The NEW (2018) BLOOPERS AND BLUNDERS THREAD

[brunocerous]

This happened while flushing and refreshing the coolant system Saturday in the '00 V70, realizing I needed coolant, and backing out the '98 V70 — right into our trash can.

Broken driver-side mirror, 1998 V70.

[abscate]

My version was rolling my T5 back in the driveway with the door open, catching it on a snow bank, and destroying the left from fender by folding the door forward and killing the hinges.....all without even turning the engine on

Doh!

[850 LPT]

Long time ago my dad backed my car out of the garage while I was standing in the driveway. He was waving hallo at me while he backed straight into a wall destroying the tail light and damaging the bumper, Doh!!

[1998v70xcbill]

I grew up with corvairs as a kid. Mostly had manual transmission cars. (I had alot of different corvairs). Well I happen to have a automatic at the time (2 speed powerglide). Driving at dark in the 80's with a friend, on route 80 in the pocono mtn's. I was bragging that this powerglide was indestrucitible, So at 80 mph I decided it would be cool to throw it into reverse. At first nothing happened, (the trans was to smart to do that). So after slowing down alittle, some around 70 to 65 MPH reverse engaged. Wheels screeched and then put back into drive. Car ran terrible, my buddy said just keep going (it piston slap). We were miles (50 to 75) from home (no cell phones). I said no this is not right, find next exit, and some street light on side of road with parking lot. Middle of nowhere, don't think we even had a flash light. Look at engine, I had blown off all the vacuum lines on the intake manifold, Attached blown off lines and all was good. My friend and I have lots of good stories, but thats a good one. What was I thinking!

Doing the brakes rear brakes on the v70, I also did a reverse pad. distracted by a cute neighbor. Thought it was just the rigdes on the rotor for a while(making all the noise).

Bill

[wizechatmgr]

Buddy of mine has an air-cooled corvair unsure what year, believe it to be ~60's. He kept having it shut down while running. Turns out the previous owner had bent one of the air louvers in the rear shut by bottoming it out. Bent it back so it could open and close as designed - no more shut downs.

This was after watching him replace the mechanical fuel pump, the coil, and a ton of other things. I will say, I love that car. Darn near idiot proof as long as you don't over-torque the spark plugs.

[Eddystone]

Did the driver side control arm in my '98 V70. During reassembly, everything seemed fine. Got the wheel back on including the center cap. Lowered the car. Cleaned up the tools. Got in the car. Started it up, and put it into drive. As soon as the wheel began to turn, there was worrying bump in the left front and an odd noise. Turns out that the pin from the ball joint was not fully seated when I inserted and tightened the through bolt, and I was above the bolt rather than in the retaining cutaway. Oops. And doh! Dope slap administered.

Surprisingly, this did no damage whatsoever. Lucky I didn't start off with a burn out, but even in performance mode with premium fuel, there not much point in that with my non-turbo wagon!

[June]

Back when I just started diving I left dad's 76 Buick Electra idling on a hot summer day with the air conditioning on to keep the car cool. The hot light came on so I shut the car off and opened up the radiator cap. It shot clear out of my hand followed by the coolant with a eruption that would have made old faithful proud. It was unreal! I was completely blessed that I only was burned on my hand and arm which I ended up in the emergency room and in a lot of pain. Now cars have warning stickers and detailed information in the owners manual about what to do for overheating not to mention modern cars don't seem to overheat if left idling with the air conditioning on.

Also I fumbled the cigarette lighter in that Buick while in traffic and was afraid it would catch the carpet on fire. So reaching down in a panic my fingertip went into the glowing end. Boy that hurt!

Other than those two events in my early days of driving I have been pretty blessed not to have had worse happen. June

[cuhfs]

Volvo 740. 20 years ago. Busy Route 22 near Hershey, PA middle of winter snowing and cold out..., we decided to switch drivers. Pulled over on side of road. Wife got out closed passenger door and started to walk around to driver side. I got out of driver side and left car running; closed driver door and started to walk around to passenger side to complete the driver switch. We were both outside. All of a sudden I hear "click" the car locked itself. We had a 1 year old infant in rear child car seat. No way to unlock car. Keys inside car running. Cold snowing and cars buzzing by. Had to shatter a window carefully to not hit kid with glass.
Doh. !

Since then I always roll window down when getting out of my volvos, if I leave car still running.

[abscate]

The boating version of the above. I pulled a sailboat neatly into a dock, hopped off , and while easing into position realised I had left it idling in gear. I spent the next 6 seconds trying to hold the boat long enough while it tried to drive away with no idiot skipper. I had left 4 kids on board. I had very bad visions of trying to explain this to SWMBO and the impact on my health.

DOH!!

[chrism]

Due to a gear shifter that was occasionally getting stuck in Park, I had to get inside the mechanism to clean the solenoid lock pin. In order to remove the lever you have to yank it upward with brute force. I ended up in a precarious sort of backward position, straddling the console, in order to apply enough upward force to the lever. It finally broke lose. Let's just say I couldn't believe how easily the windshield cracks when contacted by one's elbow from the inside of the car.

But hey, the shifter works fine now. And I have a nice new windshield.