5 Common DIY Misadventures
With tools in hand, we venture out into the garage to resurrect, or at least maintain, the vintage cars and trucks we love so dearly. Unfortunately, the intentions of our actions are not always reflected in the reality of the situations we find ourselves in. Tools slip, parts break, and suddenly the afternoon of relaxing work has turned into a misadventure that will make just even non-smokers seek a cigarette break.
It’s just a side effect of working on cars. The parts and pieces that make up our rides are subject to all kinds of situations and materials that are trying to take that functional part and turn it into junk. Aging cars are at the mercy of their owners to keep the nightmares at bay, and sometimes the only way to make sure it doesn’t happen is to face the challenge headfirst. We can’t guarantee you’ll experience these five side quests and distractions that add time and frustration to our projects—but we certainly can’t say you won’t either.
Broken hardware
The old joke about “every 20 minute project is one broken bolt from a four-day ordeal” is only funny to those who can walk over the coals of extracting the hardware and completing the repair. Everyone who has attempted automotive repairs knows how fragile some hardware can be, and just how much time it can take to deal with a single momentary inattentive slip of the wrench.
Shipping delays
Some of us have righteous parts stashes. Most of us don’t, and are left to source at least a few bits and bobs from a catalog or online vendor for each project. This means being beholden to not only the vendor’s timeline, but also the shipping company. These companies handle millions of parcels a day and do impressive numbers for keeping everything on track, but just like my email outbox, there are occasional items that never reach their intended addresses.
Add in that it is often best to wait to order parts until your project is apart just in case you discover unexpected wear or damage that wasn’t visible when assembled. Having to make a second order, and pay a second shipping charge, for a single gasket or small piece is annoying, and you end up waiting a few days anyway. One order placed at the right time is great—but all those eggs are now in one basket and that basket can disappear without a trace surprisingly easily.
“Fixing” things that are not broken
This one is a misadventure from the start, rather than something that pops up in the middle of a project. Well-meaning “repairs” are often an invitation for little gremlins to enter the various systems of your car. I think it might have been the second time my mother and teenage me picked up my mountain bike from a bike repair shop when I heard “don’t fix what isn’t broken.” It’s stuck with me ever since. That bike shifted fine for years once I stopped trying to tune the drivetrain for better performance.
Cars are no different. If there is an actual failure or broken part, it’s time to get to work. But diving into the engine compartment to fiddle with something that is currently perfectly functional is asking for trouble.
Opting for the parts cannon over proper diagnosis
Want to have a bad time working on cars? Ride the roller coaster of having an issue, buying parts and taking the time to install only to still have the issue when everything is back together. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, and the same is true for diagnostics. Taking the time to troubleshoot and accurately identify what is actually wrong—especially if all signs point to a common or known issue—will save the time, money, and frustration of having to do the work twice.
Trying to make the wrong parts work
The sneaky folly of attempting to use the wrong part is not to be underestimated. It’s the lure of making a square peg fit the round hole simple to save the cost or frustration of acquiring the round peg. Phrases like “if I just drill the holes out a little” or “if we use RTV instead of the gasket” should be bright red flags to give you pause to ask if that is the route you really want to go. It’s rarely as easy as it seems in your head.
Things I broke while fixing other things.
Add to this
Part no longer available
part not available for 6 mos. to 2 years
incorrect packaging.
new defective parts.
damaged in shipping.
lost in shipping.
etc etc etc
Or the part was purchased by someone else before you and they took it back to the parts shop saying they didn’t need it, so they then sold it to you, but you got the worn out part the first guy replaced.
Definition of a Hot Rodder; a guy who takes a perfectly good running car and keeps modifying it for performance, until it does’nt run anymore, story of my life
Working years ago on British machines, our question often was “is that bolt metric, SAE or Whitworth? It drove us nuts. Finally, by the mid-70’s, most Brit cars switched to SAE since the US was the primary customer. But a lot of component makers didn’t change. One of the most annoying things was their us of “posidrive” screws in place of normal Philips. Do like the Posidrive screws, but it’s easy to think it’s a Philips and then one strips the screw head. Just wish they color-coded the screw heads, as I’m still working Brit cars and carbs whose owners have buggered those posidrive screws.
If you haven’t experienced all of these, you’re not trying.
I have a 1976 Dodge Dart that died . I found one fuse ,30 amp blown . Still will not start. I need help.
What’s the fuse power? There’s at least one short in that circuit somewhere. Find and fix it (or them). When I had this problem, it turned out that the wire that powered the coil passed through a bracket. Over the years, the bracket had worn through the insulation on that wire. Since the problem was hidden by the bracket, it was a bit hard to find. I wish you luck.
An engine needs four things to run. Check them in this order – 1) spark, 2) fuel, 3) air, 4) compression.
I’ve had a couple shipping delays. Years ago ordered a transmission from summit. They shipped it truck freight. While in transit the trucking company closed shop. Had to wait several weeks until they brought in people to clear out the loading docks. Worse one was waiting for a 9” third member from speedway motors. Ordered it and got the runaround for 6 weeks. Last call I made they told me parts were on back order for another 3 months. Canceled order and got one from Quick performance in less than 10 days
My most memorable misadventure was when I was under my 1965 pontiac while I had the front end supported by concrete blocks stood on end. there was a slight swaying motion and I rolled out as it came down. Gave me a little squeeze on the chest and shoulder but I survived to do many more stupid things.
I love your articles about cars, I have overhauled about a dozen engines, tractors boats, and trucks and cars. What I want to share is: a story about a discovery, that will rock the use car nation! In 2014, I bought a 2003 Nissan Murano, one of the problems I had was that temperature sensor wire pulled out of the plug (not the one showing in the dash, the one running the ECM). This cause over-fueling, because the ECM saw the engine at minus 40C. That plugged the cats, and, the engine overheated. After that overheat, the engine burned a litre every 100km! Incredulous, I thought, well this thing is toast! So, why not try something to improve it. I tried something I read one time about deglazing cylinders. I bought several different scouring powders and analyzed their properties. Some were full of chunks and crystals, Little Rock’s really, but one was a fine powder, so I thought, why not give it a shot. The ancient literature I saw said 2 tbs per cylinder, into the air inlet while it was rev’ed up, so that is what I did. I then changed oil, but consumption changed to 1 Liter per 3500km! Immediately! Power restored! I was over joyed! Eureka! This is it! It is called Cylinder-Pro! Engine Cylinder Deglazing Agent! And now on EBay and Amazon!
Tip: Use Volkswagen hardware, it’s treated and it will never strip or break like domestic hardware. Visit any VW dealer and ask the techs if the encounter broken hardware. Got a broken exhaust manifold bolt/stud? Source the VW equivalent.
A little-loved car with rare or nonexistent parts. My 1979 VW Super Beetle with the fuel-injected 1600 is not part of the hobby scene, since California requires all installed smog gear to stay on the car, whether it makes sense or not. (Politicians telling mechanics how to do their job – how many times has that screwed stuff up?)
There’s an injector that’s only used to start the engine, and NOBODY has them. So I crank the engine for 15-20 seconds every time I take it out.
It would be nice to have it start like it did way back when, but I fear that ain’t gonna happen.
Had 4 Corvairs back in the early 70’s. Imagine a 16 year old with absolutely no mechanical experience, rebuilding a turbo for my Corsa. Worked for a whole 5 minutes before locking up.
Couldn’t even turn the shaft with a wrench.
Ah, good times !
Spot on with #3, Kyle. Oh, the times I wish I’d left unbroken things alone.
I dated a tech at a Ford dealer for a while. He used to always tell me of the guys he called parts hangers that worked there. Evidently these guys would rely on the scan the car’s computer provided, whatever it said was bad they would simply replace and not look into what might have caused that part to go bad.
The dealership had a fixed right guarantee so if the car came back with the same issue the original tech would get it again, if it came back a 2nd time for same issue, my boyfriend was one of those that would get the car to diagnose what the issue was. He hated this as he was then put on the clock (paid for whatever time it took to fix). He preferred getting the time the book said as depending on the job they could get paid for something they were able to fix in half the time and therefore make more money.
My Dad had a ’57 Plymouth & the wheel nuts on the driver’s side ha left hand threads–the theory was that they automatically tended to tighten as you drove. Ditto but r/h thread on the passenger side.