The biggest mistake You have made during working on your car?

[bluequattro]

Using a grinder next to a charging battery
Was wearing goggles tho
And a baseball cap on backwards-you know the semi circle bit by the fasten?
So the acid goes over me and I have a lovely semi circle burn on my forehead!
Went off after a week
Not thread locking calipers bolt on my v8 Capri I built(did the others)
Wondered what the knocking noise was coming back from 120+ mph run
Took 2 days find a new bolt

[bluequattro]

Oh. And another
Grinding a fuel pump bolt off my cq to change it
His behind the wheel instead if wearing safety goggles
5mm shard of metal stuck in my eye
By time I decided to go hospital get it out my eye had gone rusty
Had to have it scraped out with a needle

[piotr]

Very very long time ago fitted clutch on Mondeo,car cranked very slow after that,just like battery was flat.Charged up battery-still the same. I realised I fitted clutch plate wrong way round So I'm already pi off-I'm taking gearbox back out.
For some reason I could not separate box from engine so I used my big bar and little bit of brutal force-yeah,box is out,clutch fitted correctly,all back together-engine is now cranking lovely,but will not fire up
What did I found-when using my big bar I bend one tooth on flywheel witch smashed crankshaft sensor-gear box back out again

[K Simmonds]

Not working on my own vehicle but this is the worst mistake I've made.

http://www.s2forum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=48038

[Vorsprung durch Technik]

That looked nasty kit. Glad you recovered ok.

[Vorsprung durch Technik]

Which has reminded me of another one.Whilst hammer and bolstering part of a triumph herald body to cut a section of steel out my hand slipped and went straight into the jagged metal panel.Blood everywhere and several stitches later.The weird thing was i felt no pain at all almost immediately after it happened.Boy did i feel the pain later though. Lesson always wear heavy duty welding gloves doing stuff like that.

[Zoig]

I have worked in sawmill when i was in my teens, i wont bother you with all the stupid blood i have seen over there, just the best tip. It was told by my Grandmother who worked there coatcing me, she had around 25y of experience in the field and around the same from another industries aswell, so the best tip is: have respect and be afraid of the tools you are using, the moment you get too comfortable and think you know where the limits are the tool will fight back. So keep your awareness and think before doing anything.

Those tools can take the best part of your palm before you realise what has happened, no fun. Probably because of that i'm no huge fan of angle grinders, i can work with them and i love the versitility, but i'd rather not if possible.

[steverrquattro]

Changing the clutch slave cylinder on the MB and for whatever reason the pin pops out into the bell housing. So why do I try and start the car? Well it was to make sure it wasn't interfering with the flywheel - how stupid was that?

Guess what, said pin jams nicely between flywheel and bell housing. Why I just didn't get it out in the first instance as it's not like I was going to leave it in there as I needed the pin for the slave cylinder.

If anything like this happens these days, I swear a lot, walk away, have a think and then come back with a clear mind. and a recovery plan.

[K Simmonds]

That looked nasty kit. Glad you recovered ok.

Cheers Mark.

It was, but like your nasty accident with the Triumph I didn't feel a thing until I got to hospital, I just knew something really bad had happened and kept it wrapped up. Boy it did it hurt when they started trying to inspect the wound and it was painful for some months afterwards.

It's about 90% better now four years later, I don't quite have full moment of the second knuckle due to scar tissue and one side of it is still numb. I've learnt to use my left thumb and finger for fiddly fixings such as manifold studs etc, which is kinda of a bonus.

Zoig... Your Grandmother gave you very good advice, the moment you become complacent with a power tool your at risk of injury. I'm very wary of grinders, in fact I don't like using them at all now, but I have to quite regularly due to my job and some of the other tools I use are way more dangerous than a mini grinder.

[Chuckie]

Couple of months ago I went for a little drive in the s2, came back and completely miss-judged the width of my garage, hit the freshly painted white frame with my red door mirror. Being so pissed off with myself I wasn't thinking straight when it came to disconnecting the battery (something I always do when I know I won't be driving the car again for a while), didn't think to remove strut brace to allow better access to the battery and the next bit was like something from a comedy sketch, arced the battery to the strut brace resulting in a nasty shock, stood straight up banging the back of my head firmly on the bonnet.

[psiconauta911]

Try to start the car on stilts with 1st engaged and having the car jumping of the stilts with a bang as tires were touching the ground, luckly no harm done.
Inspecting unde the car searching for a fuel leak and having a drop of fuel falling straight into my left eye, burned like hell but after washing my eye very well with water it was all OK!
Losing 2 pair of sun glasses don´t knowing why when finally the third pair got caught on the rear wiper while driving... lesson learned never put your glasses on top of the car!

[gripper]

When I was a teenager I had quite a few Mk11 RS2000's (wish I had one now)
I changed the Maltese cross type joint in the propshaft but couldn't get one of the circlips fully seated on the end of one of the bearings. Broke two bearings then thought yeah that right. 'No it's not' said my mate. F**k it it looks good I said.....

Couple of days later after a bit of spirited driving and a nice downshift then BANG !!
S**T myself when the prop exited through the rear taking brake lines,handbrake cables and anything else in its path

I then suffered further indignity by having to walk 70 yards back up the road to retrieve my prop

Oh and I've had a susp spring clamp come loose and shoot the spring across my driveway narrowly missing my mates head

[Nuvo]

@Gripper, take a look at post #38. You've been clearly traumatised by the experience.

[Tonybolony]

Not working on my own vehicle but this is the worst mistake I've made.

http://www.s2forum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=48038

Not me, but I was with him at the time when my mate was removing a marble fireplace at his Mum's, using a 4" angle grinder. The disc needed replacing, but he only had a 110mm disc (????) which obviously wouldnt fit, so he unplugged it and removed the guard whilst still kneeling and struggling with it. He plugged it back in, with the larger disc in contact with the floor (yep- as you guessed- whilst struggling with it, he'd engaged the on/off switch) and it started and shot across the floor and missed his Wedding Tackle by an inch, and cut deeply into the top of his right leg.

Bizarrley, it didnt bleed much (I think it cauterised the cut)

Oh, and the stupidest thing I've done lately regarding the car is leaving a half-ful tin of paint in the boot...........

[s2driveruk]

3 notables from me:

1. first bit of serious diy i did on the S2, changing the rear discs and stupidly using the wheel jack, ******** a brick as the car slowly rolled off it and I was left trying to hold it up and shouting for assistance to my now wife and F-in law in the house.
2. Engine out...cleaning the gearbox of oil which had been collecting there from a leaking crank oil seal, sat in the car and for no apparent reason decided to dip the clutch, destroying the slave and depositing yet more oil over the driveway and a £65 bill for a ******** mistake
3. Getting rear wishbones shot blasted and powder coated and forgetting that on return I needed to change the bushes BEFORE refitting....handling was lethal, like trying to steer a boat