I really love seeing odd things that come in to be repaired thought I would see if others have taken pics too

Here is one that came in today " yeah it's been knocked for months now "
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And this is my fav. It was a pick up tube from a vw bug brought in for over heating , nothing said about oil like on and the knocking
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Looking forward to seeing some odd stuff

 

Car came in a while back for squeaky brakes.

 

I don't have a pic but I remember a lady coming in complaining about a tire feeling out of balance. Before we even took the wheel off we noticed a 'tail' sticking out from under the hub cap. It was a dead rat thrown outward by centrifugal force.
That rat pic is classic.

 

Looks like mice are not too car friendly .Here is one from a blower motor causing a noise

 

This is the second time I've seen this. How could the drive not know something was wrong long before this point? Yes, this car was in a wrecking yard...

 

I bought a ford ranger once drove home pulled tires for a brake squeak and it looked just like that I was amazed how well it really stopped and drove

 

Wow! Talk about your vented rotors!

- Eric

 

posted this a while back but its worth adding to this thread

1 ton box van not stopping well was the complaint

 

I still don't get it. The second that the rivets touch the rotors on one of my vehicles, I can both hear it and feel it in the steering column.

 

I can say when I bought the truck it was not that bad just started in on the vains but I was younger and not even mechanically incline at the time .
I see stuff like this a few times a year and its like how loud was your radio ?

 

At a friends of mine's repair shop a mustang II came in with a brake noise. The rivets had cut a grove an inch wide to the vents. The guy asked if the roters could be resurfaced and smoothed up.

Larry

 

Do not run over a mattress

 

I pulled in this big rig for inspection, see what's missing here? 2011-08-18231849.jpg 2011-08-18232005.jpg This driver told me he didn't feel any vibrations at all. DSC01227.jpg Yes, that's a cork in the gas tank.... DSC00442.jpg I never knew 26000 lb gvw trucks had2 piece brake discs.. 0515090319.jpg 0515090321.jpg

 

At least there's plenty of meat on those shoes...

- Eric

 

And people laugh and roll their eyes at our bi-yearly mandatory mechanical check of all running cars. D:

 

A little different topic, but still fits the title. Many years ago before the internet gave us this great network I heard of someone parting out a 1970 Toro GT. Being young and impulsive I just had to have that engine. So I drove 3 hours each way to pick it up. The guy told me it ran great, strong and smooth. My first red flag should have been how nice the Toro was, and exactly why was he parting it out? Oh, the transmission went bad. Sure, I believe you.

When I got home I began tearing it down. I popped the heads off and was rotating the crank shaft when I saw one of the pistons wasn't moving up and down And the pistons itself doesn't look too good. Uh, what's the saying? I bought a pig in a poke? You know that made some noise before he got the engine shut down. Did he drive it home that way

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Sorry no pics however if I had taken pics they would have looked like the last post. My story is from a long time ago. Seeing 2blu442's pics brought back this memory. I had purchased a 71 442 convertible needing work but had a rebuilt motor.
When it was backed off the trailer it was running on seven. The seller said it was a bad plug or wire. After a week I had time to start checking it out. Turns out one piston wasn't moving. So when I pulled the heads, one head came off in two parts. Cracked right in half. I called the seller and he said he didn't know anything about the motor. He had it rebuilt by a high school vocational tech program and had never driven it. Has anyone ever seen an Olds head cracked in half? Also someone must have heard the connecting rod break. The rest of the story is I put a used motor in and drove it for 86,000 miles in forteen years before I sold it. ~BOB

 

John you reminded me of this piston from a newer car that had turbo and bunch if add on but they ran lean its the little lump in the right hand upper corner


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Couple of stories I heard back in my auto tech days at Skyline College (great program!):

A gas station attendant notices loose alignment shims in a customer's car, so he takes them out and gives them to her. The control arm ended up against the exhaust manifold. Saw a pic of that one.

A (non-auto) student had squeaky brakes, so a "friend" helped her out by removing the pads. Just piston on rotor.

The school also had a generous supply of rotors similar to the one in Joe's post.

 

Ok, true stories from my Autozone days......................don't judge.

Lady comes in and asks for a case of oil. NP, cash her out. 10 min later she is back and buys a another quart. This happened two more times, so now we're talking 15 quarts. I had to ask. She explained to me that after putting all 15 quarts in she still could not see it through the valve cover hole. I told her not to start the car and I'd call a tow truck. Whew

Guy comes in and asked for 20 feet of 1/4 inch vacuum hose. I ask, "Wow, are you replacing all the vacuum line?" "No, my brake line blew out and I'm replacing the line from front to rear"

Guy comes in and wants to get a refund on a defective flex plate. NP, we have a lifetime guarantee. Every bolt hole has a crack in it leading to the next bolt hole. (Yeah I'm thinking the same thing) I notice that one of the six holes doesn't have any marking where a bolt was torqued down on it. He had installed the flex plate wrong but when the sixth bolt wouldn't go in he said F it and sent it out on the road. I had to inform him that the holes are offset for a reason. That's what keeps the flex plate in the balanced position. No guarantee, thanks for coming.

Crazy but true. If I hadn't been there first hand I would have never believed it.

 

Axle repair

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When I was in high school, had a friend whose power brake booster was leaking, he tried sealing it with permatex and toilet paper.

 

Not sure if this qualifies but figured I would share came in for a evap code and yes this is a burned hole on the sending unit 😱.
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Slightly off topic, but a woman was coming to the shop because her car had a noise and quit on the way. Had it towed in, looked under the hood but couldn't see anything. Cranked like no compression. On the lift, we took down the belly pan and well, well, well. Somebody had a bad day.......A body part got under the timing belt, making it jump. Bent every valve.

 

Wow I started thinking all kinds of nasty things until I saw the pics. I was expecting a hand or foot. Glad it was a squirrel.

 

How did that work out for him?

 

A guy at work did that oil thnig with his Escort back in the day. It had an oil leak so he, and his buddy, figured they would get ahead of it.

Squirrel in the belt or the brakes, never seen either of that before. How did they run and stop?

Sad part is, that brake rotor, as long as it stopped the car in so many feet, it would pass a safety inspection in the State of New Jeresy

 

Just last week a lady brought in her Acadia. Complaint: Check engine light is on and the past couple of weeks she had a rattle noise only going uphill and turning to the left. Pulled codes, and a VVT fault. I took a trip up the road and after hearing the rattle, I gently brought the vehicle back and added 3.75 quarts of oil to it.

She asked why her sheck oil light didn't come on. I explained that she didn't have an oil level sensor/ light on the car.

 

There is no longer any safety inspection in the state of New Jersey.

It was too corrupt, which made it too expensive, so they cancelled it.

- Eric

 

5 hours of layering toilet paper and permatex, for 5 mins of driving. Didn't make it out of the neighborhood.

 

Haha!
Toilet paper barely lasts long enough for it to finish its intended job - no surprises here. Shoulda used "Bounty".

That squirrel one really takes the cake. I never thought one of those critters could totally destroy an engine in seconds...

This is a great thread - keep 'em coming in!!

 

We are talking High School toilet paper right out of the stall. I think back in the 70's it was also used to refill belt sanders.

 

I have tears in my eyes from laughing but almost lost breakfast.

 

Here's a story from 1984 before the digital pic revolution. I was looking for a car to put a very nice 350 4b motor into that was on a stand in my shop. A friend of mine had looked at a 79 cutlass cruiser north of Lansing that had been driven up from down south. It sounded way too cheap for a five year old car, so I had to see it. Some one had replaced the original V6 with a Buick 350. Oh and the car was being used as a dog house for two big dogs. No rust and the price was $150.00. I bought it and drove it home. After finding and replacing the interior I started on the drivetrain. When I started disconnecting the motor I discovered that it wasn't connected to anything but the trans. No motor mounts. Just the oil pan sitting on the crossmember. Exhaust was two pices of flexy pipe wired and duct taped into a "Y". It became a very nice car when i was done. however I always marveled at the person that dropped the motor in and drove it 1000 miles with no motor mounts. ~BOB

 

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and then theres the turbo manifold..
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This is a parts car I had a while back. 65 Cutlass, note the broom stick and the wire, and what it is holding in the car.

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Keep them coming guys these are great it amazes me what people do to get by , something's are out of our control ,but wow

 

2013 clutch disk with 1000 miles

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Someone needs driver training.

 

Yes we did it under 1 time good will the mom was pretty mad