Poll: Injured While Working on Cars?

wow, where do i start? I had a ‘55 Buick that the fuel pump went out on, so i put an electric one with a filter under the driver’s door. I was looking under it to see how clogged the filter was because the tank was very rusty, had my hand on the bottom door sill and the door shut across the back of my hand, breaking it. Another time, I was changing the slave cylinder in my ‘96 Sonoma, struggling with a stuck bolt. i had to unbolt and lift up the cab to get to the top tranny bolts. when i gave it one last tug i felt and heard something pop. I had torn the cartiledge that holds my ribs to my sternum! the bad part was, I had to put the truck back together before i could get to the hospital. I don’t recommend that at all! My list of injuries could go on for pages. you’d think i’d learn after 30 some years.

oh, i had to vote broken bones… cuz someone else dropped it on me… and a tooth is a bone, right?

was my third day on the job, installing trailer hitches… was working on a hyundai santafe… big heavy hitch for such a little SUV. had another dude holding the hitch up while i bolted it to pre-welded nuts inside of the frame, VERY basic. now as i was putting in the first bolt, i dropped it. bent over to pick it up… looked up to stand up and the hitch was commin down on my face. took it right in the mouth. spit out my front left tooth and did the same thing as the tire guy, chased the stupid tard with a torque wrench clean thru the shop, into the store and across the street. but i was TRYING to hit him. the idiot let it go and turned around, when it started to drop… the sides caught the mufflers (dual exhaust) and it stopped for a half second. enough time for HIM to walk away…
damn butterflies.

I forgot My thumb In a Tacoma’s Driveshaft Joint while I was removing it… I Lost my nail…

I was putting a drop kit on my truck and was using the tire iron to help loosen a bolt….it slipped and the wedge end caught me on the forehead and made me bleed pretty good. now i have a scar, and will use the right tools for the job ; )

Worst near miss I’ve ever had was when i was training another guy to change tires at Benny’s. This guy must’ve landed on his head as a kid, because he was dumb as hell. Well stupid puts a truck on the lift as i’m changing a tire in front of the lift on the machine. I hear the truck sliding as its goin up, I ask the guy to check the truck. Dumbass replies “Fuck off, I know what I’m doin”, right after he says that the godamn thing falls and nosedives right at me. I jump out of the way, pick up a tourqe wrench and chase the SOB out of the garage and into the store then out into the parking lot. Well benny’s ended up shellin out some serious cash to pay for a new truck.

I was replacing my windshield wiper motor and forgot to turn off the wiper switch. I connected the wires and that thing did a full turn and it pinched my finger against the the firewall. Took off a nice slice of skin and crushed a nuckle. Another close encounter was when I deciced to upgrade my suspension. I place the car on jacksands but forgot to place boots by the front tires and when the control arms came off the car rolled forward and came off the stands. I was lucky I wasn’t underneath otherwise I would be the new control arms.

I would have to say all but caught in moving parts and hospitalization. lol the best one is when me and a friend of mine was changing a tranny out of a ramcharger that was lifted so we didnt need a jack but with the transfer case in my hands lifting it to line it up his dog ran by and the chain it was on ripped the chock out from the two back wheels and the truck went rolling and the transfer case landed on my legs luckily just bumps and bruised but it also broke the steel brake line on the way down and sprayed it all over in my eyes…………it was my lucky day lol

LOL! OOOh and this one I just remembered. I was rebuilding a Seca 750 I had just bought, replacing the front forks. A friend and myself celebrated with a couple 6 packs while we did the install. It was a warm summer night and I’m not one to wear shoes unless I absolutely need to… or remember I need to.
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I slid the first fork tube assembly up through the lower triple clamp and into the upper triple clamp and lightly tightened the top to temporarily hold it in place while I then would slide in the other side.
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Well, I guess I didn’t tighten the fork in place quite enough. It slid out and the end dropped onto my big toe. Not being able to bottle up my reaction I screamed like a madman and drooled like a rabid wildebeast.
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My friend fell off his stool and it took a while for both of us to recompose ourselves. The fork assembly weighed about 20 lbs (one side).

CRAP! ONLY ONE ANSWER in the poll? I’ve taken off knuckle skin more times than I could remember, gotten burned on exhaust etc, gotten lacerations on arms replacing window regulators, had oily chunks and rust fall into my eyes while laying under the car, banged my fingers with a mallot doing rear brakework, narrowly avoided being crushed to death or have a jack do a tiddleywink when I let down a car after servicing it… only to see one of the trolley jack wheels rolling down the driveway (the cotter pin that held it on had fallen off and WAS MISSING the whole time).
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It’s not that I’m inept, just that I’ve owned twenty-something vehicles not counting 3 motorcycles over the years.

I had a 59 Vw Bug Get Knocked off the jack stands while I was running a clutch line It landed on a Lucky placed wheel that was slid out of the way under the car just to clear a path so one of the other guys worked on the car next to me….. The Transmission forks/Mounts hit me in the face on the way down and Bounced my head off the concrete floor, The Impact Put a 2” gash in my chin, The scar reminds me of it every day..
The Guy next to me Tumbled back because the bolt he was trying to bust loose from the wheel broke and sent him flying full force and hit the car square in the passenger door knocking it off..

Second Funny Injury, On another bug. LOL We were gonna dolly tow a bug with a Bug Front beam tow bar so I slid under the car to get ready to hook it up….The tow bar was in the back of the pickup and one of the guys not paying attention tossed it out of the truck and it BOUNCED UP! and came down Square on the back of my head, knocking me out for at least a full Minute, I wound up with a almost 2″ tall Knot the size of a golf ball and a headache…..

my dad owns an automotive shop and i remember seeing one of his new employs tightening something back up under the good and completed the electrical circuit with the battery and the fender of the car with his ring on his finger in the middle and it turned glowing red instantly. when he went to go and rip the ring off right away (big mistake) it not only burnt his other hand, but ripped all the skin off the finger it was on… needless to say, dont wear your bling and work on cars at the same time. haha

I’ve gotten several concussions one involving a pickling fork. But by far the worst was getting sprayed in the eyes(had contact lenses in too) with brake fluid. Kinda burnt. Luckily I knew my garage well enough to run to the faucet with my eyes closed.

A lift failed and the vehicle fell on me, crushing me. When I regained conciousness, I found out I shattered my pelvis, broke 6 ribs which puntured my left lung and quite a bit of bruises. So I spent about 12 weeks in the hospital and still recovering from my injuries, 3 years ago.

I ran a chick over with a 79 Ford LTD Station Wagon. Made her shit her pants too!

Got my finger jammed in a disc sander while it was going and took the end off it… spent the next three hours picking bits out of the wound so they could bandage it. Worst part was probably taking the bandaids off, as they tended to ’stick’ to the inside of my finger… good days.

My worst isn’t available. The worst thing I did was put my hand in the way of the spark from the ignition of my old Maxima.
I got a lovely electrocution and it took about 15 minutes for my arm to stop tingling.

I remember watching my dad workin under the LeMans when I was about 6 or 7 years old, and the jack gave out (he was in the process of putting jackstands under the car when it did) Thank God he had them in the position he needed, because he would have gotten a face full of lower-control arm. And another time I was helping him (I was about 12) change the hinges on the hood (if you’ve seen my page you know how big the hood is) and it came down and hit my dad, I was on the side and had my head under the hood as well but it hit him first and missed me, Thanks Dad! Nothing too serious as of late however… usual knicks and scrapes (all part of the fun!)

my latest:
http://blog.hemmings.com/index.php/2008/05/15/hmx-nuts-and-bolts-and-blood-and-guts/

Haha, I don’t know too many people lucky enough to survive frequent near misses of a rolling or falling vehicle. Hopefully you learn the first couple of times, could mean your life.

Bloody knuckles, cuts, scrapes and bruises happen whenever I’m doing some serious modding
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Did the plug wires last month, and on the RM, it is a challenge on the passenger side.
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I looked like I had been in a bar brawl afterwards…
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I have burned myself a few times, but not so much since I started wearing Mechanics Gloves.
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They don’t always work though.
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This month, when I was installing an oil pressure sending unit, I didn’t have enough grip with the Mechanics Gloves. Nitrile gloves just ripped, so I just used my bare hands, and rubbed the skin off my knuckles.
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It was worth it
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I got all the mods done, and it all works…
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When you are a car enthusiast, putting money, blood, sweat, and sometimes tears, are all part of the game.