Just a be safe while wrenching reminder....

[rusty ol ranger]

Was over at my buddies tonight trying to figure out why my damn pos polaris is burning oil....

Anyways i pulled the valve cover to squirt dubious amounts of oil onto the springs to see if the smoking intesified to see how far i was gonna have to dig...

(Hint, its bad rings) but anyways....

We had to remove the fuel tank and all front plastic to really get to the valve cover. So in order for it to run we took the fuel line and just hooked it directly to the carb (more on this in a minute) and tried to crank it. The thing spun about 1 revolution then stopped dead. Wouldnt crank no more, tried the recoil, locked.

"Shit now what"

So we pulled the plug to see if it mighta been the decompression lever, pulled the plug and a massive stre....no wait...geyser of gas came out to rival old faithful.

Anyways, we shined his little pen light down the plug hole and said "pull it (with recoil) over slowly".

I did and when the recoil grabbed and spun the thing over a huge geyser of fuel came out and soaked his face, eyes, etc as he was about 6 inches above the plug hole. He started freaking out cause he couldnt see, he grabbed my hand i led him in the house where he flushed his eyes for about 15 minutes.

Everyones fine and 20 mins later once he got his eyes cleaned and could see again it was the source of much amusement. But what caused it was he accidently hooked the fuel line on a massive vacuum port for the fuel pump, so it just flooded everything, the carb, air box, cylinder, etc. The port for the fuel pump and the fuel inlet look just alike and it was an easy mixup

So this time turned out ok, but just be safe out there fellas.

 

[Josh B]

I did something equally as in-attentive when about 15 years old while working on a suzuki motor bike. It was at a large campground we'd go to for about a week every year, most everybody knew every body.
I had pulled the head off the two stroke engine and I guess cleaned out some carbon buildup or something and rinsed it with a bit of gas.
then thought I'd blow out the residue with a little kick on the kick starter to spin the piston a time or two. WHOOFFF!!!! the plug fired....igniting the gas.
The restrooms weren't far and some fella comes running over with a small fire extinguisher and puts it out. Hahaha, then I had an even bigger mess than I started with

 

[19Walt93]

He was very lucky that there wasn't a spark.

 

[Ranger850]

I was changeing leaf spring bushings this weekend, and i had a crowbar to force tje leafe down, to get the bushing put. I had to push it down, and over, to get the bushing out/in. As i was doing so, the crowbar slipped a little and popped up, and if i had been just a little closer, I would be 1 tooth less right now.

 

[PetroleumJunkie412]

He was very lucky that there wasn't a spark.

Was just thinking the same.

Yall got lucky. And demonstrated the hazards of Polaris ownership ?

 

[Snoranger]

Was just thinking the same.

Yall got lucky. And demonstrated the hazards of Polaris ownership ?

This guy gets it.
Polaris machines are know to set themselves on fire, without any help.

 

[G8orFord]

I was changeing leaf spring bushings this weekend, and i had a crowbar to force tje leafe down, to get the bushing put. I had to push it down, and over, to get the bushing out/in. As i was doing so, the crowbar slipped a little and popped up, and if i had been just a little closer, I would be 1 tooth less right now.

F150 rear brakes. Vise-grips instead of the proper brake tools (which I had). Bloody lip and cracked tooth. I have the bridge to prove it. I was old enough to know better, but learned a lesson anyway.

 

[4.0blue98]

Back when I was about 17. Removing old fuel pump on my 75 Granada with a 302. Gave it a yank and squirted fuel in my eyes. No running water but a lake nearby. My dad dumped about 5 gallons of ice cold lake water to flush it out. Funny thing is 1-2 gallons would have sufficed. I think he was just teaching me a lesson...

 

[ExploreNW]

Fuel in eyes is better than fuel in the air and on fire. When rebuilding carbs, check fuel float travel in the carb AND BE DAMN SURE before you try a first start. 5.7 Chevy V8 sprayed gas in my face THEN backfired, causing the gas to ignite. Scared the ? out of me. Jumped back, singed eyebrows and all, only to thud my skull on that hard hood steel.

I also nearly lobotomized myself winding the shop door spring... Couple pieces of rebar are used to keep cranking the thing til you get enough tension that it will haul a door up. Well I didn't get one of those rebar pieces in all the way and didn't notice til I had pulled the good one out. Sucker went ripping right by my face so close it nicked my left eye socket right in the eyebrow, still have the scar. It punched a small hole in the roof on its way up. Glad I was not in the way of that.

 

[iPandaBar]

F150 rear brakes. Vise-grips instead of the proper brake tools (which I had). Bloody lip and cracked tooth. I have the bridge to prove it. I was old enough to know better, but learned a lesson anyway.

I'm currently sitting in the er....
Because like a dumbass, instead of the right brake tools I used a screwdriver and like a bigger dumbass I didn't wear safety glasses...

WEAR YOUR FUCKING SAFETY GLASSES PEOPLE!!!!

5 mm lower and I'd be blind, braindead or just dead.

 

[iPandaBar]

Praise God I'm alive!
I'm still at the hospital and I tried to blow my nose and my eye just blew up like a balloon. I've punctured my freaking sinus cavity.

 

[Josh B]

Praise God I'm alive!
I'm still at the hospital and I tried to blow my nose and my eye just blew up like a balloon. I've punctured my freaking sinus cavity.

Wow man, sorry to hear this, I hope it won't get any worse

 

[iPandaBar]

I'm home with both eyes thank God.

Wow man, sorry to hear this, I hope it won't get any worse

Thanks man, it could've been worse.
Please wear your PPE!!!

 

[91stranger]

Ouch, that looks pretty bad but I guess it could have been far worse. Them brake springs are no joke.... Brake tools and safety glasses are so cheap too lol. I normally have safety glasses when I work on my truck just due to the fact it has flakes of rust showering the ground if you bump it with any sort of tool. Rust in the eyes sucks, rubbing rusty eyes with hands covered in gas or brake fluid just adds to the fire... I've had a lot of close calls and I try to at least use basic safety like jack stands, gloves and glasses just because you know, I don't want my wife to find me crushed under a car the next day like when the jack failed when I was working on my car.

I had an old napa jack under the back of a PT cruiser working on the brakes and exhaust. Jack was under it for 15-20 minutes with no jack stands. Both back wheels were off ( I normally throw them under the car for a "just in case" but I was using them as a seat instead. As soon as I crawled under the car to look at the exhaust I moved something just right and felt slight pressure on my head. The car was slowly dropping on my face. Luckily I was able to push up on the car up and down enough to shimmy out from under it. If not, I would have been pinned because the back wheels were off and its a low sitting car and I'm a fairly stout man.... Oh it was 10:30-11 at night, wife was in bed already and my phone wasn't even on me.... I literally would've been a gonner…. So now I use jack stands.

 

[Uncle Gump]

Holy smokes iPanda...

That was a close call...