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OK, fess up.

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Bob Hughes said:
How's about testing the plugs for a spark.

Took one out and turned the engine over using the solenoid button, of course the other 5 plugs were in and of course the engine fired up whilst I was holding the sixth against the block, I found that I could not let go and just about managed to switch the ignition off before any major damaged occurred - OUCH And the daft thing is I did a similar thing on our lawnmower some 55 years ago when I pulled the string to turn the engine over - some people never learn.

:cheers:

Bob
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When I was a kid (9-12), we had a sailboat. It once went through a hurricane on Pamlico Sound in NC. It survived OK, but the motor wouldn't start, and I was "helping" Dad with the troubleshooting: "Jim, hold this wire, and if the magneto is working, you'll feel a tingle". I did, and that was about the hardest I ever saw him laugh. He then asked me: "Did you learn something?" (I was asked that question a lot). :eek:

The following isn't a car-only thing, but it was a very good general life lesson: The first time I went out on the boat with Dad, I had to relieve myself, and rather than going below to the head, Dad told me to just go over the side. The lee rail was in the water, and I was a scared, inexperienced 9 year-old, so he said nothing as I went "up" to the windward side. Well, I had to go back "down" to finish, but I did learn a concept which can be useful in a lot of situations. Again, he was very amused, and later, I also got the pleasure of washing the boat.

Curiously, even after these and other equally demoralizing experiences, I really enjoyed sailing. I even enjoyed spending time with Dad, but looking back, sometimes I'm not exactly sure why...:smile:
 
How about adding the wrong fuel? We have various vehicles and machines here that require diesel fuel, and its easy to grab the wrong can when one is absent minded and not paying attention. I did that with the snowmobile a few years ago. No harm done, but it did delay the ice fishing trip by half an hour while I siphoned out the diesel/gas mixture and put in fresh gas.

It's even worse when one pulls up at the fuel pumps and adds gasoline to a machine that requires diesel. Someone whose name I won't mention filled their Bobcat skid steer tank with gasoline last year. They did not notice the problem until the machine started to run rough on the job site; then they realized what they had done. My phone then rang, and the voice on the other end said, "Dad, what are you doing for the next few hours . . ." Again, no harm done but it sure makes people feel dumb.
 
Jim, that experience reminds me of the Jim Croce song "Don't Mess Around with Jim." A line in that song says "Don't spit into the wind." When we sing that, we usually change "spit" to another word; that likely is what Croce intended but he couldn't say it on the air.
 
"Jim, that experience reminds me of the Jim Croce song "Don't Mess Around with Jim." A line in that song says "Don't spit into the wind." When we sing that, we usually change "spit" to another word; that likely is what Croce intended but he couldn't say it on the air."

Oh yes, I'm very familiar with that song...
 
Jim,
The boat thing opens a whole new chapter. My family had a nice old 27 foot sloop when I was a kid, on Long Island Sound. My dad asked me to wash down part of the cabin and left me to it (I was about 7). No life preservers being worn in 1959. I quietly went and got a bucket, tied a line on it went to the leeward side (dad must have been looking up at the main sail) and figured it would be best if I tied it around my waist and threw it overboard to get some water, we were doing about 6 or 7 knots, clipping right along . My father almost missed me as flew past him on my way off the stern. I don't think he knew how he managed to hold on to me and grab the line as we came into the wind. He was probably thinking he should have just let me go because there is no hope for a kid who does something like that.
 
roscoe said:
Jim,
The boat thing opens a whole new chapter. My family had a nice old 27 foot sloop when I was a kid, on Long Island Sound. My dad asked me to wash down part of the cabin and left me to it (I was about 7). No life preservers being worn in 1959. I quietly went and got a bucket, tied a line on it went to the leeward side (dad must have been looking up at the main sail) and figured it would be best if I tied it around my waist and threw it overboard to get some water, we were doing about 6 or 7 knots, clipping right along . My father almost missed me as flew past him on my way off the stern. I don't think he knew how he managed to hold on to me and grab the line as we came into the wind. He was probably thinking he should have just let me go because there is no hope for a kid who does something like that.
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Jon, If I remember correctly, that's also known as a sea anchor.

As for life preservers, we had them (by law) in a locker in the cockpit, but I don't think I ever saw one in use. It was a different world, and somehow, we managed to survive!
 
Not personal experience, but worth mentioning IMO for safety's sake:

I once knew an aircraft mechanic who was trying to find TDC on a cylinder, probably for a differential compression test. He pulled the (top) plug, put his thumb over the hole and bumped the starter, thinking he was on the compression stroke. Well, he was on the intake stroke and, you guessed it, all the flesh from the top half of his thumb ended up in the cylinder.
 
Bob_Spidell said:
Not personal experience, but worth mentioning IMO for safety's sake:

I once knew an aircraft mechanic who was trying to find TDC on a cylinder, probably for a differential compression test. He pulled the (top) plug, put his thumb over the hole and bumped the starter, thinking he was on the compression stroke. Well, he was on the intake stroke and, you guessed it, all the flesh from the top half of his thumb ended up in the cylinder.
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Shouldn't the intake valve have been open?
 
I once put about 25 gallons of diesel into the fresh water tank of my boat. Getting the fuel out the tank was not a problem--getting the taste out was.
 
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