What is the weirdest `wrong fluid` incident encountered?
I mean, despite all the warnings, petrol is still being put into common rail diesels, diesel into petrol cars.
One of my colleagues put screenwash into the antifreeze.....
Has anyone been changing their oil on the drive and poured the coffee -brought out by SWMBO- straight into the oil filler?
It just seems that *if its possible at all, even by forcing*, its going to happen, somewhere.....
Where and what?
Regards :)
NB, should it just be fluids? has anyone in the trade found a banana forced into the battery yet? as there is almost a match in orifice size...
( Written with warm intended humour)
Spelling of the word orifices corrected :-) - PU
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I have poured orange juice into coffee instead of milk. Its not pretty and it tastes foul.
Does that count?
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TourVanMan TM < Ex RF >
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One of my work colleague's wives poured 3 litres of ready mix screenwash into the engine oil filler.
That cost a few quid. The car was a 3 week old, 600 mile Ford C-Max TDCi. Luckily it was noted before the engine was started.
Cheers
DP
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04 Grand Scenic 1.9 dCi Dynamique
00 Mondeo 1.8TD LX
97 Ford Fiesta 1.4 16v Chicane (for sale)
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No TVM, It doesnt count as you selected the right oriface for both substances :)
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Well, In a moment of complete distraction I poured white spirits into a battery instead of distilled water....lucky I spotted my mistake before charging commenced. I now use a solid state battery !
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In the same vein as TVM I have poured OJ onto F&F (Fruit and Fibre of course), also put the milk in the cupboard where the F&F is kept and later searched high and low for the milk when making tea.
No motoring variants though I am afraid.
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>>>>>In the same vein as TVM I have poured OJ onto F&F (Fruit and Fibre of course), also put the milk in the cupboard where the F&F is kept and later searched high and low for the milk when making tea.
No motoring variants though I am afraid.<<<<<
Neither was it motoring related when I unwrapped the Cadburys chocolate threw the choc in the fire and put the wrapper in my mouth!!.
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Not technically the wrong orifice, but I have stopped my s-i-l's american ex-boyfriend trying to top up the oil down the dipstick tube. He wasn't sober but he was comprehensively oiling my yard.
On another occasion (completely off topic)
www.honestjohn.co.uk/forum/post/index.htm?v=e&t=76...2
Hawkeye
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Stranger in a strange land
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A friend put screenwash in the brake fluid reservoir on his partner's Rover 200.....
On of my Dad's colleagues was having a bit of trouble with his car - a loose wire on the coil or something IIRC. He pointed this out to his wife with the instruction to refit it if the engine failed to start. Few days later car fails, wife forgets about wire, looks in oil filler sees no oil, looks in battery, sees it not full to the top. So off the the factors, buys 5l of oil and some distilled water, then home, adds oil (all of it!) and fills the battery right to the top. Still won't start..... Later in the evening whilst looking at the car, she asked if husband "couldn't just suck the extra water out of the battery".....
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RichardW
Is it illogical? It must be Citroen....
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s-i-l topped the oil up in her Astra....... and I mean topped it up..... right to the top of the rocker cover.
Then proceeded to try and start it. It ran........ momentarily!
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It used to be quite a well known emergency remedy for a leaking radiator to drop a few eggs into it.
Billy
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I can confess to draining what I thought was the engine oil out of my mum's Renault 19 years ago ready to change it as I was a good boy, and wondered why the dipstick read that it was still full, only to realise I had emptied the gearbox.
I seem to remember refilling that was a real problem because of access. Never confessed to it though.
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In my college days (think I had my full licence for about one month) I didn't put wrong fluids in but topping up the oil forgot to put the oil filler cap back on.
One lot of hard braking on approach to a roundabout and the engine sent me smoke signals through the vents in the bonnet.
The filler cap was still in the spare wheel where I'd put it for safe keeping and half the engine oil contents were now deposited all over the radiator dripping down onto the road (luckily the exhaust manifold was at the back and the oil filler at the front of the engine).
Similarly to TVM and Cheddar I've done the food fluids thing putting Brown Ale on cornflakes, luckily I was still the worse for wear and it cured my headache !
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A friend and I were servicing his newly purchased Rover P4 95. The gearbox is filled from inside the car and checked there as well with a dipstick. We were ages pouring oil in and wondering what the capacity was until one of us glanced outside the car and saw a large rapidly increasing pool of oil. He thought I'd put the drain plug back in and I thought he had.
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My other half also managed the screenwash into brake fluid reservoir one.
Somehow she decided against refilling the large empty plastic reservoir right in front of her, and instead topped up the tiny, almost full reservoir semi-hidden at the back behind the engine.
From what I can remember it cost something like £100 to have brakes flushed out and fluid replaced.
(In fairness, wifey?s logic was that it was the nearest orifice to where the screen washer jets were... )
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Tragically, I have a new cock up - Engine Oil into the PAS reservoir of our Mondeo....
Momentarily couldn't understand why it filled up so quickly, then realised my error. I blame the plastic covers to cars, which makes all the orifices look the same (as well as my stupidity).
Took an hour to get the PAS reservoir off, drained and re-filled with PAS fluid. As well as the purchase of some ratchet spanners to do the job (quite a good investment in the long term), and some skinned knuckles...
Also left the top off the radiator header tank just before taking to MOT. When I arrived at MOT, coolant was bubbling out, and the bonnet release mechanism failed. Quite embarrasing - had to force the bonnet open, find header tank cap in engine bay (thankfully still there), and convince them at MOT station it was roadworthy.... Duly passed
Jon
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Some years ago we had an old Renault Traffic van at work, this van leaked/burnt a copious amount of oil and needed topping up often. To get to the oil filler a large rubber hose (which ran from carb air intake to the remote air filter) had to be removed, I then poured engine oil straight into the carburettor intake!
The amount of smoke generated when starting was impressive.
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Funny enough yesterday i was in a Volvo dealer to get some coolant for my fathers 740 and the parts guy was at pains to tell me "please put it in the right hole sir " when i asked him if it was a common problem he replied more common that the wrong fuel is oil in coolant.. coolant in oil or really any combination of under bonnet fluid in the wrong place.
Best one was the daughter who topped up her parents S80 with cooking oil when it didn't need any as she thought all cars need oil after a 200 mile journey it was quite a shock when they suggested that her elderly peugeot would run better on engine oil !!
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Anyone who does this sort of thing shouldn't be allowed to have a pedal car let alone a motorised one! Are these stories really true or are they just related by people seeking attention?
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L\'escargot.
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L'escargot, you'd be surprised at the antics of Joe Public...
Remember, this is a motoring forum, and all of us are MOTORISTS... many of the folk we share the roads with are motor-car users.
For an example of automotive ignorance, a colleague has her CitiGolf (Golf Mk1). She asked me about the 'light that comes on when I turn corners', and it turns out to be the oil warning light.
Check the dipstick - about 1mm of black sludgy oil on the bottom.
Took 1.5 litres to get the thing to register on the stick!
Asked her when last she had it serviced.
Blank look: "what's that?"
How long has she had the car?
4 years and about 50 000 kms...
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Picked wine up instead of gravy and poured it over my Sunday dinner - hadn't touched a drop before dinner either.
years ago at work an apprentice was asked to fill up washer bottle - he took ages getting all the water down dip stick hole -
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These things happen - I think they are called senior moments....
I once caused absolute mayhem in a self service filling station in Madeira when I tried to put Diesel in a petrol hire car and only succeeded in getting a small amount of diesel over the side of the car and the ground .
Realising my mistake , I put some sand over the diesel and I then moved back to the petrol pump behind and filled up.
The problem came when trying to explain to the Portugese lady on the till which pump I had been using.
She was trying to explain in Portugese that she could not clear the diesel pump for the next customer until I had paid for the diesel used but of course I was pointing to the petrol pump I was using and could not understand why she wanted more money than was shown on the pump. Convinced that I was not going to be fleeced for a couple of Euros I refused to pay more than the display , a BIG argument ensued......neither of understanding each others language.
It was all sorted out eventually...... realising what she was saying when someone eventually translated for me ,I paid up and sheepishly departed rapidly avoiding the stares of the long queue of locals muttering about ' pink fluffy dice foreigners' which had built up behind me in the shop and out the door and of the drivers queing 50 yards down the road . I did not go back to that filling station .....
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I managed that on my own. All my lovely, much cheaper French bought oil all over the drive, but mixed with the old oil that I'd left underneath. One black drive, one pair of messed up (but old) shoes and £10 (a lot to a Lancastrian) of wasted oil.
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s-i-l topped the oil up in her Astra....... and I mean topped it up..... right to the top of the rocker cover.
Have heard of people doing this before - apparently the clouds of bluey-white smoke are quite something. Straight down the scrappie for a new engine though! Don't understand why people don't realise oil is sold in 5-litre bottles for a good reason?!
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Don't understand why people don't realise oil is sold in 5-litre bottles for a good reason?!
To make lots of money out of those of us with engines with a 6.5 litre capacity.
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>> Don't understand why peopledon't realise oil is sold in 5-litre bottles for a good reason?!
To make lots of money out of those of us with engines with a 6.5 litre capacity.
It is becoming more common to be sold in 4 litre tubs for a very good reason..........to rip us off!!.
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It is becoming more common to be sold in 4 litre tubs for a very good reason..........to rip us off!!.
4 litre containers is probably just about right. 1-off container for a small car and 2-off containers for a larger car ~ enough for an oil change plus some left over for topping up. Whatever size was sold some people would find grounds to complain.
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L\'escargot.
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Hired a narrow boat once. Instructed to check diesel engine oil daily. Nothing on dipstick so poured in all the refill company had supplied. Still nothing on dipstick so called out mechanic. Dipstick ran through a tube outside engine that had become disconnected. Mechanic had to pump out excess oil.
OK, a boat not a car but same problem.
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Everyone knows that shampoo works as a brake fluid substitute.
Surprised nobody mentioned the egg in the radiator..
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Surprised nobody mentioned the egg in the radiator..
Ah, but they did
www.honestjohn.co.uk/forum/post/index.htm?t=54317&...e
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Billy25 mentioned the eggs. Nothings safe by the sound of it :)
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Nice one PU!!
Dont know if this strictly counts along the lines of this thread, but if its about putting (strange) things into the engine, ........
A few years back it was all the rage? ? to stick food wrapped in tin foil on the exhaust manifold to cook on your journey. I n fact i believe there was actually a manifold cook-book published, in which they reckoned a Mackeral required at least 15mins at a steady 40mph!.
You're right billy just edited myself and moved the joke to motoring jokes thing - PU
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And while PU's in a daft mood ...........
if you put aforementioned Mackeral not on manifold but on the grille, would it be classed as a Mascot!?
Right Pub time.............
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I'm sure I've mentioned this before:
Overheating on a dark night, I'm designated driver to a few other rugby players, earlier in the day done a cooling system job and left a hose clip loose, many pints downed, fault located, hose clip tightened, liquid needed....... Minor burns injury to courting tackle.
Have you smelt that stuff the following morning after it's been circulated round a hot engine?
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neighbor wanted to borrow our car as she inadvertantly put water in the brake res in her car, my answer to her asking was of course a polite "no"
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Oh yes ! We "Borrowed" a mates mothers Micra to go to Donnington in the 80's.
Head gasket went on the return trip up the M1 and needed frequent topping up, luckily, we needed frequent emptying :(
I pity the poor guy in the garage who got that job on Monday morning...
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See two posts above! Lucky no-one got burnt:>)
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See two posts above! Lucky no-one got burnt:>)
Eh !? Where did luck come into it ? We knew what we were doing...
Five young blokes, garage mechanic, engineers and undertaker what could possibly go wrong ? :)
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