The most important is that you knew it was a joke. Must have been my English.
Or my limited brain
I hate teachers since my first day in school, they are guilty in turning our sweet childhood into ruthless prison.
They made my life a misery from age 5 to 7. One teacher, Mrs Bowel, especially. She was also subject to violent outbursts of temper, was scruffy and smelled. The rest were mediocre in the extreme.
One teacher used to say that she had a needle in her hand. She put her hand behind her back and said that the class should be quiet and see if they could hear the needle drop. Well. even at age five I knew she didn't have a needle in her hand and, further more, no one could hear a needle drop. But sure enough, all the kids put their hands up to say they heard the needle fall- except me. Another teachers only contribution to English was to award stars according to how neat your exercise book was. At regular intervals she announced how wonderful her son was because none of his exercise books had a single corner turned over. I thought teachers were very odd beings until at age eight I had a good teacher. From that time onwards, instead of being an outcast, I was in the top 5 pupils each term.
I'm proud being an engineer because it makes me a free man.
Those are really two separate aspects, but I am splitting hairs. I know what you mean. Most people are proud of their chosen profession, normally with good reason.
... because it makes me a free man. I can repair my car, my boiler, my stereo and everything else. I also know what to throw away when it can't be repaired.
This gives me the power to be independent man ...Each time that I see people cry about how they were mistreated by a tradesman I bless the day that I chose to be an engineer.
I could not have put what you say any better. Yes knowledge is very empowering and none more than with regard to servicing. I have heard some horrific stories about servicing- some of the worst is by car main dealers as has been said already.
Afraid some more stories:
When my Pug was a year old the radio power button fell off. I went to the main dealer and they quoted £250 for a new radio and £90 for fitting. I couldn't fit an aftermarket radio because the radio was integrated into the car security system. For that price I could do without a radio so that was the plan. But out of interest, I examined the button with a 20x loupe. The button was a lousy design and was bound to fail sooner or later and that proved the case for other owners of the same model. One spot of super glue fixed the button back in place and there it has stayed for the past 16 years.
It was an accepted fact that on 1980 era Ford Granadas the rear in-board CV joints started clicking at 30K miles. If left they would seize and cause extensive collateral damage, besides which clicking CV joints was an instant MOT failure. It was then necessary to change both drive shaft assemblies at an equivalent modern day cost of £2K. There was all sorts of theories doing the rounds as to why the CV joints failed. The main one being that independent rear suspension simply could not handle the torque from a 2.8L V6 engine, especially an automatic.
Sure enough at 30K miles the clicking started on my Granada. There was no way that I was prepared to pay the sort of money required for new drive shafts, so a fiend and I toured the local scrap yards, but no luck. On all of the Granadas the rear drive shafts had been sold, besides which they were going for big money, around £1.3K. I was somewhat despondent and was about to bite the bullet and buy new replacement drive shafts.
But then I thought I would at least inspect the CV joints to see what was going on. I unclipped the rubber boot on one side and pulled it back. The CV joint was completely dry but the boot was splattered with grease inside. Although the joint was clicking when turned there was absolutely no play anywhere. In the workshop manual for the car it said that each CV joint should be filled with a single sachet of special molidinum grease after servicing. I was expecting this grease either to be unavailable or colossally expensive, but when I went to the local Ford spares department the sachets were not only available but only cost the equivalent of £2.50. I cleaned out the entire stock of 10 sachets. The storeman thought I was servicing 5 cars.
I squeezed five satchels of grease into each boot, buttoned the whole thing up and took the car for a spin. Not only had the clicking stopped but the transmission felt smoother than it had ever done before. 130K miles later, when I sold the car, the rear transmission was still as smooth as silk and not a single click. At the time I told a few people with clicking Granads about my findings. Most said that they preferred new parts.
