Moderately Confused by Jeff Stahler for January 08, 2022

But it does make them harder to hear.

A surprising number of them can be fixed that way, including obnoxious passengers.

Decades ago, a student’s mini-car followed mine for several blocks. I could hear the drive belts screaming. When we stopped in the school lot, I asked him why he didn’t get them fixed. He didn’t hear them over the stereo. He obviously was not the brightest bulb in the lamp.

This cartoon reminds me of something that happened a long time ago. Like in the cartoon above, I was a young man standing beside my car, and an older man was peering into my engine compartment. He had just told me what he thought the problem was, and I asked him if it could be fixed. He paused, looked at me, and then in words that I still remember clearly to this day said, “Son, there ain’t nuthin’ can’t be fixed.”

I find it cheaper to turn up the stereo than spend a fruitless attempt at finding where the dashboard squeak is coming from. I’ve had friends who tried to get the noises fixed and they only got worse in most cases. At some point my noise would just disappear on its own. Never experienced any great problems because of it.

They can’t??

But some can. When the check engine light came on in my Dodge, my mechanic said something like “That’s a problem you can ignore.” Several years of smooth running and ignoring the light have proved him right.

Recently the MKX stopped at while at idle at an intersection. Warning that there was no oil pressure. Started back up and continued. Got home, put it on the computer, no codes relating to oil pressure. O2 sensor bank one is stuck. Ordered a new 02 sensor and did an oil change while replacing the oil switch after verifying there was proper oil pressure. No more warnings about oil pressure. Next, once the parts arrive is replace the 02 sensor and then perform brake replacement including calipers. (all of this and I hate working on cars!)

Hmmm he looks a bit like Jeremy Duncan from Zits. ;) Wrong car, though he definitely would be guilty of doing something like this. :D

Reminds me of a mechanic who once said: “I couldn’t fix your brakes, so I made your horn louder”.

The Magliozzi brothers advised turning up the radio and covering warning lights with black tape.

Only the cheapest problems

Woman sees her mechanic about odd noises coming from under the hood. No problem, mechanic says the sounds are traced back to her Trans-Siberian Orchestra CD. (That might’ve been a previous Stahler toon ).

…nor does turning down the volume on your hearing aids!

I have to admit to turning down the radio to ‘smell’ something better. Sump’ns goin on somewhere!/

The Check Engine light came on. I opened the hood, checked for the engine. Yup, it was still there.

There is a list in the aviation community of comical write-up pilots made and the smart-@$$ed responses maintenance people made. Some of my favorites are:

Write-up: Number 3 engine is missing.

Response: After a brief search, number 3 engine was found on the right wing.

Write-up: Engine is making a strange noise.

Response: Ran engine for 15 minutes. Noise is now familiar.

“Sometimes, you have to bang on shit with a hammer.”