some people should not be allowed to touch engines

[modok]

Toyota 3.slow heads, rebuilt, have heat tabs on them, no shop name or number.
One valve guide cracked, another the top broke off valve guide but they put a valve seal on it anyway, for decoration?.
All valves have .002-.003 runout. Two valves have .010 runout, one burned from that. The heads were bead blasted inside and out. Everything feels gritty, everything. Valve stems are covered in dings, from a tumbler??? Cam wore into the caps about .002" The grit got into the lower end and into the bearings. It didn't run long enough to ruin the crank but the clock was ticking.

Everybody around here is spooked about .002 valve face runout, well, that would have been fine.
It's a good thing it burned a valve before the glass dust killed the crank.

[induction apprentice]

Hats off to FC Pilot. I was just thinking about posting a dare to all.... to cough up and admit to one goof up each? Then I came across this honest mans post. Very big of you to share.

Who's next?

[FC-Pilot]

Hats off to FC Pilot. I was just thinking about posting a dare to all.... to cough up and admit to one goof up each? Then I came across this honest mans post. Very big of you to share.

Who's next?

We are all just one bad day away from being "that guy". It is being able to laugh at myself and learn when I do make mistakes. I won't make the same mistake twice, but I know I will make a new one tomorrow. (I just hope it is not bad enough to need to share here )

Paul

[modok]

jesus, forgive me
Ok, I thought of one. I was.....supervising a friend and his brother, doing top end on L6 a jeep. I was tired, after work just helping out. The whole time the guys were fighting/insulting each other, which was distracting.

It kept overheating. WHy? I could not figure it out. Few days later I checked coolant flow, radiator clear, all was ok.

Later I hear, the head gasket was on backwards.
It's probably my fault, but it might have been sabotage, I don't recall who did what.
It is possible to install the gasket wrong, the only thing that lines up different is the size of the coolant restrictions. It's also possible to install the main bearings wrong too. I can't take any credit for discovering that tho

[steve cowan]

hi guys,

i worked at a GMH dealership as a apprentice mechanic back in the 80s,a customer came in a couple of times over a six month period
he was complaining about a rattling noise under the bonnet,checked engine oil and it was down a bit 2litres in a 4 litre pan
i topped it off checked for any major leaks and asked when the car had been serviced last and he had no clue,so i said keep an eye on it and recommended
getting a service and check over,so about a month later he is back complaining about this annoying engine rattle
i checked the oil again and it was near on empty,it is not a leaker so i say-mate the motor is stuffed its a major oil burner but doesnt blow major smoke at idle or light throttle.
i say'' hey buddy'' the oil light has to be coming on before the engine starts rattling its arse off,i turn the ignition ''ON'' to check dash warning light as this thing has no oil pressure gauge,anyway there is no oil light,i put my hand up under dash thinking the bulb is blown
there is no bulb,i say to the guy how long no oil light mate-he says that there was an annoying red light flashing on the dash all the time so he took the bulb out and threw it away

hey guys,
here is a major stuff up i did when i was a third year apprentice at the same dealership,i worked there for ten years,started as work experience,then apprenticeship for 4 years,tradesman,then finally foreman baby sitting 15 mechanics.
this story is a little amusing for me now but at the time i was devastated as i was 18 years old and thought i was going to get sacked for sure but didnt happen
one of our courtesy cars had a worn out gearbox so they say to me you can overhaul the tranmission so we can save some money WHAT!!!!
i had only serviced these 4 speed jatco gearboxes,never had one apart nor had even the old hats either so i was first cab off the rank
anyway after 2 weeks of doing the best i could following the work manual to the letter
got it all together but had one o'ring left over and could not work out where it should go,so i thought it must go in the bin
gearbox back in the car proud as punch going to fire it up and go for a test drive
top up the trans with correct fluid and start it up for the first time
it got a bit of a whiring noise but not to bad just figure fluid level down a bit
try to drive off the hoist feels like it has 5500rpm stall converter
check trans fluid top up a bit more cause the trans is slipping so has to be fluid level ''RIGHT"????
so eventually get out of workshop and down the road
i am loving this big stall converter,get bottom of street and the car is not moving no more
i walk back to shop and tell boss might need tow truck
they sent vehicle to transmission shop and say there is one o'ring missing of front pump,REMEMBER THE SEAL IN THE RUBBISH BIN DEAL
boss tells me gearbox cost $3000 to fix and was destroyed in 30 seconds

[BCjohnny]

Quite a few years back I dropped in to see a mate, and as I went into his shop noticed a petrol saloon, Mazda I think not that it matters, all locked up, smoking and running very roughly on the forecourt.

"Any reason why you've got that motor dieselling it's head off outside?", was the obvious question.

I think we've all seen, and experienced lol, the mild panic that occurs in such situations, he'd almost got the door open to shut it down before it stopped of it's own accord. Of course it was scrap, having only come in for a 'slight run on' problem. He naturally blamed it on the apprentice ......

[grandsport51]

45 years in the automotive repair business ,
I've seen a lot of things
As an assistant service manager at a Ford dealer in 1972
Mechanic Jimmy Jones changing out 72 400 cylinder block under warrantee and young kid (me) asking him why he was using a 1/2 " impact instead of a torque wrench to reassemble the short block ,l was greeted with the reply "Don't need a Torque wrench I just set the knob on the handle 4 is 40 lb. ft.etc. " I just shook my head and walked away. Customer in 80s complaining about oil leaking Fairmont " the thing leaks oil until it gets 4 qts low " again just walked away.
So too innumerable to write about but fun too remember. 1 last customer complaining about oil leak in 73 Capri,
I write it up and mechanic asks me over to look at number 3 con rod thru the block!
Good Stuff Yee Hah!
Dave

[MadBill]

Somewhere in the S/T archives there is a "Top This Turd" thread I started, with a hundred more such stories..

viewtopic.php?f=1&t=42408&p=536012#p536012

Thanks TRK. Even when I remembered the exact title, right down to the exclamation mark, it didn't come up. Must have mis-set one of the dozen critical search parameters..

[ozmuscleowner]

I thought is was us mechanics that didn't know what "we" were doing, you know as we are all "sinceya" guys

Sinceya changed my radiator my rear end is now noisy
Sinceya pumped up my tyres the brakes have worn out
Sinceya serviced my car the wipers have stopped working.......

Always our fault..sinceya did that

[rfoll]

So what does R10 signify to say to you that bearings are wrong? The rods are 10 under? Aren't some 350s labeled as R10 for the application? I've seen them marked as such. What made you positive it was one and not the other? Thanks.

The rod journals measured -.010, and the bearing shells were standard. The 2 spun bearings were the result. One of the things that always surprises me is what you can get away with in regards to calculated excess clearances, etc. I have had several engines that had .005" piston clearance after being honed to straighten out the bore. They all lived a long time without burning oil or clattering. Valve train stuff is not so forgiving.

[RevTheory]

Wanna hear how smart I am? I was unable to sleep so I crawled out of bed and took a 12 pack out to the garage at 10:00 PM for the final assembly on a 383. I wrapped it up around 3:00 AM and nearly dislocated both arms patting myself on the back for a meticulous assembly.

I got to the dyno the next weekend and after break-in and three pulls, the ignition timing was all over the board and there was this strange banging noise above 3,000 rpm. You know that sick feeling you get in your gut when you realize what you just screwed up? Yeah, I forgot to install the thrust washer and needle roller behind the cam sprocket on a hex-adjust timing chain. The cam walked backwards so far it spit the distributor out and knocked the sides of the lobes off from banging into the lifter behind it.

And I got the "privilege" of doing it in front of a bunch of professionals. Sure enough, it was cleaned and lubed up sitting right behind a 12 pack of Corona. Complete engine rebuild and a near-death experience from choking on pride

[induction apprentice]

re sealed the valley plate on a friends 440 powered bracket car years back. forgot and left all the paper towel laid over the lifter valley to catch any debris while scraping the gaskets. the towels shredded and plugged the oil galleys solid. Oil light came on as soon as we fired it.

years back did an oil change on some poor guys Volvo. Forgot to put the new oil in. I was amazed after a good 10 mile test drive when it finally dawned on me. The oil light is on! It seemed fine. We filled it up and informed the customer of my retardation. Offered the customer to run it and we would overhaul it for free if it ever caused him any trouble. But it never did. He drove it for years after. Thank You Volvo. One very impressive engine. One very dumb ass mechanic.

[The Radius Kid]

Somewhere in the S/T archives there is a "Top This Turd" thread I started, with a hundred more such stories..

viewtopic.php?f=1&t=42408&p=536012#p536012

Thanks TRK. Even when I remembered the exact title, right down to the exclamation mark, it didn't come up. Must have mis-set one of the dozen critical search parameters..

I was curious.
Good stuff there and here.

[4vpc]

I have worked as a parts manager at a few car dealerships and in this one place they had a new machanic start one Monday morning and I new it was going to be a full on disaster as soon as I layed eyes on him, you know the type!

The first job they give him is a tire roation, tune up and oil change, so he comes to my parts counter and I give him the tune up stuff and oil and tell him to wait 3 minutes and I will get some more oil filters out of my over stock location. Mind you that I had already seen him drain the oil and drop the filter.

I get back to counter with the filter and he's running the fucking motor! and I scream to over at him what the hell are you doing running the motor with no filter on it , and his reply to me "was getting all of dirty oil out of the motor" with a look on his face like I was the Asshole!!! Needless to say he was out of a job within 20 minutes thank God!

He was right and you were wrong there. You can run an engine on tickover for quite a long time before any damage is done, although it's usually with sump plug out and filter on.
It's not something i'd really recommend, but I've done it a few times. If you don't believe me search Youtube for 'running engine without oil', you'll be surprised how long it takes.
Under load and at higher rpm than tickover? Definitely not.

[mag2555]

So you do this procedure when you change the oil and filter on your own personal cars and equipment 4vpc?

Let me know if you every get a job at a fast lube joint and where it is located so I can steer clear!