Re-name Me

[john]

When I first opened my account on this site I needed help with a smog check.. needed to start fast... so just used my first name which is John. Not very imaginative. Most of you guys have pretty cool names. Not sure if it is possible to change my user name, but if it is, maybe my Tercel brothers can help me out. Here are some possibilities: "The Tercel Driver Formerly Known as John"; "Once Lost, Now Found" (in light of my ride being stolen and recovered) or simply "Lost and Found" ; "2WD formerly 4WD".

Anyway, I can not offer a cash prize... just my thanks to whomever re-names me!

john (for now) Hey, maybe that's a good name, "John for Now"

[john]

Let me be clear... I have no expectations of ever topping the name "emmahumpfritter"! john

[TURTCEL]

How about Yo-Yo Yota, after all you did say your car was stolen and recovered. Just like a yo-yo, it goes away and comes back. Or how bout Boomerang John, same concept?

Peace

[Petros]

"smog check John"

[dlb]

"smog check John"

this has my vote

[TURTCEL]

You could be "justjohn" ?

Peace

[john]

Excellent ideas! Will see what else turns up.

[john]

Heck, I just spent close to 30 minutes typing up a pretty good story when my screen shifted to a full page ad for Bing, wanting me to make it my homepage. When I got back to the tercel site all my work was gone. Never had that happen before and will definitely not use Bing. So, let me try again:

Thank you for some excellent ideas on renaming me. Have decided to stay with "John". I have to add that I always enjoy seeing the name "TURTCEL". My wife and I have a "free range" desert tortoise in our backyard whom we call "Turt". When I see the name "TURTCEL" I always think of our turtle (tortoise). Anyway, after I describe my current adventur in auto repair, most of you may refer to me as "dumbass", a name I often earn.

I was working on our '95 Odyssey (which by the way just passed smog way under the limits!) when I managed to do the following: I replaced the air conditioning compressor and dryer. I put a vacuum on the system with the Harbor Freight 2.5 pump I just bought. It worked great and fast. I turned it off and vacuum held for half an hour, no leaks! I started recharge procedure. Freon was soon spewing out of several connections, only a little was going into the system. Clutch would not turn on. Finally realized after wasting 2 cans of Freon that I had not turned on the car's air conditioner.. duh. In my defense... I did turn on the blower switch, normally that is all I have to do because the system button is always left in the on position, I turned the system off 2 days earlier when I was getting smoke from my air conditioning clutch and forgot I had turned it off. With the system turned on I was able to finish the recharge and not spew more Freon all over me, duh. Really cold air, just like my Tercel Brothers in the great frozen north get by simply rolling down their windows.

So, call me "john" or "dumbass" a name I often earn!

[dlb]

how big is your tortoise? when i was a kid, some family friends had one on their farm. i remember it being quite big. i think they're fascinating. any chance of pics of old turt?

don't sweat that AC story. i'm sure many of us could out-do you in terms of goofball mistakes. i've had my share but i think my worst was not checking for leaks after doing an oil change on my wife's civic. she called the next day from just down the road, asking why the oil light was on. i looked out the window and saw the trail of oil going down the driveway and road. i nearly killed the damn thing, and i had just finished a bunch of trans, clutch, and brake work on the thing. lucky for me it hadn't had a chance to run completely dry so after removing the extra oil filter gasket that had been stuck to the block and refilling the engine with oil, all was fine. i was still super pissed at myself though, and the trail of oil that lingered on the driveway for 6 months was a daily reminder of the mistake.

[ARCHINSTL]

As dlb mentioned, we all have tech peccadilloes to which we may confess.
Those who receive the monthly Rock Auto newsletter know the "Car Repairs and Blunders" section it has, wherein a consumer relates his personal boo-boo.
Rest assured that both yours and David's have been outdone.

Mine was many years ago... My then-wife was on a weekend vacation with the kids and one of her sisters. I removed the driveshaft on her '61 Morris Minor Woodie to replace the U-joints. A "staffing crisis" came up at work and I wound up working three straight days of over 16 hours each. She came home on a Monday, the kids were wailing and she was kvetching over ? and we had an argument over ?. She asked if her car was ready and I yelled "Yeah!" I heard it start, then silence, then she stormed through the door, screaming something like "The &%^$#@** thing won't move!!!"
Yup - I'd forgotten to tell her the driveshaft had not been installed...
Tom M.

[Petros]

humm..."dumbassJohn" has a certain ring to it. but that would be unfair since we all do stupid things everyone once in a while, and the more experience you have working on cars, the more screw ups you actually get to do. More than once I have started cars after I thought I changed the oil, and when the light (or oil pressure gage) would not indicate pressure realized I just drained it. Usually I am doing other maintenance at the same time and forgot that i had not added oil, but that only happened once or twice. I even did a complete overhaul of an engine, got it all together, engine in and all connected, oil in the crankcase, started first turn of the key, but again no oil pressure!!! I had forgotten to install the oil pressure relief piston and spring in the oil pump after I had taken it apart to clean it. I got to take it apart again1 fortunately no noticeable damage either time.

you want to know about blunders on cars, I am the king of dumbass screw-ups. I have done them all! Including once installing whole set of piston rings upside down (I blame the bad directions that came with them, but I should have realized the "sharp" always goes down because I knew that!). the rebuilt motor acted like an oil pump, pushing all the motor oil out the exhaust in very short order.

[john]

I love the stories! I was hoping to hear some good ones from you guys. It's true, the more you do the more chances to goof-up. Learned a long time ago to try and laugh stuff off. I changed the oil on my Spit 35 years ago. Carefully refilled the engine. Noticed a big puddle under the car. Forgot to put the plug in the pan. Hiked a couple miles to buy more oil. There are dozens more stories.

DLB, I will attach some tortoise photos. These are from 2013 February, when she woke up from hibernation. She is only about 5 inches across. The california desert tortoise does not get huge, but they live almost forever. When she wakes up from hibernation she is pretty hungry and quite social. She will cross the yard to visit me. She will typically hibernate from Sept - March.

[TURTCEL]

"John" I appreciate your liking to my forum and car's name...TURTCEL. A really quick break down of the name's origin.

Car: Tercel
Wife's nickname: Turtle
Wife stole my Terc...only fitting to rename "her" car TURTCEL.

I did just make a deal with the wife which will in turn get me my Terc back. It only cost me a couple thousand dollars but I bought her the Corolla All-Trac that she has been wanting. When she gets back from her trip to Idaho in mid June I will swap her cars. Ahh, it will be a sweet feeling to get out of that crappy Escort and back in to the Terc...or should I say; TURTCEL.

Oh yeah, these cars are pretty slow so the turtle reference can correspond with that too.

Peace

[marlinh]

Wow John, Awesome tortoise shots. That photo of her eating would win a contest in my books.

Don't worry about dumb ass stuff. I have done many over the years too. A moment of distraction and suddenly you are in deep doo-doo redoing usually a long complicated job. It's a drag when you are working in a shop redoing something that is using up time you should be spending on the next vehicle.

My very first car was a 76 ( I think) Renault 5 that had a burnt valve. Paid $100 fir it. I 'rebuilt' the head in my bedroom with phone call support from friends, put it back together. Changed the oil started it up and could not figure out why the engine dipstick was overfull. I had dropped the oil in the transmission, and overfilled the crankcase! This car had the engine installed backwards. The transmission was actually in front of the block. The shifter was in the dash and this hollow tube went across the top of the engine compartment and down to the trans. From underneath you couldn't tell, at least with my inexperience which one was the drain plug, and I pulled the logical one out.

That was such a fun first car. I think it got around 55 mpg. The engine was so small. It used oil too, and when I went around a corner, the oil light would come on for a few seconds if the level was low (poor location of the pressure switch). I knew it was down a quart and would promptly top it up. Drove that car for years until the salt killed it. It also had a lever on the headlights that you could aim them down if you had a carload of four people in it. Otherwise they would be looking skyward. When you were back to one person you would flip them back.

[dlb]

ditto on marlinh's comment on the pics. that is one hell of a cute tortoise, especially devouring dandelions. where does it hibernate?