I won't list all my mistakes here but it reminds me of a saying. "The only man who never makes a mistake is the man who never does anything" - Theodore Roosevelt
+HumbleMechanic I am a Tech for GMC dealership and i have been there 2.5 years I just started understudy for drive-ability as we are a specialty shop compared to bumper to bumper shops and one thing that our engine heavy line tech (now asst service manager) told me is the one thing that is different from being a tech and a doctor is a able to bury their mistakes and as a tech we have to live with them. I just happen to work at a dealership in a upper class suburb so we have customers who notice every little thing about there $60k gmc denali truck from finger prints to crawling under the truck to see if you grease the suspension on a oil change. As for being my 1st job in a dealership I have had my fair share of fawk ups, however one thing I always did was owned up for my mistakes and made them right.
As a starting technician, this video really makes me feel alot better, you feel like you're the only one that screws up and it sucks, but it's nice to see we all do it, and you learn from it and do better!
After 47 years in the trade I could almost write a book on my screw ups but the one that will always stick out most is changing rear lift gate supports on a jeep. Of course in a rush I propped the lift gate open with a broom handle. After removing one old support the broom handle slipped and the lift gate fell. After a trip to the Hospital and 14 stitches in my head I felt so stupid. I get reminded every time I look in a mirror.
One time I was doing an oil change on my F150 and the old oil filter seal stuck to the housing when I pulled of the filter. I didn't notice it and after putting the new one on oil started spraying everywhere. It was a huge mess and a shameful moment. Then over a year later a friends wife, who also drove an F150, called to say she was on the side of the road because of low oil pressure. I volunteered to go with him and on the way he mentioned that he had just changed the oil. Naturally my mind shot straight to my prior experience and that's the first thing I checked. Sure enough that was the problem! So in a way my failure gave me the chance to help someone else.
They say that experience makes a better mechanic, but I think it's mostly challenging experience that accelerates learning and wisdom. Fortunately it's possible to learn some of that vicariously from others who are kind enough to share what happened to them. I admire anybody who is strong enough to share mistakes with a broad audience, since the overall benefit will be much greater than the bland description of a repair that went well. You got my sub on the basis of this video, thanks for posting.
sadly in my field kids come out of school thinking their omniscient professors taught them enough to be master machinists so they refuse to listen to anyone when we tell them they are about to have a booboo. I try to learn from others as well. The only reason they see the mistake you're about to make is because they made the same mistake somewhere along the lines. You are going to make plenty of mistakes in your career, why make other peoples mistakes as well.
I think both. The callaging ones are to improve your understanding and knowledge the stupid ones teach you the importance of double checking and diligence.
yeah it sucks, people should never stop learning and can always use advise, especially if the person giving advise has much more experience regardless of education. People like that are ruining tech schools I'm just glad i managed to land a job with people who didn't have pre conceived notions about me because I came fresh from a tech school.
i once added coolant to the washer reservoir while doing an oil change special for a new customer that was only there for the oil change special, you know the ones you don't expect to ever see again. well she came back a few days later stating that the washer fluid we used made her windshield wipers streak and stained her car too. it was then that i realized my screw up. i promptly fixed it and apologized and i handed her a few car wash coupons to get her car cleaned. she became one of my most loyal customers after that because she was impressed with my honesty and that i made it right then and there. i think many people still think of mechanics as shady and untrustworthy. amazing what honesty can do for you.
as a consumer (and mechanic hobbyist), i can verify that the general population does think that about the people they deal with for car repairs. in my experience it's usually the middle man that's not the mechanic that frustrates me, the front desk guy or service manager, etc.
My buddy took his car in to the dealership for a routine oil change. They drained the oil, and removed the oil. That's it. He drove a bit without oil or a filter and his engine started making noises and eventually turned off. It had Seized. Needless to say, the dealership covered everything, and probably someone got fired.
Same thing happened to my friend, but was the radiator cap. Called the dealer " you guys left the radiator cap off my car and it's smoking" Dealer... You can't prove that. Engine was fried. Good job Don K Chevrolet
HumbleMechanic I worked at a shop, and the owner hated people looking in the oil filter book and getting it dirty. We took the old oil filter off got a new filter the exact same as the old one. Well that filter had been the wrong one the whole time and it blew off the engine a couple days later.
Years ago I went to Midas for a rear brake job and they left the air cleaner cover off with the wingnuts sitting on top. Took a few days for me to realize this. Thankfully the wingnuts did not fall into the throttle body. They had no business poking around the engine, the rear brakes are on the other end of the car. Yet another reason I do my own work now.
Was working late one night on my own vehicle and just hand tighten the lugs on the rear passenger tire thinking I would tighten them all the way the next day. Was on the interstate the next day when the rear tire flew off and proceeded to roll a quarter mile down the road ahead of me. No one was hurt and the damage to my car was minimal. To this day I always double check the lug nuts.
+Raymond Johnson I nearly had about the same thing happen, but it was from my Dad and mechanic neighbor putting lug nuts on which were too short as we just purchased some used aluminum wheels. Nothing flew off but the lug nuts did loosen and cause vibration.
thank you so much for posting this. it made me feel better. about a year ago, I was doing my 3rd head gasket in a early model bug with a 2.0 in it. the job went pretty quick. I start feeling it up with coolant and I notice after a few mins, I hear something running onto the floor under the car. so I start looking.... turns out I actually put the head gasket on upside down and the head was puking coolant. so I go get my boss, hanging my head the whole time. he said he would buy the parts, but that I had to fix it off the clock. 3 hrs later it was back together and running right. needless to say, now when I do a head gasket, I make sure all the holes line up and take a few minutes to make sure there's no way it on wrong.
Did the exact same thing on a 4.6L expedition, however it took me about 4.5 hours to tear it all down and about 6 hours to put it back together CORRECTLY. I absolutely hate working on them damn things, so much engine under the cowl and needless shit it's ridiculous
+Joseph Inman A trick I learned was to look at the fire rings on both sides of the gasket. The ones that are touching go down. If both sides are touching it might be a reversible gasket. Another trick is that the manufacturer label goes on top.
I did the exact same thing a couple weeks ago on a 5.7 Hemi. I sure felt like an idiot. Everyone else told me it happens to everyone once. And I will never make that mistake again from now on lol
didnt tighten a drain plug on my first week of working lube when i first started out my auto mechanic career, locked up a motor.. most embarrassing thing ever. few days later i was still scatter brained and honestly doubting if i wanted to do this still, and mistook the gas pedal for a brake pedal and smashed a 370z in to a tool cart then smashed that tool cart into a wall. i was so ready to quit in shame and go back to working crappy retail but a couple techs at my shop really had my back and convinced me to stay. to this day i am still scarred from that drain plug, sometimes ill take a car to wash after doing a service and ill be like nope not 1,000% sure and ill drive the car back into the shop re-lift it and recheck the torque on the drain plug haha the guy in the bay next to me already knows when i drive a car back in he's like "checking the drain plug again?" i also kept that tool cart.. hammered it back out straight and still works great, as a workbench and as a reminder lol. 370z paint still on the middle shelf. thats what i love about working in a shop, theres competition for knocking out work and making money but technicians, 9 times out of 10, will always have each others backs. car related or not.
Been there, did the same thing. Brand new Renault when I was working in Europe. So new we couldn't even get a motor for it because the factory had no spares. I had to rebuild the seized one and it always made a weird noise after that. Customer was not happy waiting weeks for his car back.
It seems when a job gets passed around (one guy takes is down another puts it together) problems happen. Now I never work on a car that has been passed on because it is a problem car or they say they have better things for the first guy to do. A long time ago I worked in a independent VW shop, only one guy was allowed to do overhauls. I pulled a bug engine for him, wanting to be helpful I drained the oil via the drain plug on the plate. When he put the engine back together he did not check the plug, it fell out in the middle of the AZ desert. Same shop same guy. He started working on the carbs on a dual carb VW bus. This guy put the bed like pillow that goes on top of the engine compartment on top of the bus. My "bud" could not get the idle so nice so I was put on the job (vacuum leaks at throttle plates). I completed the job, noticing it was missing the pillow but hey what do I know. On my test drive the pillow blew off and somebody else nabbed it before I got back, Cost close to 500.00 for a new pillow for a Westfailia bus. OK same shop, my bud had moved on to the BMW Dealer (I was soon to follow). I was given my first overhaul I was to do the entire job. One of the head studs came out really easy (waterboxer engine) turns out the stud broke and left the threaded part in the case. It needed to be sent out and a plasma cutter was used to cut it out, expensive. Ok now my biggest screwup all my fault. Brand new mechanic in a LA VW shop. Putting a hard start relay on a 6V bus. There is a place above the starter that is a good place to mount it, you need to drill two holes. I drilled the body panel and the bit quickly hit a second panel, I continued to drill. I drilled a hole in the gas tank. You need to take the engine and trans out to get to the tank. So as quick as I could I pulled both,with gas leaking all the time. This was 40 years ago but now I wonder why we did not siphon at least some of the gas. At some independent shops you really are on your own
Thank you everyone who shared there own personal stories of mechanical repairs gone wrong, it truly does happen to us all. Mine was over filling my Dad's crankcase by about three quarts after my first unsupervised oil change. Between it being late in the day, with fading light making the level hard to see on the stick and my filling from a 5 gallon jug of oil I got a little carried away. He made about half a block before pulling over to the side our rural road and draining the excess out.
What a great video! I know I've overlooked silly things then racked my brain & kick myself later for. But to even admit making mistakes, to explaining the biggest blunders you made... that's one heck of guy! That takes guts... & you certainly own up to the name, Humble Mechanic.
My biggest screw ups: #1. Early in my career I didn't know that heavy corrosion build-up on alloy wheel hubs needed to be cleaned off before being put back on the car. Had 3 cars within a 1 week period come back with loose wheels because the corrosion build-up prevented the lugnuts from being properly torqued down. #2. I didn't notice that the threads on a oil pressure switch for a late 90's Honda CRV were NPT pipe threaded (and thus had a wedge shape), I tightened it too much and ended up cracking the engine block right on a oil passage, the shops insurance ended up buying the customer a new car.
Huh, the Nissan dealership I worked at didn't open up transmissions. Transmission problem equaled new transmission. I don't know the bad transmissions might have been sent to a shop for rebuild and resale.
I work at Nissan, all transmissions are sent back to Nissan, rebuilt, then resold. Chances are the transmission you replaced it with was a rebuilt one. But yes the techs do not open automagic transmissions in shop, they are shipped and rebuilt some where else. Lately, because of the huge problem with them, they have had the techs do the valve bodies in the shop, but if their was any other internal damage, just replace the transmission.
My first month in my new shop, I tightened two caliper bolts but didn't remember to torque them to spec because I was in a rush. Turns out The owners went on a 400mi road trip out of state and on their way home the bottom bolt came loose and the still in tact caliper bolt had basically acted as a hinge and kept slamming the caliper into the inside of the rim... oh boy did I hear it when I got back from the long weekend. Went and bought myself a new torque wrench that week and I've never had an issue like that again.
My biggest screw up was listening to a customer. On a Saturday I opened the shop where I worked and a customer came in with his 98 mercedes sl500 wanting to swap wheels. Couldn't use my bay because I had a Chevy Blazer that I was waiting on control arms. And the customer said to just use my coworkers bay. I pull in and set the lift and lift the car. I go to my bay and grab my impact and sockets and then I hear a loud boom. The in ground lift had failed. It dropped about a foot and had twisted sideways. Thankfully the car stayed planted on the lift. Put a pole jack on the base of the lift to rotate the car back and put the rod back on the lift. took the car out of the bay and used a floor jack and swapped the wheels. My boss comes in and I explain my mistake. Thats when he tells me the lift is broken and that he told the customer to come in mid day. After all that the customer still continued to come back and requested me to do his repairs.
LOL, thanks for sharing, its nice to meet someone else that is NOT the best tech EVER! The low point for me and I am sure there were more...was the infamous double lip seal on a oil change, after working in the field for 20 years...I know the walk of shame.
Im no mechanic. I have a 2003 Ford Fiesta, it has taken me all the way through the American continent, from San Francisco CA to Chiapas Mexico. Hundreds of thousands of kilometers without any problems. Why are they frowned upon?
+Luciano Narno law of averages dictates that when you manufacture hundreds of thousands of cars, there will be a few good ones in the batch. You're lucky and got one of them. Seams to me that most of today's complaints revolving around Ford ownership has to do with the trucks, not the cars. Just look at the resale value of a Ford truck compared to a comparable GM or Dodge truck...
The biggest screw-up by a buddy of mine is messing with a carburetor on a pretty old bmw, and while running, the screwdriver bit falls from the screwdriver and into the carb and into the engine and after poking a few Phillips holes in the pistons and walls it stopped. It was close to idle and stopped a few seconds later. Either way, the piston was shot, and the cylinder had a deep gouge and the valves were messed (i guess the bit got caught by the closing intake valve and the piston slammed the valve snapping it and toss the valve in the mix with the bit). The header had some indentations that turned out to be cracks. Long story short: new oversize pistons, new valves, new header (actually it was from a salvage yard), re-bore the cylinders to oversize.. very expensive screwup.
mr42ndstblvd Did a clutch on a early 90s 5.0L. Trans was back in, all I had left was the starter. As I'm trying to put it back in I realized something was wrong and several head scratching moments later I remembered the engine plate that fits between the motor and trans was still in the parts washer in the back room. I'm pretty sure I must of had a bad hangover that day, or just forgot my brain at home.
I love your honesty and you owned up to it. Not many people own it and customers need to understand we are human and we do make mistakes but you are right we need to double check and don’t rush.
Looking back now, biggest one for me in my 5 years in the field, didn't close the hood on an infiniti all the way. and ill tell you one thing, I about had to go back home and get a new pair of pants when that sucker came flying up into the windshield as soon as I pulled out of the lot....7:30 in the morning and hadn't had my coffee yet....still kick myself when I see a silver G35 lol
Oh man... My biggest screw-up happened a few years ago during a routine oil change with a brake maint on a Tundra. I dropped the oil and filter but the parts guys didn't have a replacement filter on-hand so they had to order it from a local location (10-15 min delivery). While I waited I put the oil plug back in and then went on to the brake job and got it all finished. Put the tires back on, dropped the vehicle, and put the oil in. Then I just went into auto-pilot. What's the next step after adding oil? Of course... Start the vehicle up, shut it down, and then check the oil level is proper. So without thinking I stared the truck and almost instantly covered my bay with 8.2 Liters of oil sprayed out the oil filter housing. I didn't even need to get out of the truck to know what I did. I lowered my head against the steering wheel in shame and yelled a few obscenities... Holy frig was I embarrassed. No damage to the vehicle, of course, but I spent over an hour cleaning the oil from my bay, off the front of my tool box, and off the underside of the truck. It's a mistake that I'll never repeat again. I don't start any job anymore anymore without making sure I have everything I need to finish it.
Awesome video, Charles! So refreshing to hear stories of other people being human and messing up while working on cars. I think I've been so ashamed to talk about my failures as a tech with other techs that it's further reinforced the shame of messing up! Thanks for showing us it's okay to look back and laugh cause we're all human!
I ended up putting a brake pad on backwards on a mustang somehow it would fit and i didnt notice it. we took it out for a test drive and right when we pushed the brakes it started squealing really bad. I thought the pad was just trying to seat itself on the caliper so we kept going. bad idea lol. then the noise got worse so we turned right around and took the wheel off. the rotor was destroyed there was no way machining it would bring it back to life. the back of the brake pad has 2 nipples on them so the dont move around and they ended up digging there way through the rotor. luckily it wasnt more than $80 to replace them. oh well you live and learn. now i always double check my work and have someone else check it as well.
this video makes me feel so much better, i'm a month in as a new lube tech at Mazda, and the other day i had a car in the air, but one of the lift arms was extremely close to the side skirt so i let it down just to adjust it and be on the safe side, but i forgot that i left the oil catch pan under the car, i honestly don't know how i left it under there but it completely slipped my mind. gotta tell my assistant manager tomorrow though, so wish me luck on that.
How about a video on the biggest screw ups customers did to their own car and later brought to you for service. For me it was my 2010 Jetta TDI. For whatever reason, two years into owning it, I decided to peal the DO NOT SERVICE labels off the battery and check the fluid level. Perceiving it to be low, I added water. It was 100 degree summer and the battery over the next few weeks boiled over Acid went down onto the DSG and then ate a giant hole in the intercooler hose... After a LOT of cleaning up, some spray paint (took the paint off the mechatronics cover) , and a new intercooler hoseThings were good.. I was super lucky... Knock on wood that was over three years ago ... Another one for me was actually when I was 16... My cousin had a 1995 Pontiac Minivan (Transport) She wanted a CAR PHONE. Being a 16 year old who loved cars I knew I could install it.. What I did not know was the rear heat coolant lines ran thru the center of the car right where I mounted the headset cradle with self tapping screws... Car lost coolant , over heated, flooded inside of car with coolant, seats had to come out, flooring came up, carpet was destroyed lines had to be replaced and cousin ended up getting a new car rather then fix it. Dealership told me not to be hard on my self because they had several Car Radio install shops (remember those places) that drove screws not only into the coolant line for the rear heat but also the refrigerant line for the rear AC spewing refrigerant and oil everywhere.. Said it surpassingly happened a lot and not to be discouraged.So those are my two customer mistakes that damaged cars
Every mistake I’ve made was on a small job. It’s exactly what you said - rushing to get it out of the way. I’ve was off 1 tooth on a balancer belt on an Accord and the vehicle would shake like crazy at around 1,200 rpms. Luckily I knew exactly what it was and I fixed in in 30 minutes. I left a pair of vise-grips on a tie rod while doing an alignment and got them back over a month later when the customer came in for a brake job we recommended. I’ve made a number of mistakes on small jobs. Usually when I do a big job, I am very mindful and double check everything because I don’t want to do it twice. But I’ve also never opened up a transmission where I assume it’s very easy to forget something because of the sheer volume of parts you’re handling. That’s why I’ve never been interested in transmission work - I don’t think I could put one back together without forgetting something.
Funny, honest guy. I like it. Worked in the oil field a long time. Saw a lot of screw ups. Some were life critical, as a tech in the oil field, we couldn't make mistakes with doing certain tasks, or the oil refinery or gas plant could explode and kill people; yes when I work on cars I rush as I know if I have a leak can easily fix it and it doesn't pump out sour gas so nothing that can't be fixed.
Great video, Charles! I really appreciate how candid you are about things! It was great to get a chance to talk with you in July at the Meet Up, and I know LeeAnn really appreciated your encouragement. She got a job as a tech at a Ford dealership last fall and is doing well and loving it!
+Helga Loncosky AWESOME AWESOME AWESOME!!! I hope you guys are all doing well. Thanks for the kind words. I really appreciate it. :) Hope to see you guys at this years ETCG meet up.
Awesome video, I'm a new mechanic and have been working at a shop for about a year now. I replaced the heater core in my car recently and ever sense then the clock on my dash flashed when I hit the blinkers, I have no clue why😅
My worst by far is this time my buddy missed a day that he was supposed to do a sunroof frame for a 2011 Cadillac SRX that had shredded the shade some how. I was volunteered by the service writer and this turned into a 3 month purgatory of nicked headliners, broken plastic clips, and scratched frames that actually ended up costing me personally over $4,000 to replace the parts I damaged and countless hours lost on a 6 hr job. Lesson of the week, I don’t work on sunroofs anymore.
I had a 05 or 06 f150 in for binding steering, diagnosed the steering shaft was junk (fairly common up here in the rust belt) it's a quick job, the guy was waiting and it was almost lunch. I used a bungee cord to hold the radiator hose out of my way to get to the lower pinch bolt. Finished the job, backed the truck up, parked it out front and it was gushing coolant. I had forgotten to take that bungee cord off and a pulley had cut right into the hose.
As a relatively inexperienced DIY wrencher, I was replacing the power steering pressure hose on my Jeep Liberty. I screwed in the pump end, then the steering rack end. At the point where it was tight at the rack, I could still see threads showing on the hose fitting. Being stupid, I thought I had to get it to the point where there were no visible threads, so I kept tightening... and eventually there was a sharp crack, a whistle of pressure escaping, and I'd ruined a perfectly good steering rack.
I was doing a compression test on my Honda accord, and the tester had adapters on it that were not loctited or tefloned, so i ran the test all good, go to put my spark plug and it threads fine but bottomed out quickly, i also heard a crushing noise and realized i threaded the spark plug into the adapter i was able to get the adapter out with some loctite but i saw chunks of spark plug insulation in the cylinder, I vacuumed it out the best i could, started it heard a rattle for a few seconds then it seemed fine. i figured i got lucky but now it literally burns a quart of oil every time i drive which is usually no more than an hour or 20-30 miles, and has no power, time for a new motor. most expensive mistake I've ever made, for something as simple as a compression test, luckily it was my own car! when i was working a family friends shop, i forgot to torque lug nuts, broke probably 5 bolts from over tightening, left caliper bolts off, filled a jeep with oil without draining it first, all within a few mouths, he thought i was on drugs. i realized i probably shouldn't work on other peoples cars.
lol... oh my. That is a good thing that motor is your own car, even though it still sucks. You can take your time with the replacement, save up, unlike if it were someone else's vehicle. Sounds like rushing around or you're distracted while working. If it's what you enjoy doing, working on vehicles, stick with it. Use different work practices. Make sure no one can distract you... no chit chat. Make a check list prior.. until you're in the habit of doing things. ALWAYS double & triple check you're work. We've all made mistakes... the best mistakes are the type we catch, either before starting the vehicle or handing over the keys back.
The spark plug insulation is on the wire side, so even if you tighten them to much and they break, they will just break in the wires, causing mega misfire, not in the block. Okay, now the brake calipers, bleed them, always spin the rotor/hub and look at it, have someone press the brake to make sure it locks up correctly, (without reinstalling the caliper bolts, it will shift around when the brake is engaged, you will quickly see) then when you see everything is good finally put the wheel back on and lower it down, top off fluid as needed. I don't even know what to say about the lugs, but yea, maybe you shouldn't be working on cars, lol.... You have good intentions, but bad quality control, lol... Good luck man !
I retrofitted power steering on a Jeep CJ7 I used to own. It worked great, but a couple days later there was a bad leak near the steering gear. I tightened up the hose fittings and clamps, but nothing worked. I then called friend with a long history of working on Jeeps. He was under my Jeep less then 10-seconds before he found the problem. There was a clearance problem between the bottom of the grill and the return hose right next to the steering gear. It was in a weird spot and hard to see, but the edge of the steel the grill had cut through the hose. The clearance issue was solved by bending the edge a little with a pair of pliers, and there was enough extra length in the return hose I was able to simply cut off the bad end and refit it to the steering gear. I spent hours trying to find the problem, and minutes actually fixing it.
Brand new 20 bay shop was built to replace our old six bay dungeon. The owner decided the first car in the shop should be his for an oil change. Needless to say the kid doing the work left the old o ring on the engine and it barfed oil all over that brand new floor. The owner was not impressed to say the least.
The oil filter mating surface should always be cleaned bare metal, run a little oil with your finger around the new filter ring and screw it in. Tighten by hand.
Jennifer Anne Your absolutely right Jennifer. And it only takes a second to clean the surface. I have seen so many lazy mechanics skip this step all I can do is sit back and laugh when it happens.
35 years into wrenching and oil changes, I was excitedly showing my female neighbor how to change oil. As I poured 5 quarts into the crankcase, I saw the oil pour down into my newly concreted driveway. Of course, once my horror subsided, I slid under the Touareg with my creeper & hastily closed the Futomo valve. :(
I just after 15 years left the cam sprocket bolt finger tight and it came off and hit the valves on a 2007 jeep grand Cherokee 4.7 and then I put a screw that was to long on the radiator and went through the plastic side not my best work
Did an ATS torque converter and a Code 62 kit in the pump and a stater support bushing on a 97 Ford F250 powerstroke. Pulled the trans and transfer case, did the work, pulled the over drive drum to clean and inspect it. Put it all back together put it in the truck filled up the fluid, started to clean up and found the over drive bearing stuck to the bottom of my magnetic tray.......Bummer. Had to do it all over again
I've been in and out of ten jobs under the Obama administration and I will tell you the reason: It's all about chemistry. If you make your coworkers feel good and if your boss doesn't feel threatened by you (you aren't competent enough to take his job) then you get to stay. It's not your fault. I've worked with guys who would get angry and _deliberately_ break things but they would not get fired. I once reported a coworker for sexual assault and he is still working at my old job ten years later. I saw my favorite manager get fired because he brought in an old gun to show a coworker. He was a Vietnam vet and the gun wasn't loaded and he kept it out of sight, but the lazy bums were watching him closely.
Admit you made a mistake and apologize then make it right usually works pretty well. I've gotten out of most speeding tickets by just not arguing with the cop. I admit I did it and they let me move along with a warning. Any time I was with someone who argued with the cop he got the ticket. People are pretty forgiving if you don't try to BS your way out of your screw-ups. Just take responsibility and they're usually ok with it.
It's good to hear this as when I make a mistake sometimes I get really down and beat myself up about it and even think about giving up the whole trade sometimes. We just need to remember we're human and not machines we're going to make mistakes. Doesn't help when the manager/boss exaggerates the situation and makes u feel worse!!
Glad to hear that you haven't dropped any cars off a lift like in the thumbnail! I've heard horror stories of that happening, I couldn't imagine how awful I'd feel
Do you have a coffee can with somewhat mysterious nuts, bolts and fastness ? When I worked at Lexus/ Toyota we all did. Who knows sometimes where those belong, it does not help when your coworkers keep adding extras to your magnetic tray when your very busy.
I remember one time I was jumpstarting a friends car, and I had a complete inability to function or think normally when I'm doing anything around my friends (or anybody in general) and I was well aware of it. I work best alone because I can actually think clearly. I remember thinking to myself, I'm probably gonna do something incredibly stupid, like switch the positive and negative leads on the cables, better not do that. Sure enough, I literally put the black on red and red on black. Luckily it didn't ruin anything, but I have a weird thing that if I tell myself not to do something, chances are I'm probably going to do it. Also, I put one of the pads in backwards when I was changing my brakes, so the backplate was rubbing against the rotor instead of the actual pad. Once again, it didn't damage anything as I only drove it around the parking lot of my apartment a bit and loudly heard the grinding it was making and fixed it.
hey if it makes you feel any better not too long ago I dropped a new work laptop worth over 500$, I was the first one in my company to do so. And yes owning up to your mistakes is a big deal. I could of just said a customer hit it off the desk but I took the hit. on my car i do a lot of my own work but for some of the big stuff I like to take it in. this guy happily took over 1500|$ to fix some stuff and exhaust leak on my vibe and it still sounds like crap. what can you do.
+HumbleMechanic tech in the bay next to me left a wireless obd head to a scanner in a car, never saw it again, who knew tthose things cost 1,000 dollars.
I operated a repair shop during the 1990's, we worked on EVERYTHING. A not-so mechanically-inclined friend of mine had a early 80's chevy 305 V8 T-top camaro, one of the last carburetor emission monsters that never ran right when they were new. I often let this friend do his own oil change on it. He was griping that it "had no power, I'm afraid to drive and pull out into traffic". It was the general consensus between the four of us that worked in the shop that the catalytic converter was clogged, causing a restriction in the exhaust (this was common on this era of cars equipped with carburetors and shitty emission control systems). Since it was my friends' car, I told this kid working for me to neatly cut the pipe behind the converter, bust out the clogged catalyst with a bar & hammer, start the engine, rev it up and blow it out, then I'd quickly reconnect the pipe with a weld. So I left my friend and the kid to their own devices while I was attending to other things in a busy shop. I hear them revving the open exhaust V8 engine up and laughing at all the noise & converter chunks blowing out. I think "great they are almost done", expecting to be asked soon to finish the job by welding the pipe back on. After a 1/2 hour of unnatural silence & not much action from the corner of the shop they were in, the kid come to me with his head low. "It wont start again. Just goes click click click, like it's stuck". I go over to investigate. My friend looks like he's about to have a heart attack. Sure enough "click, click, click" is all it would do. The kid's in the car, on the lift, in the air, going click click click, my friend and I are under the car when he shows me the engine oil drain plug in his hand. Apparently the two of them didn't communicate with each other. They seized the engine while revving it with no oil, the kid didn't know that the friend pulled the oil plug, the friend didn't realize what he had done until it wouldn't start any longer. I keep my cool, spend 2 minutes welding the pipe so it wont drag against the ground, (welding always calms my nerves, something to do with the focus required) & to help make my friend believe his car is not JUNK NOW. I push the car into the parking lot for the duration of the day to use the lift for other work. I tell my friend the kid will take you home, and I will call him the sometime tomorrow. Next morning I go out in the parking lot with my coffee, a Marlboro and a breaker bar. I put the bar on the crank bolt and the motor popped loose after a few tugs. I have the kid fill it with fresh oil, and tell him to let it run in the parking lot, but keep an eye on it. All morning we let it run at an idle under the theory to "break it in". I took it to get our lunch. Seamed OK, it was even alright to pull in front of traffic now. My friend drove that car for YEARS afterwards, only giving up on it because the transmission was bad and it was by then a very rusted out car. If you told me this story, I'd say bullshit also. Try that with any car made in the last 25 years... True story.
+HumbleMechanic the most indestructible, largest volume manufactured, longest production run V8 in the world, the original chevy small block, was the brain child of a german engineer - Zora Arkus Duntov
I love it when top mechanics can admit to massive screw-ups - makes them human. Probably my worst habit is dropping bolts/clips into the engine bay and then taking hours to find them. I've even had O-rings roll through the engine bay, off down the road and down the cocking drain! So unprofessional.
During an oil change I transposed the number for an oil filter on a Toyota troop carrier. Oil filter is on the upper left side of the motor and awkward to tighten up. Thing was filter was almost identical to the correct one. It actually did tighten, and as it happened, owner of the shop was there and due to his smaller hands he could get a better grip on the filter, so I asked him to check it. Seemed OK obviously close, but not close enough. We ran the engine for a bit as we were checking something else, (no leaks at this stage), and the car idled fine for 5-10 minutes. Engine was revved a bit, just prior to leaving. Vehicle was just about to be driven off for delivery, and I see a stream a big black puddle and a thick stream of oil following the car. Luckily the driver was reversing slowly and I got him to stop before he drove off. We pop the hood and the oil filter had popped off the screw. After fixing the F-up, I was left to clean about 5 litres of oil of the floor, (engine takes 8-10) I put it partially down to being in a rush. That's usually when most screw ups occur - in a rush, being constantly interrupted, or being the 3rd, 4th, 5th hand to work on a job. Service and change a started motor. After backing the car out, I inform the shop owner the car won't rev, (he did the service and I changed the starter motor). He immediately begins to question "what else did I touch..." when changing the starter motor (which in this case is nothing since it's and easy swap). We look at the idling engine and I shrug, then he remembers when he blew out the air box he shoved a rag into the intake to keep the dust out. Stop the car, pull out the intake to find a rag caught in the throttle body. No harm no foul...phew.
Hey Charles, I think we've all been there and probably for a lot of folks, they would just be too embarrassed to admit some of the mistakes they've made. Good video and keep up the good work!
see one thing i cant stand is my boss expects us to be 100% perfect all the time and then he will rip into anyone who makes even the slightest mistake and will not fire the lazy people at all and all the guys who do bust their asses day in and day out tend to be threatned with getting fired if we dont follow his directions like they were from the bible or something..hell im currently getting gripped at by him about getting a haircut when a coworker has hair 5x longer than mine and im always in a hat so i think hes bitchin just to bitch but hell i dont know
One of my first CCTA oil changes I was in a hurry to go out to lunch with the rest of the guys on a Friday and I when I removed the oil filter I didn't notice that the oil filter seal got stock in the housing so when I installed the new filter it ended up getting double gasketed, when I pulled the car out for a test drive I didn't even made out of the parking lot when I noticed the oil leaking... but luckily the leak wasn't too bad and the guys helped me out to clean up everything so the customer didn't had to wait much longer and we just had lunch a little later. :p
Been there before with the oil housing on those cartridge style oil filters, it was on a Dodge Charger 3.6L Penstar. Had to go to the person's house and clean up their garage.
My worst mistake ever! I had to juggle a few repairs to squeeze in VVT solenoids on a Chevy Equinox. Quick simple job, will sometimes be the issue, but typically that error code means timing chain, so take a 20 minute gamble, compared to a 2 hour gamble. Of course, CEL comes right back on with the same code, so run to the parts store for the timing kit, working after hours. My mom called, inviting me to dinner, I tell her I can't, I'm in the garage, so she says she'll have my dad bring over tacos. Dad comes in just as I hand tighten the 1st camshaft sprocket to make sure everything is aligned before pulling the tensioner pin, then stop for dinner. Go back out after dinner, finish it all up, set everything to torque except the 1st sprocket. Start the car, CEL is off, go to back it off the ramps, hear a loud clank as the car stalls. Needless to say, I didn't have time for a valve job, call a shop I trust, have it towed there, and pay $1200 to get her car back to her a week later.
Doing a 3.5 Ecoboost f150 short block, got it out, rebuilt, installed, and fully finished started truck and everything ran perfect shut it off to check for leaks, no leaks present went to start the truck and it wouldn't start, found I had pushed the rubber access plug for the torque converter nuts too far in and it had wedged itself between the flywheel and block which overpowered the starter motor. Luckily was able to pull it out without any additional damage
Thank you for share your experiences, its shows that we are just human. thankfully we can learn from our mistakes. I was still a apprentice at a BMW garage and was called to fit a new set of front wiper blades ( how hard can it be!) anyway I started with the passenger's side, removed the old wiper blade no problem but when I trying to fit the new blade the wiper arm slipped out of my hand and hit the windscreen. the impact cracked the windscreen. Now I to call my boss and explain what had just happened, at this point in time I wished that earth beneath me could open and swallow me up. thankfully the customer was understanding.
As the age old adage goes, "to err is human" and the one that goes something like "it's not how good we are, but how well we deal with the bad" ( which is probably wrong, but it works). I remember one in particular. When i started my apprenticeship i had never done any mechanical work at all, ever on a car. Blocked, sand and painted a few but never anything mechanical. So, when the company owner asked me to swap the wheel and tire on the front of his 1 year old (Ford) Tickford Turbo Capri ( for those that dont know, it was a very special, very limited edition, all gussied up by Aston Martin Tickford Ltd). There were only 80 of them ever built when they were new and alot of the bodywork was formed around a pretty radical body kit...like i say...only 80. So, i cracked the wheel nuts before i jacked the car up, just like you should (going well so far ) and i got the jack and put it in the little slot designed to take the jack and start to wind...and, for a while, things were going great, the jack was going up and the car was going up too...but, then, that's when it all went tits up! there was this really strange squawking sound...almost like a small parrot having its neck wrung, but the thing that made me go cold, was the big black crack appearing right where the jack was disappearing. The majority of the car was no longer going up...the jack was, and the bottom of the front fender was. But, in general the car was not levitating as it should. I lowered the jack, hoping that the crack might disappear, i really did hope that it would be gone...but, nope, it was still there. I thought i may get away with it, but that "squeak...crack!" every time you opened and shut the drivers door put paid to that one. If the crack didnt get his attention, the miniature gunshot every time he got in the car certainly would. He was pretty mad when i told him, but he made a joke about it to everyone else when he thought i was out of earshot. SO i think the telling off was more of a lesson than real anger. I did spend a few extra hours of my own time repairing it though ( i didnt mind, i loved doing bodywork repairs and fab work). But, whatever the reason, it worked because from then on i always checked to make sure i was jacking in the right place ( and i learned better techniques and jack positionings) and nowadays i know the difference between a jacking point and one of those holes left behind after dipping the shell. But from then until this day, i still look at the bottom of the front fender of every Capri i see (not so many nowadays ) and take solace that i am not the only dickhead in the world to curl the front fender of a Ford Capri due to unclear jacking point literature and i even found a Technical Service Bulletin covering this very same topic. The moral of this story is, no matter how bad you fuck up, man up, be honest and learn from it. Because the fact of the matter is, in all probability, there is someone, somewhere that firked up way, WAAYY worse than you did. I never did change that tire actually!
The first one reminds me of when my brother took his car in for an oil change and they forgot to put the dipstick back in the well. He started driving and smoke started pouring out from under the hood. He opened it up and found that oil had sprayed all over the engine compartment. Now he makes sure to check that all of the caps and plugs are back where they belong after getting work done.
My biggest screw ups: Forgot to reinstall the oil cap on a SL55 AMG. Unluckily for me, the customer drove 10 miles before smoke from under the hood caused him to pull over. I hooked him up with a free oil change for the next go round, and I detailed his entire engine bay. Forgot to tighten the caliper slide bolts on a BMW X5. I caught this one early as on the bedding drive I noticed a clunk, clunk over bumps. Luckily I caught it. Tore some brand new tires (22" low pro run flats) during mounting. This was probably one of those jobs I should have let go. Cust showed up 15 minutes before closing time to mount 22" Yokohamas on his Audi A7. I was tired, and at the time not properly equipped for such a job. Tires were a bear, and I tore the sidewall on one. Forgot to secure the RPM sensor (wheel speed sensor) on a w163 ML350. I was diagnosing an ABS code, and did a positional swap to test the sensor. Upon installation, I forgot to secure the cabling, and it kinked and tore :(
When replacing the timing chain on an SR20DET I neglected to installed the oil squirter that sits above the crank gear and didn't notice until I had virtually finished putting everything back together and found the damn thing on the ground.
Excellent video, man. Good job, in all cases. You did what you had to do to make it right. I have been in this very position *many* times with musical instrument repair. Some things were my own fault, some were nasty, hidden surprises that made the job impossible to do unless they were fixed first. In all cases for me no one cared - ever - so long as I got on the phone and gave them a detailed, honest breakdown of what was what, and (when needed) owning up to any mistakes I personally had made. Many times I would have them come down to the shop to see exactly what was wrong so I could show them what had to be done. I have done a lot of free work, too, when things went wrong. I think this sort of ethic built my business faster and with more solidity than my top-end custom work. People love technicians who communicate and who are very bluntly honest. I am enjoying your videos and will keep plowing through them. Cheers!
The funnyest one I did is one a no start heavy equipment. I have a really long set of leads on my multi meter and while working on no crank I finally got it to crank and start only to see my meter being dragged across the hood and into the engine fan.
I was servicing this nice BMW 328i x-drive diesel. took it for the test drive, everything ran great, had nice power, drove great, and no issues, so I get it into my bay, and start the courtesy inspection, checking suspension, check for any leaks, and fluid levels. I pry up the lastic cover like many newer cars have. I hear a hiss come from nearby. I look down, and see an intake with a sensor and think, oh, ok, I released a vacuum hose, or an area of the intkae that see's vacuum pressure (not familiar with BMW's at all). I see no leaks, and put the cover back on. everything is ok on the car. I bring my slip to the service rep, and grab my oil filter and start the service, I mention to him it needs a rotation, and start to drain the oil, and pul all 4 tires. I completed those, and put the car down, service writer comes out "you have another waiter, you almost done?", "yeah 5 minutes, just need to change the filter, and fill with oil, and torque the lugs", I change the filter, put oil in, torque the lugs. I start the car, clear the service warning. So i go on the test drive, car has NO POWER... felt like driving a 3 cylinder fiesta... wtf.. a warning light comes on when I try to give it some skinny pedal... CRAP!! I start to have nightmares... I pull into the bay, I go see the shop foreman thinking I just fucked up, I gotta pack up my brand new toolbox, and go home... I hook up the scan tool, and read the engine codes, low pressure, values too low.. hmm.. I cant think of why, so I clear the codes, and go for aniother drive.... I get about 15 ft from the shops front drive to realize..,"OH CRAP, that hiss must have been a vacuum line to the turbo... duh!!" I get back to the shop, pop the hood. shop foreman looks over, "what's up", "I know what the issue is, I heard a hiss when i pulled up on this engine cover". He prodded me for being dumb, and I found the line plugged it in, cleared the codes, and ran like a dream.. I lost my waiter during this 15 minutes fiasco, and at the end of the day wound up with dead time, sulked, and cleaned my bay, and tools... felt so humiliated as a new tech..
one time I changed a Dirty air filter and FORGOT to clean my mass air flow sensor I scratched my head for weeks chasing vacuum lines and putting in new spark plugs and coilpacks in my mk4 gti before I put down the tools and brought it to the shop in about just 10 min my local shop thought to check the maf and I learned a valuable lesson that day I saw him use fuel trims to look at the maf reading and see it was off anyone can change parts takes a true technician to follow the diagnosis process properly every time missing no steps we have all used a impact gun broken a bolt, possibly cross threaded something, or maybe got a bad quality part but they are valuable learning experiences to be had
Great video we are all human. As a shop owner I always tell my team mistakes give a chance to grow and learn as long as we admit them. And some our best customers are the ones that at some point something did not go right on there vehicle and we took care of our mistake and where upfront with them.
Before i got my license i learned through mistakes how to fix something, where to get parts and source them. But i feel that i am worst then i was when i was younger since i don't do these jobs every day. Mistakes before working on cars and my first engine a MK10 Villers Tractor motor. 1: Cracked the head by prying it with a screw driver as i could not recognize two huge tall bolts on the top of the motor. 2: smashed 2/3 piston rings, could not push the piston in so i used a hammer :D 3: Could not time the motor even with documentation, always spun forwards then backwards. This was solved 2 years later from study that the motor fires two times for every revolution of the motor, which means it had to be spot on to TDC otherwise unburned fuel would make it backfire. Mistakes when i started working on cars to now. 1: I got the leads on the wrong way around on a V6 Pajero, easily fixed, but a mechanic recons because my Dad had something to do with the fitting of the leads that he got the crank out 180 degrees since he helped me put it back together. He told me check if the cranks out 180 degrees and feel for compression in cylinder 1 with my finger. Problem fixed! 2: Which was this year... I have a video showing my success and failure, but i got the top caps on in the wrong order. Due to an overwhelming amount of stress and being my own car. I had to get my car running gold ASAP! Too bad everyone can wait now. I managed to seize the cam by installing the top caps in the wrong order. 5 tops caps two without numbers then the numbered ones said 2, 3, 4 and after putting them on i knew how the cam should have felt and well... it was WAY to hard to turn the cam. I tried to get help and because everyone felt too slow and how urgently i needed the car i just prayed the car would run and work. My Dad felt like he wished it on my for the car to break and said "It's gonna BLOW!!!, It's not going to run!" It ran for a good 8 minutes and then the crank advanced timing and piston to valve collision destroyed 3 rocker arms and 4 top caps. The one that did not break was the one that caused the issues in the first place. After this my Dad's been much nicer and helping me fix this. Today we tired to put the AC back up correctly a storm hit we got wet and this bolts such a pain that we did not get it in as it resides behind the AC and you need fingers to screw it in, but it did not line up to the hole. I have worked on Pajero V6, Pajero Diesel, NC Fairlane V8, AU Falcon's, a few Truck's and a Tata Diesel Utility. But the main car i gained expirence from was a ZL Fairlane 1987 and let me tell you, i think that is the most complicated car in bits and pieces i have ever seen. It's got a TON of electronics and to top that off... like 100 Vacuum lines that operate both the Air-conditioning, Cruse control i think? And components on the car like the fuel regulation valve. Sure i made mistakes on the Fairlane i broke the Cruse control cheap enough to rebuild and replace some plastic, had Dad's boss fix up the thread properly without Helicoils when i over-tightened a bolt. And Started trying to learn how to fix the body. A Real mistake not in a mechanic perspective was when i got trapped in the car, no knowing how to get out the boot and none of the doors worked they were all stuck shut from rusting mechanisms. I managed to get out but i first had a Stanley Knife and started cutting the trim. I realized after that was the wrong way to get out around 10 years of age and disassembled the drivers door which was HARD! Then i got a screw driver and a hammer and beat the shit out of the mechanism i understood to be the door latch and what do you know? That got it open! Those 5mm linkages were flexing because of the stresses of trying to open a rusty latch which is why when i tried to get out i could not since they flexed. That was when i started realizing my own potential as a mechanic. When i got sick in that car, i went looking for answer and found cracked plastics. I pulled them out thinking i could replace them and found a HUGE hole in the passenger Pillar which is a safety risk in an accident. And i found why i got sick due to water getting in through the hole into the car. Since then i have saved and preserved the car for years to come when i will be able to afford a restoration package. Yeah i can't weld so good on cars so let someone else take it slow :P
I havent had any major mishaps yet. Maybe my worst is when I tightened an oil filter down but did not notice how a zap strap end snuck in between the seal and housing of the filter because of the filter location. Then my boss goes to move the car out of the shop after I finished the rest of the oil change and it leaks oil all over the parking lot and I had to go running around wiping it up haha. Ever since I always double check for leaks.
I once was using the lift to just lift one corner of a vehicle to remove a single wheel on the passenger side. What I didn't see from where I was operating the lift was that I had accidentally left the driver door open. The lift arms on the other side caught the door which, as it turns out, is not one of the recommended lift points for that vehicle.
Your first mistake was almost my mistake over the weekend.... 3.6 Penstar motor in a grand caravan, I only just found out the oil filter changes from the top, I almost didn't tighten the oil filter cap all the way. Lol.
I once did a complete rebuild on an MR2. Put it all back....dropped a small bolt and thought it vanished forever. Starter it up fine...drove kind of weird then noticed a leak. F!!! input shaft seal is leaking...tear the trans out...tear it all apart. replace the seal...put it back together. STILL LEAKING!!! Tear it apart again and realized that the bolt I dropped fell perfectly between a ton of wires and hoses, bounced 90 degrees into the small opening for the starter and nicked the trans causing the leak! Could've welded it, but didn't want to chance it so ended up replacing the whole transmission lol. It went from a 6 hour job to 1.5 hours the 3rd time pulling it.
I did an engine change on an old car and after rebuilding realised I have left a rather big bolt out I the equation somewhere. decided to give it a quick test drive regardless just as the n/s suspension collapsed half way round a corner
I worked at a chevy dealership in my 20's as a parts driver, a mechanic had me hop in a car that was on a lift,he was diagnosing a trans issue.he said put it in drive ok now put it in park, I did so without applying the brake. I'll never forget that sound ;(
I didn't check if the gasket from an old oil filter was off before putting the new one on. It wasn't, the new filter didn't get on properly and hello oily driveway until I knew what was wrong. On a 6.5 Diesel, I had just put new batteries in. There were two Positive cables to one of the two batteries, and in my haste I didn't put both on. The result was the SUV turned on but was low in battery power and even if I turned the lights on it would be noticeable. I also cracked the old and brittle wastegate vacuum hose during all this, then taped it which worked for a while.
I used a Harbor Freight torque wrench to tighten the bolts on the timing components on a 4.0l SOHC Ford and the right side slipped when I started it.. I’m gonna use that torque wrench for a hammer or pry bar from now on!!
Worst one lol I had just started at a used car dealer they had bought an auction car, I think it was an 07 Jeep Grand Cherokee. Someone had spilt paint all over the carpets front and back was a horrible mess, so they had me replace to carpet. No big deal unhooked the battery and went to work, well in the process I had unbolted the airbag control module on the floor, I didn't want to unplug it so I just layed it off to the side ( turns out upside down) a salesman had come back and asked about something stupid like exact mileage or something so yeah sure let me hook the battery back up and get that for you. Well as soon as I turned the key on the airbag control module thought it was in a rollover and blew EVERY bag in the car. Amazingly I didn't lose my job they made me replace all the bags at no labor though!!!
I had an 07 Toyota Avalon where the natural easy way to remove it causes you to rip out the wires from the crank sensor. The bracket on the right side must be unbolted from the starter even when it's loose! The bracket hangs on to the starter and a wire holder for the crank sensor. I struggled to repair delicate wires which kept breaking until I just had to pull the AC to do it. Fully put it together 3 times. Took nearly all my day and lost a lot of customers to other mechanics who came for me to do the repair. As the newer guy that doesn't happen much and it was a real blow.
Alternator, not starter. Thankfully, I'm a Toyota Nation . com member and trusted people posted this common mistake with a tried and true wiring diagram.
Mine in 5 years as a Audi tech are, Dropped a 2012 S4 3.0T super charger on the mounting studs and punched a hole in the charge cooler ($1100), popped a tire on a hoist ($220) accidentally hid the seat belt buckle on a b6 A4 after doing e brake cables... that was a free one but sooo embarrassing. And a B5 A4 2.8L v6 6 speed clutch and rear main job that i did not install the rear main properly and did'nt notice the oil leak till i had driven the car.... $100 part but 8hrs in labor.... Mistakes happen as long as you learn something from it and don't do it again, it was not a waste! I was also run over once... but I don't want to talk about it haha!
my most major mistake vehicle wise, I left water in a 4.3 s10 over winter. I went to start it up and change the fluids to sell it. well I noticed a freeze plug popped out. I replaced it, not knowing exactly how much damage could have been done. I happen to have the oil plug out as I put coolant in the radiator. as I poured fluid into the radiator it came straight out of the oil plug. the thing still started and ran but I lost a good bit on the resale value lol
I've always told my children " Most of what I've learned, I've learned by screwing up". We all make mistakes, as long as they are used as a learning experience it's all good.
I remember one in late 1980's. I performed a wheel alignment. Mistakenly had left the right rear head on the wheel. I think it was a D111 machine. Anyway while road testing I thought I briefly saw a red fox skirting across the grassy knoll behind me on the right, through side view mirror.No it wasn't a fox, was in fact the bent up head. Not fun at all to tell our shop manager.
In the middle of getting my degree in auto mechanics and landed a job at a dealership in town! Got put on the lube rack with some other guys and all is going well. Until I get told that 3 cars I did an oil change on had loose drain plugs.. one even fell out. My manager made me a necklace out of the drain plug that fell out and I now have to wear it as a sign of shame. I also can’t get parts unless I show the parts guy my drain plug necklace. It’s been tough and VERRYYY embarrassing. I feel like they don’t trust me now and I don’t like the feeling but hey we all make mistakes. I can tell you now that I triple check that the drain plug is tight even if I know I tightened it down.
I made the mistake of looking at a vehicle that came in as a new used car for sale on the lot. I go over the vehicle, and looked at everything, noticed on the test drive that there was a knock on the steering of this highlander. I went over the rest of the car, and listed all the issues that I noticed on the vehicle, and I felt that I had diagnosed the lower steering u-joint as the issue as I had not noticed that the electric assist unit was knocking against the upper mount, the bushing was trashed, I did'nt know this until after I had already had approved and done the work, (oil change, new battery.....) turns out it's a combination of me not being experienced enough, and misdiagnosing an issue with the car, and taking it to the service writter too early before double checking, or asking another tech. now I'm scared shitless to make any more mistakes with any vehicle. the repair to this highlander looks like a $1500-1900 in PARTS!!! I felt like crap.. Boss said to take this as a learning experience, but not to have this happen ever again, as they have 72hours to asses a vehicle faults/issues and either repair whats wrong, or send it back to auction. that highlander should have gone back to auction, now I cost the company money, they wont make much profit if any on this car now.
Wrapped a rubber stretchy around a front half-shaft to pull it out of the way. It let go and hit me in the eye. Then a month later a Mopar starter circlip popped off and got the other eye. Dropped an auto trans on my groin. Operation on scrotum. Yum. Wiped a small leak from Jag auto. Rag disappeared thru cooling grid. Auto out. Topped up push button 318 Dodge trans. It jumped into gear and destroyed my garage door, with me under hood trying to pull the coil lead.
I had to replace the engine in my Tiburon. After the dealer gave me back the car, I instantly noticed it was spitting out an awful lot of black smoke and fuel economy was non-existant - and this was a brand new crate engine! After a bunch of back & forths and multiple returns they finally told me their diagnostic machine says all four O2 sensors are not reading correctly. Now, I'm not a full fledged mechanic, I did training years ago and know my way around a car. I'm no Hyundai Tech by any stretch but I finally said to these guys: "Did you plug the O2 sensors in correctly?" Their reply was "Of course we did! They only go one way!" The thing is, Tiburons use the same sensor for both pre-cat and post-cat. Same Sensor, Same Part number, Same connector. The morons had plugged them all in backward. The engine had been overfueling the entire time and didn't break in correctly. Another crate engine later......
back when i first started using air tools, doing rear shocks on a odyssey broke the stud off that holds top of shock to vehicle. Had to take apart all the that side rear trunk interior trim to remove what was left of it, and have my foreman help me weld a new one back in. i was buying him coffee for a week after that one...
I screwed up one time, doing a routine tire change, go to put them all back on, i get to the last wheel and snap goes the lug nut, we replace it, its the end of the day and snap. I go to look at the torque specs again and 79ft lbs. I look at my torque wrench and sad enough I set it at 100. For the third time the wheel stud had to be re installed it was done correctly.
I can say for the 2 years I worked with my last boss, who has been doing this for 30+ years, I couldn't believe how many times he said "as much as I have done and seen, I have never seen that" from doing something wrong. Lol I like your videos
this was years ago,however I recall a guy bringing in a brand new mustang cobra. he wanted to put higher output headlights in it. We pulled it in the shop and the tech jumped out popping the hood as he did this he failed to put it in gear or put the break on. he ran to the parts room and when he came back the car was wedged in the door. he left the door open and the car rolled back bending the door back and pinning the car in place. not a fun time at all.
