The Masha' Allah Mystery Mechanic

As I mentioned in a previous post, my car wouldn't go above 3000 RPM (whether in gear or in neutral) and would start jerking. I asked around, and, as usual, people had a number of suggestions. When I described the problem over the phone to a mechanic, he said it's definitely mechanical. A car electrician concluded the same. The mechanic at my local gas station said he'd start by changing two parts and then proceed.

Finally, I asked my in-laws if they knew of a good mechanic. They said that one of their relatives is a very competent mechanic. The only problem, according to them, is that he won't work on your car until he's done with the cars that came in before it.

I went to the mechanic on Saturday and explained the problem to him. He was working on another car and asked me if the car has a contact breaker, to which I replied yes. He took his time finishing up what he was doing, barely talking or looking up. He told me to pop the hood and start the car. Next, he told me to give it some gas a few times. Each time, it would reach close to 3000 RPM and then drop. He said, "If I tell you to change a part, will you listen to me?" I said, "Yes." He said, "Go buy a contact breaker." I told him, "The guy who sold me the car said he just changed the contact breaker." He said, "Forget the guy who sold it to you. Go buy it from the guy down there", and pointed a couple shops down to a parts store. I bought the part for 2 JD and returned to him, at which point he promptly installed it. He told me to start it and give it gas. It hummed well past 4000 RPM. I took it for a test drive, came back, and asked him how much he wanted. He said, "Leave it on us." I told him, "Next time." He said, "2 JD", so I inserted the money into his pocket, thanked him, and took off.

The guy who sold me the car told me not to let anyone rip me off by telling me to change the spark plugs or contact breaker, as he had just changed them. Whenever I mentioned that the contact breaker was just recently changed to other mechanics, they started looking for other possible causes. The thing I like about this mechanic is that his knowledge was deep enough for him to be confident about his diagnosis.

Before he changed the contact breaker, he asked me if the car was standard or automatic, to which I replied, "Standard." He told me to put it into neutral, and when I confirmed that it was already in neutral, he reached down for something and did something that looked like he was tightening a nut. I'm not sure what he did or why he did it, but after taking it from him, I found that the clutch-gas balance had been altered, so I had to learn to adjust to it. The car even shut off on me once because I wasn't giving it enough gas while letting the clutch out. After a day of driving it, I've adjusted to the new setting. However, it remains a mystery why he did this.