What tools have you left behind........

[LumpyMusic]

It's nice when they come back like that.
Good They didn't find it, they might have bitched or took it.
I "Try" to never set anything under a hood.

If you left a 24" pry bar under the hood of my car, and I found it, you bet I'd ***** AND keep it. That kind of sloppy work is totally unacceptable to me.


Lumpy

You were on CHiPs? Did you wear those ****
tight pants and high boots like Erik Estrada?
No. Swimtrunks.
www.LumpyMusic.com

 

[mrbreezeet1]

If you left a 24" pry bar under the hood of my car, and I found it, you bet I'd ***** AND keep it. That kind of sloppy work is totally unacceptable to me.


Lumpy

You were on CHiPs? Did you wear those ****
tight pants and high boots like Erik Estrada?
No. Swimtrunks.
www.LumpyMusic.com

Maybe the boss had him all screwed up? Did you ever think of that?
It can and does happen.
Every mechanic is not 100% left alone to do his thing at his own pace, where he can make sure all is perfect.
Some boss's can make you a nervous wreck.

 

[Motor-Mechanic]

Snap-On stubby No2 pozi drive (old style hard handle)
Sykes Pickavant 7" pliers
Sykes Pickavant screwdrivers x2

All out of production now and therefore irreplaceable

 

[marnav1]

Got a fix it ticket for a bad headlight on my old Delta 88. Changed out the bulb and went to get a cop to sign off on it. Drove about 10 miles to the station and got the cop. When we came out guess what was sitting there? Screwdriver and torx driver layin on the bumper. Thats what happens when you hurry. Lol

 

[jamesc]

I lost a 10 mm stubby wrench doing plugs on a northstar v8, looked for 15 mins and gave up, I have lost lots of 1/4 sockets that fall and cant seem to be found in engine bays, I don't buy expensive 1/4 sockets anymore. I left my 1/4 impact under the hood of a lesabre, had the service advisor call the lady and come back. I left a crasftman 3/8 bent handle ratchet and 10 mm socket under the hood of a nissan sentra, came back about 10 months later and I found it.

I found a 1/4 drive snap ratchet and extension in a rad drain plug, it was a grand am the drain points forward on them the ratchet was just sitting there. later that week I found a cheap 1/8 pin punch.

and one day I was working on an e150 and i was doing something in the right front corner I can't remeber what but i dropped a socket and while fishing with a magnet I found 2 sockets and a large flat head screw driver, 15 minutes later i found the socket I dropped.

 

[bgott]

I use my borescope mostly for chasing dropped tools, it's probably saved me $200 in the last year.

 

[rick carpenter]

I've permanently lost plenty of Maglights, and several tape measures. I lose a lot of tools within arms' reach temporarily.

 

[bsaint]

A metric allen key set in the back of a machine thats hundred of miles from my house. A Matco half moon wrench somewhere in my garage from when last working on my driveshaft.

 

[LumpyMusic]

Maybe the boss had him all screwed up? Did you ever think of that?
It can and does happen.
Every mechanic is not 100% left alone to do his thing at his own pace, where he can make sure all is perfect.
Some boss's can make you a nervous wreck.

I don't care what had him "screwed up". If a mechanic did something as irresponsible, negligent and dangerous as to leave a 24" pry bar in my engine, I'd be up his ***, his bosses ***, the press and whoever the state's licensing authority is.

Don't risk my life and the life of my family and then tell me "well my boss had me screwed up". I'll do everything I can to relieve you of that problem you have with your boss.

Leave your flashlight on the floor is one thing. Prybar in the engine compartment is not acceptable.


Lumpy

You Played on Lawrence Welk?
Yes but no blue notes. Just blue hairs.

www.LumpyMusic.com

 

[mrbreezeet1]

I don't care what had him "screwed up". If a mechanic did something as irresponsible, negligent and dangerous as to leave a 24" pry bar in my engine, I'd be up his ***, his bosses ***, the press and whoever the state's licensing authority is.

Don't risk my life and the life of my family and then tell me "well my boss had me screwed up". I'll do everything I can to relieve you of that problem you have with your boss.

Leave your flashlight on the floor is one thing. Prybar in the engine compartment is not acceptable.

Yeah, well God Bless Y'a, you were lucky enough to never have had to work for *** holes like that.

 

[TheCarbideRat]

Left my prize possession 18" snapon prybar on the ground in a junkyard, went back 2 days later and it was sitting right THERE. I had that 27 years now, was almost going into cardiac arrest when i noticed it gone, it took a while for me to ascertain where it went as i use it frequently. Praise the Tool Gods!! They can be vengeful gods but i must have honored them properly before i lost it!

Lost a snapon 3/8 drive 13mm swivel down the engine bay of a red Jetta, spent 1/2 hr going after it, i went over every inch above and under but screw me, i couldnt FKN find it! [in my head I heard Col. Trautman when he was telling Rambo to give up "let it GO Johnny!!"] LOL.

I seem to only lose gddam snapon, i left a SO 3/8 breaker up near the frame in a Pathfinder during one of those infamous Nissan Pfinder ****** oil changes [4 hrs? something?] had to leave it, no way i was re-doing that job.

I will never buy another ratcheting screwdriver, i have left 3 of em in customers cars NEVER EVER had ONE come back. Bye!

 

[TheCarbideRat]

I don't care what had him "screwed up". If a mechanic did something as irresponsible, negligent and dangerous as to leave a 24" pry bar in my engine, I'd be up his ***, his bosses ***, the press and whoever the state's licensing authority is.

Don't risk my life and the life of my family and then tell me "well my boss had me screwed up". I'll do everything I can to relieve you of that problem you have with your boss.

Leave your flashlight on the floor is one thing. Prybar in the engine compartment is not acceptable.

Not to start a flame war but if so then auto repair is not acceptable. i have worked in 15 garages including a few dealers, never once has management ever said one word about tool-keeping. If you have a beef then it's with management not the mechanic. We are literally flying through these jobs just so we ourselves can stay employed. Give it a thought will you? Thx.

 

[Lotek]

I don't care what had him "screwed up". If a mechanic did something as irresponsible, negligent and dangerous as to leave a 24" pry bar in my engine, I'd be up his ***, his bosses ***, the press and whoever the state's licensing authority is.

Don't risk my life and the life of my family and then tell me "well my boss had me screwed up". I'll do everything I can to relieve you of that problem you have with your boss.

Leave your flashlight on the floor is one thing. Prybar in the engine compartment is not acceptable.


Lumpy

You Played on Lawrence Welk?
Yes but no blue notes. Just blue hairs.

www.LumpyMusic.com

Wish I was perfect like you, a black oxide prybar with a black handle blends in with all the **** under the hood of your greasebucket and gets missed, customer is having a fit on the drive because he has a doctor's appt or a funeral to go to (Why is it always a Dr's appt or a funeral? And why did they bring the car in for an oil leak as a waiter on the same day? But I digress)

Sometimes **** happens, had a porter grab a car out of my stall while I was at lunch because the customer declined repairs and needed his car now... Snap On compression tester. Fortunately he wasn't an ******* and brought it back when called.

 

[Motor-Mechanic]

I don't care what had him "screwed up". If a mechanic did something as irresponsible, negligent and dangerous as to leave a 24" pry bar in my engine, I'd be up his ***, his bosses ***, the press and whoever the state's licensing authority is.

Don't risk my life and the life of my family and then tell me "well my boss had me screwed up". I'll do everything I can to relieve you of that problem you have with your boss.

Leave your flashlight on the floor is one thing. Prybar in the engine compartment is not acceptable.


Grumpy

You Played on Lawrence Welk?
Yes but no blue notes. Just blue hairs.

www.LumpyMusic.com

Have a nice daaay

 

[2oolhound]

I have found tools in the bush when I was a tree planter in interior BC, an axe on a tree stump.

That was mine! Out of McGregor near Prince George? Actually axes were the most common things I lost other then bar wrenches. All the under brush and hard hack was always clawing at ya and snatching tools out of your belt.

I lost a chain saw once falling trees in powder snow. Wearing bear paws you still sunk over your waist. Left the saw sticking up at the edge of a trail at the landing and the skidding crew buried it. You always poked your bar straight down into the top of the burm the cat left when pushing trails or clearing landings so the bright body was visible to the guys on equipment but the snow was coming down so hard it must have covered it enough so no one saw it. I went back at breakup when most the snow had melted and found it under some limbs after poking around about 20 minutes. It fired right up and I took home a load of fir on my one ton.

 

[CaisedoA]

I've left a pair of adjustable wrenches behind at a scrap yard after working on one of their machines, one was a soft grip 10" blue point and the other a 10" channellock, I went back a couple weeks later and the machine operator said he never saw them, I'm pretty sure theyre sitting in his tool box at home now, but anyways, I bought another channellock to replace the one I left behind, but this new one doesn't seem to be as good as my old one, the jaws flex a little more, still a damn good adjustable though

 

[isaac338]

I left a rechargeable LED trouble light wedged up in the underbody of a taxi once. Never saw it again - I assume it fell out or melted into the exhaust pretty quick.

 

[mr.speaker]

I don't know about you guys , but I keep losing flashlights.

 

[TheCarbideRat]

I don't know about you guys , but I keep losing flashlights.

me too. i'm going to buy a bunch of cheap ones at this point!

 

[nev]

Just last week I left my 12 inch Bacho adjustable and a pair of needle nose mole grips at the scrap yard while taking a piece needed for my van off....got the wrench but not the needle nose.. they were good pliers too

 

[BrokewrenchLS1]

Not to start a flame war but if so then auto repair is not acceptable. i have worked in 15 garages including a few dealers, never once has management ever said one word about tool-keeping. If you have a beef then it's with management not the mechanic. We are literally flying through these jobs just so we ourselves can stay employed. Give it a thought will you? Thx.

A 24" pry bar in an engine bay can f*ck up a lot of ****. "I was working too fast" is nothing but an excuse for laziness.

What happens if you leave a 24" pry bar in an engine compartment and it gets caught in the cooling fan or belt and winds up destroying an assload of parts? If it falls, jams up the steering, and winds up getting the driver turned into a wet spot on the road because of the tractor trailer that hit him? "It's my boss's fault!" Doubt it, as you'd be the one losing your job, not your boss. You used the tool, you left it there, you didn't do a proper check before shutting the hood to make sure nothing like that gets left in the engine bay.

It's not about being perfect, it's about being responsible. What's scary is how many "professional" mechanics are defending leaving something that big in a ****** engine bay. A screwdriver or a ratchet? Sloppy, but fine. A pry bar that's over two feet long? Seriously?

 

[dsmnickk90]

A 24" pry bar in an engine bay can f*ck up a lot of ****. "I was working too fast" is nothing but an excuse for laziness.

What happens if you leave a 24" pry bar in an engine compartment and it gets caught in the cooling fan or belt and winds up destroying an assload of parts? If it falls, jams up the steering, and winds up getting the driver turned into a wet spot on the road because of the tractor trailer that hit him? "It's my boss's fault!" Doubt it, as you'd be the one losing your job, not your boss. You used the tool, you left it there, you didn't do a proper check before shutting the hood to make sure nothing like that gets left in the engine bay.

It's not about being perfect, it's about being responsible. What's scary is how many "professional" mechanics are defending leaving something that big in a ****** engine bay. A screwdriver or a ratchet? Sloppy, but fine. A pry bar that's over two feet long? Seriously?

In todays compact engine bays does a 2 foot prybar even have much room to move. On a truck I could see your concern but a car? And what if it was left on the cowl under the hood. Its not going anywhere or going to damage anything.

 

[BrokewrenchLS1]

In todays compact engine bays does a 2 foot prybar even have much room to move. On a truck I could see your concern but a car? And what if it was left on the cowl under the hood. Its not going anywhere or going to damage anything.

It's the fact that professional mechanics don't see a problem with leaving something that big in an engine bay - regardless of the car or truck type - that worries me.

 

[waterboy12]

Just dropped a milwalkee 18v impact in a 30ft deep settling basin. *****, but it did make a big splash

 

[beerdog]

I just find them....deer cleaning knife, wrenches, sockets, screwdrivers.

 

[Lotek]

It's the fact that professional mechanics don't see a problem with leaving something that big in an engine bay - regardless of the car or truck type - that worries me.

Hell yess it's a problem, but my response was to the idea of getting your ******* in such a twist that you would complain to the BAR or alert the media, really? I personally have never come across a 2 foot prybar under the hood, smaller tools on the cowl on occasion, but I can count the instances on one hand over a period of 30 years. Mistakes happen, let he who is without sin etc...

 

[TheCarbideRat]

A 24" pry bar in an engine bay can f*ck up a lot of ****. "I was working too fast" is nothing but an excuse for laziness.

If you want to see it that way then nothing i can do about it. Let's break this down a bit.

1) in 25 years professional i have never heard of a tool getting caught in steering gear, or causing any damage, but that's just me. It can happen but it is probably very rare.

2) if it was a problem that happened more than very rarely, do you or do you not find it negligent that management never mentions it to techs? [remember, a tech can be negligent but it's the shop and the shop's insurance that will make any restitution for damages].

3) any Mechanic has made mistakes in repairs, some few and far between, some catasrophic [i saw a tierod get separated on a car coming towards me at night, actually saw it pop off with my eyes (yes, it could have been worn/defective but just the same)] I've heard of ball joints and axles not tightened etc. even the top guys make a mistake now and then, my point is that there is no perfect mechanic and there never will be. Alot of us are under the gun in this economy, i myself will be looking for a job soon. Lazy? Really?? I disagree. it's really alot more akin to a rat scurrying around fighting other rats for a piece of bread.

I'm not trying to say i have a "right" to leave a 2' pry bar, i don't, it's wrong. It's part of my routine to scan the area under hood or wherever i was working for foreign objects as any professional will and should. It's a big mistake i agree on a tool that big.

 

[dsmnickk90]

Ive seen a fuel pressure tester left on the fuel rail. That I can see being dangerous as it can come loose and spray fuel everywhere causing a fire. A prybar , ratchet or screw driver doesn't strike a big safety concern in my eyes

 

[BrokewrenchLS1]

Hell yess it's a problem, but my response was to the idea of getting your ******* in such a twist that you would complain to the BAR or alert the media, really? I personally have never come across a 2 foot prybar under the hood, smaller tools on the cowl on occasion, but I can count the instances on one hand over a period of 30 years. Mistakes happen, let he who is without sin etc...

I'd ***** at the tech but I wouldn't go to the BBB or the local news or anything like it. **** happens, I understand that, but the attitude of the tech would be the deciding factor. If he tosses the, "Meh, I was in a hurry" yeah, I'd be pissed; if he was apologetic, I'd be less so.

 

[Lotek]

I'd ***** at the tech but I wouldn't go to the BBB or the local news or anything like it. **** happens, I understand that, but the attitude of the tech would be the deciding factor. If he tosses the, "Meh, I was in a hurry" yeah, I'd be pissed; if he was apologetic, I'd be less so.

Given that a Snappy prybar costs over $60, I doubt that would be a competent tech's attitude, someone who would use HF on the other hand...