OT: Things you forget and have to re-do....
07-22-2002, 04:41 PM
#2
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Regarding this one ........... #1 - I forget to loosen lug nuts before putting the car up on stands...EVERY TIME now...almost forget to tighten them once lowered, but never drove off with them loose...*knock on wood*
I used to do the same thing all the time until I bought myself an air compressor with an impact gun.
I used to do the same thing all the time until I bought myself an air compressor with an impact gun.
07-22-2002, 05:43 PM
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Here are some of the ones I can think of :
Seat removal - Installed two of the seat rail bolts back and realized that I forgot to plug the power seat connector back in.
Suspension - Installed the springs and tighten the shock tower bolt and realized that I forgot the shock sleeve or the bump stop. This happened several times...
Spark plugs - After installing the spark plug while trying to pull the socket out electrical tape I used temporary around the extension and the spark plug socket fell loose and the extension slipped out of the spark plug socket. Had to plug the extension back in loosen the spark plug and take it completely out and put more tape on the extension and try again.
Door panel - When installing the door panel I forgot to fish the power window wires out of the door panel hole first. Discover that after finsihed installing everything on the door panel, had to take it all apart again.
Plenty more where those came from....
Seat removal - Installed two of the seat rail bolts back and realized that I forgot to plug the power seat connector back in.
Suspension - Installed the springs and tighten the shock tower bolt and realized that I forgot the shock sleeve or the bump stop. This happened several times...
Spark plugs - After installing the spark plug while trying to pull the socket out electrical tape I used temporary around the extension and the spark plug socket fell loose and the extension slipped out of the spark plug socket. Had to plug the extension back in loosen the spark plug and take it completely out and put more tape on the extension and try again.
Door panel - When installing the door panel I forgot to fish the power window wires out of the door panel hole first. Discover that after finsihed installing everything on the door panel, had to take it all apart again.
Plenty more where those came from....
07-22-2002, 06:50 PM
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[quote]Originally posted by Robin 993 DX In Atlanta:
<strong>Seat removal - Installed two of the seat rail bolts back and realized that I forgot to plug the power seat connector back in. </strong><hr></blockquote>
Yep, guilty of that one!!!
<strong>Seat removal - Installed two of the seat rail bolts back and realized that I forgot to plug the power seat connector back in. </strong><hr></blockquote>
Yep, guilty of that one!!!
07-22-2002, 10:23 PM
#6
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[quote] ...almost forget to tighten them once lowered, but never drove off with them loose...*knock on wood* <hr></blockquote>
I DID forget to tighten the lug nuts once. I drove around for most of a day, then the steering felt funny, thought I had a flat! Nope... Just two (of 5) very loose lug nuts.
Chris
ps it was my truck, didn't have the p-car then
I DID forget to tighten the lug nuts once. I drove around for most of a day, then the steering felt funny, thought I had a flat! Nope... Just two (of 5) very loose lug nuts.
Chris
ps it was my truck, didn't have the p-car then
07-22-2002, 10:38 PM
#7
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From KC993: [quote]Forget to pump the brake pedal after brake pads change...<hr></blockquote>
Can agree w/ this; forget to do it greater than 50% of the time.
Other screwups? I wrote this for our Allegheny Region PCA newsletter a while back!
---------------------------
SCHOOL OF HARD KNOCKS
by Ray Calvo
I'm sure by now you've noticed that I have tried to pass on my "nuggets of wisdom" (i.e., here's how I screwed up - DON'T DO IT YOUSELF) at opportune times. Well, the following little lessons in car ownership, driving, and repair gained over about 30 years and almost 1 million miles (see note) of driving might be of assistance to you. If not, you should be able to at least get a few chuckles out of them.
1) Early in my teenager years, I was helping my father do some body & fender work on our '62 Buick Skylark (nice little car - all aluminum V-8, 11:1 compression, 4-speed manual). It had been sideswiped by an 18-wheeler, and we were replacing the left front fender. Being a little "frugal" and enterprising, my father decided that we could repaint the fender (nice simple black) with those touch-up Dupli-color cans. Well, it never worked out - no matter what we did, kept getting runs, orange peel, pebbly/sandy finish, etc. I forget how many times we sanded and rubbed out that fender; I think we went through about 6-8 cans of that touch-up paint. Finally, brought the fender in to a body shop, where they sprayed it with a nice glossy black for about $20.
LESSON: Leave body repair and painting to the experts.
2) My first car was an Austin America (for you folks born after Woodstock, imagine a king-size BMC Mini, with all of the joys of the unique British definition of car reliability). One day, I noticed that the gas gauge just started reading "Empty". No problem, I thought; I can make it up the road 2 miles where gas is 2 cents cheaper (this is in the days when a gallon was 29 cents). Yeah, right - about 100 yards from the station, the car sputtered, popped, and died!
LESSON: Like any pilot who has taken instrument flight rule training knows, trust your gauges! And, according to the English, "E" means "EMPTY-fill up NOW"!
3) With my old '76, I could lock the doors without using a key. Handy feature at times, but it DID get me in trouble once. I would normally leave the car in the garage with the key in the ignition. Once, when I had completed doing some work on the car, in a lapse of reasoning, I slammed the door and locked it. "No problem", you say, "get the spare key and open the door?" The only problem with this rationale - the spare key was sitting on the passenger car seat (don't ask)!
LESSON: 1) Before locking the car (or the house), check your pockets for the keys.
2) Yes, you CAN break into these older models with a coat hanger.
4) Again on the old '76, as I remember I was changing spark plugs. Now, in order to see what I was doing, I used one of these trouble lights with a 100W bulb and a metal reflector (also called a "drop light", since you will invariably drop it, destroying the bulb and plunging you into eternal darkness). Also, as you "Shadetree Mechanics" know, you can get first or second degree burns when that reflector hits unprotected skin. Also, it has a propensity for melting plastic - such as the fuel injection lines in the CIS fuel injection on a certain '76 911S!. I drove the car up to an IRAC autocross at Nemacolin, and when I drove up to registration, the weakened line broke right then! Now, with gas spraying out above a nice hot exhaust, you can imagine the results - a small flame, to put it mildly! Fortunately, a fire extinguisher was readily available, and the flame was extinguished before any damage was done.
LESSON: Watch when using a drop light; check anything it could have come in contact with. Also, if you have ANY damage to a commodity with gasoline in it, get it fixed IMMEDIATELY!)
Note: I have always been in deep thankfulness for Bob Nikel's help in getting me patched up so that I could make it home safely).
5) This was on the '84 Turbo-Look. Decided to do one of my normal 6000 mile oil changes. When I installed the oil filter, I read the instructions on the filter - "screw on hand-tight then an additional 1/2 turn". OK, got it hand-tight, then got out the filter wrench and tightened it another 1/2 turn. Well, at the next oil change, that sucker wouldn't budge! Try as I might, I couldn't get the filter loose. Finally I cut the body and filter element out, leaving only the flange wedged tight against the threaded pipe connection on the oil tank. Well, I STILL couldn't get the filter flange off! Finally had to remove the oil tank, and cut off the flange with a Dremel tool, all the time worried that one slip of the tool would destroy the oil tank lip or the brass threaded pipe.
LESSON: Oil filters should ONLY be tightened by hand. Have not had one leak yet.
6) Again, on the Turbo-Look. Was driving back home from a driver's education event out at Mid-Ohio. Dusk was approaching, so I turned on the headlights. Well, soon noticed as it got darker, so did the lights on the car! Just as it dawned on me that the alternator was dead, the = car died due to insufficient voltage for the fuel injection. This was about 5 miles west of Wexford on the Green Stamp. Eventually, thru the good graces of Ed Boozel and Ted Diehl, I got the car down to Sewickley and myself home.
LESSON: 1) Alternators can fail in modes that won't register in an alternator light coming on. Best recommendation is when first turn on key, check the alternator light. If it comes on then and goes out after the car starts, alternator is OK.
2) Install a voltmeter in the car as an accessory instrument (are easy to install and can get nice digital ones that are fairly unobtrusive). If it reads less than about 14V under normal driving and less than about 12.5V anytime the engine is on, you've got charging problems.
7) This was in the 993. Was an instructor at a Northern Ohio driver's education event at Nelson's. Now, they didn't mandate a tech of instructor's cars, so didn't have to be at track until about 9:00. So, figured I could leave early Saturday AM from home and still make it. However, since I'm still normally catching ZZZZZ's at 6:00AM, I needed a coffee pick-me-up for the drive. Stopped into local Burger King for a large, and proceeded on my way. When I finally maneuvered the two-lanes past the lights and got on the PA Turnpike, reached down for the coffee. Murphy's law strikes - it had tipped over and dumped the entire contents into the passenger seat and on the rug!
LESSON: MADD is right; drinking and driving DON'T mix!
8) Again, in the 993. I had returned from a race track driver's education event, and decided to swap the car back into "street" form. This involves changing brake pads, bleeding/flushing the brakes, and changing tires form the track R1's to street Comp T/A's. Well, did all that, then decided to go for a drive the next weekend. Well, I got about 1 mile when the car felt extremely loose and was clunking over bumps! Pulling over into the nearest parking area (conveniently, a cemetery!), I shook the front wheel, and momentarily panicked when it moved about a half inch. As you might have guessed, I had forgotten to retorque the wheels!
LESSON: Always double-check your work (I also have lost many misc. tools, a fuel filler cap and a college ring due to similar stupidity. The filler cap you can imagine that; the ring had been removed when I was trying to get at an impossible nut, and was left on the engine compartment lip after I was done! Similar with tools; leave 'em scattered around the engine compartment and fail to check before closing the hood.).
9) This was early in my driving experience - the first snowstorm in the Austin! Well, with front-wheel drive (rare in 1970), I figured I had it made. Went out gallivanting, pushing it a little harder and harder through each snow-covered corner. Then, at one corner, I turned the wheel - and nothing happened! I cranked the wheel over a little more, and let up on the gas - still nothing. Next, completely off the gas and crank the wheel nearly to full lock. Well, scrubbed off enough speed where the tires finally bit, and then the car snapped around quickly. Naturally, I start steering frantically the other way, nearly to full opposite lock. About 3-5 seconds later, the car starts swapping directions again. I kept up this pirouette for about 3 cycles, until the car stopped completely sideways. Fortunately, I hadn't hit anything, and no damage was done except to my ego. I then turned the car around, and drove meekly back to the house and parked it in the driveway for the rest of that day.
LESSON: No matter how good a driver you think you are, you can still get yourself in trouble. Slowly build up experience and don't exceed your limits.
Well, those are some of my more memorable tidbits. Anybody have any they want to pass on (well, we all know about "Beelzebub"!)?
------------------------------------------------------------
A million miles of driving? Let's see, roughly in chronological order:
'70 Austin America: 120,000 miles
'76 911S: 150,000 miles
'70 Renault 10: 30,000 miles
'75 Renault Le Car: 90,000 miles
'80 Fiat Strada: 70,000 miles
'85 VW GTI: 6,000 miles (AKA "the Firebird")
'86 Honda Accord: 20,000 miles
'87 Honda Accord: 70,000 miles
'84 Porsche Carrera: 100,000 miles
'90 Audi Coupe: 110,000 miles
'95 993: 69,000 miles
'98 Audi Avant: 55,000 miles
Misc: 10,000 miles (parent's, friend's, rentals, etc.)
Total: 905,000 miles! (if I added right)
Can agree w/ this; forget to do it greater than 50% of the time.
Other screwups? I wrote this for our Allegheny Region PCA newsletter a while back!
---------------------------
SCHOOL OF HARD KNOCKS
by Ray Calvo
I'm sure by now you've noticed that I have tried to pass on my "nuggets of wisdom" (i.e., here's how I screwed up - DON'T DO IT YOUSELF) at opportune times. Well, the following little lessons in car ownership, driving, and repair gained over about 30 years and almost 1 million miles (see note) of driving might be of assistance to you. If not, you should be able to at least get a few chuckles out of them.
1) Early in my teenager years, I was helping my father do some body & fender work on our '62 Buick Skylark (nice little car - all aluminum V-8, 11:1 compression, 4-speed manual). It had been sideswiped by an 18-wheeler, and we were replacing the left front fender. Being a little "frugal" and enterprising, my father decided that we could repaint the fender (nice simple black) with those touch-up Dupli-color cans. Well, it never worked out - no matter what we did, kept getting runs, orange peel, pebbly/sandy finish, etc. I forget how many times we sanded and rubbed out that fender; I think we went through about 6-8 cans of that touch-up paint. Finally, brought the fender in to a body shop, where they sprayed it with a nice glossy black for about $20.
LESSON: Leave body repair and painting to the experts.
2) My first car was an Austin America (for you folks born after Woodstock, imagine a king-size BMC Mini, with all of the joys of the unique British definition of car reliability). One day, I noticed that the gas gauge just started reading "Empty". No problem, I thought; I can make it up the road 2 miles where gas is 2 cents cheaper (this is in the days when a gallon was 29 cents). Yeah, right - about 100 yards from the station, the car sputtered, popped, and died!
LESSON: Like any pilot who has taken instrument flight rule training knows, trust your gauges! And, according to the English, "E" means "EMPTY-fill up NOW"!
3) With my old '76, I could lock the doors without using a key. Handy feature at times, but it DID get me in trouble once. I would normally leave the car in the garage with the key in the ignition. Once, when I had completed doing some work on the car, in a lapse of reasoning, I slammed the door and locked it. "No problem", you say, "get the spare key and open the door?" The only problem with this rationale - the spare key was sitting on the passenger car seat (don't ask)!
LESSON: 1) Before locking the car (or the house), check your pockets for the keys.
2) Yes, you CAN break into these older models with a coat hanger.
4) Again on the old '76, as I remember I was changing spark plugs. Now, in order to see what I was doing, I used one of these trouble lights with a 100W bulb and a metal reflector (also called a "drop light", since you will invariably drop it, destroying the bulb and plunging you into eternal darkness). Also, as you "Shadetree Mechanics" know, you can get first or second degree burns when that reflector hits unprotected skin. Also, it has a propensity for melting plastic - such as the fuel injection lines in the CIS fuel injection on a certain '76 911S!. I drove the car up to an IRAC autocross at Nemacolin, and when I drove up to registration, the weakened line broke right then! Now, with gas spraying out above a nice hot exhaust, you can imagine the results - a small flame, to put it mildly! Fortunately, a fire extinguisher was readily available, and the flame was extinguished before any damage was done.
LESSON: Watch when using a drop light; check anything it could have come in contact with. Also, if you have ANY damage to a commodity with gasoline in it, get it fixed IMMEDIATELY!)
Note: I have always been in deep thankfulness for Bob Nikel's help in getting me patched up so that I could make it home safely).
5) This was on the '84 Turbo-Look. Decided to do one of my normal 6000 mile oil changes. When I installed the oil filter, I read the instructions on the filter - "screw on hand-tight then an additional 1/2 turn". OK, got it hand-tight, then got out the filter wrench and tightened it another 1/2 turn. Well, at the next oil change, that sucker wouldn't budge! Try as I might, I couldn't get the filter loose. Finally I cut the body and filter element out, leaving only the flange wedged tight against the threaded pipe connection on the oil tank. Well, I STILL couldn't get the filter flange off! Finally had to remove the oil tank, and cut off the flange with a Dremel tool, all the time worried that one slip of the tool would destroy the oil tank lip or the brass threaded pipe.
LESSON: Oil filters should ONLY be tightened by hand. Have not had one leak yet.
6) Again, on the Turbo-Look. Was driving back home from a driver's education event out at Mid-Ohio. Dusk was approaching, so I turned on the headlights. Well, soon noticed as it got darker, so did the lights on the car! Just as it dawned on me that the alternator was dead, the = car died due to insufficient voltage for the fuel injection. This was about 5 miles west of Wexford on the Green Stamp. Eventually, thru the good graces of Ed Boozel and Ted Diehl, I got the car down to Sewickley and myself home.
LESSON: 1) Alternators can fail in modes that won't register in an alternator light coming on. Best recommendation is when first turn on key, check the alternator light. If it comes on then and goes out after the car starts, alternator is OK.
2) Install a voltmeter in the car as an accessory instrument (are easy to install and can get nice digital ones that are fairly unobtrusive). If it reads less than about 14V under normal driving and less than about 12.5V anytime the engine is on, you've got charging problems.
7) This was in the 993. Was an instructor at a Northern Ohio driver's education event at Nelson's. Now, they didn't mandate a tech of instructor's cars, so didn't have to be at track until about 9:00. So, figured I could leave early Saturday AM from home and still make it. However, since I'm still normally catching ZZZZZ's at 6:00AM, I needed a coffee pick-me-up for the drive. Stopped into local Burger King for a large, and proceeded on my way. When I finally maneuvered the two-lanes past the lights and got on the PA Turnpike, reached down for the coffee. Murphy's law strikes - it had tipped over and dumped the entire contents into the passenger seat and on the rug!
LESSON: MADD is right; drinking and driving DON'T mix!
8) Again, in the 993. I had returned from a race track driver's education event, and decided to swap the car back into "street" form. This involves changing brake pads, bleeding/flushing the brakes, and changing tires form the track R1's to street Comp T/A's. Well, did all that, then decided to go for a drive the next weekend. Well, I got about 1 mile when the car felt extremely loose and was clunking over bumps! Pulling over into the nearest parking area (conveniently, a cemetery!), I shook the front wheel, and momentarily panicked when it moved about a half inch. As you might have guessed, I had forgotten to retorque the wheels!
LESSON: Always double-check your work (I also have lost many misc. tools, a fuel filler cap and a college ring due to similar stupidity. The filler cap you can imagine that; the ring had been removed when I was trying to get at an impossible nut, and was left on the engine compartment lip after I was done! Similar with tools; leave 'em scattered around the engine compartment and fail to check before closing the hood.).
9) This was early in my driving experience - the first snowstorm in the Austin! Well, with front-wheel drive (rare in 1970), I figured I had it made. Went out gallivanting, pushing it a little harder and harder through each snow-covered corner. Then, at one corner, I turned the wheel - and nothing happened! I cranked the wheel over a little more, and let up on the gas - still nothing. Next, completely off the gas and crank the wheel nearly to full lock. Well, scrubbed off enough speed where the tires finally bit, and then the car snapped around quickly. Naturally, I start steering frantically the other way, nearly to full opposite lock. About 3-5 seconds later, the car starts swapping directions again. I kept up this pirouette for about 3 cycles, until the car stopped completely sideways. Fortunately, I hadn't hit anything, and no damage was done except to my ego. I then turned the car around, and drove meekly back to the house and parked it in the driveway for the rest of that day.
LESSON: No matter how good a driver you think you are, you can still get yourself in trouble. Slowly build up experience and don't exceed your limits.
Well, those are some of my more memorable tidbits. Anybody have any they want to pass on (well, we all know about "Beelzebub"!)?
------------------------------------------------------------
A million miles of driving? Let's see, roughly in chronological order:
'70 Austin America: 120,000 miles
'76 911S: 150,000 miles
'70 Renault 10: 30,000 miles
'75 Renault Le Car: 90,000 miles
'80 Fiat Strada: 70,000 miles
'85 VW GTI: 6,000 miles (AKA "the Firebird")
'86 Honda Accord: 20,000 miles
'87 Honda Accord: 70,000 miles
'84 Porsche Carrera: 100,000 miles
'90 Audi Coupe: 110,000 miles
'95 993: 69,000 miles
'98 Audi Avant: 55,000 miles
Misc: 10,000 miles (parent's, friend's, rentals, etc.)
Total: 905,000 miles! (if I added right)
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07-23-2002, 12:39 AM
#8
I came home one weekend to visit my parents from school when I had my '88 911, and needed to adjust my valves. I had never done it before and had only specs and a short lesson from a local mechanic. I started it late sunday afternoon. I finished about 2 am. Fired it up, and, it sputtered. Shut it down right away; a valve was too tight. So, I had to redo the whole darn thing. I finished 6 am, and had to leave for school by 7:30 for a 4hr drive to FSU. Talk about frustrating.
However, the second time around is always a snap, and after that, I could adjust my valves with the best of them!
ps--I'm so glad 993's have hydraulic lifters!
However, the second time around is always a snap, and after that, I could adjust my valves with the best of them!
ps--I'm so glad 993's have hydraulic lifters!
07-23-2002, 12:55 PM
#9
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Ray, I don't know what is a bigger accomplishment - 120K miles on an Austin America or 80K miles on a Fiat.
Pete
Former cars:
'64 MG Midget
'59 Morris 850 Mini =>1100 =>1275 =>1380 (New motor every 40-50K miles)
'60s MG Midget 1275 track car
Pete
Former cars:
'64 MG Midget
'59 Morris 850 Mini =>1100 =>1275 =>1380 (New motor every 40-50K miles)
'60s MG Midget 1275 track car
