Stupid Mistake! or, How I Inconvenienced 4 People

[mikethompson]

Well I just had a doozy of an evening, and thought you fine fellows might enjoy a little tale of personal misery. Maybe misery is a little harsh, but I certainly feel like the business end of a horse.
My wife's car developed a check engine light the other day, and using my trusty scan tool and the internet, deduced the fix would be a relatively cheap and easy sensor replacement. Not an issue at all, I've done a few on our cars through the years. The sensor itself (which monitors coolant temperature) was even easily accessible. Love it!
So I get all my tools needed for the job, the new sensor and get outside to get it all done. "Shant be long sweet darling!" I say to my wife as she plays with our two kids.
So here I am ready to go in the engine bay. Now, holding this sensor into the engine is a small metal clip, shaped like a 'c'. Without this clip dear fellows, the sensor will surely fall out of the engine allowing coolant to spill everywhere. So I get out my pliers, give a little tug to the clip, and boop! Off it goes ricocheting around the engine, landing in some unknown spot. Out pops the old sensor and here comes the coolant. After stuffing a rag into the coolant hole to stop the bleeding, I change the sensor, I proceed to take the next hour getting real intimate with the nooks and crannies of the Volkswagen 2.0T engine, but CANNOT FIND THIS CLIP ANYWHERE.
So now I have to hope this clip is in stock at the dealer. My wife is inconvenienced as she has to get a ride into work tomorrow, our neighbour is inconvenienced that has to drive her, my mother is inconvenienced as she has to pick up the parts while I watch my kids, and I am inconvenienced as I can't do my errands tomorrow.
I need a couple bowls of Captain Earle's Honor Blend or some Gaslight...
Thanks for letting me rant guys!

 

[cortezattic]

Better to think that a guardian angel orchestrated this SNAFU to keep someone from encountering harm had the chain of events played out according to your original plan. Maybe the path all of you are now on is a better alternative history.

 

[hoosierpipeguy]

Here's how you prevent this. I know from past experience that I will absolutely screw up and lose the clip. 90% plus chance. So first thing is, buy the clip when you buy the sensor. Short of that, you surround the area with a big rag so when the clip inevitably goes flying, hopefully, the rag will catch it. Now, once you have it captured, if possible, take it into a big table and apply a vise grips to it. I say big table because I would probably flip it off the vise grips and it would go flying. Hopefully, the big table should catch it.
Now chances are I would still screw it up putting it on. So as I'm thinking through all this getting ready to do the job, I do the wise thing and call the car shop to schedule a time to take it in. I just described several hundred dollars worth of stress with a small likelihood of success. LOL
Sorry about your dilemma, as you can tell, I can relate. But you had great intentions and did nothing malicious.

 

[anthonyrosenthal74]

It's time like these that make you wonder if your life is actually a television sitcom and you just don't know it. :lol: Sorry you had a bad day.

 

[mikethompson]

balkisobrains, I can tell you've been in this boat before! Thanks for all the advice. I've changed similar sensors on our 4 Passats over the years and this is the first real hiccup.
Cortez, that is seriously the deepest thing I've read in awhile.
hoosierpipeguy, the real trick is tying dental floss to one end of the clip. That way when you drop it you can pull it up like a fish. Also it leaves a pleasant mint taste on the clip and prevents cavities.
anthonyrosenthal74, that show would be so painfully boring. What happened this evening would be the season finale cliffhanger.

 

[balkisobrains]

Yeah I've spent some time with magnets on sticks in my engine bay. =)

 

[peckinpahhombre]

I saw a show about this once, starring Mike "The Tool Man" Thompson.

 

[saltedplug]

Mike, your intentions were great but you had not yet had the experience of the clip flying into the unknown. So next time, if you are in a state of grace, though it may fly you will catch it; or you may have fallen out of grace and it may not fly but something else will go wrong, etc. I would say you were the most inconvenienced since you were directly trying to do the fix. You done good!

 

[mikethompson]

Update: clip is on and everything is right with the world.
Cost of clip: .96

Ruining my Monday: Priceless

 

[saltedplug]

Glad to hear it!

 

[mso489]

'Sounds like you're midlife, so this is just a chance happening or mischance. It's a good opportunity to develop patience with yourself for when eyesight and dexterity decrease at sneaky intervals and things begin jumping off the furniture just as you pass by, and many screws, clips, and other small pieces magically disappear if you look at them. I try to remember to put down pans or cardboard to catch the escapees during repair projects, put all the parts in a big bowl when assembling furniture, etc. "Modern" cars are the worst, since there is no space to reach or look around. Glad you got it put back together. You have to be patient with yourself, for your blood pressure's sake. I can be the worst, like a three-year-old in a tantrum -- but it keeps my vocabulary colorful.

 

[tuold]

Ah, the best laid schemes.....
Similar thing happened to me at one of those quick oil change places. They lost the cap to the windshield washer reservoir tank. they told me to pick one up at the auto parts store and they would knock ten bucks off my bill.
As I was pulling out of the driveway of the place, I saw in the rearview mirror the cap skipping along behind me on the road. Stopped, picked it up and snapped in back on. I never went back to that place.