what haas been your worst vehicle wrenching nightmare?

[Tank-Ace]

Getting off of work at 1:00AM, on an isolated section of road away from the main highway, my car starts, but is idling hard, and stalls every time I even think about touching the accelerator. So I'm sitting there in my damp work uniform, at 1:00AM in the middle of the trees in Oregon, with what was likely (and in actuality) a shot fuel pump.

Most in the way of tools I have is a socket set, a jack, a lighter, and my leatherman, so I'm pretty much boned.

[homersipes]

wow and I thought I was the only one with crappy luck

[TwinBoom]

dropping a rear end out of a Duster it fell on my finger.......ouch some few week later my nail rotted off wife made me go to Doctor.
I recovered and nail grew back , it was the last time i changed a rear end without using jack stands for safety. lesson hard learned. 

[SIK1]

Getting off of work at 1:00AM, on an isolated section of road away from the main highway, my car starts, but is idling hard, and stalls every time I even think about touching the accelerator. So I'm sitting there in my damp work uniform, at 1:00AM in the middle of the trees in Oregon, with what was likely (and in actuality) a shot fuel pump.

Most in the way of tools I have is a socket set, a jack, a lighter, and my leatherman, so I'm pretty much boned.

The leatherman and lighter would have fixed your problem, at least temporarily. 

[homersipes]

dropping a rear end out of a Duster it fell on my finger.......ouch some few week later my nail rotted off wife made me go to Doctor.
I recovered and nail grew back , it was the last time i changed a rear end without using jack stands for safety. lesson hard learned.  cheers

safety ALWAYS first   I read on another forum a guy was changing the starter in his car and had it held up with only a floorjack, he crawled out from under the car to get the starter and about 20 seconds later he heard a bang and the car dropped.  the floorjack blew a seal and collapsed.  ALWAYS USE JACKSTANDS!!

[SIK1]

Never work under a vehicle supported only by a jack, never use cinder blocks to support a vehicle. Once a vehicle is up and supported always shake the vehicle to ensure that it is supported properly, even if you are using a lift! Nothing can ruin an enjoyable day of wrenching on your favorite vehicle than having it fall on you and squishing your head.

[Tank-Ace]

The leatherman and lighter would have fixed your problem, at least temporarily. 

Nope. Needed an allen wrench set to get at the fuel pump.

[SilverZ06]

Working in a shop:Alternator replacement on a beretta z34.

Working at home: Cutting the mufflers off my c5 corvette with a sawz all and forgot simple physics, the muffler and newly cut pipe swung down (still attached to the hanger) and hit my left hand and sliced the top of my hand open. Had to get a towel to stop the bleeding while my wife drove me to urgent care to get stitched up. Oh how fun it was to get a shot and a good scrubbing inside the wound.

[RngFndr]

Hmmm.. Seen lots of bad ones over the years..

Here's a gooder..
88 or so Mitsibishi.. 2.0L 4cyl.. The one with the 3 gilmer timing belts..
2 balance shafts and the Cam drive.. Came in with all three belts wasted..
OK, replace the belts, goes about 3 hrs perfect, then bang, wastes all 3 belts again..

Turned out the rear balance shaft had a bad bearing, (press in like a cam bearing)
It would run for while, then seize, which shredded the belt and threw the shreds into
the other two belts, shredding them too..

Had to yank the motor to fix it..

[RngFndr]

Power Steering rack in a ford Tempo with an Auto Trans, LOL, oh yeah..
Got Crowsfoot???

[RngFndr]

Blown head gaskets on a HT4100 caddy motor..
Alloy V8 overheated, pushed the iron liners out
of the block, just enough to keep blowing head
gaskets..

I got so I refused them in the shop..

[WEZEL]

2014 Escape, had to take the front seats, center console and both front doors off just to get the dash out.

Anything on a Mark8 

[RngFndr]

Driving back from an Auto auction in Boise Idaho to
Tacoma WA, in a Dodge Ramcharger 4x4 with a bad
Computer Command Module on the 440 thermotoilet..
At the time those modules were dealer only, and they
broke so often there were none available..

Took almost 2 days, go stop go stop go stop..

[vorticon]

most of what i do is fairly straightforward, and most of the headaches come from not having the right tools available or rust.

[homersipes]

We rented a UHaul one time, the mirror was held on by masking tape, so I bought bolts (who-da-thunkit) bolts, and fixed that.  wo we get headed from vermont to colorado, get out in PA and stopped for the night, had a late start.  We had figured we could sleep on the futon we had at the very back, so we get all comfy and it started raining, the box leaked, so to the cab we went, well wouldnt ya know but the doors and windshield also leaked.  By the time we woke up in the morning there was almost 3 inches of rain water in the cab  so we make it all the way to kansas and cross into colorado, pass a sign that says next gas station 97 miles (I think thats what it was)  well had almost 3/4s of a tank, til the first bump down to half.  still got around 80 miles to go.  hit another bump uh oh 1/4 tank still got 50 miles to go, uh oh next bump was almost on E with 30 miles left.  We ended up siphoning gas out of the car we were hauling to make it to the gas station.  Made it to Colorado Springs, took the truck back and the guy preceded to tell me that I was going to pay for the scratches in the box  He didnt know what to say when I told him we took gas out of our car and put into it

most of what i do is fairly straightforward, and most of the headaches come from not having the right tools available or rust.

yeah rust SUCKS   after a few years a 9/16 nut turns into a 7/16 pound on socket