I worked for Frontier Airlines and was thrown into the scheduling department to "help out". I essentially overscheduled an "A" check which resulted in a cancelled flight and two A&P's to go to san Diego to look the aircraft over. No issues with it of course. The software was terrible and to this day I have no Idea how or what caused the schedule to be changed. Thankfully a number of people in other departments came to my aid as I was thrown under the bus.Earlier in my workshop, reading some old parts catalogue* I came across some info which vindicated me for an issue when I was an apprentice Datsun mechanic.
I was doing a first service on a new model of a small Datsun van. It was fitted with a totally new 1.5 litre diesel. So I fit the oil filter given to me. Factory fit oil filter was a plain blue metal can with no printing at all on the body.
So it has a 3/4" thread on the engine. The stores gave me an M21 filter. It seemed to screw on just fine. No leaks. The customer collected the van and on the motorway, the oil light came on.
The van came back to us on a breakdown truck.
The foreman mechanic said I'd left the filter loose. The service manager gave me an enormous telling off. I nearly lost my job. I was 16 when this happened. Only left school three months earlier.
So 45 years later, I find out the true cause of the loss of oil from the parts catalogue.
The van was fine btw.
I wonder if anyone else has a story where they were blamed for someone else's error?
As an apprentice with virtually no experience, I believe I couldn't be held responsible. The filter was in a very tight space. It felt completely normal to my inexperienced hands. If I was qualified, fair enough, but up to the incident, I'd only really made tea, swept up and fit about a thousand number plates
* I am mildly autistic. I will read absolutely anything. In fact I read my entire waking hours if I am not working. I have done so quite literally continuously since I was three.
Wrongly Blamed at Work for a Mistake?
- Thread starter Donald64
- Start date
If you were working on a new Datsun (retired from service in 1981), then the guy who yelled at you is probably 6 feet under by now. While in your heart you are vindicated, let the incident die with the guy who yelled at you. Youve carried this long enough.
I had this exact same thing happen at a shop I worked at. We had a dozen or so engine driven welders on fleet trucks with Kohler V-twin Command engines that took a 3/4-16 thread filter (PH3614 equiv. IIRC).
On a very slow day around Christmas, I was helping out with the welder maintenance / oil changes (not my usual job duty). When I spun on the filter provided to me, I immediately knew something wasn't right; it had too much wobble on the threads. I spun it back and forth a few times and it seated and snugged up nicely. One of those close-enough thread sizes that can fool people. I asked the guys if this was the right filter and all of them said "yeah, it's the same one we've used for years."
I did a little digging and they were using the wrong filter. An old shop mechanic that used to work there years back decided a 20mm filter that was used on other equipment also fit these welders-- for convenience he ordered the 20mm filter for everything. That was logged in the rudimentary "purchasing journal" which became the bible for the subsequent maintenance guy.
No welders ever blew up or leaked (which is why the practice carried on so long). I had to seriously argue for the switch to the correct filter for this reason (even with documentation in hand), but eventually got my way.
Long story short, if grown adult men that have presumably done quite a few oil changes in their time can be fooled by the 20mm vs 3/4" filters, surely a teen with little training can be.
AZjeff
$50 Site Donor 2023
Answer: everyone is not stoned, anywhere. Faulty assumption.
I was stuck carrying the can in a major internal investigation of which I was not the target. The target was able to retire with a smile on his lips and a song in his heart and the investigators could prove nothing on the target although they had a very good idea of what actually happened and I think they were on the money. Having put a lot of time, effort and money into this investigation, someone had to swing, so I ended up as the Judas goat. This cost me a significant promotion which could not otherwise have been denied me. I faced no other adverse actions since I was essentially a bystander and never suspected wrongdoing.
I was bitter for a time but got over it and was thankful that the whole mess was eventually forgotten and I came once again to be regarded as a guru in my area of expertise.
Sometimes the boulder rolls over you through no fault of your own. You pick yourself up and continue on your way.
I was bitter for a time but got over it and was thankful that the whole mess was eventually forgotten and I came once again to be regarded as a guru in my area of expertise.
Sometimes the boulder rolls over you through no fault of your own. You pick yourself up and continue on your way.
Bravo!I won't start a new thread, so as not to waste folks time who find anecdotal tales a bore.
May I also share this.
Manual Transmission Work?
I used to be the World's Expert.
In the late 1980s a young mechanic has a run of bad luck with things continually going bad. He did a short service on a Citroen BX Turbo Diesel. A new model of BX.
He returned from road test and said that there was a strange noise as he went to park up.
Every time he drove forward, there was a grinding noise from the FWD gearbox.
What was supposed to be a quick job ended up with the car being off the road for about six weeks.
We stripped the gearbox time after time, but couldn't find anything wrong.
As it was a new model, any part they sent was wrong. A new layshaft looked identical, but the tooth form was machined differently. With this part, the box howled like every bearing was shot.
We took the box apart time and time again.
To cut a long story short, the Reverse Idler was ever so slightly still in mesh when First was selected. Effectively this locked the transmission until the reverse idler was thrown back by about 1/8th" which was the noise we heard.
The reverse selector was the wrong part, fitted from the factory.
So happy customer. I still worked on his cars at my own business until he sadly passed away last year.
So, a few weeks after this debacle, I attended a Citroen factory course. For some reason, the lecturer didn't seem to like me (I later found out it was because I looked very young and he thought they'd sent a kid on a course, so they didn't lose a real mechanic for a week. I was actually 25).
So the lecturer initially tried to catch me out on theory. He couldn't as I was awarded several prizes at technical college and has studied the subject of Automobile Engineering since I was nine. Really.
Then in the practical session, the lecturer quickly stripped a gearbox down to the tiniest components and said to me:
"Put That Back Together."
So I did.
You see it was identical to the transmission I'd had in bits trying to find the problem. It was about as difficult to me as making a sandwich...
By the end of the course he has thawed considerably and said how impressed he was and asked if I'd already done the course.
My Reply:
"No, I haven't been on this course before. I simply love the subject. I am Foreman Mechanic at where I work.
And by the way, I am 25. Not 16. And when you assumed that I lived with mum & dad. I'm actually a home owner. I bought my house outright when I was 24. And you recall on the first day of the course, when you were talking about all the idiots out there: Like the road sweeper or public toilet cleaners?
Well, my partner is a road sweeper. She loves it. You wouldn't believe what she earns."
Badge of honor.
- Joined
- Nov 28, 2021
- Messages
- 809
Years ago, as an apprentice plumber, I went with a veteran plumber to change out a bunch of toilets in a house, most of which were on the second floor.
White carpet (owners were dumbasses obviously), we were wearing booties.......
He handed me the detached toilet bowl, and told me to take it into the garage where all the other stuff was..........but left one thing out........
as i was walking back upstairs I noticed a trail of "blue stuff, all the way from where he had handed me the tank, all the way outside, weirdly where I had just walked.
he did not remove the "bluewater" liquid dispensing device from the tank, and when I grabbed it, of course, I turned it to nicely fit through the door (as to avoid hitting the door jamb or wall=good idea fairy)
Long story short they could not remove the blue streak from the white carpet.....and the boss had to replace EVERYbit that was stained.
I was blamed initially, but smarter heads prevailed and the plumber got fired. He was a jerk anyway.
White carpet (owners were dumbasses obviously), we were wearing booties.......
He handed me the detached toilet bowl, and told me to take it into the garage where all the other stuff was..........but left one thing out........
as i was walking back upstairs I noticed a trail of "blue stuff, all the way from where he had handed me the tank, all the way outside, weirdly where I had just walked.
he did not remove the "bluewater" liquid dispensing device from the tank, and when I grabbed it, of course, I turned it to nicely fit through the door (as to avoid hitting the door jamb or wall=good idea fairy)
Long story short they could not remove the blue streak from the white carpet.....and the boss had to replace EVERYbit that was stained.
I was blamed initially, but smarter heads prevailed and the plumber got fired. He was a jerk anyway.
My boss was a really tough refugee from Vietnam. She protected me, but let me have it in private. In Silicon Valley tech everything is political; everything. She also told me to keep doing what I was doing because it was deemed mission critical by the execs; if I got into trouble just come to her. I made sure bad news came from me first.
She was tough and mean, but was very good (and rewarding) to me. I consider myself very lucky she hired me.
She was tough and mean, but was very good (and rewarding) to me. I consider myself very lucky she hired me.
Impossible. You'd never even notice it over the stench of urine.
It's unprofessional to denigrate someone's job/career.I won't start a new thread, so as not to waste folks time who find anecdotal tales a bore.
May I also share this.
Manual Transmission Work?
I used to be the World's Expert.
In the late 1980s a young mechanic has a run of bad luck with things continually going bad. He did a short service on a Citroen BX Turbo Diesel. A new model of BX.
He returned from road test and said that there was a strange noise as he went to park up.
Every time he drove forward, there was a grinding noise from the FWD gearbox.
What was supposed to be a quick job ended up with the car being off the road for about six weeks.
We stripped the gearbox time after time, but couldn't find anything wrong.
As it was a new model, any part they sent was wrong. A new layshaft looked identical, but the tooth form was machined differently. With this part, the box howled like every bearing was shot.
We took the box apart time and time again.
To cut a long story short, the Reverse Idler was ever so slightly still in mesh when First was selected. Effectively this locked the transmission until the reverse idler was thrown back by about 1/8th" which was the noise we heard.
The reverse selector was the wrong part, fitted from the factory.
So happy customer. I still worked on his cars at my own business until he sadly passed away last year.
So, a few weeks after this debacle, I attended a Citroen factory course. For some reason, the lecturer didn't seem to like me (I later found out it was because I looked very young and he thought they'd sent a kid on a course, so they didn't lose a real mechanic for a week. I was actually 25).
So the lecturer initially tried to catch me out on theory. He couldn't as I was awarded several prizes at technical college and has studied the subject of Automobile Engineering since I was nine. Really.
Then in the practical session, the lecturer quickly stripped a gearbox down to the tiniest components and said to me:
"Put That Back Together."
So I did.
You see it was identical to the transmission I'd had in bits trying to find the problem. It was about as difficult to me as making a sandwich...
By the end of the course he has thawed considerably and said how impressed he was and asked if I'd already done the course.
My Reply:
"No, I haven't been on this course before. I simply love the subject. I am Foreman Mechanic at where I work.
And by the way, I am 25. Not 16. And when you assumed that I lived with mum & dad. I'm actually a home owner. I bought my house outright when I was 24. And you recall on the first day of the course, when you were talking about all the idiots out there: Like the road sweeper or public toilet cleaners?
Well, my partner is a road sweeper. She loves it. You wouldn't believe what she earns."
AutoMechanic
Site Donor 2024
I’ve been blamed for multiple things that weren’t my fault at work. Just part of life I guess. Got blamed for an engine blowing up because lube tech didn’t put oil in it, got blamed for a wheel coming off a car on a test drive by a customer that I didn’t even work on. It never stops. But hasn’t happened in awhile luckily. I have dealt with several things in this industry that weren’t my fault. When they came to me about the wheel they would not even listen to me I was like how is it my fault I didn’t even touch the car. Then days later they came to apologize saying they had gotten the numbers switched and read it as my number being on it but it was one that is backwards of mine just the numbers swapped places. They went and fired that employee on the spot as he had also dropped a car off a lift that same week. I tried to save him from dropping it but he had headphones in and couldn’t hear me so he dug his own grave on that one.
The biggest mistake I’ve made myself that was my fault is leaving a drain plug loose in a Mitsubishi Outlander and luckily they had it towed back when it completely came out. My coworker done it on an exact look a like car same color and model and everything a few weeks after that and toasted the engine in it.
The biggest mistake I’ve made myself that was my fault is leaving a drain plug loose in a Mitsubishi Outlander and luckily they had it towed back when it completely came out. My coworker done it on an exact look a like car same color and model and everything a few weeks after that and toasted the engine in it.
3/4" is very close to 19 mm. (I've subbed a 3/4" wrench for a 19 mm in a pinch.)
NF threads for 3/4" are 16 TPI, so just under 1.6 mm between threads.
The correct threads would have likely been 1.5 mm.
So, the wrong filter was smaller by about 1 mm, and the thread spacing was off by just under 0.1 mm.
I can understand how one could fit the wrong filter.
Machinist here… it happens. My biggest moment was when I was 18 and cutting a 4”x4”x24” piece of cold rolled mild steel, it was some kind of bracket that required the middle 20” to be cut down to 1”. I had 3 vices holding this piece of metal in my CNC mill.
Get the part all cut, loosen the left vice first, then as I loosened the center vice it very audibly goes “POP!” and bowed a solid 3” in the middle. My boss was not happy, but I was also an 1st year apprentice so he wasn’t that angry at me.
Get the part all cut, loosen the left vice first, then as I loosened the center vice it very audibly goes “POP!” and bowed a solid 3” in the middle. My boss was not happy, but I was also an 1st year apprentice so he wasn’t that angry at me.
I work with a guy right now who will pretend to be your best friend, but blame you for his mistakes. I call him the missing link and his photo in my contacts is the Bigfoot character from the first Goofy movie.
I haven’t had to work directly with him for 3 months or so so it’s been nice.
I haven’t had to work directly with him for 3 months or so so it’s been nice.
- Joined
- Nov 28, 2021
- Messages
- 809
what was the cause?
Stress within the steel, it can be kind of unpredictable. Cold rolled steel is generally worse for that than hot rolled steel. I cut out over half the stress “pushing down” against the other stress that was “pushing up”, so when I released the vices the remaining stress bowed the part up. Thankfully it didn’t twist. We used a hydraulic press and a torch to straighten it back out.
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