Topic: Shop stories!

[ThomasD883]

I've got a few good ones. This one starts when i was a fledgling mechanic, maybe two years in with no experience. I was working in the mechanics half of a body shop, we were there to fix the insurance jobs inhouse and keep busy. In my time i'd learned to weld, bend exhaust tubing and do a bit of associated fabricating. I did a job for a V-6 Audi for catalytic converters (2) one on each bank for a catalyst efficiency check engine light. Horrible job as the engine is absolutely shoe horned into the engine bay. After two days work i'm wrapping it up, started tightening a hose clamp with a universal screwdriver that accepts bits. Well this one fell out, i searched for 15 minutes before giving up on recovering my 15 cent bit. Could've sworn i heard it hit the frame or engine cradle, #$%* it. Repair complete the car gets picked up, 2 weeks later i go into the office, my boss Murphy says to me, Tom did you lose a screwdriver bit on that volkswagen. Me : yeah i heard it hit the frame and couldn't find it , why did they bring it back. Murphy: no it fell down the intake and lodged into a piston after a while, cost $10,000 to replace the motor. I about threw up , thought i'd  lose my job. Didn't though worked there for another 2 years before moving to greener pastures. I guess i was worth that much.

[bjbuchanan]

I've got a few good ones. This one starts when i was a fledgling mechanic, maybe two years in with no experience. I was working in the mechanics half of a body shop, we were there to fix the insurance jobs inhouse and keep busy. In my time i'd learned to weld, bend exhaust tubing and do a bit of associated fabricating. I did a job for a V-6 Audi for catalytic converters (2) one on each bank for a catalyst efficiency check engine light. Horrible job as the engine is absolutely shoe horned into the engine bay. After two days work i'm wrapping it up, started tightening a hose clamp with a universal screwdriver that accepts bits. Well this one fell out, i searched for 15 minutes before giving up on recovering my 15 cent bit. Could've sworn i heard it hit the frame or engine cradle, #$%* it. Repair complete the car gets picked up, 2 weeks later i go into the office, my boss Murphy says to me, Tom did you lose a screwdriver bit on that volkswagen. Me : yeah i heard it hit the frame and couldn't find it , why did they bring it back. Murphy: no it fell down the intake and lodged into a piston after a while, cost $10,000 to replace the motor. I about threw up , thought i'd  lose my job. Didn't though worked there for another 2 years before moving to greener pastures. I guess i was worth that much.

Honesty is the reason you kept that job, that was a test for sure

[70CB750]

I've got a few good ones. This one starts when i was a fledgling mechanic, maybe two years in with no experience. I was working in the mechanics half of a body shop, we were there to fix the insurance jobs inhouse and keep busy. In my time i'd learned to weld, bend exhaust tubing and do a bit of associated fabricating. I did a job for a V-6 Audi for catalytic converters (2) one on each bank for a catalyst efficiency check engine light. Horrible job as the engine is absolutely shoe horned into the engine bay. After two days work i'm wrapping it up, started tightening a hose clamp with a universal screwdriver that accepts bits. Well this one fell out, i searched for 15 minutes before giving up on recovering my 15 cent bit. Could've sworn i heard it hit the frame or engine cradle, #$%* it. Repair complete the car gets picked up, 2 weeks later i go into the office, my boss Murphy says to me, Tom did you lose a screwdriver bit on that volkswagen. Me : yeah i heard it hit the frame and couldn't find it , why did they bring it back. Murphy: no it fell down the intake and lodged into a piston after a while, cost $10,000 to replace the motor. I about threw up , thought i'd  lose my job. Didn't though worked there for another 2 years before moving to greener pastures. I guess i was worth that much.

Auch!  What a story!

We were fishing once a SnapOn wrench from the body of a Corvette, the shop owner would not leave it there, it was major effort to get that dumb wrench out.

And while swapping head on my old jeep - under an oak tree - I had an acorn fall into the engine.  Not sure now, where it went to,  but I decided it was safe to keep it in there - and it was, I found the acorn years later when replacing the engine.

[Davidov]

BMW uses high pressure fuel systems on their modern turbocharged vehicle engines. The high pressure fuel injector are piezo type, and problematic at best.
The diagnostic software is getting better, but was an absolute joke for many, many years.

BMW of NA requires proof, and diagnostic codes for replacing parts in the high pressure system. So while the software decides to drag its feet and reboot several times, the poor car(7-series, V8 twin turbo) is sitting there chugging away black smoke from excessive fuel.

Then the engine goes dead, "oh well, probably stalled". See a massive puddle of oil forming under the engine area.
My reaction: 

The faulted cylinder flooded so badly that it hydrolocked and sent the piston out the path of least resistance....the aluminum cylinder block!

[evanphi]

BMW uses high pressure fuel systems on their modern turbocharged vehicle engines. The high pressure fuel injector are piezo type, and problematic at best.
The diagnostic software is getting better, but was an absolute joke for many, many years.

BMW of NA requires proof, and diagnostic codes for replacing parts in the high pressure system. So while the software decides to drag its feet and reboot several times, the poor car(7-series, V8 twin turbo) is sitting there chugging away black smoke from excessive fuel.

Then the engine goes dead, "oh well, probably stalled". See a massive puddle of oil forming under the engine area.
My reaction: 

The faulted cylinder flooded so badly that it hydrolocked and sent the piston out the path of least resistance....the aluminum cylinder block!

Piston says FU!

[ThomasD883]

BMW uses high pressure fuel systems on their modern turbocharged vehicle engines. The high pressure fuel injector are piezo type, and problematic at best.
The diagnostic software is getting better, but was an absolute joke for many, many years.

BMW of NA requires proof, and diagnostic codes for replacing parts in the high pressure system. So while the software decides to drag its feet and reboot several times, the poor car(7-series, V8 twin turbo) is sitting there chugging away black smoke from excessive fuel.

Then the engine goes dead, "oh well, probably stalled". See a massive puddle of oil forming under the engine area.
My reaction: 

The faulted cylinder flooded so badly that it hydrolocked and sent the piston out the path of least resistance....the aluminum cylinder block!

Improved crankcase ventilation. We had a guy do something similar on a vanhool mid engine bus ( worthless scrap ). It had low oil pressure faults, he jump started it, went to put the jump pack away, came back to a stalled engine. Didn't take long after the oil puddle was seen to diagnose the issue. Ros straight throug the block. I wish i still had pics of the rod that cut the block , oil pan and all clean in half.

[Bailgang]

A couple years ago a nephew of mine and my bro finally got my bro's 66 V8 Corvair back on the road but it ran like absolute crap barely running on 4 cyls when they initially fired up the fresh engine and it took them a while to figure out the problem. What it turned out to be was that while the engine was setting in the car with no carb on it they stuffed some shop rags in the intake manifold to keep anything from falling into the engine, problem was that they forgot to pull those rags out when they bolted the carb on. Oooops

[DH]

BMW uses high pressure fuel systems on their modern turbocharged vehicle engines. The high pressure fuel injector are piezo type, and problematic at best.
The diagnostic software is getting better, but was an absolute joke for many, many years.

BMW of NA requires proof, and diagnostic codes for replacing parts in the high pressure system. So while the software decides to drag its feet and reboot several times, the poor car(7-series, V8 twin turbo) is sitting there chugging away black smoke from excessive fuel.

Then the engine goes dead, "oh well, probably stalled". See a massive puddle of oil forming under the engine area.
My reaction: 

The faulted cylinder flooded so badly that it hydrolocked and sent the piston out the path of least resistance....the aluminum cylinder block!

What kind of noise does it make when that happens? Did they warranty the engine
since it was their softwear/fault?  Crazy stuff eh? My respect to anyone who can actually understand, work on, and fix that kind of stuff.

[SOHC]

A few non bike shop stories

I was 19 working in a local Ford dealership, and i worked from like 2 to 9 pm They had a night shift crew for oil changes etc.
One night an older gentlemen brought in a pristine early 80's ford pickup, it looked like he babied the thing.
The Oil Change guy put the truck on the lift pulled the pan plug and ran into the parts counter, as he was in there the truck fell off the lift, ripped the bed sides off the truck, and it landed on the driver side, as the old man watched thru the window in horror.
Needless to say the GM had to come in and the man drove off in a brand new F-150 that night LOL

At the same dealership
We were having an "Indoor" Car Sale on a saturday in the fall. I was one of the few Kids they trusted with some off the more powerful cars on the lot.
Needless to say we pulled in a few of the hotter cars to sell before winter, We had a Ram Air Firebird that was sick and also a fairly stock Camaro SS (the years before they killed them off) A salesman took a buyer for a ride in the Camaro, and decided when he had it back in the shop area that he wanted to show the other salesman how baddazz the car was. We heard a large BOOM!, and as we walk thru the shop door we see the Camaro piled up against a block wall with Antifreeze spraying everywhere.
That salesman lost the sale and his job that day lol

[bryanj]

Talk about engines going bang, In the UK they are called DAF but owned by Paccar and have the 460 horse M series engine, driver on phone saying it wont stop (Cant stall the auto boxes) was told to turn it off and commented " I am stood 20 feet away with the Keys in my hand!"  after a loud bang and a tow in to the dealer they discovered that there wer no salvageable parts in the motor after the turbo failed and it ran away on the lube oil. The firm runs over 700 of these so there was no comment about supplying new parts, and fitting, just took another month to fix the new motors water leak!!

[70CB750]

We had a Porsche 911 in the body shop to replace left front fender.  The car came from the dealership and had less than 100 miles on it - but somebody parked with the fender under the car lift and it made nice, straight bend line right on top of the fender.

That was the only time I took 911 for a spin, I would not want one, but it would be nice to have it for a weekend 

[70CB750]

Oh, and that Porsche was jinxed.  They brought it on flat bed truck and taking it down it lost a lip under the front bumper - piece of plastic, but for Porsche it was like $200.

Soooo, we got a new lip, installed it with the new fender and truck came to get it and broke off the lip again getting it on the truck.

[dave500]

must be james deans car?

[HondaMan]

Oh, and that Porsche was jinxed.  They brought it on flat bed truck and taking it down it lost a lip under the front bumper - piece of plastic, but for Porsche it was like $200.

Soooo, we got a new lip, installed it with the new fender and truck came to get it and broke off the lip again getting it on the truck.

Today that same lip costs over $5000! A year or so ago, the local Porsche Owner's Club came to me to design them a below-the-grille ultrasonic detector alarm to keep them from hitting parking blocks. Three of the guys in their club had done this, and each one paid $5000 to get it replaced. Ow!

[rtbmrgl]

I took my tailgate of my 2000 F350 and set it in the center of the shop bay, a kid drove in the shop and drove over it. He owned a 68 Buick skylark that has a long hood and the rear springs sagged so he couldn't see it, plus the drive angled so made the view in front worse.
I was able to pop some of the dent, he felt bad, but I shouldn't have put it in a better spot. 

[dave500]

yeah like side covers,if you take them off put them up high or theyll get stood on!

[grcamna2]

yeah like side covers,if you take them off put them up high or theyll get stood on!

That's why steel ones make more sense to me Dave,they 'fix' a lot better 

[Don R]

 My neighbor caught me parking my 750 after my guitar lesson. I had my Les Paul in a soft case on my back as suggested here. He needed help with his boat so I went over and started to lean the guitar near the garage door, thinking better of that I moved it to the outside wall in front.
  After a few minutes his wife came in the drive in her mini van she mistook our waving for a robust hello and drove on in. She got so close to the wall the tire caught the edge of the guitar body and flipped over the car, it into the garage landing in front of her tire. We were yelling and motioning to stop and she finally did. I ran around and picked up my guitar. Not a scratch, I expected the neck to fall off soon but it never did. I even took it to a luthier for an inspection he said it looks good.

[grcamna2]

That was a nice 'Save' 

[rtbmrgl]

My neighbor caught me parking my 750 after my guitar lesson. I had my Les Paul in a soft case on my back as suggested here. He needed help with his boat so I went over and started to lean the guitar near the garage door, thinking better of that I moved it to the outside wall in front.
  After a few minutes his wife came in the drive in her mini van she mistook our waving for a robust hello and drove on in. She got so close to the wall the tire caught the edge of the guitar body and flipped over the car, it into the garage landing in front of her tire. We were yelling and motioning to stop and she finally did. I ran around and picked up my guitar. Not a scratch, I expected the neck to fall off soon but it never did. I even took it to a luthier for an inspection he said it looks good.

I can hear old Lester rolling over in his grave. I like the looks of the Les Paul over all guitars, nice save.

[HondaMan]

BMW uses high pressure fuel systems on their modern turbocharged vehicle engines. The high pressure fuel injector are piezo type, and problematic at best.
The diagnostic software is getting better, but was an absolute joke for many, many years.

BMW of NA requires proof, and diagnostic codes for replacing parts in the high pressure system. So while the software decides to drag its feet and reboot several times, the poor car(7-series, V8 twin turbo) is sitting there chugging away black smoke from excessive fuel.

Then the engine goes dead, "oh well, probably stalled". See a massive puddle of oil forming under the engine area.
My reaction: 

The faulted cylinder flooded so badly that it hydrolocked and sent the piston out the path of least resistance....the aluminum cylinder block!

Yeow!

[HondaMan]

A few non bike shop stories

I was 19 working in a local Ford dealership, and i worked from like 2 to 9 pm They had a night shift crew for oil changes etc.
One night an older gentlemen brought in a pristine early 80's ford pickup, it looked like he babied the thing.
The Oil Change guy put the truck on the lift pulled the pan plug and ran into the parts counter, as he was in there the truck fell off the lift, ripped the bed sides off the truck, and it landed on the driver side, as the old man watched thru the window in horror.
Needless to say the GM had to come in and the man drove off in a brand new F-150 that night LOL

At the same dealership
We were having an "Indoor" Car Sale on a saturday in the fall. I was one of the few Kids they trusted with some off the more powerful cars on the lot.
Needless to say we pulled in a few of the hotter cars to sell before winter, We had a Ram Air Firebird that was sick and also a fairly stock Camaro SS (the years before they killed them off) A salesman took a buyer for a ride in the Camaro, and decided when he had it back in the shop area that he wanted to show the other salesman how baddazz the car was. We heard a large BOOM!, and as we walk thru the shop door we see the Camaro piled up against a block wall with Antifreeze spraying everywhere.
That salesman lost the sale and his job that day lol

Now, this one is a heart-breaker!
I mean, a new F-150 is a nice truck, but a well-preserved "old ride" is a favorite! I can 'feel' that owner's pain.

[Bailgang]

This isn't necessarily a shop story but many moons ago I was at the US Nationals drag race in Indy and some guy in a super comp dragster had some issues and came to a complete stop about 100' after the start. I don't know what went wrong but the engine was spewing oil all over the track and the driver either couldn't or wouldn't shut the engine off so it just kept spewing oil. There seemed to be a lot of frantic/angry gestures coming from the driver to the track crew as the track crew kept signalling him to shut it off now but the engine kept running. So what does the track crew do? They nab a halon fire extinguisher, stick it into the butterflies of it's fuel injection and squeeze the handle. Needless to say that shut the engine down like right now which made the driver hopping mad. I'm not sure whether he was mad that they shut his engine down or that they chose to use a halon fire extinguisher rather that a CO2 extinguisher to shut it down.

[rtbmrgl]

Way back when working at  a dealer I got a Porsche 924 turbo that was blowing smoke, back then because of the lack of oil cooling the turbo they went out often. It almost became a maintenance item.
 So the one I was working on had several turbos replaced and smoking didn't go away, so pulled the head and found an imprint of a 6mm nut on the head and piston. Looked up history and I remembered  the tech saying he lost a valve cover nut, he swears it didn't fall into the engine. 

[joeyvans]

BMW uses high pressure fuel systems on their modern turbocharged vehicle engines. The high pressure fuel injector are piezo type, and problematic at best.
The diagnostic software is getting better, but was an absolute joke for many, many years.

BMW of NA requires proof, and diagnostic codes for replacing parts in the high pressure system. So while the software decides to drag its feet and reboot several times, the poor car(7-series, V8 twin turbo) is sitting there chugging away black smoke from excessive fuel.

Then the engine goes dead, "oh well, probably stalled". See a massive puddle of oil forming under the engine area.
My reaction: 

The faulted cylinder flooded so badly that it hydrolocked and sent the piston out the path of least resistance....the aluminum cylinder block!

My brother is a 'big problem' tech for Cummins... he likes to use the phrase, "Rapid disassembly without the aid of hand tools."