| 06.02.2018 – A mechanic’s life appears underrated and normally for some car owners thinks its nothing but a job. But the reality is a very challenging experience for someone who only appreciated cars for their aesthetics and not how they work.
That would probably me a few years ago until I took a course study and have hands-on experience with workshop life. For those who are looking to buy a car that doesn’t know anything about getting one this story must bee for you. The week long placement was an experience that comes along with not just anything about cars it’s not only the skill about having patience. |
I would probably shared this story on Motoring Culture, but being hands-on and engaged about the work placement experience I’ve been focused on getting my hands skill and experience working in a dealership lately that I have no time to be the news reporter and do a “play-by-play: announcement on how life as a mechanic is like.
But the weekend break was enough time to share the stories since winter is here in South Australia I’ve been stuck at home trying to recover from the changing season having cough and flu. Well there’s nothing much to tell about the stuff that happened the past few days except for one that got me to realize how one mechanic feels like when a car you’ll be working on was towed in to your bay area.
Of course, for someone inexperienced apprentice I got to see how the workshop feels like when you’re assigned to do work on a car that was broken down and taken for repairs. The mechanic I was paired up was surprised with his colleagues they where staring down on the engine of a 2011 Mazda 2 like it they where in the Lord of the Rings trying to decipher to deal with that one ring, which eventually that white three-door hatch that has been sitting on the far end of the workshop bay while they munch pastries two hours before they close up shop on a Friday.
So I stayed and want to see for myself how this will turn out. So to find out the mechanic assigned took off the Rucker cover behold what it revealed when you see engine like that. The story as what is told that a young girl bought this car for $8,000 AUD without any service sticker in the windshield and not service history stamped on the book that came with this car.
We checked the oil which appears to be brand new and the engine appears clean. But that’s all in the surface until the Rucker cover was out and showed its true freaking nature for what this car to be a dodgy that made the customer looked like being duped for getting this one cheap, but other than a messed up engine for her to deal with.
It was past 3:30 PM and we go to work assigning me to take off connections on the engine while the technician starts removing bolts and other things that is connected to this stuffed engine. For a modern car there’s A LOT of electronics connected to the engine that I would not imagine. This is where my education should pay off learning about the EFI (Electronic Fuel Injection), PCM (Power Control Module) and other things technical that are related in becoming a certified mechanic.
The work in dismantling everything took us four hours with diligent patience and careful planning while every bolt removed and every wire disconnected it was a rush. Everyone almost left and it was the two of us doing the work… Well the technician assigned doing more work that I have come to appreciate how he does it. I feel like there’s so much more to learn from this experience that just assisting on the normal service like changing oil or checking the brakes if their worn out.
We left the shop past five in the afternoon when it started to get dark after slowly dropping down the engine/transmission to the wooden palette. A Mazda 2 engine is not that small it is seating on top of a transmission which is why it looks bigger. Work starts Monday for this engine and its time for me to hit the books to find out how I can help and learn to overhaul this little car.
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