Lately, my boyfriend has been calling me the “Radiator Queen.” It’s not because I harbor some girlhood fantasy about working under a hood with the guys. In fact, until recently I had about as much interest in radiators as my guy had in making duck breast in morel mushroom sauce.

Then, Jeff Wong came along. I met Jeff on a video here at the Radiator.com site following a little lover’s tiff after dinner when I found out how much my man paid to get his radiator flushed at a dealership downtown. Beaucoup bucks, as a matter of fact. It was all in fun but I got carried away and reminded him that he’s a “guy” and should be able to take care of his car by himself. He replied that I probably couldn’t even open the hood on my car. He was right, but I denied it – adamantly! In my ignorance, I threw toilet flushing into the mix. I mean, how difficult could it be to flush a radiator? Isn’t there a little handle somewhere under the hood that you can pull down to get the job done?

I thought about quitting while I was ahead, but I didn’t. He grinned and did a double-dog-dare that I couldn’t open the hood of my car and check the coolant in the radiator all by myself. He promised that if I could do that, he would learn to cook me dinner. ”Duck?” I asked, sweetly. “Whatever,” he snorted back. “With morel mushroom sauce?” I said confidently as I pictured that little flush handle hiding somewhere under the hood and pointing the way to the radiator. He changed the television channel and was off on The Great Race before we got any further.

Fast-forward to the following day at 5:15 p.m. The love of my life pulls into the driveway where I am standing between my car and a champagne bucket. The hood is propped safely open and I am wearing my spiked heels as I alternately sip and work. The look on his face is priceless, expect that this isn’t a charade. It is for real! I have memorized Jeff Wong’s patient, step-by-step directions for checking coolant in his 3 minute Radiator.com video, “Basic Car Care and maintenance.” I hear his voice in my head and I grow confident: “Pay attention to the warning on the radiator cap. Use a towel or wear a glove when you feel the hose because it could be full of hot coolant. We don’t want any of that hot nasty stuff squirting out and causing a serious burn, do we?” I flutter my eyelashes and grin.

My guy is speechless as I push down and turn the cap like an expert, finding that the fluid level is up to the top where it should be. I do the same thing with the reservoir container, which needed a little coolant added to raise the fluid level to midway between minimum and maximum. “I bought a 50-50 mix,” I say as I open the coolant and indicate that he can have a sip of my champagne. I wipe the dot of sweat from my dainty brow. “I prefer the pre-diluted coolant so I don’t need to mix it with water before I pour it in.”

The rest is history. With the $4.69 I spent on coolant, and the beaucoup bucks he spent on his dealership flush, he agrees to make good on the duck. Of course, it will be at Chez Emil next Friday, but he did make the reservation by himself, and I hear that the morel mushroom sauce there is fabulous!

Susie