Weird findings while working at a repair shop

[jp1gt]

 A customer took his truck to a place to get smogged. When he picked it up it had a knock in the engine. The other shop said that they had nothing to do with the noise. Pulled the head off and found a small bolt imbedded in the of a piston!!! 

A customer came in a said that everytime he made a right turn there was a knock on the side of the car. It was brand new. Took the door panel apart and there was a string with a bolt tied to it with a note--I wonder how long it took you to find this!! found out later there was a strike at the factory when the car was built.

[Max4Me]

I posted this sometime ago but it fits nicely here. I have a good friend that worked at a Ford dealership. He told me about an elderly gentleman who brought in his new car saying it started making a distinct "Thud!" when he accelerated/decelerated or turned a corner. The shop guys checked everything from motor mounts to the differential and everything in-between. After a few days of failure and much head scratching, someone had the bright idea to check to see if the spare in the trunk was correctly anchored. It was. But what they did find was the man's bowling ball had come out of its carrying case and was joyfully rolling around in the trunk as he drove!

[Restorer32]

I was Summertime help at my Dad's tire shop in the mid-late 1960s.  Guy came in complaining that one of the front tires on his Caddy was severely unbalanced.  I dismounted the tire and found a 14" crescent wrench between the tube and the tire.  This was back in the day when most tires were tube type. 

[Soupiov]

i bought a F-150 new in 1978.  It now has 21,000 miles on it.  The engine has never been touched and except for oil changes has never been serviced.  Without warning this year the 302 V8 started running on 7 cylinders.  Removing the valve cover disclosed what appeared to be a bent valve.  Pulled the head and this is what I found.  Fortunately it did not do any other damage but how that piece got there and how long it's been rattling around is a mystery to me.

[8E45E]

My neighbor across the alley from me bought a 1965 Chrysler Newport brand new.  Immediately from the start, he would get a "clunk-clunk" from around the trunk/rear wheel area whenever he crossed a set of railroad tracks, or hit a substantial bump in the road.  He kept taking it to the dealer to find have it fixed, where they replaced a lot of items on the underside of the car, including the rear half of the exhaust, spring dampeners they figured weren't doing their job, etc.  About 3 years later he removed the rear seat to install a speaker in the rear deck, and came across a tack hammer that was rested against the riser where the body stamping clears the rear axle behind the seat backrest.  'Property of C-C' was stamped in the wooden handle, and after he removed it, his 'clunk-clunk' issue was gone.

 

Craig

[Leif in Calif]

Not a repair shop story, but I bought a '73 Capri (made in Germany )brand new while I was stationed at Ft. Knox KY. First time I took the spare out, there was an empty schnapps bottle underneath.  

[Don Jr.]

Well when I was a mechanic at a Ford Dealership. Late on a Friday night I had the Service manager make me pull in a new Ford Galaxie 4 door a person just picked up from another dealership in Albany about 15 miles away. Guy said the car made a clunk every time he stopped and started. He pulled it in the high bay where all the mechanics work on cars. Everyone was gone except  the Service manager and myself. So we had the guy drive it and stop several times in the shop. We followed along to see where the noise was coming from. Heard it several times and like him tried to determine where it was coming from. Up on the lift with a rubber hammer found nothing so I drove it back and forth a few times. Noticed the noise was on drivers side. Service manager had me jack up the front and rear of the car sitting there and behold the noise. So he had me pull the rocker moulding in the door opening and jack the car slowly one way while he looked down the screw hole with a light. Yes some disgruntled worker stuck a nice big ball bearing in the rocker area before the side was welded on. We sent the guy on his way back to the dealer he just got it from to have them take care of the issue. Learned alot at a dealership as a young man.

[SC38dls]

The first new car we bought was a 71 Camaro the second week we owned it every time we made a left turn there was a rolling sound and a clunk. Took it to the dealer and they couldn’t find it. We even tried recording it and sending it to Chevrolet. Still no help. Then one day it rolled, clunked and the passenger window fell out. Back to the dealer, at first they said our fault and we probably just broke the window. I made them take the door panel off to see if there was a problem and there was not a piece of glass in the door but the bracket that held the window in was very loose so they replaced it. About a week later still the rolling and clunk sound but this time the engine blew up. The dealer sent a tow truck and when they picked up the front end the windshield shattered. The tow guy said it happened all the time. A rod broke so they replaced the engine. Two to three weeks later we were coming home from visiting friends in the country doing about 70 mph when it blew another rod. Back to the dealer, another windshield and this time two techs brought a new engine and transmission from Detroit and installed it. 
They found a bolt in the trans pan or somewhere in the trans that they said caused the rolling and clunk noise and probably caused the engines to blow. They said the car was built on a Monday when the union was talking strike. 
No more clunk and we put over 220,000 miles on it before I sold it. 
dave s 

[lump]

When I was a young part-time tire-buster at a local Goodyear store, our service manager was really good with spin balancing tire & wheel assemblies on cars. He personally balanced all the really difficult cases. One customer came to us with fairly new used tires on his car, which were clearly way out of balance. So Dave put it up in the air, balanced the wheels one by one, testing each one after adding the weights and removing the balancer, to be sure he had it right. But the right front was really bad, and he was reluctant to add that much weight. But he did, and got it right. But when he spun the wheel up again to test it, it was way out of balance again. As a young trainee, I was baffled and fascinated. Dave stopped immediately and removed the wheel, and dismounted the tire. It was about half full of liquid. So whenever he balanced it at speed it seemed right. But of course, the water moved! How that gallon or so of water got in there, none of us knew. 

 

 

[Phillip Robinson]

Years ago a repair shop had an older lady bring in her car because it used a lot of petrol. They cleaned spark plugs, adjusted points, timing etc. After a few times of bringing in the car , in a small country town, one guy got in the car a went for drive around the block. As she started the car, the woman pulled the choke out and put her handbag on it. True story, and problem solved.

 

[8E45E]

16 hours ago, SC38dls said:

The first new car we bought was a 71 Camaro the second week we owned it every time we made a left turn there was a rolling sound and a clunk. 

This reminds me of a navy blue '76 Continental Mark IV with HVAC issues were asked to solve and repair.   On a cool, but sunny 40° or so day, whenever the owner had the heater set on ‘low’,  every time he made a right turn, the air conditioning would come on full-blast for perhaps 30 seconds, and then it would revert back to its ‘low heat’ mode.   Turns out, there was an accident repair on the left front fender earlier that year.  There are three transducers which monitor the temperature inside the car; one behind the grille, one in the dash, and one behind the driver’s kick panel.  Apparently, the bodyshop that did the repair work did not reinstall the transducer behind the kick panel on its bracket and it was hanging free, swinging back and forth every time he turned a corner.  Whenever he turned right, the transducer would swing and contact the inside of the fender which was warm from the sun hitting it, and send a signal to the temperature control unit, and signal the A/C to come on. Once the turn was complete, the transducer would swing back, and read the cooler ambient air temperature and the system to go back to ‘low heat’.  It took us a while to figure that one out!!

 

Craig

Edited October 28, 2022 by 8E45E (see edit history)

[ch1929]

Early 70's I was a Tech at a Ford store. New Ford wagon comes in with a no heat complaint. Someone at the factory decided to put 5 ignition locks with keys inside the heater box and that blocked the blend door from working. Just some one having fun on the assembly line I guess.

Another time a customer with a new car came in and asked to have valve stem extensions installed on the wheels. One of the wheels did not have a valve stem on the rim. When the put the tire on the rims at the factory they use high pressure sir shooting between the rim and the tire to seat the bead on the rim. I had to drill a hole in the rim to let the air out and then replace the rim.

[EmTee]

One summer day while working at my best friend's father's gas station we were all sitting in the office eating lunch.  The front door was propped open and we could see the gas island and the 4-way intersection.  A mid-'60s Ford Econoline van was sitting at the red light when I noticed something fall on the ground just behind the front wheels.  The light turned green and the van pulled away, dragging its starter motor by the battery cable.  I would have loved to see the driver's reaction at the next start-up attempt...

[jp1gt]

We had a customer that came in with a brand new Chrysler. He said that it had a miss in the engine at times. He said that the dealership could not find anything. Of course it was running perfect at the time when he brought it in. As he was getting back into the car he said I will give them something to find. He started the engine and just floored it. It stopped, no oil on the driveway, probably threw the timing chain! Lots of customer stories also---

[31 LaSalle]

I used to work for an engineering company we had a fork lift truck to load transport

came to use it one day it was a four cylinder  and it was only running on three cylinders

I removed the plugs and straight away noticed number two cylinder plug had no gap

set the gap replaced plugs started up it ran spot on but within 10 minutes it was back to running on three cylinders

removed plug again on number two cylinder no gap again 

we decided to remove cylinder head for a look

what we found was a 1/4 diameter ball out of a bearing when the engine ran it closed the spark gap

 

 

there was no damage to the bore and just a bit of a rash on top of piston

put it back together used it for the next two years with no problem

the boss thought an employee he had finished that week had sabotaged it by dropping the ball down plug hole

 

[LARRYCAROL]

In 1970 I was working at Chevy dealer & brand new pickup came in with bad oil leak. Turned out factory didn’t install top part on rear main seal.  In late 80’s I was working at VW dealer and we had a Jetta with strange misfire on #3 cyl. They changed parts even pulled cam to check valve springs. Nothing helped. Finally they pulled the manifolds to check for carbon on valves. Found casting slag partially blocking intake runner. What should have been inch & half opening was only about 3/8 inches. Lot of wasted time on that one!

[Grimy]

14 hours ago, Phillip Robinson said:

Years ago a repair shop had an older lady bring in her car because it used a lot of petrol. They cleaned spark plugs, adjusted points, timing etc. After a few times of bringing in the car , in a small country town, one guy got in the car a went for drive around the block. As she started the car, the woman pulled the choke out and put her handbag on it. True story, and problem solved.

 

I remember reading that one in Popular Mechanics or Popular Science or Mechanix Illustrated about 60 years ago.  As I recall, the car was a 1959 Ford 6, the only model at that time which still had a manual choke.

[avgwarhawk]

When I worked at Goodyear a Maxima arrived with a misfire to be diagnosed.  Cylinder 6 had a definite misfire.  The sparkplug wire was fine.  Cap/rotor ok.  I pulled the sparkplug that threads downwards.  I flip it to look at the gap, etc.  All looks fine.  I perform a compression test.  All good. The injector is firing.  I pull the sparkplug one more time. I flip it over. Still nothing. Looked fine.  I then flip the plug upside down as if it was installed in the head.  The darn electrode ceramic was cracked allowing the electrode to close the gap.  A new plug resolved the issue.          

[CHuDWah]

I had a car that needed repair to the driver's window mechanism.  When it was complete, I got in the car to leave and heard a rattle inside the door.  I told the service manager it sounded like the mechanic left a screwdriver in it.  He was adamant that, "Oh no, they'd never do that!"  He took the car back in and returned it without rattle a few minutes later.  I asked what the problem was and he rather sheepishly said, "The mechanic left a screwdriver in it."

[Bloo]

41 minutes ago, Grimy said:

I remember reading that one in Popular Mechanics or Popular Science or Mechanix Illustrated about 60 years ago.  As I recall, the car was a 1959 Ford 6, the only model at that time which still had a manual choke.

I remember reading that too, though not when it was a current issue. I'm pretty sure it was Mechanix Illustrated.

 

[31nash880]

It happens. Left a $100.00 magnetic flashlight in a door. Never got it back. Did not rattle.

[Rusty_OToole]

When I worked in a VW shop if a customer complained of an engine vibration or overheating one of the first things to check was for a rag in the cooling fan. If you left one in the engine compartment after checking oil it could get sucked into the fan and either throw it out of balance or spread around and block air flow.

[Rusty_OToole]

Here's one that crossed up a lot of experienced mechanics. Ford used 2 different firing orders on their small V8. If you got the wrong firing order the engine would run but it would only be running on about 4 cylinders. This was a tough one to diagnose unless you had run into it before.

[Rusty_OToole]

We had a Jaguar in for bodywork after a fender bender. It would not start and no one could figure out what was the matter. It turns out, if one gets hit, there is a gizmo that kills the electrical system so it can't short out and cause a fire (I guess).

You will never guess where they put the reset switch in 100 years. In the trunk, over the left wheel well, behind the carpet and trunk liner. The boss had to call the Jaguar dealer to find it out.

[Bryan G]

The local Ford dealer didn't have a body shop so they would sublet work to us. Some I remember: in the early/mid-90s the front door body side molding on the company's top selling car read "Taurus". Despite that, someone managed to install one upside down. 

 

Later 90s, the sales department sends over a guy one morning. The night before he'd bought a pretty bluish sliver Taurus (in the dark), but the next morning he noticed the front bumper didn't match the hood/fenders at all. It took me a minute to figure out the problem: like most manufacturers, Ford painted the bumper covers separately. The front bumper was silver (no blue), just like...the back bumper, and the rear of the car. Obviously this car had been painted after a line of blue cars and they didn't have the lines cleaned out enough! The car gradually went from having a slight bluish tint at the front to being the correct color at the rear.

 

(I remember one Ford model, I think Explorer, that would have a "dry" streak horizontally across the center of the doors/quarters. Guess the robotic paint guns had a bit too little overlap as it went back and forth.)

 

The guy who used to check in new cars off the carrier was meticulous, and sometimes too much so. Once we received about 10-12 Explorers as they had little humps in the roof rails just above the doors. I'm not sure how he thought the carrier was doing that. Turns out, every single Explorer left the factory like that. It was sloppy, sure. We got paid to fix at least half of them before someone at the dealer figured it out. 

 

Had a brand new 95 or 96 Bronco come straight off the carrier, no miles on the clock, and a sloppy repair to the right quarter. It had been done with lacquer and the paint was cracking. We could only guess that the carrier driver paid someone to do a quick fix of something he did along the way.

 

One of the very first '97 F-150's (new body style), carrier driver backs it off the truck and promptly side-swiped a pole. We put a quarter on it. We found that Ford filled the front lower corner with sprayed-in foam rubber, I guess to keep dirt out or maybe to prevent rattles? Less than 10 miles on that truck and when we cut it apart that corner was already filled with wet dirt. I predicted this would be a common rust area and I was right. 

 

Had a new Aerostar come in once, when the owner went to the DMV an inspector checked the VIN...and found it had a typo. We had a to pull the windshield to replace it, which of course cracked. I seem to recall the service manager was required to witness us do the swap.

 

Back in the 70s a customer brought in an Oldsmobile with a rattle the dealer gave up on. It was the classic, a bottle wedged up in the quarter panel by someone on the line.