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Do you ever fix your car yourself?

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swirlie · 31-35
I ride a motorcycle to get around and I have a female friend who's a licensed mechanic at a motorcycle shop where I take my bike in for scheduled service. I'm a very technically minded person professionally, but that doesn't mean I pull the oil drain plug out myself. She does it for me as I stand there declining invitation to do it while she watches. What I know in the end is if she did it correctly or not.

I can easily tell someone else how to fix a mechanical problem after computer-accessing hidden maintenance manuals which outline how to remove spark plugs in a yacht or a car for example, after I research the answer myself, but researching and 'doing' are two distinctly different skill-sets. Just because I can find the answer, doesn't mean that I actually complete the task at hand.

My father has a mechanic's workshop on his farm, complete with an in-ground hoist and every tool imaginable. He once owned a 1972 Chrysler New Yorker car which he bought at a car auction. He tried for 7 hours straight to change the spark plugs on that 8 cylinder engine and in the end, he could only change 7 out of 8 because the 8th one was inaccessible.

At midnight one night when I was 18 years old, I was able to access the Chrysler tech manuals online on my laptop computer and by 1am an hour later, he had that 8th spark plug removed and replaced. Did I fix the car? No, he did!