Car Trouble

I was driving happily to school this morning when it happened again. There was a doggie in the middle of the road. Little Dove loves doggie (not the position, mind you), therefore I flashed my headlights instead of beeping my horn as I didn’t want to frighten the doggie. I just flashed my lights for a second but the car almost stalled and the “check engine” indicator flashed on the dashboard. If the headlights had been on for a millisecond more, the car would have died on the road.

When I parked my car inside the campus, I tried switching on the headlights again, and this time the car completely stalled. “Not again,” I groaned to myself. However, amazingly, the car started on the first attempt when I restarted the engine.

After lectures, I quickly drove my car to the nearest workshop. The mechanic couldn’t identify the problem and with the engine running, he turned the headlights on and off a few times. Nothing happened until the car stalled again. This time round, it would not start despite numerous attempts turning the key to ignition. I was worried that there’s something wrong with the alternator again. I doubt it’s the battery as it is still new. Miraculously, the car started again. The mechanic could not figure out what was wrong.

With the engine running, the mechanic ran to his car and took out a black suitcase. From inside the mysterious black bag, he took out a yellow device. I guess it must be his secret weapon when nothing seems to work in the workshop. He connected the scanmeter device to my car and left it there for a while. After doing nothing except pressing a few buttons, he told me that the car is back on its feet. I doubted it. He explained that the tuning of the engine has gone out of sync and he has readjusted it with the magic device. For that, he asked for RM50. I felt conned. How I wish I can have the same magic device in the wards to help me come out with working and differential diagnosis! Life would be so much easier.

Scan-o-meter (or whatever it's called)

I was very cautious as I drove back to my place. I am afraid of my car having another massive heart attack. Maybe I’ll even meet Prince Charming no. 2.

My car air-conditioner has been giving me problems as well since last week. My car blows hot air and despite filling in the refrigerant, it would only last for a few days before leaking out and blowing hot air again. I went to a car air-conditioner specialist and he said he could help me change the cooling coil for RM300. I thought that was exorbitant. He didn’t even check properly. I consulted my parents on the price and they just asked me to go ahead. I think they didn’t want me to trouble myself looking for a workshop in a foreign land.

I did not want to be conned a second time in the same day, so I went to another car air-conditioner service workshop. This time, the friendly mechanic took out parts of my car’s air-conditioning system and checked each of them one by one. Two parts were faulty and it has to be changed. Spare parts were hard to find but he was so helpful and made a few phone calls searching for the parts. The previous car air-conditioner ‘specialist’(without making any calls to his suppliers) just informed me that I could not find a spare part even if I had all the money in the world. This kind mechanic found a few reconditioned parts but advised me against taking it despite the cheaper price as he did not know the origin and there is no warranty. He continued calling and eventually found cheaper original parts with one year warranty. He insisted on the phone that the parts he buys come with a warranty. Is he a really nice mechanic or am I just easily conned?

Cooling coil

Condenser

It didn’t matter how many times I mentioned cheap in the above paragraph as it was not cheap at all. He tried to put it in the nicest way possible,

“Mitsubishi original parts are more expensive and not easy to find.”

I almost fainted when I heard the price. It’s going to cost me more than RM600 to change the condenser and cooling coil. This kind mechanic offered to help me modify the pipes/connection so I could use a cheaper Proton Wira condenser or cooling coil. However, the difference would only be several red ringgit notes. Taking a long 12 seconds to think, I decided to go with the original parts for fear that modifying the air-conditioning system would create more complications.

To finance the payment of the car repair, I am now auctioning my right kidney and left lobe of the liver to the highest bidder. Maybe my right parotid gland as well (one should be enough to produce all the saliva I need). Any takers?