After owning my car for almost 3 years and doing almost all of my mods, maintenance, and repairs myself I about screwed the pooch this week. Changed out my idler pulley for a chromed one and thought I had tightened the tensioner pulley's lock nut to spec, but apparently I forgot this little bit of important work. Drove for 3 days no issues, then yesterday I was greeted with a hideous shriek from the motor when I started it up. Thinking I had over-tightened the belt I turned off the car and pushed on the belt to check the tension and it was loose as ****. WTF??? So after a quick visual inspection I noticed there was no nut on the tensioner pulley AT ALL. I had hand tightened it and apparently it fell off sometime in the 3 days of driving. It was nowhere to be found in the garage or in the driveway so I rummaged through my tool box and just happened to find a 14mm nut that fit perfect. Needless to say I felt like a dumbazz, I'm always preaching to my friends to go slow, take your time, and do DIY jobs right.

Let's hear your horror stories so we can all feel a little better about ourselves today.

 

On my previous car, 1992 Accord with an h22 swap, we had just got done replacing the water pump and timing belt. We had buttoned everything up, put the motor back in the car and I left for the night. Got about 4 miles down the road on the on ramp to the expressway and my car just died on me. I thought i had broke the new water pump or broke the timing belt (again). We towed it back to the shop and the next day come to find out we just hadn't tightened down the crank pulley bolt.

All of that happened on new years eve, so needless to say i didn't go out that night

 

I took the time to sand down my grille as to leave no scratches and get a smooth surface, rinse, wipe and pressure dry. I apply my 3 coats of black primer (20 minutes apart), apply my 5 coats of Gloss Black paint (20 minute apart), and then go to apply my first coat of clear and then fail. The clear didn't like the gloss paint so it started cracking and peeling, similar to the soil of a lake when it dries up. Had to sand everything back down and start over. I didn't know I couldn't do that on gloss paint, I figured I would give it some more depth to make it stand out.

 

So Tim, you want us to admit we did anything worse than that....^....just so you feel better? Not sure I can but here goes, once a year I empty my catch can. The first time I emptied my C6 can I didn't remove the hoses before I unscrewed the bracket dumping some oil down the valve cover side. Put it back together all clean and tightened the hoses. Started SLICK and the garage was filled with smoke, I thought for sure I'd really f^cked something up. Headed down my street to my buds shop for help, before I could get a block away the smoke was gone. Went home saying to myself, "Thank You God!" Now I just barrow my wife's Turkey Baster, saves time and headaches....kidding bought my own.
Gary

 

I got my wee wee stuck in the radiator fans. But it was my fault, I knew I should have worn cloths that day

 

Years ago i was changing my VW bus distributor to a 009 distributor with electronic ignition, points and all.. Engine has to be top dead center when removing and replacing.. So I took the old one out, and replaced it with the new one.. I went to start the car and it wouldn't turn over. apparently the new distributor wasn't fully seated and now there was no way for me to find top dead center.. I called all my mechanic buddies and they said I fukkt up and I played with it for a few hours and the distributed seated all the way in and I was good to go..

That was a nightmare..

 

LMAO G, I said "we".

 

Dumbest thing Ive done was trying to install my new shift boot... Took me a few hours and go so frustrated.... Could not figure out how to get it to fit properly until I just gave up, threw it in there and then adjusted it... Doesnt fit like OEM like I was expecting...

 

Mine happened last night. I had to move the G to get access to my chopper on the other side of the garage. The top end of the G's motor is torn down to do some mods so I just needed to put the car into neutral so I could roll it back a few feet. The battery was dead from sitting so long so I had to jump it. I got some juice to the battery and turned the key to the accessory position which allows you to shift out of park. I didnt realize that the fuel pump turns on with the accessory position of the key. Well, the fuel lines were disconnected so the engine bay got showered in gas. FML

 

When I was demodding my 05, i took the grounding kit out and messed up a ground or two somewhere and caused the whole car to run like **** and die on me while doing 80mph down the freeway. Limped it to the dealer not being able to go over 2k RPM.

 

Last weekend I was replacing my Clutch Master Cylinder and Clutch Slave cylinder.
I was underneath the car while I had a neighbor pumping the clutch so I could bleed it.
He turned on the car to make sure the car would go through all the gears smoothly and the
clutch was working properly. He let go off the clutch while I was still under the car and the car
jerked hard thank god for jack stands.

 

https://g35driver.com/forums/canada/...-im-idiot.html

 

D@mn Glex that could have been nasty. I was replacing the bulbs in my projectors and decided to take the front bumper off. Didnt put painters tape on the fenders...You can imagine what happened, but thank god for the clear bra. Then while debadging my car I accidentally rubbed through the paint in my trunk.

 

Another time I was doing suspension work on my other car. Had the jack under the arm the strut bolts up to and was trying to loosen something (been a few years) and the jack slipped out and needless to say it dislocated my shoulder. Worst pain Ive ever been in.

 

Lastnight I tinted my tail lights.

After the 2nd coat it began to run since I had sprayed a bit heavy.

Tried to correct the run while it was still wet instead of sand it down after it had dried.

Had to let dry, strip and start all over