That van story reminds me of what happened to a poor kid I knew in high school.

He left his car running while it was sitting on a muddy field. I don't know if he left it in gear or if it started sliding on the mud, but either way it started moving and he grabbed the door to stop it. He slipped and was dragged under the car as it slid. The catalytic converter on the still-running engine pinned him to the ground by his stomach where he laid for at least a half hour before anyone noticed.

According to a nurse I knew who was on duty when he came in, he was still alive when the firefighters scraped him off the exhaust. It wasn't the burn that killed him--it was septic shock when the cat burned through his intestines. And he was most likely conscious through most of the ordeal.

I really can't imagine a much worse way to go than that. :(

See that's what happens from keeping stuff too clean. :D

There was a guy in town that had a minivan fall on him...the hoist he was working on gave out, and the safety locks failed.

I owned a 1988 Chrystler LeBaron for a period when I was 17ish.
I figured there was something wrong when power steering fluid was quite literally spewing out of the bottom of my car.

Now, at the time, I don't think I had even changed my oil, but a friend of mine told me that it was likely that it was the rack & pinion. I call around and get some estimates, and it is in the $1500+ range, and it's only $180 for the actual part. I figure, ah, screw it, I'll fix the damn thing myself....

I bought this book that explained how to replace it on that type of car. Two weeks later, probably working 40+ hours a week on that damn car, I finally got everything back together and working. The biggest pain in the ass was lowering the bottom with the jack, and every time I lowered it, I lowered it too far and the "D" shaped joint got disconnected from the steering column. The most frustrating part was trying to align it correctly and jack the damn thing back up without it slipping.

Anyway, the dumbest mistake that I made was trying to fix that damn thing...

2 years ago I was behind the wheel of some type of semi-new BMW with a manual. Stopped for gas, checked the oil. Forgot to properly stow away the hood "arm".. 10 minutes later, driving down the road, pothole, BANG. look down, gauges not working, weird, look up, FIRE!!! SMOKE!!! HOLY SHIT!!!, fully to side of the road open hood to see fire coming to end. Turns out the hood arm hit the positive terminal on the battery. After that the car wouldn't idle above 2,000 revs, cooling fan didn't work, xmas tree effect. Turns out it "shorted" some of the grounds in the engine.

500 bucks later for not putting a hood arm in its damn place!

Years ago I owned a '78 DeVille... very nice. Started haveing problems with the lights. First the dash lights, then the headlights. I checked everything, I thought, even up to and including taking the dash apart to look for probs witht the printed circuit board. A new headlight switch didn't solve anything, and a new dimmer switch fixed nothing. Meanwhile, I've got my Caddy gutted, even unto disassembling the speedometer head (what a f@@king mess!).
I give up and start picking the brains of every experienced mechanic I know. Turns out that the wiring harness to the dimmer switch, about 8-10 inches up out of sight into the firewall, had shorted and melted.
I finally found and repaired the wires, but, hours of ball-busting frustration later, I could not get the dash reassembled in any way that would make the Caddy driveable.
I had always loved that car, but after this experience, I couldn't stand to look at it, let alone drive it anymore. Sold it way too cheaply very shortly afterward.

Man sucks to sell your baby like that:(