Whats your biggest "oh..Duhh' repair?

[derf]

So I'm tearing down a 4.0 to rebuild for my XJ.  Got it down to the short block on the engine stand.  I was just about to flip it over to pull the oil pan.

 

A little voice chimed in.

 

"Check the oil level first."

 

I'm glad I listen to my little voice.  It was still full.

[jdog]

12 minutes ago, derf said:

So I'm tearing down a 4.0 to rebuild for my XJ.  Got it down to the short block on the engine stand.  I was just about to flip it over to pull the oil pan.

 

A little voice chimed in.

 

"Check the oil level first."

 

I'm glad I listen to my little voice.  It was still full.

hey i did that once, except i pulled the pan and found out it was full. apparently the p/o never changed the oil and used a parifin oil. There was a inch thick glob of dunno at the bottom of the pan, and 5 qts of oil on the floor.

[derf]

Oof.  I ended up with about half a quart because the pan doesn't fully drain all the oil.

 

But there weren't any surprises in the pan or bottom end.  So I got that going for me.

[Jesse J]

well after worrying about my auto trans for a while I figured out I forgot to plug my tcm back into the harness when I put my interior back together

[gogmorgo]

So I cleaned out my Lada’s carb a little over a year ago, while getting it running after it sat for 10+ years. I did my best to clean out all the jets, etc., because the carb kit I got semi-locally didn’t come with new, but the thing wouldn’t idle for poop once warmed up. I figured there must have been some junk in the fuel pump or something else post-filter that got stuck somewhere. So I ordered a legit carb kit out Ukraine for it, and only just got around to getting it pulled apart again last night.

All the jets looked super clean as I was changing them still, not really any junk except a little bit of scuzz in the bottom of the bowls, so I was kinda wondering if I was actually accomplishing anything.

Then I was looking at the throttle plates and noticed there wasn’t really any idle bypass circuit, which seemed odd, and that got me looking at the throttle stop. The idle adjustment screw was all the way out, probably my fault from the last rebuild. The fast-idle is just a fancy thermo-mechanical way to hold the throttle open as it warms up, with a couple different positions, and the coldest position actually locks out the mechanical secondary as well, so it’s never going past half-throttle cold, and then once it’s warm it’s got basically zero air going past the throttle plate. No wonder it doesn’t behave nicely cold and won’t idle hot...  

Its not back together yet because I need to replace the air cleaner hold-down studs, so I don’t know if I’ve solved it yet, but knowing what I’m working with is at least a step in the correct direction. Carburetors are annoying.

[CGCWO]

Dug into my door lock problem to replace the lock cylinder. Got everything apart to realize the local parts guy sold me the wrong lock cylinders. A bit frustrated, but went ahead and put everything back together until the correct lock cylinders come in. Went to work on the cluster swap and was checking wires under the dash to see if everything was correctly connected. Went to get my $30 magnetic flash light and couldn’t find it anywhere in the shop or the truck. Took a break to get a drink and remembered I used the flashlight while working on the door lock... guess where the flashlight is now and will stay until the new lock cylinders come in. Yep inside the door...ugh!