454cid
Sooper Pooper
I had no idea. One of these days, I'd love to have an Old's engine.
I’m a DA…what maintenance have you screwed up?
- Thread starter Reega
- Start date
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I had no idea. One of these days, I'd love to have an Old's engine.
Highly recommended.
If you ever trip over a 425ci Olds, that is one hard-pulling, effortlessly shrugged
off over-enthusiastic use by a teenager, powerplant. If there was a weak spot
I never found it. The one I had was a '66, and had a switch-pitch Turbo 400
behind it.
The car I had it in was as uncool as only a used $350 4-door Olds could be. But it more
than held it's own in the high school parking lot pecking order against all the new cars
driven by the students who got to sit at the cool kid's table in the cafeteria. (And no,
if you were wondering I definitely didn't make the cut despite my mechanical antics. :0)
Today? I'd like to own one more of those, have it in a '66 Toronado like in the
attached photo, and have it be a clean, yet a little off the beaten path highway star.
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vr1967
I'm Awesome
I have plenty I can tell in the close 40 plus years I have been wrenching on stuff, and some of you are telling your best (worse) screw ups. I don’t know if I’ve peaked yet though. That’s like asking me what the dumbest thing is that I have done. I never cease to amaze myself sometimes.
One recent one I will tell. Been having issues with the clock spring in the 07 Jeep. Nothing bad, but don’t want to pull airbag etc to change. Wife lets 2 year old grandson play in it one day. I get in it a few days later, and wipers wide open. Turn knob, wont cut off. Pull fuse, they go off. Reinstall wide open on high. Get aggravated, park it in barn. I’ll get to it eventually.
About 2 month go by, need Jeep to run to back of place, as trailer hooked to pickup, etc. go to barn, Get in. Wipers wide open, when turn the key. Get aggravated again. Pull up to house, wife jumps in, and we head down the driveway to get on the road to the back of the place when it hit me. I stop. Reach up and turn the wipers off and she falls out laughing.
All this time, i had been turning the end of the turn signal stalk, and not getting the wipers to turn off. On the Jeep, that is the headlight switch. The wipers on the Jeep is on the inside of the column, where every other vehicle has them on the turn signal lever.
My most recent DA moment, and she constantly reminds me of it
One recent one I will tell. Been having issues with the clock spring in the 07 Jeep. Nothing bad, but don’t want to pull airbag etc to change. Wife lets 2 year old grandson play in it one day. I get in it a few days later, and wipers wide open. Turn knob, wont cut off. Pull fuse, they go off. Reinstall wide open on high. Get aggravated, park it in barn. I’ll get to it eventually.
About 2 month go by, need Jeep to run to back of place, as trailer hooked to pickup, etc. go to barn, Get in. Wipers wide open, when turn the key. Get aggravated again. Pull up to house, wife jumps in, and we head down the driveway to get on the road to the back of the place when it hit me. I stop. Reach up and turn the wipers off and she falls out laughing.
All this time, i had been turning the end of the turn signal stalk, and not getting the wipers to turn off. On the Jeep, that is the headlight switch. The wipers on the Jeep is on the inside of the column, where every other vehicle has them on the turn signal lever.
My most recent DA moment, and she constantly reminds me of it
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Martin Evans
I'm Awesome
I got you all beat. Rebuilt the throttle body on my '89 Silverado and didn't realize that I left out a gasket. Installed it and went to start the truck and gas just poured into the engine. No big deal, I'll just pull the spark plugs and give the engine a short crank to push the gas out the spark plug holes. Turned the ignition switch for a short crank, gas comes out like expected and like not expected, poof, FIRE! This DA didn't pull the coil wire before cranking and apparently, HEI has enough voltage to spark across the several inches between the spark plug wire and whatever ground it sparked to.
Valve cover gasket on the backside of a Chevy 1.4t shifted when I was re-installing it. I didn't notice it until I was a couple miles away from home the next day and I was smoking BAD. Luckily didnt run out of oil getting it back home but it was a steady stream coming out.
sure did
Martin Evans
I'm Awesome
Lately, I've been switching between driving my Kia Forte Koup and my wife's Yukon Denali a lot. Pretty much everything iis opposite between the two vehicles. On the Kia, the steering wheel audio controls are on the left side of the steering wheel and the cruise control is on the right side. Wipers are on the right side stalk and light functions are on the left stalk. On the Yukon, cruise control is on the left side of the steering wheel and audio controls are on the right side. Wipers are on the left stalk. At least the headlight dimmer function is the same for both. It gets to be confusing going between the two so much, so I know how you feel.
Worked many years at a Toyota dealership. Had a late 80's Land Cruiser come in with a rotted oil pan. These guys had a big inline 6 and the pans were a PITA to remove. Managed to get it out, went to the parts counter and got the replacement pan, got it installed and proceeded to fill the crankcase with the prescribed 8 qts. of oil. Wiped my hands, closed the hood, and noticed that under the truck was a HUGE lake of oil. Nobody had mentioned and I didn't see, that the new pans came sans the drain plug. There was hell to pay from all the other techs. Wasn't a rock big enough to crawl under
Yeah,HEI fires like the hammer of Thor. If you ever want to see something cool pull all the wires and coil cover off and turn the motor over. Blue Oyster Cult's got nothing on that light show.
CumminsFever
I'm Awesome
I have done the trick of forgetting to ensure that the old oil filter gasket was removed before installing a new one.
It was late in the evening and I was leaving on a trip the next day, so I changed oil/filter on my '99 dodge/cummins. Oil drained fine, plug back in, filled with oil. Old filter removed, new filter installed. Moved it around the parking lot and the "check gauge" light came on, along with the annoying chime. I looked, no oil pressure. I instantly shut it down and upon inspection, I had a trail of fresh oil following me. Open the hood, oil shower everywhere, but I could see the filter seal poking out at the mount. Yay. 8:00 in the evening, where do ya go for valvoline 5/40 oil? Autozone had 1 gallon. I got the remaining 8qt in mobil1 0/40 and went on my merry way. It was an expensive lesson, and I've NEVER changed a filter since then without checking for that stupid seal!
I've done MANY other stupid things, but they aren't maintenance related!
It was late in the evening and I was leaving on a trip the next day, so I changed oil/filter on my '99 dodge/cummins. Oil drained fine, plug back in, filled with oil. Old filter removed, new filter installed. Moved it around the parking lot and the "check gauge" light came on, along with the annoying chime. I looked, no oil pressure. I instantly shut it down and upon inspection, I had a trail of fresh oil following me. Open the hood, oil shower everywhere, but I could see the filter seal poking out at the mount. Yay. 8:00 in the evening, where do ya go for valvoline 5/40 oil? Autozone had 1 gallon. I got the remaining 8qt in mobil1 0/40 and went on my merry way. It was an expensive lesson, and I've NEVER changed a filter since then without checking for that stupid seal!
I've done MANY other stupid things, but they aren't maintenance related!
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