I thought I would share a good oops that I had today.

I was installing a new rear view mirror assembly and if anyone has done this they know how hard it is to engage the spring back into the mounting plate. There are two opposing pins held firm by a heavy-duty spring that holds the black swan neck and mirror to the mounting bracket, which is attached to the inner roof. I was using a piece of wood and a rubber mallet to engage the assembly. Oh, it engaged all right but the piece of wood was too wide and I busted my windshield.

Thank God Massachusetts mandates glass coverage for all insured cars.

Anyway, there is my grief.

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83 300TDT BROWNBENZ
04 Sprinter

uhh, i took a random road and got my car stuck recently, does that count?? Biggest oops i can think of is cross threading some part of the injection system on my old century. Oh wait, i was trying to tightne up my headliner and ended up ripping a HUGE chunk of it out.... Thats all i can think of, i know i've done worse, my brain is just being kind tonight
Ryan

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83 300SD.......sold
96 integra SE....sold
99 a4 quattro....sold
2001 IS300.......sold
2002 330i.........current.
2004 highlander limited....current.

I was beginning to think that due to MercedesShop everyone was oops free, never any mistakes.

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83 300TDT BROWNBENZ
04 Sprinter

By the way, what are OEM windshields for mercedes?

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83 300TDT BROWNBENZ
04 Sprinter

I got one from Adsit Co. (I hate that company by the way) for something like $150 which included freight. The glass wasn't perfect, but it was certainly an upgrade from the glass that was on the car. Don't quote me on the price, it was over a year ago. It wasn't a lot though.

Alex

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1983 300D (parked for four years)
2012 VW Sportwagen TDI Manual
2001 Miata SE
1962 Chevrolet Corvair Rampside

This is kind of a dual fault oops, but here goes.

In my naivety, as I was buying my first Benz, I did not noticed that the bottom of the car had been treated to a rather brutal rust proofing / putty / chassis black job. This shabby job puttied right over the tire jack holes!

My oops (which caused me to notice this horrible putty job), took place while I was raising the car with a 3 ton hydraulic jack placed under the auto on what I thought would be a strong jack point (just behind the front wheel well). Well, as I was raising the car, the putty began to crack and crumble. Not too bad, but very curious and irritating.

So now I am challenged with trying to undo the poor rust cover-up job, and do it right. If not for anything else, so I can access my jack holes in case of emergency, since I don’t carry my hydraulic around in my trunk.

I know this has most likely been covered (pardon the pun), but can anyone offer suggestions as to how to ‘undo’ what has been done poorly, and do it right? I am a bit apprehensive about what is under all that chassis black and bondo.

The lesson here for me. Don't be afraid to crawl under a used car you are thinking about buying.

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James

85 300SD 285k
Charcoal Gray/Grey MB-Tex

79 300CD 142000mi "Rabenshwarz"
Black / Black MB-Tex, Burlwood Int. TOTALLED - 10/24/02 --

Show me one person who's never made an "Oops" doing auto work, and I'll show you someone who's never done any auto work.

Probably the biggest "Oops" I saw (the guy took a picture and posted it, but I don't rememebr where it was) was a guy on the Ford site I frequent...he was welding a sending unit for an EGT gauge into his exhaust pipe. He had just gotten the weld nice and perfect and clean when he realized that the flange (the moving part with the bolt holes to go onto the next piece) was on the wrong side of the sending unit. He had to pull it out and start over again.

Then there was the guy who was putting Herculiner on the rocker panels of his Ford Explorer...no gloves and then nature called...I think there were over 1,000 posts on that thread makin' fun of him...he was a good sport about it but I still felt for him...

Mistakes I've made? I know they exist but I can't think offhand of what any are...no I'm not being pompous

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2001 VW Jetta TDI, 5 speed, daily driver
1991 Ford F-350, work in progress
1984 Ford F-250 4x4, 6.9l turbo diesel, 5 speed manual
Previous oilburners: 1980 IH Scout, 1984 E-350, 1985 M-B 300D, 1979 M-B 300SD, 1983 M-B 300D
Spark-free since 1999

How about changing the oil and forgetting to put the drain plug back in. No really I meant to flush the crank with fresh oil

My most recent oops! While changing a vacuum hose under the dash, I tugged a little too hard and broke the other end. It turned into a fiasco because I couldn't find where it broke from but the plastic fitting was still in the hose. Now the car won't shut off unless you turn on the heat. After disecting the whole center console I finally found that it was the vacuum switchover valve and have one coming from parts shop. Arrgh!

Once about 10 years ago I had a 68 230 finback and the distributor kept shorting out. It was really old and tarnished looking so I thought I'd clean all of the contacts. I took out all of the little screws and cleaned up everything real nice. I did not notice, however, that the one screw that goes into the side was shorter than the other two. When I put it all back together I was unaware that the wrong screw was too long and protruded inside the distributor interfering with the inner workings so, when I turned the key....ARRRGGGGHHHH!!!! The whole distributor twisted a few times and broke the cast aluminumn shaft. Fortunately I got one from a junkyard moments before they closed for a holiday weekend for $100 (I think...long time ago) and went about my biz.

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1982 300D Turbo "Helga"
380,000 miles

No major blunders yet (a whole lot of minor annoying ones though caused by haphazard, rushed work), but I drop things ALL the time. ALL the time.

Alex

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1983 300D (parked for four years)
2012 VW Sportwagen TDI Manual
2001 Miata SE
1962 Chevrolet Corvair Rampside

My most recent OOps was 2 weeks ago. Stopped at the MB dealer and picked up a new hood star to replace what vandals had destroyed.

Played with while waiting at a light, twisting the spring Steel and pinching the heck out of my finger. Lost the litle metal keeper from the spring.

Ended up returning to the MB dealer the next day. Paid another $30 and successfully installed the new star.

Any wannabe rappers need a medallion for their necklace?

--Craig

Most memorable oop's that comes to mind at the moment was a few years back.In the good old days you could get oil in ring pull cans,take it from me NEVER put your beer anywhere near where you leave your oil!!!Bear

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W123 '82 300D red 202,000 miles

G460 '83 280 GE LWB 69,000 miles

Mercedes-Benz Club member
http://www.mercedes-benz-club.co.uk/

S Klasse Club Deutschland
http://www.s-klasse-club.de/

Not a wannabe rapper *lol* but I'm wondering, how much do you want for the star? Be cool to put it near my computer or something

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2001 VW Jetta TDI, 5 speed, daily driver
1991 Ford F-350, work in progress
1984 Ford F-250 4x4, 6.9l turbo diesel, 5 speed manual
Previous oilburners: 1980 IH Scout, 1984 E-350, 1985 M-B 300D, 1979 M-B 300SD, 1983 M-B 300D
Spark-free since 1999

Another good OOPS I had was leaving the oil cap on top of the air filter and closing the hood. Idented the hood from the inside up. I can't remember what car it was but it had a pretty large oil cap. Possibly my old Ford LTD. Duh!

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1982 300D Turbo "Helga"
380,000 miles

While checking the timing on the 450 sl I placed the inductive pick-up on the #1 plug wire near the manifold .
The wife called me into the house .

When i returned to the GUYRAGE all i could smell was a strong odor of plastic.The pickup had to be chiseled from the manifold after it cooled

Razorman