty, and was done.. just after finishing an NA to TT swap on Fitz's car…!

 

[Fizzy T]

I hope you licked that clean.

[SupraP-Z]

So glad im not the only one doing something stupid.

 

Ive had a few times where im taking things apart, don't have time to finish what im doing so by the time I actually manage to put them back together, ive used the wrong screws in different holes, and I have a few screws/clips left, sometimes even a part. So I do the easiest thing, and chuck it in my spares drawer.

 

Not long back I decided to finish installing my braided brake lines, my mate had done the front ones and id watched him do it. I thought yep, that was definitely an easy job, so got all my tools out, my spanners, mole grips, pliers etc. Undid the top part of the stock lines quite easily...then got to the middle part.

 

I was sitting there for an hour trying to twist what looked like a hexagonal nut on the bottom of the bracket, used all my force, different sized spanners, my mole grips. Couldnt get a proper grip on the top of it as id rounded it off - so I thought, im going to go and buy some brake pipe spanners - luckily machine mart was open - so got home and gave it another go. Just about got the brake pipe spanner on there, and the force started to bend the bracket, and i thought how hard is this thing to open?!

 

Only after an hour of trying this...I realised that its actually a clip holding the damn thing in place Took me less than 5 minutes to undo the other side, laughed about it afterwards lol

[Fitz]

I've seen DavidP fill an engine up with oil… only to realise the filter wasn't screwed on properly…! With it being re-located it was at the lowest point in the system. It made a mess!

 

Personally… The worst is normally the DIY job I do on myself..! The below is a bit nasty, and was done.. just after finishing an NA to TT swap on Fitz's car…!

 

http://www.mkivsupra.net/vbb/attachment.php?attachmentid=189384&stc=1&d=1407188675

 

Ah, Good times were had by all.

[The-Plethora]

I wanted to replace my scuttle panel and wipers and couldn't work out how they came off. In the end I decided the best thing to do was to switch the wipers on till they were vertical then turn off the power so I could take the scuttle over the top of the wiper arms.

 

When I eventually worked out how to take it apart and how it all fits together I swapped back in my replacement wiper and wiper arm in it's rest place, completely forgetting that I had turned the wipers on halfway before and so when I switched things on it stripped the grooved head off the wiper motor, doh!