I have found way more of these in cars in the junkyard than I have bought. That SnapOn Impact one was the last time in the yard, found that on the ground walking out. Someone def mad losing that $35+ socket.
Are lifetime/guaranteed forever warranties worth it anymore?
- Thread starter pagrunt
- Start date
This reminds me of a story from my days of writing service.
Saturday, and my lead tech is telling another tech that he has to leave by noon for some reason or another. Lead tech diagnosed a check engine light on a pickup as needing intake gaskets, but customer didn't approve the repair until 11ish... So he became irritated because it was a gravy job but he HAD to go at noon. He apparently blew through it at a speed I had never seen out of him... My other tech said when he got done he fired it up and all sorts of clatter was coming from that pickup. The lead tech then began cussing and yelling up a storm and when my new tech asked what happened the lead said "I must have dropped something in the intake hole when I was replacing the gaskets and now it's sitting on top of the piston". My new tech could feel the tension so he got in a vehicle to pull it up front, when he walked back into the shop apparently the truck my lead was working on was on the rev limiter for a solid 20-30 seconds ... (Probably longer but that is how long he knows it was). Then the lead let's off and it comes back to idle... No clatter and begins to laugh and chuckle and then yelled (unaware my other tech walked into the shop and could hear him) "it's on top of the cat now!"
He brought me the keys, never said a word to me about it, I returned it to the customer like normal. 8 years later I hear about this.... No idea what it was in that cylinder but I'm sure it did bad things .... Sometimes 30 year techs aren't the best techs.
Yea more like stuck in the piston. Add that to the list of why I work on my own cars and some people are lucky to even see a picture of them.
20 years ago, my dad brother and I are working on a 91 Pontiac Sunbird with a 3.1 V-6. My mom and stepdad bought the car new. Mom drove it until around 97. My stepdad then drove it a few years and then virtually gave it to my Dad, for my stepmother to drive. My dad and stepmom were pretty poor back then. I know, it's a little weird but I was always blessed that they all got along pretty famously from about my 7th grade year onward.
2001. The car isn't running well and has a substantial oil leak at the intake. We tear it down and reseal the intake. While I'm changing out all the fuel injector o-rings, my Dad and brother put the alternator and belt back on.
We get it all buttoned up and crank it up. Something is hammering bad. We cut it off. Crank again, it won't spin. Locked up tight.
Long story short, my Dad and brother had been setting tools on the intake while putting the alternator and belt drive back together. A short 1/4" drive extension got away from them, slipped down through the opening in the intake for the fuel injector for #1, and it partially got past the intake valve when we started it up.
I pulled the intake back of in a full rage. It took like 20 or 30 minutes. I could see the ratchet end of the extension above the head of the intake valve. I had maintained that engine since new and that was it for it. I was furious at both Dad and my brother.
The car got replaced with a 2001 Saturn Ion. My brother cosigned. I bought a used engine for the Sunbird. We swapped the engine out and Dad sold it. It was a lesson hard learned.
2001. The car isn't running well and has a substantial oil leak at the intake. We tear it down and reseal the intake. While I'm changing out all the fuel injector o-rings, my Dad and brother put the alternator and belt back on.
We get it all buttoned up and crank it up. Something is hammering bad. We cut it off. Crank again, it won't spin. Locked up tight.
Long story short, my Dad and brother had been setting tools on the intake while putting the alternator and belt drive back together. A short 1/4" drive extension got away from them, slipped down through the opening in the intake for the fuel injector for #1, and it partially got past the intake valve when we started it up.
I pulled the intake back of in a full rage. It took like 20 or 30 minutes. I could see the ratchet end of the extension above the head of the intake valve. I had maintained that engine since new and that was it for it. I was furious at both Dad and my brother.
The car got replaced with a 2001 Saturn Ion. My brother cosigned. I bought a used engine for the Sunbird. We swapped the engine out and Dad sold it. It was a lesson hard learned.
I kept it for about 10 years. It bent it up. I just kept it as a painful reminder and then got tired of re-living the past and chunked it.
Im so paranoid about doing something like that, luckily so far ive never let anything get into a cylinder
I get scared enough that pieces of the towel I plug all the holes with will come off or get stuck, and that's after a bunch of ocd cleaning of any possible dirt and debris and using compressed air all over everything within a foot or two of where I work... I won't even leave a spark plug hole open while working on anything else...
