Mechanics or Magic?

As an engineer most people assume I can strip a car down and put it back together without a problem. In theory yes I can do that, but I'm not a mechanic so unless I know what needs to be replaced I'm pretty useless... which is why when recently my car went wrong I sent it to the garage for trained profesionals to look at.

My problems all started Nov 2005 when the water pump seal went, this was no big problem in itself... a tow by the AA and several days in a garage having it replaced and otherwise checked over it was ok... or so I thought. The heat from the water draining out of the radiator somehow caused the radiator to degrade. This shouldn't have been a problem except the garage didn't know why it kept overheating eventually the raidiator failed totally the following June (2006)... this caused the head gasket to go, and a hairline crack in the head. Mucho expensive (Thanks to Dad for bailing me out on the £1500 bill for that!). I thought my problems were over... until a couple of months ago the Catalytic converter blocked up. It turns out that when the head gasket went the ensuing mix of oil and water shot into the Cat and gummed it up, the garage blew the worst out but the damage had already been done and the Cat started falling appart internally and eventually blocked itself up (Inside it's a honeycombe... or was... it now lookes like a ball of wire wool)... this was duley replaced at quite an expense. This is not the end tho... a week after the Cat was replaced the engine started making some funny noises and kicked out blue smoke... I thought oh crud not a new head gasket, asssuming the back pressure from a blocked Cat had damaged the head gasket... so back to the garage... a week later they return it saying it's fine we can't find anything wrong with it. Magic? or them fixing a problem they created and not telling me? I dunno... but it's working... except for an orage warning light on the dash that implies there's an engine fault... I call the garage, they say leave it for a bit and come back if it doesn't go off. So I wait... and the light stays on... Yesterday I heard a worrying noise, sounding like something is caught under my car... it's a cable from the manifold sensor (I assume judging by where it's attached) . I find it's respective mate and reconnect it. Hoping that this would solve my orange light issue. It didn't... or so I thought... this morning the light is gone... hurrah!!! was it the cable? Was it Magic? I don't really care... but if necessary I'll set up an alter the the mechanical gods and pray that my car stays working as I can deserve a car-grief free life for the moment.