Hoodwinked

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Ok, I admit that when I bought my 1992 issued car for the bargain(ed) flat price of RM20K back in 2005 and being its fourth owner, I knew that this car would come with its own set of (possible) problems. 

True enough, I was right.

It is now 2007 and it has gone through two years of problems ranging from interior and exterior parts falling off, numerous repairs for problems like the gearbox being burnt, and more-constant-than-usual replacement parts such as the spark plug.

So, just when I thought everything was going fine during a well-appreciated quiet period, yesterday morning my car couldn't start no matter how many times I turned the ignition--and I was going to be late for class!

I cursed.

I scolded the car.

I cursed again.

The problem didn't come too much as a surprise to me, however. From the very moment I had bought this car, it always had the tendency to need a few turns at the ignition to start, but it had always started in the end. I've tried to get it fixed since this is obviously not normal and my mechanic always replaces the spark plug. 

I didn't really think much about this until last night when I called AAM to come fix the problem at my home. He took several minutes to inspect under the hood and to save him some time, I suggested that there may be a problem with the spark plug. However, to my surprise, he said that there was absolutely nothing wrong with the spark plug, but it was the battery instead. 

I was like, huh? I did a quick mental calculation of the last time I had refilled the battery water. To my relief from thinking that it may have been my fault that the car couldn't start, he had announced that the battery that came with the car was not powerful enough for my car, especially with all the modifications that the previous owners had bestowed upon it.

Within half an hour, my car had a spankin' new battery and now it has none of the ridiculous starting up problems and purrs like a kitten (it previously had a very loud engine). 

Then, I realized something.

If it had been the battery causing the start-up problems all this while, why the heck was my mechanic always changing the spark plug when there was nothing wrong with it?! Being a mechanic, surely he would have thought to check if it was the battery which was causing the problem, right?

Then I had the sinking feeling that maybe, just maybe, he just kept on changing the spark plug so that this problem would never go away and he'd always be in business. 

Needless to say, now I've got my reservations about going back to this guy for my routine maintenance. I really don't want to be going to a dishonest man for shoddy--or dare I say, less than proper and honest--work on my car which, should fail in the middle of the highway, could cause irreparable damage to my car, and most importantly my passengers and I.