I was driving down the Santa Monica freeway yesterday, headed towards downtown, when all of a sudden I see my engine light come on. Needless to say, that’s not the sort of thing one likes to see. So I immediately pull over to the side of the road and park on the shoulder. I pop the hood and look to see what the problem might be. I’m not a mechanic. I barely know how to change the oil and the wiper fluid‚ but perhaps something would pop out at me.

The car didn’t overheat, since there was no steam coming out of the radiator. I checked the battery cables, and the battery was definitely not dead. I didn’t know quite what else to do, so I pulled out my cell phone and called AAA for a tow to the nearest repair shop. I started worrying about all the things it could be‚Äîthe fuel pump, the transmission, the electrical system. Who knows? I just had new brakes put in a month ago, so I knew it couldn’t be that.

The tow truck finally arrived and we went to a nearby mechanic. He checked everything, and then told me that he had found the problem: the engine light sensor was broken! I now had to take it into the dealer to get it fixed. Well, at least it didn’t end up costing me an arm and a leg.