Automotive Woes
Those of you who know me, might remember a certain "blue/purple" car that I had. You may also remember my continuing saga of the brake lights. They just stayed on and then ran the battery down. This always conveniently happened after repair shops had closed for the night. It never happened when a mechanic looked at it, and thus no mechanic ever witnessed the problem, nor believed such a problem existed. After explaining to three different repair shops what the problem was (each charging $100 USD just to look), each, in turn, proclaimed the car free of issues and set me on my (not so merry) way.
This makes no sense to me. I liken a mechanic to a doctor. If a patient comes in and tells you he was having chest pains, but he isn't now, you don't slap him on the back and say "Sir, you're just fine. Oh, and that'll be $500 for the visit." You run some tests, you figure stuff out, you BELIEVE that there actually is a problem! This is a situation I've since labelled "mechanic disbelief syndrome." MDS has happened so often, that I feel I'd be better to show up with a molten wreck of a vehicle to ensure that the mechanic is aware that there is indeed something wrong with the car.
Now, I've given up the car and moved on to my super cool Taiwanese Yamaha Fuzzy Model 125 Scooter. Sadly, it's been plagued with problems, (ok, I exaggerate. "Plagued" is a little much, maybe more like "slightly bothered" but I only do it because I'm pissed off) and this new one is yet another in the line. Suddenly, it stopped running. I was in the middle of a tunnel and off she turned. I tried to start her back up, but to no avail. After dragging her up hill to the nearest side street, I phoned the office for help. It took some time to find each other and in the mean time, I tried to start up the scooter and it worked! We made it to a scooter shop soon after, where the mechanic declared that he could find no problem, so it must be alright. Yes, because scooters are made to stall in the middle of insane Taiwanese traffic. Of course. So, failing to convince the man there is a problem, I drive home. The next day, it stalls again. And again. Finally on my way to work, it simply gives up. Luckily, I'm across the street from a scooter repair shop and I push it over to explain in broken Chinese that it won't go. Returning to the scooter shop, my interpreter (thank you TINA!) informs me that it's run out of oil, and in doing so (despite my having changed it less than the usual 1,000 kilometers,) it's damaged the engine. So now, my scooter is loud, and in order to keep it running I have to change the oil every 10 days! Yikes! It's this or pay 7,000 NT to overhaul the engine. Sick! I wonder if this would have been the case had the mechanic repaired it last night, when I first had the problem. Hmm....
In any case, I will no longer be a victim of MDS. If necessary, I will camp out with my vehicle until the mechanic finds the problem.
This makes no sense to me. I liken a mechanic to a doctor. If a patient comes in and tells you he was having chest pains, but he isn't now, you don't slap him on the back and say "Sir, you're just fine. Oh, and that'll be $500 for the visit." You run some tests, you figure stuff out, you BELIEVE that there actually is a problem! This is a situation I've since labelled "mechanic disbelief syndrome." MDS has happened so often, that I feel I'd be better to show up with a molten wreck of a vehicle to ensure that the mechanic is aware that there is indeed something wrong with the car.
Now, I've given up the car and moved on to my super cool Taiwanese Yamaha Fuzzy Model 125 Scooter. Sadly, it's been plagued with problems, (ok, I exaggerate. "Plagued" is a little much, maybe more like "slightly bothered" but I only do it because I'm pissed off) and this new one is yet another in the line. Suddenly, it stopped running. I was in the middle of a tunnel and off she turned. I tried to start her back up, but to no avail. After dragging her up hill to the nearest side street, I phoned the office for help. It took some time to find each other and in the mean time, I tried to start up the scooter and it worked! We made it to a scooter shop soon after, where the mechanic declared that he could find no problem, so it must be alright. Yes, because scooters are made to stall in the middle of insane Taiwanese traffic. Of course. So, failing to convince the man there is a problem, I drive home. The next day, it stalls again. And again. Finally on my way to work, it simply gives up. Luckily, I'm across the street from a scooter repair shop and I push it over to explain in broken Chinese that it won't go. Returning to the scooter shop, my interpreter (thank you TINA!) informs me that it's run out of oil, and in doing so (despite my having changed it less than the usual 1,000 kilometers,) it's damaged the engine. So now, my scooter is loud, and in order to keep it running I have to change the oil every 10 days! Yikes! It's this or pay 7,000 NT to overhaul the engine. Sick! I wonder if this would have been the case had the mechanic repaired it last night, when I first had the problem. Hmm....
In any case, I will no longer be a victim of MDS. If necessary, I will camp out with my vehicle until the mechanic finds the problem.
posted by CJ at 6:03 AM
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