Dear Dr. R.V. Shrink:
We pull a 31 ft. Airstream and our truck broke down in the Badlands. My husband was out staring at the engine when an old guy showed up in a small diesel pickup. He looked like an old prospector. He asked us what was wrong. My husband told him the engine was knocking. He told us to start the engine. I was so relieved when he sounded like he was a mechanic. When we fired it up he said, “Yup, she’s knockin’.” After that surprise the man offered to tow us back to Wall, South Dakota. We dropped the trailer and an hour later we made it back to a local garage. The mechanic there said we probably had a bent rod. While my husband was talking to the mechanic I discovered the old timer was a traveling Baptist minister. He had us hold hands and said a prayer over our engine. My husband came back and poured what he called, “Mechanic in a Can,” into the crankcase. We started the engine and it purred like a tomcat in a creamery. I believe in the power of prayer, but my husband insists it was the additive he put in. Now he makes a joke of it by saying, “If you believe so much in the power of prayer, why didn’t you ask for a new paint job too?” This has become a real issue with us. I can’t seem to let it go? Any advice?
--Up Against the Wall in South Dakota
Dear Up:
Don’t let this get you down. My best advice would be to follow your heart and pray about it. It’s an amazing story and I don’t think “Mechanic in a Can” works those kind of miracles. The other thing you can learn from this experience is that you can’t always tell a book by its cover. Help comes in many mysterious ways, from those you would least expect to be your savior. Anyone who is on the road any length of time, will have similar experiences and meet some wonderful individuals who are willing to put themselves out just to lend a hand. These are all the stories you never see in the media. I’m sure your husband, at a deeper level, is questioning this experience. Prayer chain or timing chain that is the question.
--Keep Smilin’, Dr. R.V. Shrink
9 comments:
If the mechanic was correct in his diagnosis and you did in fact have a rod knocking,the "mechanic in a can" is NOT a fix. It is simply oil with a higher viscosity (thicker) that fills the gap between the rod bearing and the crankshaft better and will quiet the knock to varying degrees depending on how bad it was to begin with. TEMPORARILY.
If the knock comes back... It was the "mechanic in a can"
If it doesn't.. Praise God
If you Believe in God, you Believe in Prayer.God Answers Prayer in his time, not ours.I Believe in Miracles. I am a living Miracle of
Gods healing power!Prayer for our leaders and our Nation.
Sounds like it was a partially collapsed lifter that was freed up by the "mystery" oil. Could have been Marvel Mystery Oil or power steering fluid or transmission fluid.
I agree with a stuck lifter. Weather or not the mechanic in a can unstuck it or it just did it by itself is open for discussion. Prayer fix it?....you gotta be kidding me.
Answers to prayers come in many ways. The answer to your prayer came in "mechanic in a can". So both worked.
"Pray as if everything depends upon God. Behave as if everything depends upon yourself."
Stacy
Let me share my "answer to prayer" experience. Our 1990 motorhome, purchased by us gently used 4 years ago was making it's Maiden Voyage the first summer we owned it. We traveled 300 miles from home to Ocean City Maryland from Pa without a hitch....we thought! To our dismay, as we pulled into the campground, a fellow walked over to us and said, "you guys are in trouble. Your motorhome is spraying transmission fluid!" Talk about a vacation ruined! Since it is a motorhome, we had to live in it for the week and couldn't send it to a garage to be repaired. I called Good Sam's and they couldn't send a repairman to the campground to help us. They told us to keep adding transmission fluid to the transmission every 25 miles on our trip home. "you should make it okay if you do that". Well, I prayed all week that God would help us make it home. We bought 2 gallons of fluid, added enough to fill the reservoir and set out with great fear! We stopped every 25 miles and checked the fluid level. It didn't go down the entire trip! We made it home without having to add a drop of fluid to the transmission. I thought that maybe it had fixed itself, but on our next trip to a local campground, it started spraying fluid like crazy. I feel that God protected us knowing that we were so far away from home. He answered my prayers.
And the tooth fairy is real too.
That's not nice Char.
I know what your saying but for Believers faith is everything. Some people need it more than others.
I personally think Gods got a lot more to do than worry about our transmissions BUT what does it hurt for that kind of belief.
If I were in trouble I bet these folks would help me before you.
Just sayin...
( wow, my auto correct just put satin in where I said sayin)
That's crazy!
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