The 'own up to ruining your car' thread

[Adam230K]

Had bird sh1t once on my very first merc c200, and i went out one night and scrubbed it off with the green part of a kitchen sink sponge, thought i did a good job too. In the morning when I woke up... the entire bonnet was obviously buggered.

have many others but that one makes me laugh the most

 

[Mblinko]

Had an AC Cobra replica a few years ago. Took out the ford 305 and built a stroked small block and tremec gearbox in. Forged internals, Dart heads, ready for nitrous. Then welded up some custom headers all fitted nice and started first time. As it was a full roller cam, lifters, rockers etc I had to set the gaps. The roller rockers were works of art, Scorpion racing, billet, beautiful. See picture. So, got feelers and spanners out and started. Got towards the bulkhead end and BLAM, feelers were stuck. Blew the smoke away and saw that the other end of the feelers had arced on the power distribution terminal and the other end had welded itself to the roller tip of my lovely rocker Naturally it was a write off, lucky I could buy singles. Motto, always insulate your terminals

 

[corned]

My old Vauxhall Nova (the only car I have ever bought new) got sideswiped by another car which was somewhat overambitious in an overtaking manoeuvre and needed to cut back in in a hurry. Big dent to the back of the front o/s wing between the wheel and the door.

Repaired by the local VX dealer, I went to pick it up. It was in a parking bay in their customer car park, so I got in and reversed out, turning to the side as I reversed to go along the aisle and out onto the road. I reversed a few feet, on full lock, and when I was half way out there was a loud BANG as I clobbered something. Couldn't see anything, so I got out, only to see that as the car had turned sideways, the front wing had clattered a white wooden stake, about 3 feet high, which marked the end of the bay. As my car was white I just hadn't seen it camouflaged against the car.

The big dent this caused was exactly the same size and shape, in exactly the same place, as the original dent which had been repaired.

So I parked it up again in the same space, and went in to ask what their best price was on doing the repair all over again...

 

[NW_Merc]

One of my brother's classmates in school decided to do his dad a favour by cleaning his car I think it was an S-class. When starting the job, he was hurriedly rushing around getting buckets and car shampoo and forgot that he only needed to get a sponge, instead grabbing the next best thing, some metal brillo pads. You can guess what the outcome was.

 

[silver_star]

A few years ago, I jacked a car up on one of the chassis rails....went to get it just a bit higher and it slipped off and made a dent in the floorpan due to the jack being on a rough road surface so couldn't roll under smoothly as the car was being raised. Not one of my proudest moments...but the damage wasn't anything to write home about.

Is any body going to confess to filling the sump with oil but forgetting to put the sump plug back in?

 

[Adam230K]

Well the other day I was servicing my car in a bit of a rush, and I ended up draining the fluid from the gearbox... thank god it was a manual...

 

[wilsodg]

I went to the DIY store and picked up a tub of emulsion - placed it carefully in the boot, you know the rest (promptly forgot about the paint and gave it some welly)

My son picked up a tub of white gloss from Homebase - popped it on the floor of the rear footwell in his Black R32 golf. Cold day so he had the heating on full blast - the hot air on the tub made it expand, blew the lid off and white gloss everywhere. A lot of white spirit, kitchen towels and we got most of it but there were bits remaining in and around the seat runners. We eventually had to take the seats out to get to the end of it. It was 18 months before the smell really disappeared.

 

[MarkJunedd]

I had a brand new Vauxhall Frontera about 12yrs ago and went food shopping one day, shopping done all loaded in the back then my (now ex wife) threw the pushchair into the back on top of the bags. On getting home and unloading i noticed there was milk dripping out of one of the bags ,didnt think much of it at the time but within a couple of days i noticed a particularly pungeont aroma in the car. It got so bad by the next day that i couldnt get into the car and i then realise that the milk had soaked through the carpet and the thick sound proofing below it. I had to cut the whole rear carpet and soundproffing out and steam clean it to get rid of what was the worst smell on record. !!!!!

 

[jaymanek]

when I was a kid, and learning all about cars, dad asked me to check the levels on our little fiat 500.
so I filled the engine right to the top with oil, the most expensive I could find on our petrol station shelves, I think it took something like 10-15L.

Then I checked the brake fluid which seemed low so I filled it with water.

Of course dad didnt know what id been up to so he tried to start the car.... he wasnt happy with me.

 

[BillyW124]

...let the missus drive it.

 

[brucemillar]

Drove my wife's car out of our own garage without realising I had shut the up & over garage door emergency release toggle in the tailgate of the car.

Door promptly slammed down on roof breaking the windscreen and denting both a-pillars.

Never forgiven.

 

[Bosco]

I went fishing a few years ago and managed to let my live bait box empty into the boot. There were maggots everywhere. I cleared them all up or so I thought. A few days later there were blue bottles everywhere in the car. I turrned on the fan and I was showered with the light blighters.


Another time back around 1983 I was totally broke and ended up buying a POS Skoda S110R. The fan belt broke on the way home but I got home by fitting a universal belt from a nearby garage. I started to clean it up - you can't detail a Skoda - and found two huge concrete blocks wedged in the front corners of the boot - the boot is in the froint. I thought what the heck? Anyway I took them out and dumped them behind the shed. Next time I took the car out she was all over the road, virtually not steering control. Then it dawned on me, the concrete was to keep the front wheels on the road. So off back down to the shed I went... It drove fine after that.

 

[m2287]

Put blue underfloor neon lights on my polo when i was 17! I thought it was the coolest thing in the world!!!!

 

[Deleted member 6183]

I'd forgotten about this:

Several years ago on a particularly cold morning Mrs trying to reverse her MX5 out of the drive but struggling to see through the frosty rear (plastic) window.

She attracts my arttention (via the car horn) to assist so, in a bad mood, push the roof down.

Bad move, icy cold plastic is not very flexible. In fact it shatters a little like glass.

Guess who's fault this was?

 

[johnsco]

This thread could have a lot of mileage in it yet ...
Car disasters ...
Where shall I start ?

 

[neilz]

This thread could have a lot of mileage in it yet ...
Car disasters ...
Where shall I start ?

Come on, your disasters won't be the worst! I think the exhaust falling off my Shelby Cobra on the A-road on the way to its new owner is pretty high up

 

[Steve Holland]

NOT A CAR .....but......Back in the early eighties I had just serviced my Ducati 860GTS and was marveling at the front cylinder rocker valve movement while annoying the neighbours with my straight through pipes in my Dads Garage when the allen screw in my mouth fell out. I went to grab it, only to divert it into the valve cover where it promptly smashed its way through the head. No engine damage but a big 50p size hole in the top of the cylinder head cover. Went to pull the battery lead off as it was loosely fitted to stop the engine only to create a spark large enough to ignite the carb fumes on the upright cylinder which in turn blew up the battery showering me, the Garage and my bike frame, side covers and tank in battery fluid.

Result was a big ugly hole welded up on the front pot once removed and rebuilt, a new battery, complete respray of tank, side panels and part of the frame. Huge hole rotted away on my leather jacket arm and shoulder and banned from working in Dads garage unless it was snowing.

I still ride a Ducati and still marvel at that engine and it's sound.

 

[DSM10000]

We owned a Maestro 1300 (Yes I know...............) that was about to be sold privately when it developed a problem with the thermostat just hours before the new owner was picking it up.

A very simple job to replace as the housing is easy to get too and held on by 3 bolts, I replaced it and was refitting the bolts when I decided to just tighten one up a little more when the thread stripped. This was into cast iron so no chance of re-cutting the thread. With a little judicious use of a tap to clean up the damage I managed to get the bolt in and just holding by a few threads.

This along with the other two bolts and a lot of gasket sealant somehow worked.I was feeling a little unhappy about selling it but it had held during a test drive.

On arrival the new owner turned up in a Yugo and despite having agreed the price wanted me to take the Yugo in part exchange because "we have had a bit of trouble selling it"

I did politely decline this kind offer and the deal was done. Some 12 months later I parked next to the Maestro in a car park . The new owner saw me and called out, I was of course expecting a long rant about leaking thermostat housings but he just said "Thank you for looking after the car so well, it has been absolutely faultless"

 

[Beno]

As a smart **** apprentice I was told to reverse a brand new Granada off the ramps. I'd never driven an auto before so put it on drive instead of reverse and floored it hoping to impress everyone, straight off the ramps and into the foremans office needless to say no one was impressed least of all the owner.

 

[John]

Had a few **** ups I can think of:

Had a car where there was a parking ticket in between the windscreen and the trim. Thought it would be easy to slide the ticket out with a knife or similar. Nearly got it... "crack". Much easier to take the ticket out whilst the windscreen is being replaced...

Friend put 16 cans of Stella in my first car in the boot. I forget and then remembered as I heard some 'pssst' sounds coming from the boot. Took a while to clean up...

Same car - lost it going up a hill and fishtailed until I finally hit the kerb at the top of the hill (luckily nothing coming the other way whilst fishtailing). Replaced the broken allow with the one from the boot and bought a steel wheel for the boot. Replaced the 2.0i back axle with one from an old 1.9 Manta.

When I sold this car - it had a flat battery. Left it on charge all night before the day of sale, and prayed while we went out in the rain with wipers, lights, radio on etc... that it would start when they finally left. It did...

When we last moved house, we moved with the 30 litre Bi-Orb 3/4 full in our car. On arrival, only a quarter of the water left... Hmm. Floor was a bit wet in that car...

First time I changed oil, I forgot to buy a new sump plug gasket. Tricky to get one without the car...

Replaced the front speakers in my previous Saab and wrecked one of the old ones taking it out accidentally. New speakers were shyte so I swapped the old ones back in (which turned out to be Pioneer!) but I couldn't use the wrecked one. So it now has one new speaker and one old speaker and I could certainly hear the difference between sides before I sold it.

Spent £200 doing all the rust on the sills, wheel arches and boot on an Escort. Then wrote it off a week later...