I Still Don’t Trust My Mechanic

I don’t believe it. Well, I mean, I believe it, of course, but I don’t trust it.

My car has had a coolant problem from the time I bought it about a year ago. It leaked. It overheated. It drank anti-freeze like a drunken sailor on an open tab.

I tried lots of different things. I started with the easy stuff. Well, the absolute easiest was to just fill it with anti-freeze on a regular basis. Eventually, I decided I needed to deal with it.

I replaced the radiator cap.

I replaced the thermostate.

I replaced the water pump.

It still leaked. I took it to the professionals and they replaced some tiny little plastic elbows.

It still leaked.

Finally, I replaced the radiator. This was a big step for me for several reasons. First, it was a decision that I made on my own. That might sound weird, but typically I get a 2nd opinion. This time, I decided, “You know what? I think it’s the radiator.”

The second big step is that I did it all on my own. Again, normally, I wouldn’t tackle that big a job on my own. I’d ask a friend or neighbor to come help. I didn’t even ask this time.

And it went smoothly. I had to figure out how to disconnect it from the condensor. I only bent the condensor a little bit. . . (It will be fine.)

I got the old one out and the new one in.

And then I waited.

It didn’t leak when I refilled it with anti-freeze.

It didn’t leak the next day on my way to work.

It didn’t leak sitting in the parking lot all day.

It didn’t leak. . .again.

It’s been three weeks. And it’s been a warm three weeks. We hit 97 degrees yesterday. I checked my anti-freeze overflow resevoir. It’s still full. The car hasn’t lost a drop of anti-freeze in three weeks.

Problem solved, right? Hurray! I fixed it! Yeah. . .

My problem is that I just don’t trust it. And I think that’s because I don’t really trust the mechanic. It’s one thing to go to a garage and pay $500 to have a guy with a wall full of shiney tools “fix” your car. You can imagine there’s some magic that happens.

But, when you’re the guy crawling under the car. The guy with grease up to his elbows, and cuts on his knuckles. When you’re the guy who had to decide what was wrong and then fixed it, there is no magic. You know exactly what can still go wrong.

I’d switch mechanics, but it’s hard to beat the price of this guy. I guess, I’ll just have to wait and see if he can impress me over time.

I’ll let you know.

Rodney M Bliss is an author, columnist and IT Consultant. His blog updates every weekday. He lives in Pleasant Grove, UT with his lovely wife, thirteen children and grandchildren.

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