Stupid People: Autotech Edition

[Anarius]

So, over the years since I've started having a cell phone on hand I've taken pictures of particularly noteworthy stupid things that have have come into the shop. Sometimes its something my coworkers do (never me of course), sometimes its something other "mechanics" do, and sometimes its just something that makes you wonder...For non-auto-techs, I think this will provide a interesting inside look at the goings-on of a 9 bay general repair and tire shop.

I hope to share some of them, and their stories here. Please post your own.

(The sign on my side locker)

 

[Anarius]

I'll begin with something *I* did.

This pic is of a knuckle on a trailblazer. Specifically, the bottom of the upper ball joint. The odd colored splotch at the bottom? Yeah, thats my scalp, hair and blood. Turns out I really should have done a better job securing it out of the way.

Derp!

<a href="http://imgur.com/O4cbirY"><img src="http://i.imgur.com/O4cbirYb.jpg" title="source: imgur.com" /></a>
(fullsize image here)http://i.imgur.com/O4cbirY.jpg

 

[tcianci]

I didn't actually see this but when I was a kid, I worked as a gopher at a dealership and we always heard the story about the mechanic who was doing a dealer installed radio and ran a screw up through the dash pad and cracked a windshield

 

[Twisted Sid]

http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=137399

 

[Anarius]

This customer came in complaining of a "knocking" noise over bumps. I believe this is a Mercedes. I saw this odd bump on the hood, and thought "I wonder what that is?"

Well, turns out THIS is what is was:

 

[Anarius]

Hey look! A Ford Ranger on the rack waiting for an alignment!

<a href="http://imgur.com/zR6BQB3"><img src="http://i.imgur.com/zR6BQB3b.jpg" title="source: imgur.com" /></a>

Hey, what kind of tire is that?
<a href="http://imgur.com/oQpU2gO"><img src="http://i.imgur.com/oQpU2gOl.jpg" title="source: imgur.com" /></a>

Oh, I guess its not a Ford Ranger after all?

 

[Anarius]

I don't know what is worse: this idiot ignoring a perfectly good lift, the way the jack is, or the OTHER idiot watching all this? (Neither one is employed by us any longer)

 

[fury9]

I'm enjoying this so far. Maybe I should start one about remodeling and the things I see and find!

 

[AndrewV]

Wish we could merge threads.
The cars customers bring into the shop thread comes to mind.
But I'll play.

Spraying coolant all over me.

 

[Twisted Sid]

http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=137399

Wish we could merge threads.
The cars customers bring into the shop thread comes to mind.

 

[GTA Matt]

Earlier this week a mustang came in. The week prior it had been a crank, no start and another 'shop' diagnosed it as a fuel pump. New fuel pump fixed the no start, but now it was low on power and wouldn't rev over 3k. Not sure whether it was that same shop, another shop or the customer, but they decided it needed a tune up. After stripping out a few spark plug holes, it was brought to my shop. After putting time serts in the affected cylinders, we were finally back to the original problem. It had 20 psi fuel pressure with the pump dead headed. Fell to 3 psi under acceleration. I looked at the current waveform of the pump, looked like ****. Dropped the tank and found exactly what I expected, a "Tough One" brand pump (actually I was expecting airtex, but close enough lol). You have to wonder how much saving a few dollars on a cheap pump actually cost them...

 

[Anarius]

PSA - CHANGE YOUR FRICKIN' MOTOR OIL!

This lady came in with a Trailblazer 4.2. Complaint was a knocking noise and running poorly. I thought it had dropped a valve, until I saw the exhaust cam position data:

<a href="http://imgur.com/H32WurV"><img src="http://i.imgur.com/H32WurVl.jpg" title="source: imgur.com" /></a>

The 3rd screen is missing?

<a href="http://imgur.com/xWpSnxe"><img src="http://i.imgur.com/xWpSnxel.jpg" title="source: imgur.com" /></a>

Oh, there it is! She was 16k overdue on a 165k motor. Ran surprisingly well after a new solenoid and oil change.

 

[Anarius]

Ever see a tech so desperate for money that do something stupid? This tech got a rack and pinion job, but there were no other two-post bays available (if he waited 5 minutes there would have been).

I think book time was 2.4? Took him about 5.

<a href="http://imgur.com/m7IGquG"><img src="http://i.imgur.com/m7IGquGl.jpg" title="source: imgur.com" /></a>

 

[Anarius]

Wish we could merge threads.
The cars customers bring into the shop thread comes to mind.
But I'll play.

I didn't know about that thread, so I'll try and keep this less "cars" and more "stupid people" if I can (not that there is that much difference, eh?)

Speaking of coolant, this will hold pressure, right?

<a href="http://imgur.com/O0fbWEW"><img src="http://i.imgur.com/O0fbWEWl.jpg" title="source: imgur.com" /></a>

2003 Focus 2.0

 

[Anarius]

GTA Matt, since you mentioned plugs here is an econoline 150 with a 4.2 V6. Customer recently purchased the van, previous "tune-up" was done with the plugs hand-tight. Several of them blew out.

<a href="http://imgur.com/yHO4AvJ"><img src="http://i.imgur.com/yHO4AvJl.jpg" title="source: imgur.com" /></a>

 

[GTA Matt]

Oil changes? Highly overrated.

 

[Anarius]

Some magnets I have on my toolbox - they get my thoughts across well.

<a href="http://imgur.com/cWtjwDQ"><img src="http://i.imgur.com/cWtjwDQl.jpg" title="source: imgur.com" /></a><a href="http://imgur.com/nD20eWv"><img src="http://i.imgur.com/nD20eWvl.jpg" title="source: imgur.com" /></a>

 

[Anarius]

Oil changes? Highly overrated.

Holy ****! Thats bad even by the standards of where I work!

BTW what is that? Ford 2.0 DOHC?

 

[stearn786]

Oil changes? Highly overrated.

2.7L Chrysler motor?

 

[Anarius]

ETA: NOPE Stearn wins

 

[GTA Matt]

That's a 2.7. I can't take credit for that pic, someone sent it to me.

Brake line "union"

 

[Anarius]

Customer hit "something in the road"

<a href="http://imgur.com/O4ocS9U"><img src="http://i.imgur.com/O4ocS9U.jpg?1" title="source: imgur.com" /></a>

Taken out of season and with no tags! Tsk Tsk

 

[Anarius]

We don't need no stinkin' vacuum fittin'! Bring me my pen!

<a href="http://imgur.com/ip1w31x"><img src="http://i.imgur.com/ip1w31xl.jpg" title="source: imgur.com" /></a>

 

[Anarius]

Smuckers! The No. 1 manufacturer of universal aftermarket power steering caps! This is the nicer "universal" model with the duct tape adapter that will allow a good fit on even broken reservoirs!

<a href="http://imgur.com/0E2QytA"><img src="http://i.imgur.com/0E2QytAl.jpg" title="source: imgur.com" /></a>

 

[Jlbc212]

Responded to a fire behind a service station early one evening. The station also had an automated car wash. The entry to the car wash was behind the station. There were a couple of coin operated vacuums also in the area behind the station. We could see a good column of smoke as we drove to the station. As we got closer it was obvious the smoke was coming from behind the station. There was an older Infiniti sedan parked near one of the coin operated vacuums and the smoke was billowing out of the vacuum. We quickly extinguished the fire. There was a couple standing near the sedan. The guy's eyebrows were singed and carbon soot was on his face. Their command of the native language was poor. With the help of one of the bilingual firefighters we learned that the Infiniti had been running rough. Someone suggested to the owner that there might be dirt in his gas tank. So he brought the car to the coin-operated vacuum. He removed the rear seat to access the top of the fuel tank. He pulled out the fuel pump and proceeded to vacuum the gasoline and dirt out of the tank. The gasoline ignited and exploded in the vacuum and flashed back through the vacuum hose to the rear passenger area of the car where the guy was holding the vacuum hose in the tank.

 

[PAToyota]

He pulled out the fuel pump and proceeded to vacuum the gasoline and dirt out of the tank. The gasoline ignited and exploded in the vacuum and flashed back through the vacuum hose to the rear passenger area of the car where the guy was holding the vacuum hose in the tank.

Back when I was in college, the neighbor of a friend of mine from high school burnt his entire house down doing something similar. He and his wife were buying a new car. The wife was driving the car that they were going to trade in and it was low on gas, so she filled the tank the day that they were going to trade it in. The husband was furious - no way was he going to give the stealership a car with a full tank of gas! So he decided he was going to use his wet/dry vac to syphon the gas out of the car before taking it in to trade it in.

As I say, he burnt down their ENTIRE HOUSE when the shop vac exploded in their garage. Luckily, all the people made it out with only minor injuries.

 

[clifftt]

Working at a Datsun dealership years ago, I saw a tech finishing an oil change, the oil hose hung from a rack above the car. The car was a 280ZX with T-tops. He accidentally let go of the hose and it coiled back up to the ceiling, waving back and forth and spraying oil on the roof and interior above the ZX. I laughed so hard I almost peed in my pants watching him jump up and down trying to catch the hose to shut it off.

 

[58Yeoman]

Many years ago when I bought and sold VW's, I saw a lot of things that I should have taken pix of. One was a beetle with about 3' of air hose being used to repair the rear brake line that ran inside the car, along the center hump. Brakes spongy? Nah...

This one isn't stupid, but funny. I had a guy helping me put up a tv tower; he did this for a living. He told me that one time he went to install a tower and wire up a new house. He was in the basement drilling up through the base plate into a wall, when all of a sudden, threads started wrapping around his bit. He went upstairs to see a thread missing down the middle of the living room. It was a pre-fab house where they laid the carpeting down, then put up the walls on top of the carpeting. His bit caught a thread and pulled it out.

 

[LS6 Tommy]

I was at my my buddy's shop and a guy brought in a Jetta with a "custom" turbo kit that wouldn't run. Opened the hood and found the entire turbo system was piped in PVC. It was all melted.

I wonder if using PVC for a turbo is technically using it for compressed air...

I can't count the number of times I've seen antifreeze in the windshield washer fluid jug.

Tommy

 

[97fordsuper]

I was at my my buddy's shop and a guy brought in a Jetta with a "custom" turbo kit that wouldn't run. Opened the hood and found the entire turbo system was piped in PVC. It was all melted.

I wonder if using PVC for a turbo is technically using it for compressed air...

I can't count the number of times I've seen antifreeze in the windshield washer fluid jug.

Tommy

I had a friend in high school who made a cold air intake for his bronco all out of PVC. He was showing it off one night and you should of seen the look on his face when someone said what if it melts from the engine heat. It was a look of, "I never thought of that". But it never melted.

 

[dynahoe]

wednesday morning had a 05 sable dropped off due to no dash lites.roll the dimmer up and down verify they work,engine running and off all seems well.call the 78 year old woman and explain they work fine,she is a little upset that i can't find her problem and comes to the shop to get her car and insist i show her they are fixed.we sit in the car together her in the dr seat me in pass.she starts the car and turns on the headlites then proceeds to roll the dash vent control wheel up and down,"see it doesn't work they stay dim",i reach under the column and roll the dimmer and they go bright."what did you do ?howd you do that?" she asks i show her the dimmer wheel and explain the other is to limit the airflow from the vent above the headlite sw. we both laugh and she feels stupid,very stupid.and no i did not charge her anything

 

[600SL]

I didn't actually see this but when I was a kid, I worked as a gopher at a dealership and we always heard the story about the mechanic who was doing a dealer installed radio and ran a screw up through the dash pad and cracked a windshield

In the Mercedes 560SL the gas tank is behind a partition in the trunk. That where a lot of audio installers like to mount there amplifiers. Lots of screws go through tanks in this area.

 

[600SL]

This customer came in complaining of a "knocking" noise over bumps. I believe this is a Mercedes. I saw this odd bump on the hood, and thought "I wonder what that is?"

Well, turns out THIS is what is was:

Does not look like Mercedes to me but I do know Mercedes has had similar problems in this area.

 

[joe_padavano]

Sadly, I've seen this more than once.

 

[RedneckWelder]

Sadly, I've seen this more than once.

Dem slotted rotors are high performance, *******!

 

[PAToyota]

Sadly, I've seen this more than once.

I had seen pictures like that on the internet and always thought someone was pulling my leg. How could you let something get that bad?

Then I helped a neighbor put on new brake pads. Yep, had to replace the rotors too because they looked like that. I asked whether they had noticed anything? “Oh my God! It has made a horrible noise and been almost impossible to stop for MONTHS!!!”

 

[IMCA38]

I remember reading this story in an automotive magazine a long time ago.

The tech was asked to do some work on the engine on a large trailer-mounted wood chipper. The chipper was dropped off in his stall and he got to work.

Once he finished, I believe he did a tune up or similar, he wanted to check it out and make sure it was running properly.

He went out to the scrap pile behind the shop and grabbed a couple of pieces of discarded lumber and took them back inside, fired up the chipper and proceeded to slam a fairly long 2 x 4 into the feeder.

Predictably, there was an awful noise followed by projectiles flying all over the shop, bouncing off of the walls, ceiling and anything else that was in the way. Several light fixtures were struck and exploded, and the shattered glass raining down only added to the instant chaos. The other techs, wondering what the hell was happening, were diving for cover under cars, behind tool boxes or anyplace else they could find safety.

I can only imagine some of the things that were said after the excitement died down.

 

[Worsedog]

Sadly, I've seen this more than once.

At least that one is in the salvage yard and not still on the road.

 

[Anarius]

OK, here is the collection of idiots + Cars = bad brakes

The scary part is that not all of them got repaired!

Welcome to the salt belt!
<a href="http://imgur.com/YRNBI0x"><img src="http://i.imgur.com/YRNBI0xl.jpg" title="source: imgur.com" /></a>

Gee Jim, something missing here?

<a href="http://imgur.com/rfbw7uw"><img src="http://i.imgur.com/rfbw7uwl.jpg" title="source: imgur.com" /></a>

Its see-through!
<a href="http://imgur.com/G5kdMyP"><img src="http://i.imgur.com/G5kdMyPl.jpg" title="source: imgur.com" /></a>

"My cousin did my brakes, and now there is a noise"
<a href="http://imgur.com/ZwzWAmN"><img src="http://i.imgur.com/ZwzWAmNl.jpg" title="source: imgur.com" /></a>

"My brakes feel funny" (bet they weren't laughing when they go the bill! If I recall, these were off a Focus that ended up needing a master cylinder too!)
<a href="http://imgur.com/VIAvyyc"><img src="http://i.imgur.com/VIAvyycl.jpg" title="source: imgur.com" /></a><a href="http://imgur.com/i2kgx2J"><img src="http://i.imgur.com/i2kgx2Jl.jpg" title="source: imgur.com" /></a>

This car was in the shop just last week getting tires. I wandered by and had to do a double take - notice anything missing?

<a href="http://imgur.com/HIhvzEp"><img src="http://i.imgur.com/HIhvzEpl.jpg" title="source: imgur.com" /></a>
<a href="http://imgur.com/FqYVtnK"><img src="http://i.imgur.com/FqYVtnKh.jpg" title="source: imgur.com" /></a>
Look carefully and you will see the caliper zip-tied to the strut (its missing the piston) and the vise grips are holding in the fluid. And no...they did not get it fixed. "Been fine for over a week".

More stupid:
<a href="http://imgur.com/pWB2QNS"><img src="http://i.imgur.com/pWB2QNSl.jpg" title="source: imgur.com" /></a>

Previous "mechanic" cross threaded the upper bolt
<a href="http://imgur.com/LCTcRAi"><img src="http://i.imgur.com/LCTcRAil.jpg" title="source: imgur.com" /></a>

Next time tighten the bolts, you DIY knuckle head!
<a href="http://imgur.com/a6vo1qG"><img src="http://i.imgur.com/a6vo1qGl.jpg" title="source: imgur.com" /></a>

are pistons supposed to face down? <a href="http://imgur.com/41Cy8JE"><img src="http://i.imgur.com/41Cy8JEh.jpg" title="source: imgur.com" /></a>

Strip the threads out of the rear axle on your s-10? No worries! Just do this:
<a href="http://imgur.com/03r9QpI"><img src="http://i.imgur.com/03r9QpIh.jpg" title="source: imgur.com" /></a>

 

[bobemmerich]

OK, here is the collection of idiots + Cars = bad brakes

The scary part is that not all of them got repaired!


This car was in the shop just last week getting tires. I wandered by and had to do a double take - notice anything missing?

<a href="http://imgur.com/HIhvzEp"><img src="http://i.imgur.com/HIhvzEpl.jpg" title="source: imgur.com" /></a>
<a href="http://imgur.com/FqYVtnK"><img src="http://i.imgur.com/FqYVtnKh.jpg" title="source: imgur.com" /></a>
Look carefully and you will see the caliper zip-tied to the strut (its missing the piston) and the vise grips are holding in the fluid. And no...they did not get it fixed. "Been fine for over a week".

I'm surprised that this car was let out of the shop (although I understand IF the bonehead didn't want it done). That is truly dangerous to everyone else on the road! The shop I worked in, we would have gotten the DMV inspectors involved.