It was a dark and stormy, early fall night. (I always love that opening...) My wife was running errands in her car, and was not far from our home. She said, all of a sudden, the car started making a horribly loud screeching noise, then smoke began pouring out from under the hood. Immediately, she pulled over, and shut off the engine and called me from her cell phone. I was already in my jammies, ready for bed, but I got dressed, and drove out to "rescue" her.
Not knowing what was going on, I opened the hood for the obligatory inspection. I looked around, and touched something that I expected to be ambient temperature, and received a 2nd. degree burn on the tip of my finger! I told my wife to take my car, and finish whatever she was doing, and I walked home.
After putting ice on my finger to ease the pain from the burn, I went to bed. The next morning, I walked back to my wife's car, and checked under the hood again. I discovered what the problem was, and made a simple change of a control on the dashboard. This allowed me to start the car and drive it home with no further problems, no more screeching noise, and no more smoke.
What control did I change on the dashboard, and why?
