Motoring Faux Pas'

[Ferengo]

Anyone ever done something embarresing with or to their motor? I think most people have done something like this, forgetting to put petrol in or putting petrol into a diesel.

While I was off on holiday our sales manager managed to crash his car in our car park. He came round the corner (Which had been gritted) at some speed. The car park was iced over, so instead of his car turning it just kept on going into the side of the building.

So our boss fixed his car and replaced his mondeo with mercedes!!! His punishment??? Having to drive a corsa for 2 weeks while they sorted everything out.

This got me thinking, it was a stupid mistake to make at this time of year (Although very funny as everyone was in the office watching it on the CCTV for our carpark), Have I done anything daft with a car? The answer... YUP.

My first care was an 1987 VW jetta 1.4. I loved it. I had never been around cars before as my parents could drive but they never needed a car, so I knew nothing. One day I was topping up the oil and I looked into the engine and thought "I could get this whole 2L bottle of oil in there, no prob's". And well I did. I took her out for a spin and after a while I looked in my rear view. All I could see was grey smoke. I pulled into the bus stop and for the length of the road was thick grey smoke as far as you could see. It was like a scene from a bond movie

I took the car into the garage the next day to get it fixed. The mehcanic said, "Yup, worth fixing" so I let him. A Couple of days later I went to pick it up. I'd blown the cylinder head gasket and wrecked the exhaust so they needed replacing. The cost was way more than my £500 car was worth. I never got charged for it!!!

Let that be a leasson to you, never put too much oil in.

Anyone else done anything just as daft? Please tell me someone has :blush:

[doogz__]

I once went to my garage to fit a front upper strut brace to my saxo, and in my hungover state, tightened up one of the strut top mounting bolts instead of loosening it.

Sheared it and spent the rest of the day stripping out the strut, which is unneccesarily awkward on a saxo, and stripping it down to replace the rubber top mount and rebuilding it.

Cost about 25 quid in parts, but took me hours, and was completely my retarded fault lol

[Ferengo]

I've felt like that before.

I was making a bar for my spotlights when I dropped a nut in the bumper. I should have hand tightened it first rather than trying to tighten it with a tool. I spent about half an hour trying to get it out. In the end i just smashed the fixing around the foglight and managed to get it out.

[Smitty]

Couple of weeks after getting my MINI took both rear wheels off to clean them properly and paint the calipers. Was stupid enough to leave it sitting on standards jacks, no axle mounts, no bricks no nothing.....

So you can guess what happened a few minutes later :eek: :frown:

After 30 minutes of panic, raw emotion and a lot a careful lifting with a trolley jack and 2 friends/rugby players got the wheels back on and luckily the only damage was a cracked and scraped side skirt - which I now have a replacement for!!

Idiotic mistake - don't know what I was thinking removing wheels from either side of the car with no proper grounding.

Still - not "too" much damage and lesson learnt.

I guarantee you, every single person on this site will have an embarrassing motoring story - even the so called "good" drivers and mechanical "experts"....they'll just be to proud to own up :p ;bigwave:

Good topic Ferengo! :thumbs up:

[camjay]

A couple of weeks ago, I had to get new rear lights for my chilli red 58 Cooper D as mine were faulty. Anyway, the guy tells me my car was ready and was parked on the left and that it had just been washed and hoovered. When I got outside I was thinking to myself " God my car is the berries, its not half looking bloody good" and I was well chuffed. At that, I tried to get in, but my key wasn't working. I was just about to speak to the mechanic when I realised MY car was actually on my other left (!) and I was trying to get into a brand spanking gorgeous JCW!!!!!:blush::blush:

[Crombers]

Still thinking :rolleyes:

[ianking]

Well about 3 or 4 weeks ago when I changed the clutch on the MINI I started the car up after putting everything back together and heard a horrible high pitched screetching noise. Ended up it was a wee plate next to the starter motor had got bent round when I was putting the gear box in.
I left the car alone and the following week went back in to strip it all appart again. After I had the sub frame off and gear box out my Dad casual as anything walked over and said, 'why did you take the box back out, all you had to do was remove the starter motor'. I could have cried but I tell you Im much quicker at removing the gearbox now due to all the practice.

[AndyP & Lenore]

I think I may pay for this, but here goes...:blush:

Picture the scene: I'm driving along in my Mum's brand new burgundy red MK 3 Ford Escort - nice car - heading into kelso from our cottage on the outskirts. I was only 17, just passed the test, full of balls and confident as hell. I knew everything there was to know about cars. End of.:yes nod:

I had a gorgeous blonde on the seat next to me (I ended up marrying), she was due to start learning to drive soon and was inquisitive about how gears worked. I decided to impress the hell out of her with my endless knowledge bank of a brain. Doing about 50mph, I tried to show her that you could put any car into any gear at any speed. I tried 1st.:eek::hand:

It seemed a bit..... stubborn, for some reason:confused:. So I gave it an encouraging shove to force it into the gear - still doing about 50mph. To my surprise the gear lever suddenly shot forward, gave a rather nasty crunch and there was an almighty BOOM from underneath the engine bit - see, I knew all the technical terms too.:thumbs up:

Lenore asked what that was and I said I wasn't sure, but now I cant select any gears. Strange.:confused: So I limped into town, unable to change gears and luckily managed to get to our destination without having to stop.

Went straight in and told Mum (the edited version) what happened: "I just heard a big bang from underneath the car. nae idea what caused it, but that car is a deathtrap - better get it looked at.":frown:

So Mum's Escort was hauled off by the garage on a flat bed and the diagnosis was a completely wrecked clutch. Mum and Dad questioned me again on what happened but I couldn't shed any light on it.:confused: So, a few hundred quid later the clutch was replaced and everyone was scratching their heads about how it could have happened.:confused:

You'll all be pleased to know, I've since come clean, admitted to M& D what I did and that I was just trying to show off to Lenore.:blush: They were cool about it all, laughing it all off. The only trouble is, they are now at an age where they tend to forget. A lot. So any time the subject comes up about "that clutch", I have to own up all over again and admit my sins.:sad:

So, two lessons learned from this; 1) No matter how pretty the lassie is next to you on the passenger seat, never try to impress her with your infinite car knowledge. And 2) always admit your mistakes to your parents when they are at an age when they will remember it for life. You can leave it until they have aged and mellowed, but you'll only regret it later.

BUT! I've found the ultimate way of preventing this from ever happening again. We now drive auto's.:thumbs up::laugh:

A.:D

[Scottie]

h'mm well in 1978 or was it 1979 my Mum asked me to wash her Opel Ascona this car was only a few weeks old.

Sure any chance to drive her car, didn't have my driver licence but this was on private land.

Anyway I had to put the car over the "Old bridge" which was very narrow and had iron railings both side.

I missed judge things a bit as I was trying to get on the bridge from a side angle anyway caught the side of her car on the railings then had a bit of a panic and reversed the car of the bridge ripping of the silver trim (that went the length of the car) what a mess it made of the whole side of the car. I had to go in and tell mum and then had to wait to tell my dad. :thud:

[Fester]

Back in the days of Black & White!!!! I had not long passed my test 1st car was an Opel Kadett. Nipped out from work at lunchtime for something and on the way back stopped outside the newsagent about a 100yards from my work bought a newspaper and then returned to work.

Finished work walked out to the car park. No Car (panic panic) someone stolen my car. Then it dauned on me went to the newsagent. Walked arounf the corner to see the car still sitting outside the newsagent parked still at the strange angle I had left it at. Best of all driver door still slightly open and the engine still running. 3hours after I left it. Now we are not talking a side street we are on the main road through our town.:argh:

[Scottie]

I've got another one. Wasn't me drving but I was a passenger in my brothers car an Alfa Sud he was showing off going down the road from our house which was single track went fast round this corner and smashed head on into a car coming the other way which just happened to be our oldest brother.:yes nod::yes nod: nothing like keeping it in the family.:clap:

[Smitty]

Back in the days of Black & White!!!! I had not long passed my test 1st car was an Opel Kadett. Nipped out from work at lunchtime for something and on the way back stopped outside the newsagent about a 100yards from my work bought a newspaper and then returned to work.

Finished work walked out to the car park. No Car (panic panic) someone stolen my car. Then it dauned on me went to the newsagent. Walked arounf the corner to see the car still sitting outside the newsagent parked still at the strange angle I had left it at. Best of all driver door still slightly open and the engine still running. 3hours after I left it. Now we are not talking a side street we are on the main road through our town.:argh:

Ha - best one yet! That's brilliant :D

I like your story too Andy - the things we do to impress women eh?? ;) :Whistle:

[Crombers]

I decided to impress the hell out of her with my endless knowledge bank of a brain. Doing about 50mph, I tried to show her that you could put any car into any gear at any speed. I tried 1st.:eek::hand:



If the Popcorn chappy ever hints after a wee shot of your MINI then walk away ........... FAST

[AndyP & Lenore]

If the Popcorn chappy ever hints after a wee shot of your MINI then walk away ........... FAST

No worries Crombers, I'm a tiny bit wiser now. Was just a laddie then.:thumbs up:

[C.Noble]

I once had an Evo VII in once, the guy had succesfully selected 6th at about 90 mph... unfortunately, it was a FQ260... they dont have six speed boxes... what he had actually managed to do was select reverse, and lift the clutch, at 90 mph.... it made quite a mess... and cost around 10 grand to fix!!

As for my embarassing moments... would take WAY too long to go thru them all, but when I was a fresh faced 1st year appy, my first timing belt job was a 16v GSi Astra, got so excited and nervous about making sure I did the job right and got the timing spot on... I failed to notice I had simply re fitted the old belt and the nice shiney new one was still in its box :argh:... my boss made me do the whole thing again in my own time, that is why to this day, I still cut up the old belt as soon as I have confirmed the new one is correct.

[Crombers]

No worries Crombers, I'm a tiny bit wiser now. Was just a laddie then.:thumbs up:

Aye OK , if you say so ............................... hide your keys folks :rolleyes:

[Ferengo]

No worries Crombers, I'm a tiny bit wiser now. Was just a laddie then.:thumbs up:

Explains the love of autos :p. I may have to do the same on my next mini as I have already had it replaced onmy R56 :blush:.

I have another one (Mini related). Had not long picked up our R56, brand spanking new. We had it for a month and a half when one morning I was taking the wife to work. I was pulling out of her works carpark when smash. I could see what had happened at first, then I looked up the road to see a purple modded micra haulted.

He got out and had a look at my car. Bumper was all scraped. We had a look at his car, dented and scraped all down his passenger side. We exchanged details and I went to work.

I told the web guy at work what had happened. He said "how could you hit someone when you hadn't crossed the junction line?". So we check google maps. It was an angle junction therefore it wasneither of us at fault.

Next night I was picking the wife up and in the same car park I reversed ou tof the bay and heard a bang. I got out and saw I had reversed into a plumbers van that had been there all day. I was going so slow there was no damage to either vechile but man I threw down the keys and said "I'm not f@%king driving ever again!!!"

The good thing was I know the place that either BMW or Mercedes used before they got their own spray shop so I got professional job done for £100. Whew, that was lucky.

[Sheilz]

For me it was driving in about to work in a spanking new motor - the other half's un - sauntering up the drive grinning from lug to lug at my colleagues who were waving frantically at the window. Their gaping mouths made me turn round as the shiny sparkling clean motor rolled down the road with a choice of motors to shake bumpers with. Well hell I dont think I've ever ran so darned fast in my life, went at olympian speed and by some sheer miracle I managed to get into it before it hit anything. Felt a complete idiot ha ha but served me right for being so damned proud o maself.

[Ferengo]

Used to have a Renault Megane Coupe. One day it broke down outside the wifes work when I was dropping her off after having had to get away from work to come and kill a wasp for her. Anyway for the life of me I could not get it started so I called the AA. The woman on the phone was very helpfull, she asked what car I had, what was wrong with the car and where I was. She checked the computer then said "Is the any landmarks or something that the Recovery van would see?". I replied "Yes, I'm right across the road from the Renault garage" DOH!!!

[bigcoyote]

The two that stand out in my mind -

Years ago in High School ( 16-17 years old ) a good friend of mine had a VW beetle. It died right in front of my house - I tried everything to get it running. Finally I pulled the fuel line off the pump ( high press side ) - no fuel.
I ran up to the parts store - got a new fuel pump , put it on -- no fuel.....
I did this 3 times before I checked the fuel line from the tank.....He was out of fuel...:thumbs up:

The next one was not entirely my fault - my brother and I were rebuilding a Buick 455 V8 for his street car - we installed the motor in the car ( valve covers off ) for the first firing. The 455 started and ran - we waited for the oil to pump up to the heads ( valves ). We waited as long as we dared - then shut it down. I took apart the oil pump ( external on that engine ) - the local performance shop had supplied us with the wrong oil pump shaft..... it was to short to engage the gear.... so we had NO oil pressure...
We should have double checked the orig. shaft with the new one - then we would have known - but we were young & dumb.....
Once we got the right oil pump shaft it worked like a charm - had oil flying everywhere as we adjusted the valves...:argh:

[camjay]

I can't believe I actually forgot about this, but my husband reminded me of faux pas no 2. I had a brand new Black 52 mini one a few years ago and I loved that car so much. It was chromed inside and out, had nice wheels, decals etc. It was very distinctive and was my pride and joy. Anyway, I met my friends for coffee one day (we're nurses). My pals are terrible for practical jokes and were always slagging me for being so precious about my car, so when my friend came into the coffee shop and said "N your car's rolled down a hill" I laughed and told her where to go! :hand: However, it finally dawned on me that she wasn't kidding so when I went out, my car was almost at a 90 degree angle down a hill and had been stopped by a brick wall!!!!! I was hysterical and called my hubby (who luckily works with cars) and he brought a recovery truck. When he eventually managed to tow it out (and it took ages) there was no damage at all except a scratch on the bumper! The best of it was, that while I was hysterical, my friends who are kind, caring nurses where filming it on their mobiles and taking pictures whilst pissing themselves!!! Even worse, by the time the recovery truck came, a crowd had gathered and they too were taking pictures - so I can honestly say I have never been so humiliated in my entire life.:blush::blush::blush: For weeks afterward, I was mortified driving around that area (its not as if I was in a car that was indistinct!). The weirdest thing was, about 6 weeks later, my friend who also had a mini did exactly the same thing!!! Since then, I am absolutely paranoid about putting my handbrake on and can never leave my car without checking about 100 times - talk about OCD! :D

[AndyP & Lenore]

Camjay, it's possible you were the victim of the R50 Handbrake issue. Some were coming off on their own accord. Didn't happen often, and despite fairly wide knowledge, I don't think MINI ever accepted it was an issue.

A.

[Ferengo]

Hi camjay

That is pretty bad, but same thing happened to me that Andy had just mentioned with my Brava, it was a write off though. Handbrake just came off and it rolled down a hill into another car. Happens though, if you still have that mini I'd get it checked out and park in gear, I always do now :thumbs up:.

[Crombers]

and park in gear, I always do now :thumbs up:.

I've always parked in gear from day one, regardless of whether parked on a hill or not.

[camjay]

Andy. Thanks for that because to this day I swore I had that handbrake on properly and nobody believed me. I thought it was bit strange when the same thing happened to my friend! Despite its (many) faults - It was a brilliant car and I wish I still had it ( also, it was actually an 02 and not a 52)!! :thumbs up: