Ok, so I'm helping out one of my new co-worker friends here in loverly Sidney. He's got starter problems with his mini-van, and being the good Samaritan that I am, I offer to help.
No problem, just lift the hood, remove a couple bolts and Voila. Naturally, no good deed goes unpunished. The 15 minute job ended up taking about 3 hours because HIS minivan's starter is underneath the engine (about 3 inches of clearance), and it's wedged up underneath the manifold.
No problem. We borrow a jack and a couple of jack stands from another co-worker and a piece of cardboard to lie down on, and Voila! Oh, no, not quite so easy. The only tool that will really fit into the ridiculously tight space is a 15 milimeter box-end wrench. Guess what tool we DON'T have handy??? Eventually, yet another friend brings over the biggest 15 milimeter ratchet the world has ever seen. I jam this sucker into my the tightest space I've ever seen, mostly by sense of smell at this point, and just start turning. FINALLY, we get the last bolt off and the starter comes right out. A roar rose from the crowd.
Naturally, putting the starter back in is a lot easier than getting the sucker out, so we pretty much had it sorted in about 15 or 20 minutes. Being the good mechanic that I am, however, I decide to go in for one last sortie just to make sure all the connections are snug.
Somehow, while snugging up literally the last nut, the one that is connected to the positive side of the battery (can you see where this is going?), I managed to touch the end of the ratchet to the engine block while simultaneously touching the gold wedding ring on my left hand. SNAP, CRACKLE, POP went the sparks and suddenly my left ring finger feels like it's being branded.
Of course, my ring is way too small to come off comfortably, so I'm watching the smoke waft from my finger as I wait in agony for the thing to cool down. I didn't want to rip my ring off because I wasn't sure how much skin was going to come with it.
After a minute or so, it finally cooled to the point where I thought it would be safe to remove without degloving the finger. When I looked at it in the light, I saw about a square inch of skin hanging off the finger and blisters already starting to form around the rest.
Long story short, I burned my finger pretty good. Here are the photos to further illustrate my point (click on the picture to get a close-up):
Painful, you ask? Nah, only during the actual burning part. Since then, it hasn't really been particularly painful at all. Gross, yes - painful, no.
I'm now undergoing a little at-home neosporin treatment. I keep checking for blood poisoning, but so far, I'm clean.
I've said it before, but it bears repeating: No good deed goes unpunished! ;-)
4 comments:
Only one thing comes to mind; well, ok, actually two.
1. Can a man get an 'Amen' to the 'No good deed ...'? Amen!!
2. Small piece of advice: Don't turn your wedding ring into a branding iron. Did the sparks bring back memories of the sparks you saw when you first put on the ring?
C. You don't have any other metal attached to your body where you're feeling an urge to repeat something similar, do you?
As usual, take care.
Wow.... that looks very painful. Good luck with that. Hopefully that heals okay!
Instead of waiting around for the ring to cool down, why didn't you put it in some cold water? That's what I would have done. You know why? Cause I'm smart.
On a related note, has your health insurance started yet?
Fred
If you had thrown it in the Fires of Mordor like you were supposed to, it would never had happened.
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