What did you mess up, by working on your own car?

[McIntoshMotorSports]

Not on the F80 but when I owned my 335i I broke two mirrors (same side twice lol) trying to install and reinstall upgraded mirror covers. Needless to say it's best to do these types of install when it's not 40 degrees outside

[AdnanH35]

Stripped the oil pan/ bolt on my m3…. 1k for a new pan and another 1k at an Indy for labor…. never touching anything on this car again

[Mike.]

didn't fit the intercooler pipes properly so when I tried to show off the pipes blew off and my car just stumbled and a CEL came on.

My GF just shook her head

[gunsmoker]

Broke the flange on one of the charge cooler pipes while taking the pipe out, but was able to superglue it. Then I was so careful to not drop a bolt in the engine compartment that I ended up dropping a whole screwdriver. I was lucky it fell on the bottom metal plate and I was able to fish it out after removing some of the plastic cladding under the bumper and behind the wheel. The car was in my garage and not on stands so it was not a piece of cake to just remove the metal plate. Changing the spark plugs was a success in the end.

[M5D]

I am a bit of a Lennie from of Mice and Men, so I watch what I do, albeit, not always!

[dms-01]

Not my mistake but I bore the brunt of it. My first M3 I assumed off lease and the PO installed BMS intakes but apparently dropped a bolt in the engine bay when he installed them. 5k miles later that bolted popped up, hit the fan and blew a hole through my radiator which cost me $1800 to replace.

Some of my own doing. I got new wheels on a previous Audi and I was spinning the front wheel to check the clearance and I stuck my hand in the spoke to stop it and my thumb got pinched between the wheels and brake caliper nearly severing half of it off. Had to go to the emergency room and get stitches to keep it together.

[bigj505]

I've learned as a young adult that certain fixes just weren't what I was created to do after messing up things on my first car. My calling is software development since I can break and test with little to no risk before going live.

I just take the L and pay people to work on my expensive cars

[BGxNYC]

Just swapped my rear brake pads and broke the brand new sensor smh

[heitzke]

When installing my Bend Calibration Ultimate F8X flex fuel kit I apparently forgot to tighten one of the fuel fittings even though the instructions VERY CLEARLY call out to check them all.

Fast forward to the first start, cranked it up, stuck my head underneath the car to see fuel dumping EVERYWHERE. Messy and annoying, but definitely hacked that one up and the car smelled like fuel for a few days.

[JamesGames]

I consider myself a professional plastic clip breaker at this point.
BMW Plastic Spread Rivet - Genuine BMW 51118174185
BMW Expanding Trim Rivet - Genuine BMW 51111908077

Every. Single. Damn. Time. I work on my car

[SYT_Shadow]

fewer things than mechanics, with the big difference that when I break something I see it and fix it later. When a mechanic breaks something they tend to hide it.

Also, whenever I break something, I did not pay someone else to break and then hide the issue.

[mdrobc13]

Worse case? Back when I was first getting into my cars hobby I was working on a loose a parking brake on my 2001 BMW 325ix and got out of the car and didn't block the tires first and as I walked down the driveway and out of the garage watched it roll down the driveway and into my 1999 Porsche 911 Carrera! Got the brake ultimately fixed but only after body shop repairs to TWO cars now! So embarrassing! Never done that one since.

[Soul Coughing]

I have another story: I didn't do this, but a friend/acquaintance did. He was installing spark plugs on his car, and asked if he could borrow my torque wrench. I explained to him how to use the torque wrench, and being 100% sure that he'd tightened the base of the torque wrench so that it locks in the correct setting. He proceeds to set up the wrench to 22 ft/lbs, but doesn't fully lock the wrench, and keeps torqueing the spark plug in the head, waiting to hear it click, until the plug suddenly becomes loose. He calls me up angry that my torque wrench "was broken," and that it had caused him to pull out all the threads in his head. He ended up having to send the car to the shop, pull the head, and have a helicoil installed to replace the destroyed threads.

[luthers4]

Recent one for me.

My Touareg brake sensor light came on so I changed all four brake pads. Been DIYing brake pads for years, as I find the process easier than scheduling an appointment with a mechanic, waiting for my car etc. One of the original brake pad senor clips would not disengage from the harness, I became impatient forcefully removing with needle nose pliers. My thought process at the time was screw it, the pads had a life span of 90k miles I don't care if the sensors work going forward. I damaged the harness, sensor lights are on (annoying), brakes perform fine, VW wants $600 to replace the harness and I cant find a DIY or workshop manual with direction to replace harness.

[kwikshift]

Originally Posted by Mike.

didn't fit the intercooler pipes properly so when I tried to show off the pipes blew off and my car just stumbled and a CEL came on.

My GF just shook her head

The GF/Wife head shake is the worst. My wife just gives me the look of "why am i not surprised" i then counter w/my look of "don't say a word"

[Mike.]

Originally Posted by kwikshift

The GF/Wife head shake is the worst. My wife just gives me the look of "why am i not surprised" i then counter w/my look of "don't say a word"

I think I got a "why don't you let the shop do this next time" hahahaha!

EDIT- She would also whoop my ass because we are now fiancés and I'm so used to saying girlfriend