05' V70 forgot to tighten oil plug

[850 LPT]

So my biggest fear came true last night.

I was doing an oil change with the typical distractions, dropping off a kid, walking the dog, dinner etc.

So at some point in the evening it dawned on me through divine intervention . I put the plug back in handtight, then changed the filter and I never went back to actually tighten the plug. Of course now it's late and the car is already on the ground again, so I wrote a big note to myself to do this first thing in the morning.

Stupid me of course wasn't smart enough to check if there is oil leaking out, but luckily there was only a small puddle this morning.

Sometimes I think I should just stop wrenching and leave it to the pro's.

Do you guys have any story's like this? Or am I the only knucklehead? Wait, don't tell me.

[MarcM]

You didn't drive it. That's a good thing. Not sure if these cars have low oil protection shut-off, so hard to tell if it would have saved the engine if the plug had worked its way out.
I suffer from CRS so I have processes. When the oil is done draining I install and tighten oil drain, then install new filter and tighten, and of course add the new oil.

[Clockboy]

If you go through the old posts you will find tons of equally forgetful things. I had changed the inner tie rod and when I had everything back together took it up to the school to see if all was ok. An annoying vibration began and just got worse. I drove slowly back to the house as I cataloged all the stupid things I could have done. Went to take the wheel off and realized I had just hand tightened the lug nuts - My neighbor came over between dropping the car and torquing the nuts and I completely forgot. That is just one of the many.

[abscate]

I once filled SWMBOs car with oil without even putting the plug back in and ended up with 6 quarts of synthetic on the driveway. Thankfully, most of the really knucklehead things I've done......I can't remember.

[vtl]

My biggest "forgot to do" problem is wheel lugs. Usually with my car, where I can detect it quickly and act, but once it happened with wife's car.

I do not interrupt when wife's calling for dinner/walking the son/changing the diaper, with exact this motivation: I'll forget to do something and it will cause safety problems.

That's normal with humans. That's why there's independent quality assurance people in all life/health threatening engineering processes.

[packetfire]

At risk of seeming pedantic, a checklist is a handy thing, which is why pilots, astronauts, surgeons, and other people who have incentive to avoid ever having to say "oops" use them, and obsess over them.

But when inserting a fastener, unless one needs to leave it loose to wiggle the assembly into place, one should tighten it when first inserting it.

I use my phone to take photos of things like my unplugged coffee pot before I leave on a trip, so I can show my wife, that yes dear, the coffeepot IS unplugged.

[abscate]

Lug nuts are a classic, so I use a routine with them.

Wheel back on, lugs tightened to square wheel, lower car, lug nuts torqued.

Then, and only then, move to next wheel.

You don't save any time doing 4 torques at end, it might even take longer

[chrism]

Oh my gosh, where do I begin?

Let's put it this way, one more big "ooops" and I'll be qualified to work at the Pep Boys auto center.

[terryjr]

I've had loose lugs twice. once by a shop, once by myself. I had car up on stands for a week or so. rotated tires while it was up. Then when i finished motor and I just lowered it down and drove off. It took 2 annoying vibe days later to remember my mistake.

[nsjames]

I once swapped a rear axle in a comanche.

I needed to wait for the RTV on the diff cover to dry, so I made a mental note (and now you see the problem) to fill the diff before I went to work in the morning.

Well I didn't.

and about 8 miles down the road the rear diff locked up.
So now i leave sticky notes on the steering wheel.
Thankfully it was just a D35, and I had a few more laying about. Still sucked to do the same job twice.