Monday, February 2, 1998
Grease Monkeys
LIFESTYLE The Women’s Resource Center puts together a forum for
females to learn more about cars
By Rachel Munoz
Daily Bruin Staff
Did you know a front-wheel transmission pulls the car in the
snow? Or that Coke takes the corrosive off a battery? And that too
much anti-freeze can make a car overheat?
These were only a few of the automotive hints passed along to
female students in a car maintenance workshop put on Saturday by
the Women’s Resource Center. The workshop was conducted by Rebekah
Fleischaker, a Van Nuys mechanic who works in an all-male
garage.
Looking at about 10 different cars, all of which belonged to
workshop attendees, 24 women spilled out more automotive questions
than new car buyers on a lot, asking about everything from
distributor location to the best oil. (Fleischaker recommends
Mobil.)
"It’s good that she went from car to car," said Ronnie Jordan, a
third-year English student. "By the eighth car you knew what you
were looking at." For somebody that had never looked under the
hood, Jordan now feels secure in the ability to check things out
for herself.
Fleischaker taught the class some basic maintenance. To keep a
car’s engine free of dust and grime, she said, always keep the fuel
tank at least one-quarter full.
It’s important to keep a car’s engine clean, she continued,
because dirt acts as an insulator, keeping excess heat in the
engine.
Tips like these received warm responses from avid listeners,
like public health student Jennifer Musick, who says she knew
virtually nothing about cars before coming to this workshop.
"I’ve always wanted to know more about what is going on," she
said. "I learned a lot."
Outside of identifying the different components of an engine or
learning how to change a tire, the material was taught in a special
way.
"I thought Rebekah was great, very informative and patient,"
Musick said. "It was woman to woman. You didn’t feel intimidated at
all."
Fleischaker warned her pupils about the dangers of being
uninformed. Women between 19 and 35 years old get ripped off when
they take their cars to automotive repair shops, she said.
Her word of advice: "Be smart, get a second or third
opinion."
Fleischaker, a female mechanic who works in a shop with five
men, has been getting her hands dirty for 12 years.
"I got out of the service and needed my truck fixed,"
Fleischaker said of her beginnings as a mechanic. She started
working in a Florida shop just answering the phones and making
coffee. Two weeks later she was bored and wanted to learn how to
work on the cars. With help from her boss after work, and by
reading plenty of books at home, Fleischaker found her
profession.
She began teaching college students about cars while she was
still in Florida. "I had huge classes," Fleischaker said.
Even though Fleischaker packed a guidebook full of information
into three hours, her students didn’t yet feel like kings (or
queens) of the road.
"It is something that you can’t take in all in a day," said Aine
Yung, a second-year biochemistry student. "I think that we need a
checklist of how often to do certain things to your car. And a
diagram would be nice."
And in those inevitable moments when a driver finds her car
misbehaving, Fleishchaker said, remember to vocalize.
You should always try to imitate the noises your car makes to a
mechanic, she said, demonstrating some of those squeaking and
rattling sounds to her audience.
Even with so much information, students agreed that they would
definitely recommend the class.
"It’s good for everybody, not just girls," Jordan said. "Guys
don’t know what they are doing either."
photos by JAMIE SCANLON-JACOBS/Daily Bruin
(above) Rebekah Fleischaker instructs students on car
maintenance during an event sponsored by the Women’s Resource
Center on Saturday.