Know your Mechanic

Every motorist knows the essence of having a capable and skillful mechanic who plies his trade with the legerdemain of a Dexter. Mechanics are like personal doctors. They know your car inside out and can detect minor faults that most untrained eyes cannot. As such mechanics are very valuable individuals who many at times we fail to revere due to the fact that they have to dirty their hands and overalls to earn their eke.

Everyday cars develop faults and when not rectified early, most of them develop into disasters that may stall the vehicle altogether. While it may be delightful owning a car, it is very stressful when a car develops mechanical faults. Diagnosis may be apt but repair may be not lead to the desired results. Many at times the quack mechanics we seek technical advice from fail to precisely deal with the problem at hand and in turn one ends up with a much worse case scenario.

A car is not a cash cow; instead it is a money guzzling asset that has a depreciating return whose only source of comfort is the pride one gets in having it. Having a car however is no longer a luxury but a necessity that one cannot do without if one has owned one and saw the benefits.

After purchasing a car, a grease monkey comes in handy. Alas most people usually can’t afford the services of professional mechanics and hence resort to the cheap mediocre mechanics who many at times don’t have diagnostic equipment that can aid in detecting faults in the systems of their cars since most heavily rely on their senses when making diagnostics.

Since most people prefer cheap ill trained mechanics who do not offer the very best but are able to solve mechanical problems, it does not hence matter when the service they offer does not prove satisfactory.

I recently went to one such mechanic on the advice of a frequent user. This was a referral I hoped would prove worthy given my finances were strained to the core and I need a quick fix.

The major problem was as a result of the car having leakage which I did not precisely did not know was coming from which source. The gears failed each time I tried switching them to the drive or reverse mode since it was an automatic contrivance.

When the more experienced mechanic came, he first checked the dipstick and confirmed my fears. The automatic transmission fluid that would have aided in propulsion of the vehicle and changing of gears had been completely drained.

This I attributed to a minor accident I experienced when it rained heavily the previous day and since my car was not fitted with a sump guard, I had summarily viewed off the road and drove on the edges of the road. This was due the fact that the road was heavily flooded and it was a moonless night making it difficult to steer the car on the driveway. This had a severe impact on the under belly of the car damaging various parts and preventing flow of gas as I was driving at a high speed. The container housing ATF was disfigured and this resulted in the continuous subtle leakage that drained the car of enough torque to gain enough propulsion when started.

The mechanic seconded proposed the purchase of ATF which worked. Then we went to his garage for further repair in order to reduce the leakage that had to be checked if the car was to retain ATF. He used silicon to conceal the imminent leakage which was able to check the outflow for only a short while which I thought would have been infinite.

Perhaps the most interesting thing that captured my attention was the fact that the car relied on sensors and had to be reined on in order for it to rejuvenate the strength it previously had. One of the boys who helping the mechanic entered the car in order to test drive it and ignorantly commented that it was not pacing because the sensors were not responding.

He was amazed to see me laughing since the sensor he was pointing at was the indicator which usually signifies when one has not fastened his seatbelt. This was a show of sheer ludicrity that even a nursery school pupil could easily notice. When we fastened the seatbelt, it no longer showed the fault he was claiming. The car had failed to start since it did not have enough gas as the problem of the leakage had been temporarily fixed. When gas was bought, the car easily started and returned to motion again.

The next day however was one to reckon with. When I started the car, it had the same problem I had noticed before and this time round I was wiser. I checked the dipstick and easily noticed that all the ATF had leaked since the ground beneath had evidence of the shoddy workmanship that had been done.

A quack mechanic had only aided in short term repair of helping me move from point A to B. In retrospect, I had acted quite oblivious and the injudicious fellow should have alerted me of the impending calamity that lay ahead having brushed aside the warning owing to his incompetence.