after reading some of these more humorous posts,  i want to give back
and
add this experience to the group.

it was back in 1975.  i was an instructor at a military advanced
electronic tech. school.   this school requires an above average
intelligence to get in, so the student coming into the school is not
dumb, but may not have the best mechanical sense.

during one of the class breaks,  a student comes up to me and said that
because i know a lot about cars,  he was wondering what the problem was
with his 1966 mustang w/automatic.

i said, "sure, go ahead and tell me...."

he said, "well, the problem is with the transmission.   i can start the
car and it goes into gear, but when the car shifts into second and
third, sometimes, it slips."

i said, "have you checked the transmission fluid level?"

he said, "how do you do that?"

"you use the dip stick"

"dipstick?"

"yeah,  put start the car on level ground and pull the dip stick out and
check to see if the fluid is low"

"on the engine?"

"no, on the transmission"

"transmissions don't have dip sticks"

"yes, they do.   on that particular model, it's located on the right
hand side, at the back of the engine"

"look, i've had this car for 6 months and i ain't never seen no dip
stick under that hood other than on the engine.  you're kidding me -
right?"

"no,  check it out and you'll see"

"ok, i'll check it after school"

the next morning, he comes into class and the first thing he said was,
"you're right.  it's exactly where you said it was.  and i did exactly
what you told me too and the dip stick shows that the oil is down below
the second add mark"

i said, "well, there's your problem.  just add the transmission fluid
and it should shift ok"

he looks at me and says, "where do you put the fluid in?"

now,  given what i've just said about how he didn't believe me about a
transmission having a dip stick,  do you think for one second he is
going to believe what i'm about to tell him?"

now, to put the cherry on the top of this situation.   about three weeks
later,  he and two of his buddies decide to take his engine apart and
rebuild it.   the engine had nothing wrong with it and was running fine.
he said that he just wanted something to do that weekend.   when i ask
him if he or any of his buddies had any mechanical experience?   he
said, "no....... why?"

two weeks after that,  there was an ad on the bulletin board for a 1996
mustang for sale,  the ad said the engine is out of the car, but doesn't
run and gave his name and phone number.

i don't know what ever happened to him...

~ curtis

knowledge is power - growing old is mandatory - growing wise is optional    
"Many more men die with prostate cancer than of it. Growing old is
invariably fatal. Prostate cancer is only sometimes so."
http://community.webtv.net/PALMER_ENT/doc