I left my baby with the mechanic yesterday. Sure, it’s not a very impressive car — a ’91 Honda Civic — but it’s my car, and I’m very protective of it. It’s too bad that I know absolutely nothing about auto mechanics.
That’s quite embarrassing to admit. I’ve always been very mechanically inclined, but when it comes to cars, what’s under the hood is a mystery. The parts I can identify easily are: the battery, the place where oil goes, the washer fluid reservoir, the air and oil filters, the big wirey thing with wires and spark plugs and stuff, and everything else. Things turn inside it. When the engine gods aren’t happy, it won’t go. And that’s the limit of my technical understanding of an engine.
This is a problem. How do I explain to the mechanic what’s wrong with it? I have enough sense to tell when something’s wrong, but how do I put that into words? So yesterday I found myself describing to an amused mechanic that, when I drive up hills, the engine makes a sound like a coffee grinder.
No problem. They just need to change the filter and top up the French roast beans.