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Go ahead and laugh at me i made a big mistake with my CSVT today

I

ilovesvt

Veteran CEG'er
Joined
Mar 22, 2011
Messages
897
Location
DALLAS,TEXAS
Well tried to figure out quick why my caliper locked up on me at work but no luck :blackeye: and this stock style jack couldnt hold up

But go ahead and laugh at me,but please dont be to mean, ive had a rough 2 months with cars and my events of bad luck just keep pouring in,but just thought id share on CEG what just happened to me today i couldnt even get mad i just laughed at myself but heat exhaustion can make you have poor judgment lol almost passed out from the heat.

Feel free to post up something you did wrong too....so i am not alone lol..... :)

We can make this a ooops thread lol





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Holy crap! I'm glad you weren't hurt! I'm not laughing. That is my worst fear when using the emergency jack. ONLY use it if you have no choice. They fail much more often then a hydraulic jack.

What all was damaged when the car fell? Also I have always wondered how you would pick the car back up to.

My rear caliper used to freeze on me until I figured out that the parking brake mechanism in the caliper was bad. It moved freely so a bump in the road could lock it up or even just braking.
 
Puts new meaning to body dropped lol.
I did this once on an old taurus, was rotating the wheels in the lawn, apparently the lawn was to soft, tipped the jack stand over.
its not hard getting the car back up.
 
A cool dude came up and saw me all heat exhausted ready to pass out and asked me whats going on, he lifted up the car from the rear fender pretty high and i put the jack back under it,it was the dumbest thing i ever did because my rear caliper locked up and i opened up the bleeder valve and no brake fluid came out so i was like wtf....i was like maybe i have to start the car then bleed it so i took it out of neutral the car rolled in very slow motion i was like whats going on am i passing out from heat lol.....but im very glad no one was helping me and i wasnt under the fender i did stick my head in there to see what was going on a few times before this happened whew thank god,this was a lesson for me lol

I think my side skirt got scratched up a little but i dont see any hard damage i think it was being held up mainly by rotor and bent the little dust shield or heat shield what ever that thing is behind the rotor man what a horrible 2 months ive had with cars im ready to start taking the bus and riding a bmx lol
 
Holy crap! I've only seen warnings in trunks about this one :D

The one time it almost happened to me I was able to stand up and grab the wheel arch and yank the other way to stabilize it. Forgot to set the parking brake..
 
I need to go buy a mini light weight jack stand i can put in the trunk and use my wheel stopper thing i had in the trunk lol
Man i hate my svt right now problem after problem since i started driving it again,i need to find me a civic daily driver asap so i can fix my svt
 
Was it really a case of the jack failing? The reason I ask is that the jack was supporting the car on asphalt. Hot asphalt can get pretty soft and deform under the concentrated load of a jack. The deformation causes the jack to move and eventually the car falls off. It's a good idea to carry a square of plywood in the trunk to put under a car jack if you have to use it on asphalt.
 
I did this on my BMW a few years ago. I was doing work on the e-brake and because of the RWD and e-brake design, I completely forgot it wasn't being held in place by anything. I was tightening a bolt down and it was just enough pressure to pull the car backwards and dropped right off the jack. The rotor cut right into the driveway.

Glad you didn't get hurt! It's scary when that crap happens. I make a habit of never getting under anything on my cars unless I know it's completely rock solid and secured all around.
 
I know blu has a story like this... the way I remember it he was under the car and his wife called him inside so he went inside and the car fell.

I had a similar experience using a hydraulic jack.... Lifted the car because the y pipe was still hooked on the exhaust but not to the manifolds so it was just hanging there and it got caught on the tire... pushed it and pulled it and I hear creeeeeek. did a barrell roll and the car dropped. Even though all 4 tires were still on the car it wouldnt have been pretty if it fell on me.
 
Had a somewhat similar situation happen to me too when I was doing a 5-speed swap on my Duster. I did this back when I was still in college and had no garage, so we were working in my parents' driveway. It was getting late, my friend and I were getting tired, and it had been raining off and on the entire day, and while we were trying to line up the trans to the motor, we heard the creaking of the jackstands. Looked over to see the subframe of the car moving. We rolled out in just enough time before the car went crashing down. Thank God I left the two front tires under the car, or it would have been near impossible to jack it back up.
 
These stories DO NOT help me at all with my fears of jacking my cars up.
Part of the reason it takes me so damn long to do simple oil changes is the jacking up. Checking, rechecking, and then when I've got it on jackstands, I sorta lay underneath for a bit to get used to my surroundings til the fear subsides. :blackeye:

My brother had his Cougar smack down on him while he was under it once (using the stock jack). That's probably the biggest reason I'm scared to let it happen to me.
 
^ another reason why I don't even change my own oil. By the time you get done f'n around and getting everything safe it would have been over and done with at a quicky lube. And you don't have tubs of used oil sitting around to eventually spill. You're not saving any kind of significant money changing your own oil and isn't worth risking a major accident for :nonono:.

I havn't done my own oil change EVER, even with any of my contour(s).
 
Older Toyota jacks are much better and they'll fit under the spare. Got one from an '82 and an '89. The piece of plywood mentioned is always a great idea. And wheel chocks. It's not that hard to saw some wood.
 
blu_fuz said:
^ another reason why I don't even change my own oil. By the time you get done f'n around and getting everything safe it would have been over and done with at a quicky lube. And you don't have tubs of used oil sitting around to eventually spill. You're not saving any kind of significant money changing your own oil and isn't worth risking a major accident for :nonono:.

I havn't done my own oil change EVER, even with any of my contour(s).
Click to expand...

Why not use ramps? I save money, use better products, and I'm done in 5min without leaving the garage. And most of all I know it's done correctly!
 
Man i remember that story from blu_fuz that is super scary,makes me not want to change my own oil anymore after this, im kinda tired of working on cars totally but some prices for mechanics are out of my wallets range lol, im going to be changing all 4 shocks soon that im not looking forward to but i will use jack stands,1st gear,e brake,and something behind one of the wheels and definitely not doing it all i one day 1 at a time for me lol
 
Even though you want us to laugh about it, I certainly won't. I almost had my legs crushed when I was helping a friend with his brakes about 8 years back and it shifted off a jack stand. Definitely not a laughing matter in my eyes.
 
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