Worst thing that happened to you while working on cars?

[JDP]

the worst thing ive done is just have a wrench slip off and i punch the fuck out of a metal object, while its the middle of winter and my hands are numb and hurt and now cut.

dumbest thing ive done was install my t56 by myself laying on the ground with no transjack. that was a pain in the ass

 

[AutoEuphoria]

Here are some good stories:

http://forums.vwvortex.com/zerothread?id=4713167

 

[1BADAIR]

And there is nothing you can do. And then you've got the burn/scab in there until it heals.

makes even chuck norris cringe

 

[SuperStang90]

Working off a drive on hoist, doing something with the Diff on a truck, Im pretty tall so I had to bend over quite a bit to get under the hoist before I could stand under the truck. Well I stood up just a tad too early and had a nice encounter with a Ball mount. I went down to the ground for a few minutes on that one. Forgot who I was for a bit.

Welding up a new exhaust system, just got done welding a pipe joint then welded the hanger up. Grabbed the exhaust to make sure it was mounted securely and grabbed on the joint I just welded 30 seconds ago :shake:

Getting ready to paint my Mustang a couple years ago, had it all papered and taped up. Well I ended up having to move the car one last time before it got sprayed, and I couldn't open the door all the way to get inside. So I get the door open far enough to squeeze my ass in, go to sit down and I hear a little 'tink' sound. Now mind you I 'HAD' 10 gauge Horseshoe earrings in my ears. I started to feel a burning sensation in my ear. Needless to say the earring caught on the fuckin door and ripped straight through my earlobe. Blood everywhere, mangled ear. Yeah that was a fun day. I no longer wear earrings. (save the gay jokes) :thefinger

 

[PaysoProductions]

I got the bill after the car was already fixed....

 

[Mclovin]

Harbor Freight Press.. The CAST IRON plate that china casts for these.. Snapped and hit me in the face with all 12tons of pressure.. 8 stitches RIGHT NEXT to my eye.. Lucky i didnt get my eye or id prob be blind.. Doc said i was dumb for not having safety glasses on but lucky i wasn't.. they woudve broke and jammed into my eye.. Boss refused to get rid of press afterwords saying it was my fault i wasnt using it right.. Ok.. The CAST IRON plate broke when they bushing popped in the track bar i was replacing the bushing in.. the shock load snapped the shitty plate.. and now i have a nasty scar for the rest of my life..

 

[MentalMisfit]

My favorite story is when I was 17 and the starter went bad on my friends Caddy. So we decided to change it ourselves. We had no idea what we where doing, A friend that lived next door saw us and came over said he new how to do it and asked us if we disconnected the battery we said we thought we did.... So he crawls under the car puts the wrench on the starter and touches the frame rail shocks the fuck out of him sparks falling all over him we are just dieing laughing. He actually started to stutter saying you fffffuuuckkking aaaasssshoollles didddddn't disconnnecct the bbbbbattery. We really thought we did but we only unhooked one of the ground straps I guess lol. We still laugh about it today.

 

[igotaneed4speed]

Welding, couldnt see/fit a helemt in the area I was doing so buzzed about a one inch weld with no helemt.

Woke up the next day blind, eyes swollen shut. Spent a day and night in the hospita, could not see for three days. 100% blind no shadows nothing, then slowly got vision back after about 7 months had 20/20 back but very very light sensative now.



Second worst was prob having a air line burst and shoot rust shedds in my left eye. Trip to the hospital where a Doc dug them out with a 6 guage needle, no pain killer, no sedative, nothing cuz i had to be able to keep my eye perfectly still while she did it. you wanna talk about pain..

 

[jordanbmx]

was working on a tubular k member with a-arms and brakes and coil overs still all on k member which was off the car and i was taking the rack off and the k-member tipped forward and crushed my left middle finger and when i yanked back on my hand it ripped the end of my finger off kinda, bled like a bitch and hurt like hell.

or the other day i was welding exhaust in my auto shop and didnt have a welders cap on and burnt some of my hair lol didnt hurt but stunk like hell

 

[Lunger]

I was working on the rear end , i had moved the rear spring perches , and was installing offset shackles. I was jacking up a spring with a floor jack and i forget what was not lining up, but i was on my back wiggling the rear end and the jack squirted out from under the spring and slammed into the top of my head. It created a good size gash , a dent, and most likly is the cause of my current neck problems.
But i was taking the car to the track the next day, so with a blood soaked head, i finished the car and took it to the track the next day.

 

[moneypit]

ran myself over with my own car

 

[fiveohcrazy]

I burned my eyes welding without a helmet (Though i could get away with just closing my eyes). Worse pain the world. I'd rather brake my collar bone and ribs again. (seriously i had a 87 dodge diplomat fall on my chest and crush me and i felt better than hurting my eyes.)

After 2 days of being blind ..... I learned my lesson!

 

[greentrunk]

ive mostly just had busted knuckles, but i did cut my hand pretty bad on some sharp metal after cutting the front sway bar mounts on my mustang. Also i know blackstang had his car fall off the jackstands while he was under the car......thank god the motor wasnt in the car, he was by himself and had to use his feet to jack the car up

 

[Dr. Teeth]

I was working on a 2.8L 3rd gen fireturd once with a buddy. I was trying to take off the nut on the exhaust manifold where it holds the exhaust pip on. I was pushing up with all my might while trying to turn the ratchet and lifted the left front corner off the "very sensibly safe" stack of 2x4's we had it on and they fell over. Luckily I always leave the jack near the jack point and I just lowered it on my chest until he could get it up. That was a little heavy and I had a nice bruise for a while.

Also I've gotten more shit in my left eye than I care to think about. The kind of stuff that immediately goes under the eyelid so that when you blink it scratches. I was a regular at the opthamologist's office.

 

[SVT32VDOHC]

Where do I start? First, I always use jack stands, spare wheels, something if I need to get underneath. I've seen and heard a lot of stuff because I've been around cars my entire life...........


Funny stuff to me....

I welded up some tabs onto an 81 Mustang to accept the 87-93 quarter glass. My welding helmet at the time was old as hell with a scratched up melted, pitted window to see through. I welded my vice grips to the car!!! :roll:

Painful stuff to me...3" grinding disc on a MAC angle grinder full blast hit my middle knuckle on my left index finger...that HURT!

(NO PIC)




And last but not least, a sharp peice of metal cut my right hand while taking out a Mustang ECM wire harness. No stitches, just a huge hole.

I have done tons of other stuff as well. I've had stitches a few times from working on cars. Broken windshield glass are the cleanest, deepest cuts. Either they bleed a lot, or not at all. They almost don't even hurt. But when you see the cut, you panic. But as far as anything major, no. *Knocks on wood*

 

[autoadhd]

This one happened to my brother last spring,it has chaged how i work on cars forever. I will now always wear safty glasses,him and a friend were removing a drive shaft from his truck,the rear u- joint did not want to come out so his friend started hitting it with a hammer to free it while my brother was laying outside the truck. A piece of rust came all the way outside the truck and right though his right eye all the way into his eye socket. He thought it was just something in his eye so they tried getting it out but could not find anything. the next morning he got up with terrible pain in his eye and it was already completely cloudy.so 20k in surgery,no lens in his eye to this day he need to get more surgey this spring for a new lens.he will never have full sight again out of the eye.


And for me,i put a open end wrench though my uper lip while installing a cross member in my monte ss and cracking my tooth,and finding out my girlfriend was pregnant for my first kid 20 minutes later.

 

[boosted gt]

i had an acclaim on the lift that i was changing struts on and i was using an impact and combo wrench. the impact spun the wrench and pinned my hand. in pain i dropped the impact and then i couldnt reach it so i get my hand free. i had to holler so another guy in the shop could help lol. i needed some stitches but it wasnt too bad

 

[SVT32VDOHC]

This one happened to my brother last spring,it has chaged how i work on cars forever. I will now always wear safty glasses,him and a friend were removing a drive shaft from his truck,the rear u- joint did not want to come out so his friend started hitting it with a hammer to free it while my brother was laying outside the truck. A piece of rust came all the way outside the truck and right though his right eye all the way into his eye socket. He thought it was just something in his eye so they tried getting it out but could not find anything. the next morning he got up with terrible pain in his eye and it was already completely cloudy.so 20k in surgery,no lens in his eye to this day he need to get more surgey this spring for a new lens.he will never have full sight again out of the eye.


And for me,i put a open end wrench though my uper lip while installing a cross member in my monte ss and cracking my tooth,and finding out my girlfriend was pregnant for my first kid 20 minutes later.

20K in surgery?? Holy crap. I try to always wear saftey goggles....well, not always. I've used up a lot of 3" grinding discs on cars without them. I'm an idiot, it's time to go invest in a good pair. I just try to look away at least, but that's dumb too.

To add to mine...I had dirty power steering drip right into my eye. HOLY HELL that burned so bad. I used the entire bottle of eye wash I had next to me in the shop. Why did I just remind myself about that?????

 

[boosted gt]

oh, i also shot myself straight in the eye with brake cleaner before. it felt like my eyeball was shriveling to a rasin. ill never do that again!

 

[SVT32VDOHC]

oh, i also shot myself straight in the eye with brake cleaner before. it felt like my eyeball was shriveling to a rasin. ill never do that again!

OMG!! That would kill. I can only imagine. My Dad was filling my dirt bike when I was a kid. The gas can had a flexible plastic hose on it. Well, it was filling quick and I said "STOP!!!" And he pulled it out and all the gas in the neck shot me in the eyes!!! That burned worse than the power steering fluid, now that I think about it. I jumped in our pool and swam around with my eyes open. :lol: :scared: