Trust your instincts.
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My article today applies to women more than men, you’re definitely an intuitive bunch that’s for sure and when it comes to your vehicle I don’t think that you should ever ignore your instincts. A couple of examples I would like to give you makes a mockery of myself as I am a trade qualified mechanic with ten years experience, three of those running my own workshop and the fact that it was my wife that set me straight. I tend to avoid family bbq’s and the like now as the topic of cars seems to raise it’s head more often and of course Belinda has great delight in recounting these sad events!
The first one was not long after I had serviced our family car. Out of the blue Belinda said that the power steering fluid must be low. I asked her how she knew that and she said that the steering feels “different”. I asked her to define different and the reply was that it was “just different”. Having not long serviced the car, I knew that the power steering system had no leaks and I had checked the level at the time. As I usually did I told her not to worry about it and kept working. While I was working away Belinda had lifted the bonnet and checked the fluid level herself. Well you can imagine the ear-full I got when it was down to the minimum mark on the resevoir! The crazy thing is the power steering was still not leaking and although it was down to the minimum level there was still enough fluid in the system for it to operate correctly. How she felt anything “different” was beyond me, there is no logical explanation for it! Another crazy thing is that the level has not dropped at all in the last six months or so! The only thing I can put it down to is that I needed a lesson in listening to my wife, and I was going to get it whether it was logical or not. Belinda 1 - Craig 0
I feel I have an excuse for the next example of stupid male behavior. I had worked very late the night before, I think I got home around 12:30am. We had a tune-up to do on a early model Ford Cortina. Very basic stuff indeed, not rocket surgery that’s for sure. I changed the points, spark plugs, decided the ignition leads had seen better days so I replaced them, went to fire the thing up and it wouldn’t start! Even worse it was back-firing through the carby. What had I done? Re-checked points gap, checked spark plug gap, checked for fuel in the carb bowl, checked static ignition timing, still no go. As I started scratching my head over comes the boss. Have you checked this? Have you checked that? Yes dear, do you think I’m an idiot? No reply to that one! So you’ve changed the points, spark plugs and leads, hey. Yes dear. What about the firing order? What, where did that come from! I didn’t even know she knew such a phrase! “Yes” I said. “The firing order would be 1-3-4-2, like every other 4 cylinder engine in existance. “Shouldn’t you check that in the tune-up guide?” says she. “No, every other 4 cylinder I’ve worked on has this firing order”. “So you didn’t check it before you changed the leads?” The look I gave her must have been enough and off she trotted. She returned about five minutes later and said “try 1-4-3-2″. “Can’t be” I said. I had no other ideas of my own so I changed the leads around to this “new” firing order. No need to say what happened next! I think I heard her singing to herself “go belinda, go belinda”. Bugger! Belinda 2 - Craig a big fat zero!
What I’m trying to say is never ignore your feelings that something isn’t right or if your car feels “different”. Have it checked out and if your mechanic is one of these people like I was and think they know everything about cars, change mechanics! When you are the one that spends the most time driving your vehicle you get to know how it should sound and feel. If something is out of place it may be well worth your while to have it checked. This could potentially save you thousands if you get to a problem early, before it has done more damage. Unfortunately many men have an ego problem (like I did) and because the majority of mechanics are still men you are probably going to have a problem explaining that your car feels or sounds different. Be persistant though because as I’ve explained us mechanics don’t know everything (surprised aren’t you!) and familiarity with your vehicle counts for a lot. I know I drove somewhere between 5 to 10 different cars a day, but I only had time for a quick drive around the block and that is definitely not enough to pick up on what is different about the car from last time it was there for work. So trust your female intuition whenever you think you may have a problem with your vehicle! Take care and Belinda and I wish you all a happy and safe holiday season.
Craig
