Do i get a prize for the most dumb maintenance accident?

[PeteE30Tourer]

Ok - i've seen a few others admit to stupid things on here before, so here's my tale of woe from the weekend.

I was replacing my injectors with cleaned ones, but as the old ones that came out were so incredibly dirty, i thought it would be a good idea to clean around the 6 holes in the inlet manifold before putting in the new ones. Good engineering practice i hear you say - an o-ring seal needs a good clean surface to sit on, right?

So i though, what could i use to get in the holes with, considering the restricted access. I know - cotton buds, i thought! Fortunately, having a wife and kids, the house is full of them (though i've still not really worked out what they use them for!). So, i soaked the end of one in a bit of carb-cleaner and went round and round each hole, replacing the cotton bud frequently. I decided to give each hole one last rub with the last cotton bud i had and when cleaning No.4 hole, the cotton bud suddenly - almost magically disappeared!

"Brown-smelly-stuff-produced-by-most-living-beings" i thought - that's not good. It had fallen down the hole into the inlet manifold! I couldn't see it anywhere and feeling around with some long-nosed pliers couldn't catch it either. "Double-brown-smelly-stuff-produced-by-most-living-beings" I thought - only one thing for it - inlet manifold has to come off!

So, what should have been a relatively straight-forward job taking about an hour had suddenly turned into a five hour marathon! Fortunately, i had taken the manifold off before, so i knew what i was doing, but i didn't stop cursing that sodding little cotton bud every step of the way.

Do i get a booby prize??

[Jimbob]

Heh, good work Pete, bit of luck you had taken the inlet manifold off before though otherwise I imagine a grown man would've been brought to tears given the situation

Pretty harsh like, you're fingers weren't going numb from the cold air were they, hence it disappearing?

You forget to mention if they sound any quieter yet and what the differenec is on fuel consumption!

Edit: Just spotted the other thread!

[Davenotouring]

Oh well Pete!

That inlet manifold is a pain the first time!!

Jimbob, check out Petes other post in this section.

[TouringMatt]

Bad luck dude

I once had the cambelt inspection cover off on my Metro to investigate a rattle( K-series ) and dropped a bolt into the void.
Arse, pulley off job. Start the procedure to undo the main bolt and as the crank started to turn i could hear a unhealthy creak
Turns out the bolt had landed between the belt and the toothed pulley and got jammed between the two

What started out a quick look turned into a full on cambelt change ( skived the day off to do it tho )- so your not alone in feckups mate

Matt

[RustyRuss]

Not so good mate, but on the other hand you will be an absolute expert at the inlet manifold! At least you realised what had happened!

[Rich_W]

Im just trying to work out if it was worth it. I reckon it would have still run and just expelled it down the exhaust. Cant see it causing any damage.

[Andy_magic]

I know of a guy who used to push the inlet manifold to brake servo rubbers onto the inlet manifold when servicing cars (expensive modern cars) and then start the engine as normal to get rid of them.

I would have done the same thing with a cotton bud as they are only flimsy plastic and err cotton.

[Simon]

Ooops!!

Silliest thing I've ever done is undone the top mount bolt on the shock absorber assembly when I was fitting new suspension on my old 316i, and I'd forgotten to compress the spring

I was damn lucky not to injure myself or damage anything!!

[Martinaston]

PeteE30Tourer
Do you own a hoover ?

[Jem]

Im just trying to work out if it was worth it. I reckon it would have still run and just expelled it down the exhaust. Cant see it causing any damage.

Got to agree. Cant see a little plastic stick would but up much of a fight when faced with the violence of suck squeeze bang blow.

[Jem]

EDIT: double post

[JOSEMI]

So, what should have been a relatively straight-forward job taking about an hour had suddenly turned into a five hour marathon!

quite entertaining, we learn from these I suppose, its like luke skywalker when he meets Yoda, he didn't know what he was getting into !

The dumbest think I did was changing the gaskets and the exhaust pipe in the street in the cold with a friend on the street on the cold floor... unforgivable and unforgetable

Jose

[andyp]

yeah i would have just left it in there cos if the carb cleaner didnt melt it away it would have gone through the system i think.

[Toby_Unna]

no prize Pete sorry... i did that on my m30 a few months ago

pulled a tight injector out and the rubber tip stayed in the manifold. so i happily went off and got a metal coat hanger, came back and poked the bloody thing straight down into the manifold.

found it in the inlet port having taken the manifold off, it had got right behind the valve stem. luckily the valve was closed, or it would have gone somewhere even more annoying
and yes i know how much crap has gone into that port! i used the engine for a few months after this happened but it's now long gone!

The dumbest think I did was changing the gaskets and the exhaust pipe in the street in the cold with a friend on the street on the cold floor... unforgivable and unforgetable

Jose

well i took my old 3.5 engine and box out and put the new ones in in the snow!

[PeteE30Tourer]

Im just trying to work out if it was worth it. I reckon it would have still run and just expelled it down the exhaust. Cant see it causing any damage.

I had considered this option, but i just didn't fancy taking the risk of it causing more problems. At best, it could have just burnt up and blown out the exhaust, at worst, i could have been facing a head-off job again.

As for the vacuum cleaner idea - i hadn't thought of that! It was in one of the most inaccessible holes, but i could perhaps have rigged up a bit of flexible hose to attach to the hoover and blocked off all the other holes. Would have been worth a try! Too late now though.

[Martinaston]

I was thinking of blocking the other five holes and taking the throttle body off

[buster]

I know of a guy who used to push the inlet manifold to brake servo rubbers onto the inlet manifold when servicing cars (expensive modern cars) and then start the engine as normal to get rid of them.

I dont get what you mean there andy

Toby,you hero,thats bloody harsh doing that in the snow !

[Martinaston]

but then you'd have to take the hoover apart to make sure you got it

[JOSEMI]

Toby_Unna

mate that's nuts, although you had an engine lifter thing still its nuts

the pain !!!

Oh well, there is a moment when we have to put a pair of b's into it ey !

Good picture

( I love the fact that on this site an answer is very likely to come with a picture, no arguments there !

Jose

[TouringMatt]

Do you own a hoover ?

Using some small bore pipe, a lot of insulation tape and me Ma's Dyson i bodged up something to suck all the crap out the spark plug holes

Better than having it go inside the engine and you can see it doing rapid laps in the Dyson

Matt

[nwmlarge]

thats pretty good going

stupidest one i've done is whilst fitting a comedy horn to my jetta i snapped the casing on the radiator .
that meant new rad plus refil coolant system etc lol

[Mops]

My story is worst so far....


Last time I was adjusting valves, I wanted to check my eccentrics on my m20. So i unfif the run on the bold holding eccentric and dropped it down the oil drain hole accidently. I had to take the sump off to get it out.... which includes taking the steering rack out and stuff...

[Jhonno]

My story is worst so far....


Last time I was adjusting valves, I wanted to check my eccentrics on my m20. So i unfif the run on the bold holding eccentric and dropped it down the oil drain hole accidently. I had to take the sump off to get it out.... which includes taking the steering rack out and stuff...

i think i would have cried

[JOSEMI]

pretty fukcd up tho

[jacko]

My stupidest thing was when i was rebuilding the top half of a 'o' series engine, when i was putting the rocker cover on with silicone gasket i must have rubbed my eyes by mistake because two weeks later i was having an operation to remove it from my cornea where new growth had covered it. How stupid?

[Mops]

My stupidest thing was when i was rebuilding the top half of a 'o' series engine, when i was putting the rocker cover on with silicone gasket i must have rubbed my eyes by mistake because two weeks later i was having an operation to remove it from my cornea where new growth had covered it. How stupid?

Ahahahahahahah
I think thats the best one so far.

[b1ondini]

More an annoyance than a problem,

was fitting my exhaust to my Mini and dropped the nut from the clamp.

It went 'tinkle, tinke' right down the exhaust!

Had to remove the whole exhaust (I had already fixed the three mounting bolts) and turn the exhaust upside down to shake it out.

less grief than some of your mishaps!


Another Mini mishap was my mate stripping his front wheel bearing on his Dads drive. It fell totally to pieces so he couldn't put the hub or wheel back on again.

"No major problem" he thinks, "Just get a new one in the morning"

Only problem was, he had parked too close to his Dad's garage door, and couldn't shut it!

Had to borrow a trolley jack to back it up a bit!

Its a frustrating world out there on the drive!!!

Scott.

[johnna]

On the e36 I had, I snapped the sump plug when fitting it. I was left with a sheared off hollow tube screwed into the sump. As I was hiring an engine hoist to lift the lump to drop the sump, a gadgie next to me said.................. "bang a small torx bit in and turn it".

Worked a treat, but I still felt a tw@t, having driven ten miles in a borrowed car to hire hoist I didn't need!