Inspired by the sock-around-the-oil pump story, I'd like to admit my weirdest experience with one of my cars.
From 1983 til the end of 1991 I had a BMW 1502 which I loved a lot. However, it rusted quicker than anybody could weld, and at the end of 1991, right before I went to a one year study stay to California, I had to wreck it.
One time in 1991 I changed the rear wheel bearings myself without actually knowing what I did. The outer bearing shell needed to be pressed into the wheel hub. Lacking all kinds of appropriate tools for that job but convinced of my abilities I did that with a hammer and a chisel and eventually secured the whole thing with a split pin. After some weeks I experienced a rattling from the rear and moving the left rear wheel in and out disclosed that it had huuugh play. I re-fastened the crown nut and secured it with a split pin again. You may guess what was to follow: After some weeks the same noise: I re-fastened ... see above. Even at that time I wasn't wondering if maybe I was on the wrong track. Things remained quite for some weeks more...
... until one monday morning in late summer 1991, on my way to work on the Autobahn at ca. 130 km/h, not thinking of anything bad, an awful noise was audible, along with a smell of something burned. While I was trying to figure out what things were all about, I noticed , when having a look out of the driver's side window, my rear wheel bouncing along my car and coming to a rest at the middle guardrail of the street My car came to a stop at the right shoulder and it took me some minutes to come back down as that all happened within some seconds. It turned out that the securing split pin was sheared off and the entire wheel, still attached to the brake drum and hub, went off. The brake support plate was considerably grinded down from taking the wheel's job for that few seconds.
I got a used rear wheel unit unit from the junkyard and, with the prospect of having to junk the car anyway in a few months and not having anymore faith in my abilities on that topic, I had the crown nut welded to the hub.
Even though the wheel came off at a slightly curvy section of the Autobahn, the car ran straight and came to a stop without any sliding or critical movements. It is always a nice story to tell, though.
This reminds me of a somewhat related thing that happened to me back in my college years (early '70s). It didn't have anything to do with my idiocy but was strange nevertheless. The car was a late 60's Buick station wagon that my parents had tired of. Big V8 and solid rear axle. I was coming off a freeway onto the exit ramp curve when the engine just started revving freely and the car felt strange. I pulled off to se what was going on. Somehow a bolt inside the differential had come off allowing one of the axles to just slide out of the axle tube. The tire, brake drum etc slid about half way out of the tube kind of supporting the car. After getting the car towed and to the garage they just bolted it all back together - nothing really got damaged! By a crazy coincidence I saw the same car puttering down the New Jersey Turnpike several years later, so it was still on the road!
For me it was more of a lucky wake up call for general wrenching safety.
I was removing the transmission hard lines and somehow I must have touched the starter terminals with one end of the pipe, and there was a spark show of note :o I thought for sure I fried something (not myself luckily) but all was fine. I think I was wearing gloves so maybe that helped me not getting a shock.
From that day I always disconnect the battery terminals whenever I work on any car ;D I never wear a watch either when wrenching but that was drilled into me by my dad as a youngster ;)
seriously guys? really? those are pathetic excuses for moronic behavior. Surely you've done something more numb-skulled than that? I mean really? I left a freakin shop towel in an oil pan....help me out here?!
Quote from: Jed on 24 December 2021, 12:11 PM
seriously guys? really? those are pathetic excuses for moronic behavior. Surely you've done something more numb-skulled than that? I mean really? I left a freakin shop towel in an oil pan....help me out here?!
OK, OK. So, how about bending a rod cause of hydrolock and rebuilding the engine? And all because of a forgotten fuel distributor plunger that I forgot to put back in? That's gotta take the cake.
Dave FTW 8)!
As an addition to Daniel's sparky experience:
I did an oil lube on that old BMW 1502 and wanted to change the oil filter. It was very tight and I needed an oil filter wrench, mine was from metal. It was still hard to move and when it suddenly got loose the wrench moved a bit forward and touched the +-port of the starter.
The wrench instantly welded to the port and became hot within seconds. No way to get it loose by hand. I rushed into the garage and found a metal rod which I took and smashed on the wrench until it broke off. By the time of my return from the garage the battery was already notably puffed up. It may have taken 15 seconds?!
Eventually the parts and me cooled down again and everything continued to work as before, with no after-effects.
Also sort of a wake up call.
Ah yes, dave, now thats what i am talking about. :o