Dumbest mistake youve made with your e30?

[Aleman]

After putting on my new timing belt, I needed to turn the engine over with a wrench on the crank to check the teeth lined up. It wouldn't turn over. Thought I was hitting the valves with the pistons. Turns out, I had just not taken the transmission out of gear! Doh!


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[15Michaeljoseph]

so this blunder just came to mind: not on the e30, but two weekeds ago I was doing the front struts on my mom's e36, one side at a time (for reference, just in case ya know.) I got the drivers side strut assembly taken apart, transferred the spring over to the new strut, and installed all new hardware (insulators, bump stop, dirt shield, mount), got it gunned down good and tight, went to go put it on the car.....aaaand, I had built the passenger side strut.

I don't know how exactly I ever made an annoying mistake like that, but it just goes to show you the importance of laying the new part next to the old part and making sure they match up. :)


--Mike

[Dr.Claw]

Easy

Doing a brake job and didn't tighten down the hex bolt that holds the rotor to the hub all the way down fearing it would strip. Put the space on, and proceeded to bed the rotors all funky and have the most serious vibration under braking. Luckily rotor are cheap....

More famously drove the ETA forever with the ignition coil bolts slightly tighter than finger tight but loose. Car would randomly die while driving, then start up again. Got fed up going to Road Atlanta and stuck a socket on them only to discover how loose they were...

The worst enemy to reliability is me

[e30onBBSs]

I've had a great time reading all these, anyone else got anything?

[mucoyekul87ETA]

The worst thing that I have done that is e30 related is not mechanical, and thinking of it still makes me cringe...

I lost my original owners handbook to my first e30.

I'd had all the books, and service records, etc as I bought the car from the original owner... I still have the car and I am still upset at myself about it.

[15Michaeljoseph]

I was driftin an i went arund te curve and their was a speed bump or somethin i hit maybe going 60 and i hit the curb an poped my tire and hit into a house in the living room.



Um no. Dumbest mistake i've ever made with the 30?
probably forgetting to put the ICV back in after cleaning it and letting it dry, and then wondering why the car wouldnt start. I WAS DOING OTHER THINGS TOO OKAY JEEZ.


--Mike

[estoguy]

Haven't had a real dumb screw up... almost messed up doing a front bearing. Almost forgot to put the shield back on (I know you really don't need it, but I have the other one on, and that would really mess up my fung shway for the car, and I'd have a minor case of OCD over it). It was only about half an inch onto the spindle. Very gingerly, I was able to get the bearing off without separating anything.

I try to be relatively careful with her, as she is my DD and I'd be screwed without her.

[Aleksey]

Took off water pump belt instead of PS belt after PS went on a shit box $500 E30 ETA after 10 hours of post pick up stripping and maintenance at 1 AM in the morning and blew the motor shortly after.

Do I win?

[Das Delfin]

Stupidest thing would be one time I thought the fuel filter was clogged because the car would be way way down on power when I was accelerating. So I'm thinking fuel pressure is gone. So I waited a week until I had time off to replace the filter, but I still dd my car because it's my only car. Finally I replace the filter and the problem is still there. Then my buddy convinces me it's my spark plugs and hands me a set for his old e34. Problem solved. One had gunk built up to the point where it wouldn't spark.

One time I used a jack stand whose perch was too narrow and it pinched in a bit of my front frame rail. I'm still waiting to see if I have to fix it.

I resented how much I paid for my car for a long time, but now that I have a steady job, money is only money.

[jhaurimn]

I finally sourced a mint condition replacement hood in matching Alpine white. Removed the old hood installed the new one... what I forgot was I left my oil cap on the top of the engine. Went to shut the hood and felt some resistance so I forced it closed. Bam! Big dimple comes up through the hood!

Oh man.....that sucks!!! lol

[e30luvchild]

Doh!!

[EyExR]

I finally sourced a mint condition replacement hood in matching Alpine white. Removed the old hood installed the new one... what I forgot was I left my oil cap on the top of the engine. Went to shut the hood and felt some resistance so I forced it closed. Bam! Big dimple comes up through the hood!

[Stanley Rockafella]

Way, way back in the day when Josh had his first e30, I helped him try and figure out how to "open" his sealed beam headlight to install a set of PIAA super white bulbs. We stopped before we managed to break anything. lol

:rofl:


Since this thread started, I've been trying to think of things I've screwed up...but can't think of anything. Been tinkerin since I was 9 and have rebuilt engines and trannies too

The worst was when I was changing a drive shaft on an early 80's civic and didn't drain the transmission. Stinky trans fluid all over me.

EDIT

No wait, I can recall one time I replaced the timing belt and water pump on my 97 Escort. All went well (or so I thought) until I filled it with coolant and was getting ready to leave the shop. Sure enough, consistant leak from the block b/c I didn't clean the old gasket off.

Finally get it all sealed up and go to leave. Didn't bleed all the air out of the system and took it on the highway. Cruising along I never noticed the temp guage PEGGED in the red. Get off the highway and the engine won't run worth crap on it's own without using the gas pedal. Pulled over and for about 20 minutes tried to find the problem. Car smelled really weird from overheating. And the overflow tank was still full. I was tired and exhausted from spending my whole day working on this damn car!

Continued my drive home, car backfiring like crazy! Went inside and had dinner waiting for me on the counter. While eating I went onto the Escort boards to ask what the problem was. Nobody could figure it out so after eating and relaxing for a bit I went outside to tinker more. Sure enough, came back out and the coolant was gone. Started it and everything ran fine. Guess the air bubble just worked it's way out and luckily didn't screw anything up in the process

[redsubdivisions]

Boosting my daily driver sedan. Everything in it worked and it never let me down. Now I never drive the thing and it just sits.

Don't get me wrong, it's awesome the amount of power increase I got, but working on it is a bit of a chore. half of me wishes I would have stuck to my coupe, but the other half smiles when I'm driving it. Plus you don't see too many boosted bronzit sedans. lol

[Klug]

Working under the hood and not disconnecting the battery. Dropped a cresent wrench accidentally on the starter and make a huge arc. Shit my pants, thought everything was OK- then I look in the cabin and it was full of smoke.

Got lucky and found out that it took the path of least resistance- turn signal ground and fried it from the fusebox, through the firewall, up the steering column to the switch. Completely melted the wire- copper, rubber and all. Replaced the wire and I was good to go. I got super super lucky- most of the times you will not.

Disconnect your battery kids- it's not worth the risk.


Also- one of the first things I do with any older car I get- replace the stinkin throttle cable. I had an e32 with a sticky cable, got stuck open a few times and the one time got in a nasty accident because of it. The way these things are designed through plastic fasteners and adjusters- they get old, break and get stuck holding the cable open. Pay the $40 for a new cable and 20mins of your time-