The NEW (2018) BLOOPERS AND BLUNDERS THREAD

[abscate]

Yes...get all that dirty laundry out of those dark closets and post those dark times you messed up your Volvo through idiocy, neglect, stupidity, or even just bad luck

Special note to June - letting your full synthetic oil change go for 3005 miles DOES NOT COUNT

All bloopers and blunders should be ended with the infamous..


DOH!!

[rspi]

I'll kick it off, with a more recent one.

Did a manual swap on my 850 and wasn't in a hurry to fix the parking brakes. Stopped my car on top of a driveway to dump some trash, went fine the first day, the next day was close to tragic. Balanced the car on top, stepped out to dump some trash, turned to return to the car and it was rolling down the driveway. Had I not left the door open it would have flipped over the edge and into the woods. I honestly believe that the wheels on the passenger side was off the edge but it didn't slide off. Held up by angles.

[scot850]

Although not a personal blunder (and there have been many!), the oil incident reminds me of a similar issue maybe 20 years ago.
I was still living and working in Scotland for a US company and had several colleagues/friends in Boston US in out sister plant.

One day after a work conference call, one of my US colleagues called me immediately after and said, 'I know you are a car guy, so can I ask some advice as my car is not running right'.

'Sure', I said.

'My car is running poorly, gas mileage sucks and starting is an issue'.

'When did you last have the car serviced', I asked?

'What do you mean by serviced'?

'Well when did you last have the engine oil change, spark plugs changed and general check over'?

'Oh, I have not had that done since I bought it new a few years ago', is the reply.

'How many miles are on the car'?

"Oh, about 160,000miles', comes the answer..........................


Neil.

[abscate]

Drove my 1999 T5 around for 2 years with the CBV vacuum connected to the intake snorkel, and the Turbo boost dump hose closing the CBV.

When I figured it out with help from wcm, the boost return was incredible

[kahl]

In order to save wear on the front outer brake pad you can install the brake pad backwards. Works best when you also have new rotors. No amount of time bending the dust plate will make the grinding sound disappear. DUH

[Barsomn]

First post to this forum after buying 3 (yes, I counted) P80 V70's on a whim. Two horridly broken XC's which will be assembled to make one running car and one SE for daily driving. I've only ever owned manual sports cars for the entirety of my driving life so I have no clue what went wrong in the head, but for some reason I love this car with an unnatural attraction not even attained by my previous E30 M3, DC5 Integra Type-R, or Honda S2000. Yes, I would like a manual R. Then again, who of us wouldn't?

This is the offender, his name is Theodor. This was the state on the day I bought and registered him, but now the tires have been fixed by switching to some beefy XC wheels.



Here's what happened the first time I got the 2000 V70 SE into the air to check out a botched transmission pan gasket which weeps like a widow of war.



My jack slipped the subframe bracing and went through my cooling fan shroud in a very-erect fashion... I was this close to severing the transmission fluid line when it all went belly up.

Thankfully since the XC's are parts cars and the cooling fans are intercompatible, within an hour or two I had the problem remedied.

[abscate]

ouch....


DOH!!!

[wizechatmgr]

Walk of shame 1
1999 VW Jetta 2.0 - Was replacing the timing belt, plugs, injector seals, you name it.

Everything is going well to great, removed the rags from the intake, get everything ignition related situated but cannot find a wire separator. Bolt everything down and tidy everything up figuring it went the same place cheap tools do and ignored it. Started the car to hear it sound like a cross between a salad shooter and a tree chipper.

One new head later, I now count everything coming off and everything going on. It is okay to have spare parts, but not a deficit of parts or tools....

Walk of shame 2
1999 V70 XC - Was checking the pin out of a ECC Passenger's temp sensor. Had removed it from the plastic casing. Hooked it up backwards thinking it was correct and poof, no more heat. Blew the A/D converters and potentially the motor drivers on the ECC. Ebay and a week later - I had heat again.

Walk of shame 3
This was my very first car I had ever owned ('85 Subaru DL) and I grew up around non-car people. I removed the radiator cap with a rag on a long and previously uneventful trip to make sure it had ample coolant... I swear car cooling systems are filled with lava - and no one will ever convince me otherwise.

[cuhfs]

Despite having done many major repairs flawlessly I was unable to change a flat tire competently. Flat tire on a gravel road. Pull over loosen lug nuts. Using a small hydraulic jack- (factory jack is too shaky). Jack car up remove tire. Due to the ever-so slight slope of the road and gravel, the car crept forward jack tipped over and now rotor was on ground with jack pinned on its side. Call tow truck AAA to help me get spare tire onto car. Now I will always chock the tires even on level ground. Very embarrassing to not be able to change a flat. Doh.

[ZionXIX]

One time I used the stock 850 jack to lift the passenger side of the vehicle, then I stuck my head under the bumper the change a washer fluid motor. I lived to tell the tale and then 2 days later I saw Robert's video showing how his stock jack destroyed itself. The retrospect was real.