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Idiotic, yes, but give the guy a break. At least he knows now not to do that EVER AGAIN! =)

Its normal BTW

 

The OP said the car was NOT on a jack. What some dipstick did while moving a car on a jack is totally irrelevant.

The car was on four jack stands. That would normally mean that both drive wheels are up in the air. Assuming the stands were properly located and the surface underneath was appropriate, what's the big deal?

Have some of you all ever worked on a car? I mean actually gotten dirty, and risked breaking a fingernail?

 

I don't even work on my car myself and even I know that you're not supposed to turn the damn car on when it's on a jackstand.

 

To summarize:

Putting your car on jack stands = safe
Running your engine while on jack stands = fairly safe
Running your car in gear while on jack stands = probably not a good idea

Being underneath a car that's running in gear on jackstands, listening for noises = darwin award waiting to happen

I'm under my car on a regular basis. There's no way in hell I'd crawl under a car that's running in gear while on jackstands.

 

if you enjoy crawling underneath your car while it's in gear (even on jack stands) then more power to you.

breaking a fingernail will be the least of your problems if something happens

 

really think about it for a second. if you were under your car and i came and started shaking it how would you feel? it doesn't matter how properly positioned your jack stands are, it was a dumb thing to do. good luck in the rest of your life, OP.

 

You know, cars are heavy when they fall on your chest.

 

Running an engine and shifting gears at light throttle is perfectly safe. DON"T rock the car doing it though. Getting under the car? Your call. I'll look at the drive-line from the side in 1st gear idle, but being under it is a bit dangerous.

That being said, you should be able rock THE HELL out of your car and not have it move a bit, or you shouldn't be under it. I grab the rear and front wheels, and then the front cross bar and try to pull it off. Not a light tap, I put my body weight into it. If it even creaks it gets reset.

 

sucks i cant find the pic but when i worked in car sales at honda we heard a big crash sound from the service dept so we ran back to check it out. a ridgeline was on a lift about 6 ft in the air and somehow kicked out, when i got there the passenger side rear end was way up, the driver side front bumper was on the ground, and the mechanic was sitting next to it smoking and staring like he almost died or something. it was pretty crazy.

so starting the car while its on jack stands is known to be dangerous, but in the marines i was under a hmmwv a time or two that had no wheels on and was being supported by 2 floor jacks. one in the middle of the front, and one in the middle of the rear. (the thing wasnt running, but i felt like if a pencil fell on either side it would have crashed down.)