Friday, February 10, 2023

There Are A Lot Of Ways To Destroy A Transmission...


 A few weeks ago, I stopped by my friend's auto mechanic shop. He had to adjust a transmission seal on Donk, the Subaru. His shop is larger than a "more-than-two-bays" shop so as my car was lifted and being worked on, another mechanic was discovering what killed (temporarily...) a newer VW beetle.

Destroyed transmission.

They took it apart and placed it on the floor. Apparently, the damage done on this car was so unique that all the other mechanics gathered around to check out the carnage (sorry...). To the professionals, it was horrendous. In fact, my friend took one look at it and said, that in all the many decades he's been tearing apart and putting back together cars, trucks, basically anything with a motor, he'd never seen a transmission trashed the way this one was.

 To me, it was an open transmission.

Then, I looked closer and saw chunks of metal that should not have been there or should be there, but in different configurations.

It's funny. We as a society value those who excel in their professions. We see a heart surgeon or a circuit judge or a university professor and admire their dedication and talent. Mechanics are no different. Like a doctor looking at an x-ray, they can spot a problem the untrained miss. Same with mechanics...they spotted the problem immediately. And considering the complexity of modern vehicles, it's even more amazing what they can do.

I think I admire mechanics because back in the day I tried repairing the cars I drove, which, coincidentally, were VWs. It's just not my thing.

I saw a hunk of no-longer-working parts. They saw everything.

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