Personal automotive injuries and stupidity

[Dave]

So, I know I've done a lot of stupid shit involving cars over the years (there's no need to document those) but it has rarely done anything more than scare me for a little while. Recently, however, I actually managed to hurt myself. I figured I'd start a thread for people to share their experiences so that others can learn from their misery. So to kick it off, here's my first mentionable injury (aside from soreness/whiplash from prior accidents and thenormal small cuts and bruises)...


On the Sunday prior to Christmas, it was nice and warm outside and I was a little bored. The motor for the driver's side window on the truck has been slowly dying for a while, so I figured it was time to finally fix it.
The job was going really smoothly considering I had never done this before, and I was on track to be finished in a couple hours time. The last time I had a window problem was in my 240, and it was cheaper to replace the entire door :-). I had the window regulator out and the motor unbolted, but for some reason the motor wouldn't come out. Figuring it probably just needed some persuasion, I grabbed the regulator and gave it a good yank.
Well, I hadn't really taken any note of the surrounding mechanism or how the regulator worked. My yank worked like a charm and the motor popped right out. Unfortunately, I failed to notice the large, coiled spring at the bottom of the scissor-like regulator. The motor wasn't moving b/c of the amount of tension this spring was holding against the gear on the regulator. When I yanked it, the gear dissappeared and my hand was all that stood in the way of the spring + scissor as it released.

It really didn't hurt, more of just a snap and a crack. My hand was caught in the scissor and I was able to pull it back enough to release my hand. Some pain started to settle in in the next few seconds, but it still wasn't bad. At the moment I didn't know the regulator was broken, but I looked the situation over to see if maybe I could finish the job before I took care of my wounds. I quickly realized that would be stupid and went inside. A quick rinse made it clear that was worse than I originally thought, and then the adrenaline rush dropped off. We quickly headed for the hospital.

Long story short, I got three stitches for the cut and also managed to break the proximal phalanx of my index finger on my left hand at the knuckle. Basically, a big crack at the knuckle where the pointer finger meets the hand. Fot the 26 years prior to this, I had never had stitches or broken a bone, so this was like a 2-for-1 special. I was all wrapped up in a semi-rigid cast for 6 days due to the Christmas holiday and had the joy of a useless hand for one of the few times a year that I see all of my family :-).
I'm recovering well and the hand has been in a splint for a few weeks to prevent movement of the broken joint. The stitches are out and the scar is healing nicely and I'm now required to exercise the joint several times each day. I should hopefully be rid of the splint in a week or so and expected to have full mobility of the finger to resume its normal course of duties in about 3 weeks.

Let's take a moment to note the ingenious design of the regulator also. It is actually built so that if the motor is not working, you will not have to worry about the window dropping (defaults to "up"). The spring is actually strong enough that when it released it bounced off of its mount and the dealership is not equipped to coil the spring back up, so the part is essentially broken and must be replaced.

Moral of the story, take the time to look at WHY something isn't coming out, look at the whole system you are working with, and ALWAYS watch where you're putting your fingers. The past few weeks have sucked and I'm excited to get my finger back so it doesn't always look like I'm pointing at things :-).

[WRXtranceformed]

Hey well I'm glad that's all it was that you hurt buddy! It could have been a lot worse. Don't underestimate that kind of injury though, give it a ton of time to heal. I had the same exact break from my last car accident except that it was on my middle finger instead of the index like yours. Mobility is fine but it does still get really sore sometimes when the weather changes or if I do something to it wrong. Without fail after about 9 holes of golf it starts to hurt too

The dumbest thing I did was slice the shit out of my wrist trying to change the oil on my old Tundra. Some AIDSface mechanic who worked on it previously must have put the drain pan bolt on with an impact wrench because I could not get it off without a lot of effort. The bolt finally popped loose and my wrist flung off and sliced a gigantic gash on the dust guard on the bottom of the truck. I was pretty lucky it wasn't worse. Now I don't change my own oil anymore, it's not worth the hassle for a $20 job imo.

[Mike]

I once had an oil filter that was crazy seized. Rather than using tools, I kept twisting and twisting. My hand had a nagging pain for about 3 years after that... I couldn't grip squat. Pretty certain I broke something, but never bothered to have it checked out.

Lesson learned: Be quick to admit you're not He-Man.

[BLINGMW]

Rough story Dave!

I don't have anything that meets that, but I stabbed a big chuck of flesh off a finger while playing with E30s. I was using a big 'ol flat blade screwdriver to pry (I imagine that's how a lot of these stories will start) some old injectors off a fuel rail. Popped one off and thought, wow, that came off with some force! I need a glove on this hand. Put one glove on. Popped the next one off and slashed open a knuckle on the ungloved hand. Smrt. I probably should have gotten a stitch or two, but of course, I didn't. Still have a little scar there.

I found out later on when I came back to it that the injectors came off MUCH easier by hand with a little oil applied to the o-rings. The screwdriver/prybar was completely unnecessary. :oops:

[.RJ]

RJ + broken glass... enough said.

[ScottyB]

oh man, glad you're OK Dave...coulda been worse i bet

stupidity:

- tried replacing the blown front shock on my accord. instead of unbolting the top hat, i unbolted the middle nut which let the shock fall into the spring. apparently accords have 16" long springs which meant i couldn't compress the spring enough to get the assembly out from in between the A-arm. eventually after 3 days of trying, strangers were literally coming by to check on me that i was OK. Dave and Jay bailed my ass out by helping me unbolt the ball joint (i was too scared to try that on my own). then we threw the shock into a field.

- had some really nasty lifters in my A4 and alot of evidence of inpending sludge problems. filled crankcase with diesel to break it down (especially off the oil intake) and then drained, filled back up with oil. apparently some diesel got into the cylinders/intake somehow and i basically hydrolocked it. ruined the bottom end, new engine after being in the shop for 4 months.

- spilled fuel in open wounds while changing fuel filter (ooowwwww)

- got rust/dirt in my eyes trying to rip an old exhaust off, probably could have blinded myself

- i was draining the oil from one of my cars and realized the drain pan was already full. that was a hell of a sprint i did to get the other empty drain pan

- overfilled the oil, and went to unbolt the drain pan bolt just a bit to let some oil weep out. well, the plug was slippery, i dropped it in the pan and down into the hole in the middle, and then the whole engine full of nice new oil drained completely out. i had to cut the pan open to get the bolt out of my fresh drained oil.

no major injuries yet, somehow.


hey where's that picture of Evan doing his trademark fabric softener oil change?

[.RJ]

I should also mention that I got some shit in my eye and didnt realize it while doing some sanding/painting work last year - and then like a dumbass I forgot to take out my contacts when I went to sleep. 3 days later, massive eye infection, fun for all. Missed a week of work.

hey where's that picture of Evan doing his trademark fabric softener oil change?

I love it.

[ViPER1313]

I've received tons of scrapes, cuts and bruises while working on cars, but there are 2 moments of stupidity that stand out from the crowd.

1. Working on the subframe of the SHO removing one of the rear subframe bushings. The nut was really seized and hard to get to, and to top it off I was working in a t-shirt. My arm was extended straight and resting across the bottom of my catalytic converter that was missing a heat shield. When the bolt broke free my whole arm moved back 3inches, and one of the rusted weld dots from the missing shield ripped a nice gash in my arm. Had to go to a clinic and get a tetanus shot.

2. Cutting through the exhaust pipe on one of the Merkurs with a dremel and a carbide cutting bit at John's house, I failed to realize how irritating 1 million small shards of metal can be to exposed skin. Not a real injury, but it stung whenever I moved my right hand for the next week from all the metal splinters.

[BLINGMW]

2. Cutting through the exhaust pipe on one of the Merkurs with a dremel and a carbide cutting bit at John's house, I failed to realize how irritating 1 million small shards of metal can be to exposed skin.

I actually find that educational, I would have, and have, done the same thing. Guess I'll avoid it next time!

[Feersty]

With the buick I would spray the steelies gloss black without taking them off the car. It looked good until I wanted to take the wheels off. Well later on I was in Fox Hills with the rest of MM doing some stuff to our cars. I wanted to bleed my brakes. The damn lugnut would not come off. But eventually it did, and when it did my knuckle punched the asphalt and started bleeding. Besides the fact that the lug had broken off inside the Nut. After that I took it to Fauls' garage and they did a most excellent job of addressing the situation.

[Sijray21]

With the buick I would spray the steelies gloss black without taking them off the car. It looked good until I wanted to take the wheels off. Well later on I was in Fox Hills with the rest of MM doing some stuff to our cars. I wanted to bleed my brakes. The damn lugnut would not come off. But eventually it did, and when it did my knuckle punched the asphalt and started bleeding. Besides the fact that the lug had broken off inside the Nut. After that I took it to Fauls' garage and they did a most excellent job of addressing the situation.

perhaps you forgot about the opaque fog light paint? :wink:

Stupidity:

- i had a hard time removing an oil filter as well, only this time i tried to ram a screwdriver through the side and use the extra torque to remove it..... this was not only very messy, it didn't remove the filter. I pondered for a bit and tried to figure out how to take this damn thing off. i ended up hammering a butter knife (using the side of the hole created by the screw driver) to break it loose. I used gentle taps as to not completely destroy the malleable filter. I got the filter off (finally) after this 6-hour ordeal.

Should've gotten hurt:

- i didn't really know much about working on the car and didn't really have anyone to teach me proper ways. I had a short shifter installed twice and two times it broke (the shifter itself). So finally i decided i was going to fix it myself. i placed the car on its scissor jack as i worked beneath it while my girlfriend at the time was in the car helping me out. i shook the hell out of the car several times trying to jar loose the connecting rod and the shifter. I didn't realize how stupid this was and how i could've killed myself until much later.

There is probably more events, but i can't remember them.

[HAULN-SS]

don't you guys use oil filter wrenches? hell, who screwed them on there so tight to start with? you just have to snug them up

[Sijray21]

don't you guys use oil filter wrenches? hell, who screwed them on there so tight to start with? you just have to snug them up

lack of oil on the gasket before screwing it on

[Mike]

don't you guys use oil filter wrenches? hell, who screwed them on there so tight to start with? you just have to snug them up

they don't fit too well on the hatch.
when a car sits for over a year, the filter gets pretty nasty to take off no matter how loosely you had put it on.

[Dave]

on several occaisions, every time on a newly purchased car, I've had to do the screwdriver-punch method of removing an oil filter. It's an interesting technique, and a little fun, but I prefer spinning it off by hand.


Since this has become a thread about sharing moments of stupidity, prepare to be amazed:
1) There was an instance of one of my red cars rolling down a hill (had to be the mkIII supra or a 240) that I have managed to forget about. I know there were witnesses, so I'll see if I can get details. Sorry, my memory has never been very good...

2) While towing a 240sx on a dolly with Rex, one of the rear wheels came loose and flew off, never to be found again. The PO wanted the wheels that were on it, so we did a really rushed wheel swap in the dark and apparently didn't tighten the wheels very well.

3) While loading a different 240sx onto a dolly, the car got too much momentum and I didn't realize it, car rolled up over the leading edge. I honestly don't remember how we fixed it; probably held the brakes on the car and used the truck to pull the dolly up in line.

4) The great free-car debacle of 2005 with Rex and Julie. After essentially being arrested close to Winchester, being released and coming back to H-burg, we got a truck and trailer to go pick up the cars from the impound (2 seperate trips). Somehow managed to load the car at an angle or something, ended up driving one of the front wheels into the center gap. This caused the nose to dip and one of the rear wheels to rise, so the damn thing wouldn't pull itself straight. Rex will have to chime on how we fixed that (I want to say we couldn't fix it at the impound and just towed it like that).

5) Pushing my 280zx off of my trailer b/c it wouldn't start, I slipped off of my foothold and banged my shin on one of the metal crossbars. Hurt like a mofo and swelled up for 2 weeks. Still have a bony lump there; I'm really happy it wasn't 9 inches higher at my knee...

6) The lights on my trailer weren't working and it got dark about halfway to Summit Point. No use in turning around, so I just rested my foot on my brake the rest of the way to keep the trailer lights lit up. I didn't think about the electric brakes on the trailer and how they would have been constantly engage as a result of this, so my trailer was not happy with me when I got to Summit.

7) Bleeding brakes on the supra, had all 4 corners on jackstands. Was on a pretty steep incline and I started to lower the front down first. As the weight came off the jack and onto the wheels the car started to roll forward. Very quickly jacked the front back up and did the back first so that the E-brake could hold it in place.

8 ) Jacked up a 240 in the back yard to take the wheels to a shop and have new tires put on. Ground was wet so the jackstands had no support and collapsed while I was at work. Got home and car was leaning up against the support for the 2nd story deck. Not to mention it was almost impossible to get the front end off the ground to remedy the situation.

9) One of my SE-Rs was being towed but the E-brake was non-functional at the time. Tow truck driver was not happy with me.

10) Ran out of fuel on I-64 just out of Richmond 2 miles from my destination and the gas station. No big deal, except there was a barricade on my right and traffic was way too heavy to get over to the left side, so I suddenly became a large brick wall. Absolutely one of the scariest experiences ever. Took the cops 15 minutes to get there, in the meantime I'm hanging over the barricade screaming at people to get their attention that there was a stopped vehicle ahead and hearing lots of screeching tires. For the record, I had enough to get to the gas station, but an unexpected detour due to a really bad accident cost me an additional 14 miles and I was too headstrong to stop b/c we were running late.

11) Putting a straight-through muffler on the truck, I used one of the shitty pipe-cutting tools rented from Advance. I finally said fuckit and used the angle grinder to finish the job in 2 minutes. As noted above, angle grinders spray a lot of sparks and this time they were pointed straight at the gas tank. This worried me a little, but that was quickly replaced by angry despair when I realized that I had cut the section out too long and there wasn't enough to overlap to install the new pipe.

There's some more, these are just the first that came to mind. I'll share some more when I think of them :-)

Luckily, I have gotten much better with using trailers, so I haven't repeated any of my above mistakes. As stated in the original post, it's amazing this little job was the first time I'd hurt myself, but I'd like to think I've learned from all of them...

[Ginger]

3) While loading a different 240sx onto a dolly, the car got too much momentum and I didn't realize it, car rolled up over the leading edge. I honestly don't remember how we fixed it; probably held the brakes on the car and used the truck to pull the dolly up in line.

Haha - I remember that! The day I met Dave. I don't remember how we fixed it either, but it sure was an awkward way to meet Rex's dad. Whatever we did, he was pretty instrumental in making us suck less

I have to note, about the oil filters. I had a stubborn one on my Toyota truck... so I sold it

[Jewels]

I'm pretty sure that almost all of Rex's friends have met Henry like the above. He's the guy who managed to muscle that mkIII supra from one end of the garage to the other end sideways, and hanging from a chain from the ceiling, while Rex and I were out running errands. He's been a part of almost all of Rex and Dave's big ideas. Remember how the Tink( black 240) sat for a whole summer beside the garage until Henry found the sensor that needed to be hooked up. Great times we had in Weyers Cave.

[balactm]

Stupid and should have gotten seriously injured:

Working on the mr2 recently, I was trying to get it to start. Since it had been sitting for a while i tried using some starting fluid to get it to start up (this was before i realized the injectors weren't grounded). Well, apparently I used too much ether and when it finally caught, it backfired into the apparently filled intake manifold (there was a good puddle on the bottom of my intake) and exploded blowing the radiator cap i had used to cover the resonator into my arm, melting my sweatshirt onto my long sleeve shirt and sending me flying backwards with a ringing in my ear. As I was being thrown away from my car, i also noticed a fire bellowing out of my intake manifold and yelled to my girlfriend to shut it off after i had subsided onto the ground. It was a very scary experience to say the least...

Could have gotten more injured:

I was driving home one day when some d-bag took his left turn way too late and ended up in front of me while i was doing 45 getting ready to make the final right turn onto my street. I hit him full on ended up halfway in a ditch with the horn blaring, girlfriend at the time crying and stuck in my car. I climbed out and realized that the guy who hit me was standing in front of me with his car in the middle of the street turned around and asking me in spanish if i was ok. Long story short, he ended up fleeing on foot back to his house after leaving his car at the scene. My girlfriend went to the hospital and i ended up with a few scrapes from the airbag and really bad headache. The guy is in jail now for a felony (hit and run with someone injured and driving without a license) and paying me back 88 dollars a month until he pays 2000...i could have easily been flipped if he had hit me more from the side.

[NTIman]

The worst thing I've done is pry on a brake pad with a long screwdriver to push the piston back into the caliper, unfortunately the caliper was seized, and the screwdriver slipped off and i punched myself in the nose. A quick trip to the emergency room revealed that my nose wasn't broken, it was just pouring out blood for a while.

Other dumb things I have done is use a long flex handle ratchet to loosen a belt and i busted a radiator with it. Lesson learned there, I haven't had a flex handled ratchet since.

A mechanic who used to work where I do installed some brakes and went to test them, hit the gas instead of the brakes, jumped a parking block and landed the Land Cruiser he was driving onto two cars that had just been delivered from Toyota, and then proceeded to back off of those cars and hit another car.

Another guy I work with forgot to pump the brakes on a Rav4 and drove into a garage door.

[Ryan T]

Working on Dave's 240 he yelled at me to get my attention while I was underneath the car and I headbutted his differential hard enough to make my forehead bleed and give me a horrible headache; other than that I haven't really been hurt very badly working on a car. Just cuts and scrapes here and there. I suppose doing redneck shit like this could have potentially caused an injury: