The first was not removing the air from a die grinder with a cutoff wheel after I was done with it while lying under my race car. I rolled over on top of it and set it off. Luckily it was a cold night and I had about six sweatshirts on.

The second was while changing the brake pads on the 944. I put the car on jack stands (like a good technician) and proceeded to remove the wheels. I had my head inside the left front wheel well when the car apparently decided to drop off a single bolt that was holding the car up on the jack stand. I promptly brought my head back (read scared $hitless), hit the back of my head on the inside of the fender. As we know every action has a reaction. My reaction was to slam my forehead into the backing plate on the brakes. :o I was well rewarded for my efforts with a gash in my forehead and a knot on the back of my head. Oh yea, I also found out I’m pretty quick when I need to be.

Happy Holidays, Rich

[Vicegrip]

This may not be the dumb a$$ winner that I have pulled (there are SO many to pick from) but I tried to take the grinding wheel off a paddle swich angle grinder while it was plugged in. While using my hand to counter turn the wheel I hit the paddle swich and ground a real nasty groove in 4 fingers.

Not a shop item but a real dumb move I made many years ago. While slap happy drunk (1970s kind of drunk )I picked up a rock that had just rolled out of a large camp fire. My hand was totaly out of order for weeks. BTW. Rock seared hand smells like steak.

Sometimes you have to learn by your own bad moves but it sure is easer to learn by watching others mess up.

[Jim Richards]

Installed a Carrera oil cooler, not noticing that it had a plastic plug in the hole for a thermostat which I wasn't planning on using anyways. Heck, I didn't even know the Carrera cooler had a thermostat.

After "everything" was buttoned up and filled with oil, I started the car and let it warm up. Then I take it for a spin. I get a block or two away from home and notice some smoke from the right rear side of the car. Pulled over for a look, only to find oil coating the entire right side of the car! Quickly get back home and find oil blowing out of the hole where the plastic plug was.

I pulled out the cooler and went to Curry's, where they fitted the cooler with a plug and crush washer to seal the thermostat hole.

All of this happened during the morning that I was planning to drive to Mid-Ohio.

[BillJ]

Had to be this winter while refurbiishing suspension parts. No installed heat in the garage and no insulation to speak of, so had two electric fans and two propane burners running. Using the green and red brake clean to remove years of gunk from control arms, with the two propane burners on either side to keep my front and back warm. After a couple of hours, Kurt really takes note of the smell and starts to calculate the affect of propane gas heat on contents of said brake clean chemicals. He mentions something about maybe taking a break, WWI chemical warfare, and deceased brain cells...

We aired it out and called it a night just to be sure. From that point on, any serious cleaning was done outside regardless of temperature!

Edit: look up Phosgene - this is what we were producing!

[Charlie Stylianos]

That story sounds familiar, Bill......

Cleaning parts in a closed, COLD garage last fall with not the good smelling 'Brakleen', but the cheap $1.50 AdvancedAuto cans. I've been cleaning on/off for the good part of the afternoon, then the GF decides to come downstairs as the house is starting to smell. She opens the garage door and get blown away by the offending culprit fumes. She sees me there smiling and brushing away, and tells me to open up the garage door before I loose more brain cells. BTW: Didnt feel right that eve or the next day either....explains alot, dosent it.


There was another time (in my novicer days) where I was using my left hand as a vise, and using a drill in the right hand. The bit snapped and met mr. left index finger. Nothing like a broken drill bit knawing its way through flesh. Still have a nice scar to show off.

And there was another time.....

[Cliff Claven]

It wasn't me but I witnessed it, and it wasn't in a garage but in a car factory, so maybe it's not on topic, but it was so stupid that, well see for yourself: One of the guys on the line wanted a day off, so he asked his buddy next to him to "accidently" cut him on the back with a hand-held pneumatic grinder. His buddy used a tad too much force with the grinder and cut through five ribs and grazed a lung. Both received reprimands for their hyjinx.

[Rick Lee]

Ooooh, I hate it when that happens.

Just about anytime someone works under a car on jackstands totally home alone is a bad idea. I got my thumb stuck in a caliper that was still attached to my BMW. I mean that piston had a mind of its own and closed while I was trying to pull a pad out. So I was stuck in the caliper, and just a few feet out of reach of any tools. Had I tried to rip the line apart, I would not have been able to drive into town (this was in rural NJ) to buy another one and there were no other cars at the house. We lived out of earshot of any neighbors and so no one would have heard me yelling for help. I was totally alone when this happened and my parents were not due back until the next day. After my thumb turned blue and cold, I was able to wriggle out of it.

[VaSteve]

When I was in high school I bought this old Mustang to "restore". This was way over my head and the "restoration" consisted of disassembly and rust treatment. Most of the floor had rotted out and I was methodically lifting out the rust scraps that would budge until I could afford tools to do the job properly. I went to remove the seat belt bolts in the back and was having a helluva a time because they were so rusted. It's a summer morning about 80 degrees and I'm in the back of the car sweating this job like made. Finally, I get out the cheater pipe and slip it over the end of my 3/8" ratchet (see I should have had a 1/2" a at least ). I get a good grip on and pull.....pipe slips off and bangs me right above the eye so hard I was stunned. Fortunately, I didn't pass out or anything, but that was it for that job.

I went to work that afternoon with a nice crescent shaped scar above my eyebrow. My job was delivering auto parts to actual mechanics and they knew me pretty well. I took a bunch o' sh!t over that one...

[Mike W]

Not car related but beer related, but it did happen in a garage ( I hope this is close enough). I was cutting a replacement drain cover for the kegerator and instead of grabbing some tin snips I accidently picked up some gardening snips. They slid right off of the tin and cut right into my left index finger. I could see the bone. Definately gross, definatley taught me a lesson to look twice at the tools I am picking up. Let's just say that project is still on hold.

[jpinkert]

Originally Posted by Charlie Stylianos

That story sounds familiar, Bill......

Cleaning parts in a closed, COLD garage last fall with not the good smelling 'Brakleen', but the cheap $1.50 AdvancedAuto cans.

And you'd think we would learn from things like this...

I had a Brakleen incident. It went like this. Spray, scrub, spray some more, scrub some more. Sound familiar? How about spray some more, except this time the stream of Brakleen ricocheted at the perfect angle to hit my left eye. This was in a detached garage with no water source. So here I go, stumbling into the house with one hand over my eye, the other greased/Brakleen'd up. Needless to say, my eye had a nice reddish tint for a day or so.

Do I wear eye protection when working in the garage? Absolutely not (dummy!). I usually just hold my hand in the way of emminent projectiles...when I have the sense to think something might take flight.