Mechanic Father Knows, Please Don't Fail Me Now

Last week I scheduled with the mechanic Father trusts to bring my car in today (Friday) on the off-hand chance that I would not be able to go to work because there wasn't any.  Sure enough, I was done by 10:30 Thursday, a mere 90 minutes after I came in.  So they had all the time in the world to look into the codes causing my Check Engine light to go on.

Dropped off the car before they were open and headed to the coffeeshop nearby to wait until I had to light rail it into downtown Minneapolis to see a new member of the alumni club for lunch.  Stopped by the shop to make sure everything's hunky-dory.  The guy said that instead of testing to see if the sensors aren't working, they are going to clean everything to make sure the problem isn't that the sensors are too dirty.

OK; saves me money but it doesn't guarantee that the problems won't be over, especially after my project gets done in downtown Minneapolis next week and it's no convenient for me to drop off my car without easy access to public transportation.  I spotted that my odometer was almost to the mileage mark on my reminder tag, so as long as I was at a car shop I would get an oil change.  Oh, and a tire rotate too, which I didn't get the last time I had the oil changed.  The mechanic, who I guess knows Father from way back or maybe his dad knows my dad from way back, also recommended new front brake pads after inspecting them with the wheels off.  Finally, I got new hood shocks put in so I don't need to use a stick to keep the hood open whenever I check the transmission dipstick.  So even though it was only $200 I did pay money to get my car fixed ... just not in the way I expected, and it had nothing to do with the Check Engine light.

After dinking around waiting to get on a Green Line train (which had been late on my way into downtown Minneapolis -- gotta fix that) I get my car back around 4.  "Just drive it around, and if the Check Engine light does light up, get the codes again.  Now, at this point, any sensors that are broken must be replaced."

And sure enough, while driving home, specifically while accelerating, it comes on.

I like these guys, I want to like these guys, and they know Father, so they can't dick me over.  But come on, guys, why did I bring my car in if the problem I wanted you to fix comes back on the drive home from your shop?  And who the hell else can I turn to if not you guys?