so, how badly have you gotten hurt working on cars

[winfred]

****ing radiator on a e36 blew up and roasted my arm today, i may yet keep the skin but the day ain't over yet, 7-8 years ago while crushing cars at the yard i slipped fell and put my arm through the windshield of a porsche up to the shoulder, only 20-30 stiches and didn't loose anything coulda been worse. radiator blew up on a buddy and shot him in the crotch (that would suck on so many different levels), had another buddy that was doing a strut job with those shitty threaded rod compressors that launched a spring into his crotch (i saw that one happen) the older guy i work with had a battery blow up on him and got his arm pretty good

how bout ya'll

[Gayle]

Winfred

Sorry about your arm. I think it must have effected your head too. Normally you would post pictures.

[winfred]

unless it sheads skin it just looks like a arm, slathered in aloe, id take pictures of the scars on the other arm but i don't think they would show up, i could post george if ya really want :D


Winfred

Sorry about your arm. I think it must have effected your head too. Normally you would post pictures.

[Gayle]

unless it sheads skin it just looks like a arm, slathered in aloe, id take pictures of the scars on the other arm but i don't think they would show up, i could post george if ya really want :D

Actually I would prefer you post some pictures of those unfortunate injuries that your friends suffered.;)

[angrypancake]

radiator neck broke and burning coolant got me in the chest and some on the face, no scarring though. other than that, the normal bloody knuckles and a broken finger, swollen toes from dropping wrenches and bruised ego when i don't finish something in the time i thought i would

[winfred]

trust me you wouldn't wanna see ed's black & blue/swollen crotch from the spring if i had a pic to show, and john told me of his scaulding i didn't witness it nore would i wanna see it, didn't wanna see ed's blue balls ether


Actually I would prefer you post some pictures of those unfortunate injuries that your friends suffered.;)

[Jehu]

Not as badly as not working on them. I got overcharged by about $300 for the thrust arms+ bushings i had put on this week...I'd rather have slipped and slammed my knuckles into the wheel hub forcing a frozen bolt than be some parts guys bitch.To make it worse, the reason i OK'ed the high quote was i wanted the job done thne on Tuesday to go camping up state this weekened becasue at that time the Weather was forecast to be great and its now a washout so i had no reason to take the parts at that price . I could have said no, gotten the car back and got the arms myself then had him put them in.I just never invisioned him charging me $550 .oo for the parts. Still smarts, ouch..

[Robin-535im]

When I was 15 or so and fixing the horn on my 56 ford pickup, I had a HUGE pair of channel lock pliers (HUGE) that I was using to try to prise the steering wheel up with. At one point I had the pliers in both hands, holding on to the center of the wheel, pulling UP with all my might...

Ever do that "polack test" in school where you hold your buddy's fist and tell him to try his hardest to touch his knuckles to his forehead, then let go when he's pulling the hardest and he punches himself in the head?

Well, it was like that... I was pulling with all my might and the channel locks slipped and I whacked myself in the forehead REALLY REALLY hard. Nearly passed out, still have a bump there 17 years later.

BTW - Winfred... my wife was looking over my shoulder just now and saw the pic of mario bro in your sig... she asked, "is that Winfred??" (good thing you changed if from The Bean, eh?)

- Robin

[BillionPa]

was removing the strut assembley from the lower arm, while there was a bottle jack "attempting" to do something, i cant remember.....

to make a long story short the entire strut assembley popped out of the steering and hit me in the face. lucliky i noticed a fraction of a second before that it was a bad idea and started to move away when it happened, otherwise my face would be all wired up.

[jrobbo]

About 20 years ago, I was helping a mate of mine put his gearbox back into his Alfa Alfetta GT after a rebuild. These cars have a Dedion rear axle, and the gearbox is mounted at the back of the car with the diff.

We had the back of the car up on Jack Stands, it felt pretty secure. To get the gearbox in, we put a scissor jack underneath the dedion rear end (it's like a huge triangle) to hold it out of the way while we were on our backs under the car, trying to manouvre the gearbox into place.

Anyway, the scissor jack gave way, the dedion link collapsed, and that made the whole car move forward, it was still teetering on the jack stands, but only just. We dropped the gearbox, got out from under the car, and within seconds, it collapsed. Neither of us was hurt at all, but a few seconds more and we would have been pancakes.

The car felt pretty secure on the jack stands, but nowdays I don't go anywhere near the underneath of my car without a backup plan.

John

[Blitzkrieg Bob]

we have a saying.....The job is not done until Bob gets hurt/bleeds.

Usually it's just a few nicks or cuts, a few stitches very once in a awhile.

[winfred]

it's sorta like a offering to the car gods


we have a saying.....The job is not done until Bob gets hurt/bleeds.

Usually it's just a few nicks or cuts, a few stitches very once in a awhile.

[Jon K]

Saj3ns heat shield on the gas tank cut the **** ouf of the knuckle on my index finger to the point where I almost threw up. About 10 minutes after that injury it cut the **** out of my other hand on the side of my first knuckle on the index finger - I almost threw up again. *shiver*

Runner up is when i had my car on the lift and was fully bent over getting bolts fromt he floor, stood up at full typical speed and hit the back of my head on the lift arm - again, almost throwing up. My friends were laughing as I spit up outside... yay for neural damage.

[califblue]

****in Rookies...everyone knows HOT CHICKS ( thanks Gayle;) ) love road Rash!

Cheatin' Death Every Weekend Keeps Me ALIVE and I live more at 2-3 min at WIDE Open Throttle than most of you do in a month and some of you really PC folks in a LIFE TIME!


Let the Flammin' Begin...but just try to KEEP UP;)

[Bill R.]

shattered glasses from impact sockets flying off under a car in a confined area, batteries blowing up in your face, burns just like you got today, and then about once a month i singe the hair off of one of my hands with the torch and then i notice all the old scars that i've accumulated...





****ing radiator on a e36 blew up and roasted my arm today, i may yet keep the skin but the day ain't over yet, 7-8 years ago while crushing cars at the yard i slipped fell and put my arm through the windshield of a porsche up to the shoulder, only 20-30 stiches and didn't loose anything coulda been worse. radiator blew up on a buddy and shot him in the crotch (that would suck on so many different levels), had another buddy that was doing a strut job with those shitty threaded rod compressors that launched a spring into his crotch (i saw that one happen) the older guy i work with had a battery blow up on him and got his arm pretty good

how bout ya'll

[Gayle]

That is actually sort of scary. Bill--do you have fingers?

[Bill R.]

50 wpm if needed, just plenty of scars... something Winfred has to look forward to in another 20 years unfortunately.




That is actually sort of scary. Bill--do you have fingers?

[Paul in NZ]

Not as badly as not working on them. I got overcharged by about $300 for the thrust arms+ bushings i had put on this week...I'd rather have slipped and slammed my knuckles into the wheel hub forcing a frozen bolt than be some parts guys bitch.To make it worse, the reason i OK'ed the high quote was i wanted the job done thne on Tuesday to go camping up state this weekened becasue at that time the Weather was forecast to be great and its now a washout so i had no reason to take the parts at that price . I could have said no, gotten the car back and got the arms myself then had him put them in.I just never invisioned him charging me $550 .oo for the parts. Still smarts, ouch..

ahhh the old 20/20 hindsight.......;) sorry about that

[Paul in NZ]

nowdays I don't go anywhere near the underneath of my car without a backup plan.

John
thats a good plan.Ask Darwin.

[Paul in NZ]

my brother doent hurt himself he just breaks things...he can break anything.

[Gayle]

50 wpm if needed, just plenty of scars... something Winfred has to look forward to in another 20 years unfortunately.

I think we should have a "scar-off". Winfred--can you match Bill?

[Bill R.]

hand, i'm left handed, its quite a bit more scarred up since i use it more.. Then again for that romantic asphalt rash stuff, there's a friend of mine with burn scars over 40% of his body , funny car engine fire and he couldn't get the escape hatch open before the fire crew got there.. or my oldest brother who has road rash over about 20% of his body from when he got ran over by a dragster back when he was about 21... 6 inch circles on his knees, elbows shoulders, all over his back.. yeah the hot chicks really dig that..... not.




I think we should have a "scar-off". Winfred--can you match Bill?

[Gayle]

Bill you have had more opportunity to develop your own unique marbling, but you strike me as very careful. Winfred on the other hand strikes me as crazy and more risk taking. (No offense Win--you know I love your craziness. I am one of your biggest fans.) And Winfred is such a competitor. I am not so sure you are going to be that far ahead of Winfred.

But thanks for the mention of the dominant hand. We want apples to apples comparison.

[attack eagle]

I never get seriously hurt, because I take what I am doing deadly serious.

I have burned a knuckle so badly on a turbo manifold bolt (just brushed against it) it never even blistered just sizzled. After 3 months there is still a red dimple mark on the knuckle.

I did have a ramp shoot out when a friend was easing a car down off it and give me a 6 inch long scrape about 6 months ago. I jumped to try and clear it (I was about 6 feet away) and it just grazed my leg thru my jeans, but it could have broken it if I hadn't been alert. That one finally healed up but I'll have that scar for the next 10 years or more before it goes away.

Just another reminder to stand well back when driving off ramps and to wear jeans, long sleeves, gloves etc when working on cars.

[rob101]

Just another reminder to stand well back when driving off ramps and to wear jeans, long sleeves, gloves etc when working on cars.
i had a friend who welded in shorts and a t-shirt. I said to him, ah? what the hell are you doing. of course he knew better.
he got 1st degree burns that day just from the welding. then again i would surprised if he is still alive, i don't help him with jobs anymore he is a reckless idiot. once he was pulling out a fuel tank, but he didn't think it necessary to drain it. he is the kind of idiot that thinks it'll never happen to him and next thing he is dead.
ps i don't have any battle scars but then again i wouldn't have anywhere near the exposure to it as bill or winfred would.

[nizmainiac]

i was taking a rear wheel off a dust cart about 4 years ago with an inch drive air gun and the air hose blew off at the connector whipped back up and broke my nose but thats the worst thats ever happened to me, i have seen several idiots reverse 10 ton lorries off bottle jacks while there have been no wheels on the front, just not paying attention to what they're doing, luckily no one was hurt, funny though

[angrypancake]

this has nothing to do with cars but i remember at swim practice we were doing stretch cords and one snapped and caught my coach... it was a 4" thick rubber band that had been stretched 30 yards it was so fast no one saw it, we were all like why is mike on the ground? the welt on his leg was about 2 feet long just missed his nuts

[nizmainiac]

there's all sorts of stories doing the rounds, there's one i heard about where a lad was fitting a 13.6-24 tractor front tyre , it was a loose wheel and he'd almost finished the job and was inflating the tyre , he had it flat on the ground,and was standing on the rim in the centre, which is a no-no and tyring to get the beads out onto the rim, if you stand them upright it takes about 14 p.s.i to get them on the bead, this guy had roughly 80 p.s.i in it, suffice to say that the pressure blew the rim out of the tyre, straight up in the air , through the roof ,came back down again and the rim cut the guy in 2 , killed instantly, i've had one blow out through the sidewall on me when i was blowing it up , luckily for me it was still on the tractor, **** did it ever go with a bang

[kyleN20]

my dad works at chrysler in auburn hills, while halfway under a car someone was backing a pt crusier out of the garage and ran his leg over up to his knee, he also had a car lowered on his knee, my worst yet is badly scraped knuckles kock on wood

[duby55]

the time I was installing tool boxes on my pickup. I had made my own mounting brackets and was drilling 1 of them with a dull drill bit that broke. The broken bit in the drill went thru the back of my index finger and out thru my finger nail. That hurt for over a week. I threw out all my old drill bits after that.

[Rigmaster]

<SNIP>
kock on wood


OWWWWWWWW, it must really hurt getting splinters pulled out!! :p


I'm amazed that I have not been seriously injured working on cars, but I've had my share of relatively small stuff.

One of the worst appearing was when I was building an E21 race car, I was cutting out the metal sunroof frame using a 9" electric grinder. Sitting in the stripped car holding the grinder up at head level, the cutting wheel snagged on the metal and kicked back at me. Hit me right in the face spinning at full speed!! Luckily I was wearing my safety glasses, and they deflected the abrasive wheel away from my eyes, but the edge of the wheel left a ~5" long x ~1/2" wide bloody gouge in my cheek. I used some clean rags in the garage to soak up the blood and it looked REALLY bad for a while. I kept on working and got the rest of the sunroof cut out that day. When my wife came by to see me later that day, she saw the row of about 6 band-aids that I used to cover it with and about passed out. I told her it looked alot worse than it really was- THEN she saw all of the white rags with blood all over them that I used to clean up and freaked out!

I still have the scar, but it's not very visible unless you catch it in the right light, then I look like a pirate or something!! :)


I still have the safety glasses too- you can see where the grinder wheel first hit, I sure am glad I was wearing them.


Bret.

[winfred]

like bill said he has a pretty good head start, that and a combination of fairly good healing and a slightly reddish complection (or is that a sunburn/tan :D) that hides all but the best scars puts me at a photographic dissadvantage


I think we should have a "scar-off". Winfred--can you match Bill?

i am not sure where you get that impression, **** happens and you heal, this is a somewhat injury prone profession


Winfred on the other hand strikes me as crazy and more risk taking.

[borderchris]

Complacency killed several cats in this business. I've always been a pretty decent mechanic, both on cars and helicopters, and yet...

'twas the night before christmas, and all through the garage, not a creature was stirring (except for my 1991 IROC-Z) (hey, it was 1994, OK?). I was trying to find a pinhole coolant leak, and somewhere between my 6th icy Sam Adams and the thermostat opening, I nonchalantly leaned my left hand on

AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGHH HHHHHHH!!!

Well, I only lost about half an inch of thumb on that alternator blade. But messy- very, very messy. *ooh* I get goosebumps still, just thinking!

Chris

[DanDombrowski]

I slipped leaning over the hood of my gfs camry, and to brace my fall, I wrapped my hand around the exhaust manifold. The car was at operating temperature.

[Alan_525i]

Never been hurt working on a car (because I don't work on my cars) but had a couple close calls in the lab.

Freshman year of college - Grabbed a hot ring stand. Had a nice semi-circle branded in my hand for most of the semester.

Sophomore Summer - dropped a gigantic plumbers wrench on my foot. We used it to open the main valve on a liquid nitrogen plumbing system. Bought steel toed shoes that weekend.

Senior Year - Really bonehead, stupid careless move. Opened saturated HCl acid outside the hood. The hiss it made as I opened it should have been a clue. Took the cap off, HCl gas comes out. I catch a whiff. Burns like you wouldn't believe. Cover my face with my hand and screw the cap on. Flush my nose and mouth for 20 minutes with cold water. Never told anyone I was so embarassed. Couldn't smell or taste anything for a few days. Could have been MUCH MUCH worse.

Subsequently decided chemistry wasn't for me. One year more of lawschool left now. All I have to worry about is papercuts and angry clients.

[mamilapon]

Lost the nail on my rude finger trying to remove the strut off a Commodore. That was a few years ago. Nail grew back but somehow doesn't look as good as the original.

[zhandax]

Would slamming a 5lb hand sledge into my thumb while holding a pipe fitting to pound in the ball joints into my 300E control arms count? After a month or so, I could use my thumb again. Kinda chilled my entheusiasm for suspension work, though.

[Zeuk in Oz]

this is a somewhat injury prone profession
What an interesting thread.

My worst injury professionally was 12 years ago when a 1100 kg bull crushed my leg, snapping my shin in 2 with the sound of a ruler breaking.
Vets in mixed practice like me, on average, suffer a major injury every 10 years or so. One of the most attractive girls in my year at uni was only 5 foot tall and had her face completely re-arranged by a Rottweiler 15 years ago. The disadvantage of working with things that have a mind of their own.

The worst burns I have seen are on the bloke who services my central heating boiler - they could use pictures of his arms and hands as moulds for alien creatures.

Then again, I presume professional soldiers have a pretty high injury risk.......

[winfred]

i figured it would be a interesting topic, anybody can bleed :D


What an interesting thread.

[TheEndIsNear]

When I was 17 I worked for a Honda dealer that will remain unnamed... I was standing in the car wash bay having a smoke when a coworker decided it would be fun to peel out... In his burning out he diddnt realize how close I was to the car... I ended up having reconstructive surgery on both my feet...

[mamilapon]

I believe suspension work does tend to attract more injuries probably due to the amount of hammering (coupled with cursing) involved. And if it's a little oily under there well beware!!!

[skr]

i'm usualy carefull when i work on cars and till now i didn't have any serious damage( never broke any hands or fingers, or serious burns and stuff). however i managed to do some stupid things like drill a hole through my foot( i removed the drill and pulled it through the other side), implanted some metal in my hand while welding, etc
the latest and probably most annoing was wacking the same finger 4 days in a row on 2 cars and a door. i thought god was telling me to wear gloves

[rob101]

Then again, I presume professional soldiers have a pretty high injury risk.......
A friend of mine who did uni with me joined the army here for 5 years, he was in a cavalry battalion i think he said.
he told me they used to do stuff like getting a disarmed mortar bomb and using the mortar to lob it up in the air, then they'd try and not get hit by the bomb on its way down. he told me another amusing story of this lone radio outpost in the mountains of east timor with so many claymores around it that when they set it off for fun the backblast of the things not only levelled the forest but also the area where the radio outpost was setup.
this coupled with the fact that one of his mates copped a bullet in the head when his rifle discharged into his chin when his truck went over a bump in east timor.
yes, they would.

[mattyb]

sorry to hear it Win. dropped a 360 chrysler block on my foot once, it fell from the engine stand i was using. first time engine swap. will never make the same mistake again. I would have kicked myself in the butt if Id had a spare foot.

[tvurt]

I severed the tendon on the top of my finger last week, removing the flex disk from my 535. My ratchet slipped and crushed my finger into a sharp edge of the tranny mount.

The kicker - the car cannot be moved because 5 of the six bolts are off, and I am not allowed to grip tools for another few weeks!

My Girlfriend already hates the car - now it in up on jackstands on her side of the garage - for a few weeks!

http://www.thomasburkhardt.com/finger.jpg

Tom

[ryan roopnarine]

honest to god, it wasn't that bad an injury, but what had happened made me scared as hell (monetarily).

i had just spent about 3 hours at the junkyard retrieving a steering box from an 89 535i--it was only $35, and some mexicans were about to get it, so i had to move fast. i rest it in the driveway, right behind a 2006 "new" car. i was trying to change the oil on a ford ranger, and the only place the ramps could get traction was directly behind the new car. for some reason, i felt the need to drive the truck up the ramps with the door open and my foot hanging out. i sure as $hit don't remember why now, perhaps i was trying to see when the truck had reached the top of the ramps, as i often overshot them with that truck. anyways, as i'm driving the truck up, i realise that my foot is a little too close to the ground. it makes traction with the concrete and attempts to pull me out of the cab. i only stayed in because of the grip i had on the steering wheel. in a panic, i use my other foot to press--what i thought--was the brake, but was really the accelerator. i clear the ramps and hear the truck collide with something. as i was panicking, i thought the noise of the collision was much louder than it really was. i sit, hanging out of the truck, about to cry, and have to tell myself to "be a go@@amned man" and put the truck into park, so that i could see how many thousands of dollars of damage i had done to the new car. i put the truck into park. i get out to see that i am about 4-6 inches away from the new car. wondering what the collision noise was, i look under one of the wheels of the truck to see that the l-shaped pittman arm of the box was dug into the driveway, and that it was what had stopped it. for those of you who haven't seen a steering box from an e34, it basically looks like a 4 inch diameter cylinder with a substantial metal L sticking out of the top--kinda like a plumbing shut off cock, except that the box weighs about 40 lbs. i went inside, got myself something to drink, went back outside, and sat on the driveway for about 30 minutes, thinking about nothing. anyway, my foot swole up to a tremendous size, i slept for about 12 hours afterward. my foot looked so messed up that that, combined with my 12 hour nap, prompted somebody to wake me up to see if i needed to go to a hospital, along with the offer of a oxycontin. that's my story.

ps--the box was fine after that.

[Ross]

An old neighbor of mine who split his time between installing Chevy rat motors in every vehicle he owned and smoking pot once came to my door asking if I had any aspirin.
While beneath one of the rat motored fleet a wrench he had been pulling on with all his might slipped off and hit him square in the mouth, removing about 70% of the two front teeth.
It hurt to look at him. The teeth were bleeding a little they were broken off so close to the gums. He laughed as only a stoner can and stated that it hurt and he may need to see a dentist.

[Blitzkrieg Bob]

I seen a neighbor turn into the human torch while trying to prime an old Chevy Blazer. (No joke...Really it was a Blazer)

He stood there dripping gas down the carb while his buddy cranked away on the starter, then he climbs up over the carb and sticks his face over it to look down the barrels...and boom it back fires sparying him with flames and gas.

Poor guy had to wear a special head sock for months, and I think he still had scarring on his ears, nose and lips.

[theonlyrealperson]

Mine isn't nearly as bad as most of these, but...

I entered a demolition derby when I was sixteen. Prepped my own car and everything.

Unfortunatly, at that young age I didn't really think of everything. Like putting chains behind the seat. On the opening hit the back of my seat broke, and I was forced to hold myself up by gripping the stearing wheel for the rest of the heat and the Consulation Round. They were long too - I was 3rd in my heat and 1st in the consulation.

I had severe whiplash and I could straighten either one of my arms for three weeks. My neck still, after 14 years, cracks whenever I move it.

[Thayne]

I got a huge gash on my arm from working on my E30 no stitches but took a long time to heal, cut my finger working on that car as well. Had to get 5 stitches on my left index finger. Got burnt pretty bad working on my bothers E36, I was working on his radiator he opened the cap and i got burning hot coolant on my arm. :(

[NovceGuru]

Does it count that I ALMOST beat my friend(?) to a pulp with the jackstand that he didn't move fully out of the way when lowering my car and crushing the passenger underside rocker panel? You can't see it unless your under the car, but to say the least, I don't have him help with my car anymore ;)

NovceGuru

[Blitzkrieg Bob]

from cleaning a set of Weber DCOEs.

had the DCOEs in a pan of gas and solvent and thought "how cool these carbs are" and started playing with them and I picked one up, lined the chokes to eye level and flipped the throttle and the pump jets shot perfect streams of gas and solvent into my eyes.

My eyes were bright pink-red for the rest of the week.

[aston_jag_tech]

3 fingers between a caliper and a rim. Ouch.

When I use to bust tires(ha) Helping a rookie mount bob cat tires with the tube.(SON OF A BITCH) Anyways, he was mounting the tire and using the tire bar lever. Slips and smacks him hard right in his shirt pocket!!! Good thing he was white, a redneck, and had his dip in his pocket. :D

[R1daveg]

Got a friend that grabbed a thin wire on the back of an alternator that had no insulation on the wire. A perfectly quarterized slice to the second knuckle of two fingers..not so bad. BUT, the tendons, like elastic went back up his arm to near his elbow, and needed microsurgery to re-attach.

[azale]

It sounds like some of you have learned some valuable and costly lessons.

I'm a pretty cautious guy but everyone who works on a car is going to feel pain.

Trying to be a good brother, I decided to get my brother a new starter and install it on his GMC 6.2L diesel . . . before Christmas. I tried to do it fast, no ramps, under the truck, in December in Michigan. I'm freezing, I can't feel my fingers, I'm not thinking well, and I'm trying to thread about a 9 inch bolt through the starter into the engine. I thought I had it so I let go and look around for the ratchet . . . and then it let's loose. I'm directly under it so it drops right onto my lip, ouch. Any lower, I'd be spitting out my two front teeth.

Another time, I was helping my other brother remove the jack shaft on his acura integra so he could replace the alternator (what was the engineer smoking when he came up with that design?). I was wearing safety glassse under the car prying with everything I had to pop this shaft off the clip with a 3 foot crow bar. The bar slipped off the shaft and hit me right in the eye. Fortunately, the glasses diverted the bar into my cheek. It hurt but at least I can see with both eyes.

Moral of the story: let your brothers work on their own cars.

[Jjcarr]

I met a guy who had and engine fall on his head, really messed him up, serious brain damage, could barely talk and was in a wheelchair. Always makes me paranoid...extra jack stands for me...