Matthew Parker, a mobile mechanic who films his work for his YouTube channel (@ParkersMobile), uses his truck full of tools to respond to customer calls or help those in need. One of his most viewed videos is of him helping a woman after her car broke down on a busy street.

In a recent video, a woman called Parker after her neighbor referred him. The woman told him her Honda Accord was making a funny noise and the oil light kept flashing.

She said she took it to a major repair shop chain franchise which gave her a poor diagnosis.

“[The technicians] told me it was because my engine was going bad,” she told Parker. “They said it was leaking internally and I had to get a whole new engine.”

Parker laughed and asked her to start the car to hear the funny noise. When she started it, the first thing he noticed was that it sounded like a normal Honda Accord. He looked at her oil-level dipstick and found clean oil on the dipstick.

The other mechanic topped off her oil, she told him, and ever since it hasn’t made the noise.

Parker’s solution was simple

After looking at the evidence, he determined her engine was critically low on oil. The noise being gone and the engine running smoothly with new oil solidified his conclusion.

To make sure her engine ran smooth, he poured in some crankcase cleaner, let it run for 10 minutes, and flushed her engine. After the flush, he determined her engine was in good condition – it just didn’t appreciate being low on oil.

“I didn’t see any metal shavings when I flushed out the oil, so you definitely don’t need a new engine,” Parker explained. “These Honda motors really don’t like being low on oil.”

While he was working, he discovered the “internal leak” the other technician was referring to. It was an active leak from the valve covers he suggested she fix right away to avoid losing all the fresh oil he just put in her car.

Parker charged her $45 for the crankcase cleaner and made an appointment for the future to change the valve cover gaskets.