Don’t ask me how I know this but..... 1) Always make sure you are running an alternator heat shield. 2) Always put Loctite on your caliper bolts. 3) Always make sure you go back and check and/or re-tighten any suspension pieces that you installed recently. 4) Never rest your arms/body on the trunk weatherstrip seal when working on the engine. 5) Never stop refreshing your brake fluid in your master cylinder and clutch resovoirs. 6) Never put your hand inside the headlight frame assembly when plugging the motor back in. 7) Never buy anything till you check Rockauto first.
Feel free to add to the list. Thanks, Kit
[This message has been edited by Kitskaboodle (edited 05-14-2019).]
Turns out, someone *cough*twinlakesfiero*cough* serviced my calipers many years ago and on one of them, they re-installed the caliper sliders backwards, and if you've ever seen the sliders on an '88, you'll know that one side is countersunk for the bolt head, and the other side isn't.... Install them backwards and the bolt won't be in far enough! Barely a couple or three threads were engaged into the steering knuckle. At some point one bolt came out and got lost, then soon afterward the other one started getting loose and there was a "clunk" every time I hit the brakes. Needless to say that was one very impromptu roadside repiar so I could limp home.... I used tie wire to help hold the other end of the caliper where the bolt was missing.
6) Never put your hand inside the headlight frame assembly when plugging the motor back in.
I actually feel good about this one...Because I fig-ured it out before doing that..........
How about "Always make sure the nut behind the steering wheel is tight after removing and re-installing the steering wheel"....? For some reason, I have a loose nut behind the steering wheel on both of my cars AND my boat...........
Unclog the four drainage holes instead of silicone sealing the sunroof shut. (No, I haven't sealed any of mine shut, but I've seen it done often enough!)
ALWAYS carry an extra ICM and the correct socket to install it.
And don't forget the cooling lube...
Spoon
------------------ "Kilgore Trout once wrote a short story which was a dialogue between two pieces of yeast. They were discussing the possible purposes of life as they ate sugar and suffocated in their own excrement. Because of their limited intelligence, they never came close to guessing that they were making champagne." - Kurt Vonnegut
When you want to move the car, don't do it by pushing the taillight lenses. Don't park a car for a relatively minor reason, then watch as the months turn into years and you have a tank of funky gas and a burned out fuel pump from trying to get it out. Don't drive it in salty northern winters. Don't hack up the wiring and vacuum hoses trying to outsmart the factory sensors/etc without knowing what any of it does. Don't get into a habit of tail sliding on rainy Interstate on-ramps until one day you spin out in front of 70+mph traffic, thereby forced to face the possibility that even your badass 20-something self is, in fact, not only fallible, but also pretty stupid. And God loves you, apparently, which isn't so bad, but it's not the best way to find out.
Not that I ever would have done any of these things, at any age. And my old car is totally not a hacked up, badly rusted donor of spare parts to the current one.
[This message has been edited by armos (edited 05-16-2019).]
Don't ask for help from strangers or friends when your fastback dies randomly on the side of the road and you need to push it. If you have to, make sure they push on the bumper or under the spoiler on the decklid only.
Don't try to start engine with gas line disconnected from throttlebody.
------------------ Astronomy says we will find a coded signal from outer space. Then we'll KNOW that life exists there, for coded signals aren't by chance.
Biology says there are coded genetic signals in every cell, but we KNOW that no intelligence created life.
I'm the original owner of a white ' 84 2M4 purchased Dec 10, 1983 from Pontiac. Always garaged, no rust, 4-wheel drifts are fun!
Don’t ask me how I know this but..... 4) Never rest your arms/body on the trunk weatherstrip seal when working on the engine.
Corollary to the above:
4a. Never rest your belt buckle on the body when working on the engine. $&*@)(#$@^& paint scratches...
quote
Originally posted by hercimer01:
Always have a fire extinguisher nearby when working on the fuel system.
People ask me why I have one in the trunk and more than one in the garage. There are two kinds of people: Those who *don't* keep fire extinguishers handy ... and those who haven't yet set fire to their car/shop/lawn tractor.
Also, don't ask me how I know this, but you can easily identify a bad O-ring in your cold start injector by the following:
1. Bad fuel smell *inside* cab. 2. Gas spraying onto transmission and exhaust manifold (urp!) 3. Two foot diameter puddle under the car as soon as you stop.
Amazingly, the car did not self-immolate.
-- A
[This message has been edited by dremu (edited 05-22-2019).]
Never forget to chock the vehicle while working under your friend’s pickup. And, after you’ve forgotten to chock the wheels of said pickup, don’t get under the truck and disassemble the VERY part that keeps the truck in park.
Never forget to chock the vehicle while working under your friend’s pickup. And, after you’ve forgotten to chock the wheels of said pickup, don’t get under the truck and disassemble the VERY part that keeps the truck in park.
I categorically deny ever disconnected the driveshaft on a 6000# truck, which then rolled down my gently slope yard into my garden shed. Final score was Truck:1 Shed:0.
Never forget to GAS UP !.....Gas up, gas up, gas up ! Those completely inaccurate fuel gauges can leave you stranded out of gas, when you thought you had a quarter tank.
Always have a fire extinguisher nearby when working on the fuel system. 
Yeah, that's what I would say. 
