Most embarrassing DIY maintenance moment

[Nick & LA]

Earlier today, the electric ignition switch on the stove top failed.
As our 'new' boat is just past warranty, everything to this point has been "covered"... Not the case any longer.

Luckily I had wifi at the moment, so a quick internet search of the manufacturer ENO ( all French) confirmed that it was likely a battery to be swapped... Determined not to call a marine mechanic, decided to tackle this simple task myself.
Wrestled with the 'clicker' itself for awhile, then determined I had to remove the panel, ... then the screws to the top itself... Viola - finally got the damn thing apart... Alas, NO Battery?! WTF?
So, I followed the wires...
They left the stove area, led below the oven, and then below the sink... That what those obvious little breakers were!
THAT IS WHEN I REMEMBERED - I've seen this picture... Oh yea, it's in the freakin boat manual!!

There it was, page 63. Nothing to the battery swap!

Took me 3 hours to needlessly take apart and then put back together a stovetop, when reading the manual was the simple answer!

Whatadumbass!


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[skipmac]

Originally Posted by Nick & LA

Earlier today, the electric ignition switch on the stove top failed.
As our 'new' boat is just past warranty, everything to this point has been "covered"... Not the case any longer.

Luckily I had wifi at the moment, so a quick internet search of the manufacturer ENO ( all French) confirmed that it was likely a battery to be swapped... Determined not to call a marine mechanic, decided to tackle this simple task myself.
Wrestled with the 'clicker' itself for awhile, then determined I had to remove the panel, ... then the screws to the top itself... Viola - finally got the damn thing apart... Alas, NO Battery?! WTF?
So, I followed the wires...
They left the stove area, led below the oven, and then below the sink... That what those obvious little breakers were!
THAT IS WHEN I REMEMBERED - I've seen this picture... Oh yea, it's in the freakin boat manual!!

There it was, page 63. Nothing to the battery swap!

Took me 3 hours to needlessly take apart and then put back together a stovetop, when reading the manual was the simple answer!

Whatadumbass!


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We all know that real men don't read manuals. Better to be a dumbass than admit you need to read a manual.

[carstenb]

Originally Posted by skipmac

We all know that real men don't read manuals. Better to be a dumbass than admit you need to read a manual.

+1 Amen to that

[RolfP]

At the dock, wearing my watch, upside down in the lazarette I dropped a part and reached through the quadrant to get it. When I pulled my hand back up, I couldn't get it back through the hole in the quadrant. Nothing I could do. Nothing. My wife had to slide 2 fingers down my arm and and work the two-part clasp to the watch. With the latch released, it slide down my arm and I could lift out my hand. Systems were on, including autopilot (we were testing it). I have since removed my watch and ring when working on things, as I am chilled imagining my left hand being severed by the autopilot activating the quadrant.


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[a64pilot]

Yes, please remove all jewelry before working on anything, a ring can do severe damage to your finger if it shorts out a high amp circuit, or gets caught on anything moving. I don't wear rings and watches anymore.
I've stuck my arm into a tight spot before not realizing there was a cotter pin that would allow my arm in, but not out. Fought that for awhile and a lot of blood before I got my arm back out, blood is slippery.
Helps if you have someone around too. I was maybe 18 and working under my car on blocks, when one of the blocks broke, took a few hours before a friend came over and could get me out, I was completely trapped, and praying the old barn didn't catch fire. I had been trapped under a farm tractor I flipped the year previously and severely injured, third degree burns on my shoulder etc., so I was about to lose my mind being trapped under that car.

How many of us have drilled a hole, to find we drilled through something un-attended on the other side?

[socaldmax]

Originally Posted by a64pilot

Yes, please remove all jewelry before working on anything, a ring can do severe damage to your finger if it shorts out a high amp circuit, or gets caught on anything moving. I don't wear rings and watches anymore.
I've stuck my arm into a tight spot before not realizing there was a cotter pin that would allow my arm in, but not out. Fought that for awhile and a lot of blood before I got my arm back out, blood is slippery.
Helps if you have someone around too. I was maybe 18 and working under my car on blocks, when one of the blocks broke, took a few hours before a friend came over and could get me out, I was completely trapped, and praying the old barn didn't catch fire. I had been trapped under a farm tractor I flipped the year previously and severely injured, third degree burns on my shoulder etc., so I was about to lose my mind being trapped under that car.

How many of us have drilled a hole, to find we drilled through something un-attended on the other side?

Man, you are dangerous!!

LOL


I did have a transaxle land on my chest once...

my hot, but not so bright GF was controlling the hydraulic jack that was supporting the transaxle while I supported a little bit of the weight and tried to wiggle it on the pilot bearing. I told her to raise it, she got "confused" and dropped it, right on my chest. It didn't hurt too bad, but I said some things to her, even if they were all true.

Back when I was 21, my best friend Luis warned me to stay away from his kid sister who was going to be visiting from El Paso. So I slid under my car and changed the oil. Then I heard a female voice asking for me. I slid out and was looking straight up at the most perfect pair of legs to ever come out of Dolphin shorts. She said, "We're going out tonight, I like movies."

About 6 months later when we broke up, I learned the true meaning of "hell hath no fury like a woman scorned." I should have stayed under the car and pretended I didn't hear her call my name!

[MarkSF]

Pouring two gallons of oil through an engine, onto the driveway, on a Ford Cortina, after forgetting to put the drain plug back in.

At the next oil change on the same car, the O ring on the oil filter stayed behind on the block, so I had two O rings, one on the filter, one on the block. Pumped all the oil onto the driveway when I started the car.

[socaldmax]

I have a Toyota Corolla diesel and ended up with 2 qts of jet black oil in my driveway...

I had taken it to a Quickie lube joint close by and when I got home, it was pouring out at a steady drizzle, so I went straight back there. They took off the drain plug and found a big dent in the sealing surface of the pan, under the drain plug. I told them they did it, they denied it.

I asked, "Was it leaking at all when I brought it in?" "No."
"How did a dent like that get under the drain plug flange?" "The drain plug would have to be removed."
"Do you think I drive around with the drain plug removed?" "Probably not."
"The only time the drain plug was off was earlier today, when your "tech" changed the oil. Logically, that's when the oil pan got dented." "Well... I can't think of any other way..."

So I requested a replacement oil pan, or the oil pan removed and repaired. Their answer was an over sized nylon washer. I filed a complaint with the main office, who claimed that they understood my concerns but each shop was independently owned and they had no authority to force them to do anything, so I dropped it. Never went back there again.

[a64pilot]

I've dropped a New Process transfer case on myself, who knew those things were that heavy?
I have done the O- ring stuck to the block once myself. Other day while changing the oil in the outboard, I dropped the O-ring for the oil filter in the water, I thought those things floated? Luckily my kid is a cave trained diver and real good in silt and found it, as I did not have a replacement. You would think the oil filter would come with an O ring, like the Racor fuel filters do wouldn't you?

Many years ago I was helping my friend install a stereo in his VW, he was drilling a hole with one of those old sparky electric drills in the dash, when all of the sudden lots of liquid started flowing out with the strong smell of gasoline, that was when we remembered the gas tank on a VW was in front of the dash.

My brother was installing a tub surround again many years ago and was standing barefoot in the cast iron tub, screwing in screws that held the trim strips on the surround to the wall, and found the 240V line that supplied the kitchen stove on the other side of the wall, he was a nearly perfect ground , barefoot in a cast iron tub He tripped dual 50 amp breakers, and survived to tell the tale.
My Father found out why you don't stand on a ladder and cut a limb out of a tree, and why you don't use the top of a three point hitch to pull out little stumps, just managed to roll out of the way before the tractor fell over on its back.

As a small child I was fascinated by tools, carried around basic hand tools at three yrs old, my Father would start a bunch of holes with a brace and bit, and I would spend hours completing them, We had cabinets that were held shut with magnets, my Mother wondered why they wouldn't stay shut, I took them all off, I couldn't figure out how they worked.
You know what is in a house on the wall, and looks like a screwdriver Would fit in don't you? Well my Mother heard a snap, lights went out and a little later when she went into the room, I was laying on the floor and she thought I was dead, I had stuck a screwdriver in the outlet, I was out cold and didn't wake up until after I was in the hospital.


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[a64pilot]

How about a new thread, "How many times did you go to the Hospital before you moved out on your own" ?


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[amytom]

I can relate to too many of these moments.
Catching an S10 tranny as its falling of the 4' tall tranny jack; finding out the modulator of a fire control radar was still hot ( yep, the hard way), learned the difference humidity can make on HV measurements (500kv makes for a wonderful lightening storm).
Remember the old tektronics 1000:1 o-scope probes, the ones you pour the tetraflouroethane (sp?) in to?. I learned that 50kv (that same modulator) burns of the dialectric pretty quick. After that it's green flames shooting out the back of the scope.

After all that and so much more I'm now learning to fly. What could go wrong???


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[model 10]

[QUOTE=a64pilot;1970077]Yes, please remove all jewelry before working on anything, a ring can do severe damage to your finger if it shorts out a high amp circuit, or gets caught on anything moving. I don't wear rings and watches anymore.


My wife understands but others don't, I don't wear rings. We were trained in the military to not wear rings while working on aircraft. The big danger was slipping and sliding, catching the ring edge on a skin lap, it takes the finger right off.

[socaldmax]

We had a guy who was climbing down a vertical ladder on a sub when his feet slipped off and he grabbed with his hands, the only thing that caught was his wedding ring, which ripped all of the skin off his finger! I don't ever want to see that again!

We had a very complex radio that had hundreds of thousands of RF and low voltage pins on all of the connectors. One day one of our fellow (slower) instructors was in the PT lab and using a dental probe and found the ONLY RF connector in the entire system with 110v on it (no one knows why) but it knocked him on his butt and all of the students were getting a good laugh when he had to go to medical to get checked out.

As a reward, they made him Command Safety Officer. Just in case anyone was wondering how one gets such a prestigious position...

[missourisailor]

Spent many years as a electro-mech for a major airline and one night a plane was pulled off of the gate and brought to the hanger for an engine change. On the way in I noticed that one of the nav lights were burnt out. So I hopped on the maintenance stand and figured I'd quickly relamp it then move on to the engine change.

Once the plane was stopped, I forgot which lamp was out so I stuck my face down to the clearview (nav light lens) to see if I could tell which one it was. Six inches away from the lens, a spark jumped from the wingtip to my nose. I just about jumped off the stand.
The stupid thing is that I could not really believe what happened, and once again got my face close to the lens.... And wham. it happened again!!!

Of course the rest of the crew saw the whole thing and were rolling on the floor laughing.

[missourisailor]

[QUOTE=Guy;2182120]

Originally Posted by a64pilot

Yes, please remove all jewelry before working on anything, a ring can do severe damage to your finger if it shorts out a high amp circuit, or gets caught on anything moving. I don't wear rings and watches anymore.


My wife understands but others don't, I don't wear rings. We were trained in the military to not wear rings while working on aircraft. The big danger was slipping and sliding, catching the ring edge on a skin lap, it takes the finger right off.

This reminds me of yet another stupid airliner story.
On 727's, on the tail are two pitot tubes that are used for elevator dampning.
In the tail dock these tubes are just above belly height. The said plane was in for AP null check on the elevators and me and my partner were doing the null check during break (you need full use of the plane to do the check and its easier to do it with no one around). My partner found a bad connector on the elevator position sensor and went down to stores to get a new one.

In the mean time I was goofing around and tripped on some hoses. Somehow I managed to fall backwards while jumping up and caught my belt on said pitot tube. Beings that my CG is above my belt line, I fell forward while my belt was still hooked to the tube.

So there I was, hanging upside down, just high enough that my finger tips could touch the dock floor but was unable to free myself. I wiggled and squirmed but could not get free.
About that time my partner came back. Took one look at me and busted out laughing.

I gave him the customary "F...U".

So in addition to not wearing rings, necklaces and watches.. I don't were belts anymore either.