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bthompson

bthompson

Jedi Warrior
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Okay, so it was the first nice day in awhile and I figured I'd drive Nigel to work. I'd driven him around town, but this would be the first big carbon blow-out all season. 20 minutes at 60, to boil off the condensation in the oil. Yeah, it was brisk, but at least the sun was shining. The usual assortment of rattles, shakes, and squeaks, but the engine was running smooth that morning.

On the way home, a new, alarming, grinding sound. One that rapidly got worse. Marbles in a blender. My first reaction, "Oh crap, I've spun a bearing." Or dropped my thrust washer. I stabbed the clutch a few times, and the grinding didn't abate. Not the clutch, maybe, and probably not the thrust washer, either. The grinding wasn't in sync with the engine speed, nor was it in sync with tire rotation. Just a relentless, semi-random grinding. Oil pressure steady, water temp good, steady amps...What the @#$%! could this <span style="font-style: italic">be</span>? As traffic blew around me, I hobbled to the first available exit, hoping nothing expensive was happening, but from the sound of it, imagining my poor engine spinning itself into a molten lump.

In a handy Wal-Mart parking lot, I popped the bonnet to see what I could see in the rapidly-darkening dusk. And there it was.
My starter had fallen off.
<span style="font-style: italic">Fallen.
<span style="font-weight: bold">OFF</span>.</span>
No bolts, no nuts, no washers, just a starter hanging by its cable, the end of the bendix bouncing merrily against the flywheel. "Oh, crap," again, and I reflexively kill the ignition. The bendix gear looked like the loser in a grudge match with a flywheel spinning at 3500 rpm. Which, of course, it <span style="font-style: italic">was</span>. The backside of the flywheel didn't fare much better. It dawned on me, slowly, that I now couldn't start the car. It was now black, and bitterly cold. Even with a handy Wal-Mart parking lot attendant to assist in the forward momentum, popping the clutch brought no joy. Hours later, exhausted, freezing, hands covered in British Engine Slime, I admit defeat and call the AAA.

Sometimes you get the bear, and sometimes...well, <span style="font-style: italic">you </span>know. The old saying about LBC's, that "bits sometimes fall off..." well, whaddaya know. They <span style="font-style: italic">DO</span>.
 
As an old friend once told me "Chicken today, feathers tomorrow." What an oddity!!
 
Yep, BTDT.

I was riding my motorcycle one day, nice, sunny spring day in the VA countryside. It was my dirt bike, a Kawi KLR 250.

All of a sudden at about 45 MPH, the front disc brake caliper falls off with a big CLUNK! I looked down and it was dangling by the brake hose, slapping against the front wheel.

Thank goodness I was able to stop quickly and keep the caliper from getting tangled up in the wheel spokes.

Learned a lesson: always perform scheduled maintenance, and TORQUE ALL YOUR BOLTS AND FASTENERS AT REGULAR INTERVALS! :shocked:

Scary, really scary . . . :lol:
 
Yikes, Bill!

A good reminder to double check all those bolts. Yeah...
 
ouch!

and check those wheel nuts while you are at it!
 
I kept getting strange noises as I was trying to start the car. Most of the time it would start as usual but the noises got louder and longer as time wore on.

Eventually I figured my starter was toast. No biggie, their inexpensive. Easy to replace I did not know about.

So with the car cold, I get my hands in there for a closer look. Turn out the lower bolt was gone entirely. The upper bold was loose, so the starter would pivot out of position from time to time.

I had only owned the car for a few months so it was the first of many loose parts to come close to falling off the car.

The entire choke assy did fall off at speed, but that's another story....
 
<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:] Wow, you couldn't clutch it off, dang. [/QUOTE] I know, I thought that was odd. I've never had to bump-start a car before, but from what I read, I thought Spridgets were supposed to be <span style="font-style: italic">really </span>easy; even for one person. Is there a secret technique I'm missing?

In other news, I got the replacement starter on today. Thank goodness for Advance Auto's lifetime warranties! Securely attached, <span style="font-style: italic">with </span>nylock nuts. ( :thankyousign: for the tip, Hap!) I'm gonna have a more thorough pre-flight checklist in the future, that much is certain.

And that little stunt cost me another thou off of my thrust washer. Argh! :madder: Guess that job's coming up sooner rather than later.
 
I had a similar experience on my 1st car...

The adjustment lock-down bolt on the alternator had snapped (cheap grade replacement installed by the PO) allowing the alternator to hang loose. AND apparently the pivot bolt was missing its nut and quickly vibrated loose, drifted forward, AND hit the fan! This YANKED the bolt out and FLUNG IT thru the radiator core, SPEWING coolant everywhere!! :pukeface: :madder:

So now I was stuck on the side of the road w/o an alternator, and with a huge hole in my radiator..... NOT GOOD!! :wall: :cry:

After the tow home, I recored the radiator, and replaced the alternator bolts with GRADE 5 bolts and Nylock nuts!! :thumbsup:

An expensive lesson in the value of using quality fasteners!!
(I now buy/use the best fasteners money can buy for most ALL applications, as I NEVER want to revisit THAT experience!!)

"Cheers!" :cheers:

-Bear-
 
This is great, embarrassing story of mine.

On my 1994 BMW, 3 series convertible, I replaced my rear brake pads and rotors. Well, upon reassembly apparently I didn't torque down 1 of the bolts which holds the caliper on the holder. So me and the wife go out shopping, hit a few stores, everything seems fine. Then on the way home my ear end locks up while pulling up to a light. It locks up with a thump, and the rear wheel is frozen. My caliper had lost 1 of the bolts holding it on, and the entire caliper would swing on the remaining bolt, and lodging itself on the inside of wheel, locking everything up. when I would stop the car, and roll back a little, the caliper would drop back down and everything would be fine again until I would apply the brake, which would swing the caliper up against the inside of my whhel and lock up again.

the inside of my wheel was all marked up, but nothing happened to the caliper. went to Home Depot down the street and purchased a new bolt and was on my way again.

torque, torque, torque everyone !!!

joe
 
I can't top these stories but I do have a sticker that proudly proclaims "All the bits falling off this machine are of the finest British engineering quality"
 
Remember: "Parts falling off this car are of the highest English Quality"
 
ONE MORE Horror Story...

WAY BACK when I lived in San Diego, I picked up an old Chevy LUV Pick-up for $1K. It was nothing great to look at... very faded yellow paint, a little rust at the bottoms of the front fenders, torn seat, carb that needed a rebuild, sloppy front suspension, etc. But it was meant to be used as a 2nd car, primarily to keep the miles off my Lotus-Isuzu RS, for occasional trips to Home Depot, for hauling stuff to the dumps, for groceries, etc..

One day I was driving it home & suddenly steam began to pour out from under the hood. Turns out I had a bad freeze/core plug on the head. Wouldn't you know it was located in the very back of the head, approx 1" from the firewall (i.e. no access w/o pulling the head). At the time I was living in an apartment, so pulling a head was not convenient. SO, I opted to have the local corner garage do it, as they said they could pull the head, redo the valves, knurl the valve guides, install a new freeze plug, and put it all back together for under $250.00.

Left it with them for a week, and picked it up on the Friday.
Fenders were covered with greasy hand prints, but she appeared to run fine, so I paid the man & drove off. I got about 2 miles away and when I went to downshift ALL HECK BROKE LOOSE!! "BANG!!" & I heard all kinds of metal grinding and parts flying off/under the car! At first I thought I'd blown a clutch or maybe the trans, so I quickly stepped on the clutch pedal, turned off the engine, and coasted to the side of the road. I climbed out and got down on my knees to look at the trans. To my surprise it was intact! BUT looking towards the front of the car I quickly dicovered that water & oil was POURING OUT! :pukeface: I popped the hood and soon discoverd that the front engine cover had exploded, leaving pieces of aluminum all over the engine compartment, my timing chain was now completely exposed & the water pump was nowhere to be seen!! :cry:

I was NOT a Happy Camper!! :madder: :wall:

I found a pay phone (no cell-phone back then) called the garage, and the quickly sent a tow truck to drag my wounded little yellow LUV back to the garage.
TURNED OUT they had failed to properly torque down the bolts that held the cam gear in place. One had worked its way loose, fell out, got caught in the timing chain & proceded to tear the engine apart!!
IN THE END I received a completely rebuilt engine for no extra charge!
I still had to clean the greasy hand prints off the fenders, but she ran GREAT for years. :driving: I finally sold her to a neighbor.

"One Loose Bolt Can RUIN Your Day!!"

-Bear- :cheers:
 
This all reminds me:
How do I find cheap parts for my Sprite?
.
.
.
.
.
.
..
Follow another one, & sooner or later you'll find what your'e looking for.
 
Hairyone said:
This all reminds me:
How do I find cheap parts for my Sprite?
.
.
.
.
.
.
..
Follow another one, & sooner or later you'll find what your'e looking for.
Click to expand...

<span style="font-size: 17pt"><span style="font-weight: bold">FUNNY!!</span></span> :lol:

=Bear- :cheers:
 
Love it. Not sure it reassures herself much though.
 
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