Yesterday something went very wrong with my old car as it would not start up. The friendly battery shop owner came to check the battery, he thought it was dead. But the car battery has been replaced only four months ago so he found that it was not the problem. We were having a headache as he tried to figure out what was the problem. So, I had to phone the nearest official Toyota garage to find out if they could do offsite car repair. Luckily the staff recognised my voice so he organised some technicians to help me within ten minutes.
The battery man hanged around to see why the car wouldn’t start so we had a nice time speculating on the causes of the problem. For me this offered a new learning experience on how car technicians systematically tackled the problem. But this old car proved to be a tough case to crack. At first they all thought it would take about thirty minutes to solve the problem.
The battery man got very intrigued as he has been solving this simple problem for the last twenty years. He knew the routine and usual problems related to battery and ignition problems. This time the car technicians confirmed that the usual causes about ignition had been eliminated.
Then, they had to check whether the petrol could reach the engine. Voila! They had to dig into the backseat to check the pump. That was the real problem: they thought the old pump went kaput so it had to be replaced. This made the battery man and me very happy after watching them working for almost an hour.
The phone rang and the battery man was reminded by his elderly father that it’s time he went back to man the shop. I thanked him for his company and nice discussions on the mob’s protest in central Bangkok these days. It was so nice to be able to have civil exchanges of thoughts with ordinary hard working people who do not belong to the elite class. I am always wary when discussing with those intellectuals who usually have hidden agenda and conflict of interests. By the way,things could get ugly as Soros’ money has been pouring in through several ‘NGOs’ and political activists in Thailand. The handlers are really upping their games to ‘divide and rule’ the country. I hope the balance would favour the light side rather than the dark faction.
I have resigned to the fact that my car’s illness has become a tough complication which would take more time. So, I started taking photos of the engine and talking to the my car. I should not have ignored earlier warning a few days ago; I was given a warning about engine problem! All fishermen in Thailand would pay respect to the ‘boat spirit’ or ‘ship spirit’ whom they believe are the guardian spirits inside the vessels. So, you’ll be able to observe some bright colourful cloth and flower garlands somewhere on the boats. Some truck and bus drivers also believe that there are spirits looking after their vehicles. Sometimes I could observe colourful cloth and jasmine garlands inside public buses.
I never thought such thing could happened to my car until I had serious car accidents in the past. I realised there was someone with me to look after me. I did talk to a highly learned monk about this. The answer was that there were stories since ancient time about spirits taking residence inside inanimate objects for a duration; they needed somewhere to stop and wait till it’s their time to pass through another dimension or reincarnation. There were some funny stories on this topic which could be told later on.
These two technicians could not locate the culprit after having changed two suspected sources of the problem. They were very patient, understanding and professional about their investigation. Being a very old car, authentic spare parts have become difficult to find as they are no longer manufactured by original companies. They knew where to find compatible spare parts and got those to replace damaged items. We thought that would end the process of searching and inspecting each potential culprit. The car almost got the starting up sound of the engine. Something was still missing.
I was quite impressed by their detailed of their work and systematic process of logical thinking. They did not mind me watching them working and frequent questioning. So, this whole experience made me very humble and gave me the chance to try to make car engine looking beautiful. I wish there were crash courses on basic car repair for laypeople. One technician kept phoning up his ‘teacher’ at the garage about this problem.
After lunch and a few new spare parts, the car still refused to startup. Finally the ‘car witch doctor’ or ‘master’ had to he invited to the scene of the illness. This man had such incredible energy and charisma that I did believe he had the magic to cure all car malaise. He tested each fuse to see if it could conduct electricity. They had to hi underneath the panel to indirect all the wires.
The detailed inspection was very impressive as if they were conducting some forensic work at a crime scene. Each wire from each fuse had to be traced back to the relay mechanism and the junction underneath the dashboard. I was in awe of this whole meticulous process as if I was standing in an operating theatre.
Finally they found the culprit. It was the old wire which used to be wired for cutting off the engine when a thief tried to steal the car. It needed to be cut off completely; that darn ‘orange and black wire’. In fact I could recall that I was warned about this wire some years ago and that I ought to have someone take it out.
The two technicians were quite surprised to see the old style of wiring against car theft. The new way of defensive wiring is much simpler and easier for upgraded. I was very happy to hear the sound of the car engine again after about five hours under repairing process. I thanked the ‘car master’ before his student gave him a lift back to the garage. The two technicians spent half an hour to put everything backed together again abs finished all the clean up job. I gave them very nice tips to show my gratitude for their excellent job. This whole inconvenience was a blessing in disguise though it cost me some money. Now I have three more friends who would come to my aid whenever I happen to need their assistance.
เมื่อวานก่อนรถยนต์ที่เก่าแก่มาก เกิดไม่ยอมทำงานทำให้เรามีปัญหาต้องแก้ขึ้นมาทันที แต่ต้องรอไปจนวันรุงขึ้น เราก็จับแท็กซี่ออกไปพบเพื่อนตามนัดตอนเย็นก่อน ตอนเช้าวันต่อมาเราจึงเรียกคนที่ขายแบตเตอรี่รถยนต์ที่เคยมาแก้ปัญหาแบตหมดเกลี้ยงเมื่อต้นปี ให้มาช่วยดูให้ด้วย ตอนแรกเราก็คิดว่าคงเป็นเรื่องง่ายๆตรงไปตรงมาเหมือนในอดีต แต่พอนายบู้คนขายแบตเตอรี่มาถึง ก็หาสาเหตุไม่ได้ เพราะปัญหาไม่ได้อยู่ที่แบตเตอรี่ เราก็ลองโทรไปที่อู่โตโยต้าที่อยู่ไม่ไกลดู โชคดีที่เขามีบริการซ่อมรถยนต์นอกสถานที่ แต่ก็ต้องคอยคิว บังเอิญคนรับสายใจดีและเคยคุยกันมาก่อน เขาก็จดีหาช่างที่มีเวลาให้มาช่วยดูรถให้หน่อย ทุกคนคิดว่าเป็นเรื่องเล็กมาก คงใช้เวลาไม่นาน
คนขายแบตเตอรี่ก็คอยดูกับเราว่า จะเป็นที่เราคิดกันหรือเปล่า ช่างสองคนค่อยๆตรวจสอบอาการของรถยนต์ไปทีละจุด แบตเตอรี่ไม่ใช่ปัญหา ไดมอเตอร์และไดสตาร์ทเครื่องยนต์ก็ไม่ใช่ปัญหา ทีนี้เราก็รู้ว่าเรื่องยาวแน่นอน ช่างก็ตรวจสอบว่ามีน้ำมันมาเข้าเครื่องยนต์ไหม คำตอบคือไม่มี เขาจึงต้องไล่ไปดูปั๊มที่อยู่ใต้ที่นั่งด้านหลัง ปั๊มไม่ทำงาน ก็คิดว่าเพราะมันเก่ามาก อายุเกินสิบกว่าปีแล้ว คงต้องเปลี่ยนใหม่ แต่อาหลั่ยรถเก่าหายากมาก คงต้องใช้ของมือสองแทนหรือไม่ก็ของที่มาจากใต้หวัน ช่างเขาจะรู้ว่าต้องไปหาอาหลั่ยรถรุ่นเก่าๆที่ร้านไหน ก็ส่งลูกน้องไปหาซื้อ พอได้ชิ้นส่วนใหม่มา ก็เปลี่ยนเรียบร้อย ทุกคนก็คิดว่าคงแก้ได้เรียบร้อย แต่รถยนต์ก็ยังเงียบสนิท คราวนี้ก็ไล่ไประบบไฟฟ้า กล่องฟิวส์เก่ามาก ฟิวส์บางตัวกรอบจนหักและละลาย ก็ต้องไปซื้อตัวใหม่มาเปลี่ยน แต่ก็ยังไม่ตอบปัญหา ในที่สัดช่างต้องไปเชิญอาจารย์มาช่วย หัวหน้าช่างดูดีมาก เหมือนพวกผู้วิเศษในนิยาย เราคิดว่าเขาต้องปราบโรคที่ป่วนรถยนต์ของเราได้แน่
ช่างใหญ่ไล่สายไฟทุกเส้นที่ออกจากกล่องไฟ ทดสอบว่าทุกเส้นมีไฟฟ้าไปสู่ปลายทาง เขาต้องตามไล่ล่าสายไฟไปใต้พวงมาลัย ทุกคนปวดเมื่อยมากเพราะต้องมุดลงไปใต้นั้นนาน เขาพบสายไฟฟ้าสีส้มดำที่เป็นตัวป่วน มันเป็นสานไฟเก่ามาก ที่เคยเป็นส่วนหนึ่งของระบบป้องกันขโมยที่ติดมากับรถยนต์ในครั้งแรก สายไฟนี้ไม่ใช่แล้วแต่ช่างสมัยก่อนไม่ได้ตัดออกให้ มันเป็นสายไฟที่ป้องกันการสตาร์ทรถยนต์เวลาถูกขโมย คราวนี้ต้นเหตุของปัญหาก็ถูกจัดการอย่างถาวร ทั้งหมดใช้เวลาเกือบห้าชั่วโมง เราขอบคุณหัวหน้าช่างที่มาแกปัญหาได้ในเวลาหนึ่งชั่วโมง เราให้ทิบช่างสองคนอย่างงามที่เขามีความอดทน และความเป็นมืออาชีพในการทำงาน ครั้งนี้เราได้เรียนรู้หลายอย่าง และได้ลองถ่ายรูปเครื่องยนต์ให้ดูน่าสนใจ และมีความสวยงามบ้าง เราทดลองมุมมองต่างๆในการถ่ายรูปสิ่งที่ไม่มีชีวิตบ้าง งานนี้คิดว่าคุ้มค่ามากในการได้ความรู้และได้เพื่อนใหม่ด้วย
Wishing you peace, good health and prosperity.
Stay dry and warm!
After reading the whole story, I got the impression that I had been to this repair myself... And I had a similar case 2 days ago. My minibus began to start badly "in the cold". And when it works a little, it starts up perfectly. There was an opinion that somewhere it sucks air into the diesel engine. They searched for 40 minutes(the electrician was also checked), but they did not find the reason - it was already late in the evening and the repair was closing
Yup! They also check about the air in the engine; but that was not the problem! I think for old cats, the fuse box, electrical system and old wiring are more likely the problems.
The technicians had to eliminate one potential cause at a time! But my intuition thought it was the wiring somehow! This happened once several years ago, but they didn’t do a good job! They forgot to take out another old wire which was connected to the fuse box! Now, I am quite happy that my old car would be all clear of any hidden tricks!
I hope they check the wiring and relay box too.
Good luck.
Congratulations @kaminchan! You have completed the following achievement on the Hive blockchain and have been rewarded with new badge(s) :
You can view your badges on your board and compare yourself to others in the Ranking
If you no longer want to receive notifications, reply to this comment with the word
STOPThanks a lot for the update! I have to recruit some UFOs to help me out!
Need help? 👽
Hahaha. Yup! Send me about six!!
"Ask and you shall receive!"
Matthew, 7:7
Oh my gosh, what an adventure. I love that you were so entertained by the whole thing! You must not have had anything important that you had to do since you were able to watch these guys work on your car for five hours. I love that you call it an illness and think of them as doctors. That cracked me up. Or forensics specialists...
I love your sense of humor!
Thank you for your encouragement and nice comment. That day I had to postponed everything as I had to keep my car’s company! It’s a big operation! Luckily all went very well in the end! She’s an old car and needed someone to hold her wheel after the operation! LoL
Wow @kaminchan your poor old lady really went though a lot to get sorted. I am so glad you were there to comfort her.
Hahaha. She’s a real fighter! She could bear all pain quietly! Glad to have her back in good shape and health again. LoL
That was such an inspiring story and about the malfunction of a car. I'm happy that the car spirit kept you safe all this time. You are blessed with this.
The folks that helped you should be working here in Canada. Nobody cares that much when it comes to car repairs. A good mechanic like the one who came to the rescue is like a surgeon however the patient is a machine.
I love the photos too!
Thank you so much for flowing along with my rambling. Yeah, this car is very special to me, a very good friend in fact.
I was so lucky that two good guys were sent to help me out. One chap told me that if I had my car in the garage,it would take a few data before some staff would be working on the repair as there was a long queue! There’s always some silver lining behind the dark clouds!!
Have a wonderful day!