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Not really,
I will follow the bar as I go along and as I need to. That’s why I follow your channel and other like it. That’s always a good way to keep up to date.
Regards,
🙂 Wow Eric, good topic and very relevant to our world now. I am older than you and I worked at a Pontiac Dealership just out of high school in 75 and I have seen tremendous changes in technology since then. The problem today is what you noted, a lack of knowledge about the newest features. You are correct about the dealership mechanic will have the most up to date tools and knowledge about many of the newest technology being added. There is a lack of knowledge about many of the electronic devices :Direct fuel injection, Stability control , back up sensors , lane control sensors, blind side warning devices, the radar controlled cruise control you mentioned, a return to electronic dash panels with LCDs on the dash, so many new things and with each year the trickle down to all models will come to all the vehicles out there.
Unless the manufactures and the device developers will be willing to provide information to the general public, we will have to wait on the owners of these new devices to share information about their new technology. Now some manufactures will want to train the various mechanics outside of the dealership environment and this may help to provide a primmer for building a knowledge base to be able to function as a mechanic. Like you have said, experience will be the best training tool and until the world allows us to access the newest technology, the individual mechanic will be at a disadvantage until experience allows for retraining. This is a very deep discussion topic for the new year.[quote=”dtm” post=84981]Not really,
I will follow the bar as I go along and as I need to. That’s why I follow your channel and other like it. That’s always a good way to keep up to date.
Regards,[/quote]
I appreciate your comment but being aware of the changes is only the first part. Putting that knowledge into practice is a vital part of staying current. You can’t do that via the internet.
[quote=”slotcar” post=84982]:) Wow Eric, good topic and very relevant to our world now. I am older than you and I worked at a Pontiac Dealership just out of high school in 75 and I have seen tremendous changes in technology since then. The problem today is what you noted, a lack of knowledge about the newest features. You are correct about the dealership mechanic will have the most up to date tools and knowledge about many of the newest technology being added. There is a lack of knowledge about many of the electronic devices :Direct fuel injection, Stability control , back up sensors , lane control sensors, blind side warning devices, the radar controlled cruise control you mentioned, a return to electronic dash panels with LCDs on the dash, so many new things and with each year the trickle down to all models will come to all the vehicles out there.
Unless the manufactures and the device developers will be willing to provide information to the general public, we will have to wait on the owners of these new devices to share information about their new technology. Now some manufactures will want to train the various mechanics outside of the dealership environment and this may help to provide a primmer for building a knowledge base to be able to function as a mechanic. Like you have said, experience will be the best training tool and until the world allows us to access the newest technology, the individual mechanic will be at a disadvantage until experience allows for retraining. This is a very deep discussion topic for the new year.[/quote]I was hoping some ‘experienced’ techs would weigh in on this, thanks. It seems that dealerships may move to a business model of having one guy that does all the ‘high tech’ diagnostics that has a degree in IT or something, and a shop full of other techs that do the ‘grunt’ work. It’s really hard to say where it’s going, but I think what they’ve used up to this point will become quickly outdated in the coming years. Time will tell as they say.
Thanks again for your input.
I do not feel like I am being left behind. My thirst for knowledge is never quenched and as I go forward in my career and see the new technologies coming out with each model year, I continually research and study on my own. I always ensure my interest and desire to be on the top of the cutting edge is made aware to my service manager.
If you stay hungry for knowledge and take the initiative to learn and educate yourself both in the classroom and on your own time, you will never be outmoded.
[quote=”SpawnedX” post=85049]I do not feel like I am being left behind. My thirst for knowledge is never quenched and as I go forward in my career and see the new technologies coming out with each model year, I continually research and study on my own. I always ensure my interest and desire to be on the top of the cutting edge is made aware to my service manager.
If you stay hungry for knowledge and take the initiative to learn and educate yourself both in the classroom and on your own time, you will never be outmoded.[/quote]
That is an excellent attitude. Keep it up. Thing is, you do get older no matter what, and that can effect you in ways you can’t even imagine yet.
As a tech that moved on to a different career path but still works on vehicals in my spare time (you can never stop wrenching if its in your blood ) I toltaly agree with you on becoming out moded . I can definitely say that ten years ago I was one hell of a master tech but as each year goes by I find myself more and more in the dark than in the know about the new systems that are being incorporated in newer vehicles . Now I’m feeling like a dinosaur that keeps dinosaurs running. I can’t complain as I like what I do now (its not that far removed from being a auto tech and pays as good )but it’s hard to admit to my self that I’m no longer the go to guy for automotive work that I used to be.
I completely agree with you Eric. I am afraid that cars are getting out of my reach at this point. Direct Injection is just one of them. Running 3000PSI instead of 60PSI with a cam driven mechanical fuel pump along with your in tank pump. Learning the repairs on these can probably dangerous if you are not sure of what you are doing. I think that a lot of my experience with automotive repairs were from learning by actual hands on. Electricians do learn that way but its a vigorous 5 year program of sorts. If you have a Hybrid Tahoe/Yukon/Escalade for instance, they have that 300v battery under the seat and do not have a conventional starter nor alternator. Pop the hood and to your surprise there is a conventional 12v battery right there. Now what? You have to be taught some of this stuff now, less trial and error like the good old days. One more thing to add would be needing $300 dollars in special tools to work on various models, one being Volvos, is taking away from the DIY guys already. I think it will get more and more like this in the future. Look what you have done to me. I am on a rant or something. What a huge thing to talk about this year. LOL
It’s a phase shift. This is the second time I’ve gone through it.
Back when electronics first were introduced it was also hard to keep up.
The HEV and EV’s seem to be creating the same sentiment again.I wanted a FCX in 02 when honda said it was going to be released.
Instead my wife opted for the civic EX because she didn’t like the Insight style
( I think it was still a 2 seater back than as well, anyways ).The dealer has the same excuse currently for the Fit EV
“we’re not going to carry it because of the service retooling expense”
as they had for the FCX in 02.
But in 02 the dealer had little if any knowledge that the FCX even existed,
at least that was my impression on the sales floor.I’m learning a lot about my newer car.
I have too because dealer service is notoriously bad for the model.
And since it’s now out of warranty it seems to me the dealer has very little incentive
to keep the vehicle in good shape.And most customers have little to no clue about which mechanic / garage / dealer did what and or when to their vehicles.
But only does the car work up to their satisfaction or not.A catch22 ?
Generally, it seems to me that having any conscientious objections to the direction(s) of local, regional, national
and international social expectations gets harder by the minute, much less annually.What do we expect?
respect B)
Interested in Toyota / Tesla ?
C-Max solar EV ?
standard oil ?
🙂 We could see auto mechanics becomes as specialized as doctor are today. Eric, you may be correct about the dealerships having one special tech guy. Today, Lexus dealers have a technical expert for people who purchase new cars. This person, who once was a Apple Genius guy is now our local dealership guy to teach you how to work a newly Purchased Lexus. Our ES model came with a 1000 page owners manual, and a 250 page manual for the entertainment and navigation system. You set up an appointment and he will teach you how to work all your new features for all the Lexus models.
We could see this happen in the service Dept. also, and this person would rate a higher pay also or he would leave after being trained and go independent. It is the knowledge and who can access it that will determine the future ability to work on the newer technology.This reminds me of when we had a new heating plant installed in our home. It consisted of a heat pump backed up by a high efficiency furnace. A crew five or maybe more people showed up. They even had a man on the roof applying silver paint to the vent pipe for the water heater. About mid afternoon work stopped. I asked what was happening (actually, not happening) and was told they were waiting for the guy who programs the thermostat. He arrived and began pecking away on the many thermostat buttons. Minutes later he was gone and the system was fired up for testing. Since then I’ve been wondering if they had an employee on the payroll just for thermostat programming.
Hey Eric..Excellent topic. I have been a tech since 1974 and a 5 year apprenticeship before that. I was working on cars for several years before that even as I always had a passion for cars. In my younger years I built racing engines in my spare time for a few local racers in my area. I went to sleep thinking about cars and woke up thinking about cars.
Several people said I was gifted when it came to car repair. I attended every repair related training courses that were offered to keep up with everything new.
Now that I’m older and not able to produce the “big bucks” I once did for Companies my training invitations have all but ceased. I guess since I’m close to retirement age I’m a bad investment in regards to training dollars. I have to rely on anything I can find on the internet, books and my own experience to keep up. I can’t afford to pay for my own training.
I still have a passion for cars but it’s a struggle to keep up on even general repairs anymore.
Yes….I’m outmoded and not happy about it.
I work in a independent shop and I feel like im slowly being pushed out. Hybrids come in and no one in the shop has the tools or knowledge to work on them. I feel once our shop owner starts seeing more and more money lost from turning these vehicles away he will go with the option of hiring a person specialized in this area insted of sending us to hybrid class.
Im mad, I want to be the top tech, I was once the tech that other shops sent their problem cars to, I was once on a hot streak of diagnosing anything that came into the shop. Now im the guy on the other end who has his head down and is sending away these cars on a weekly basis.
As you can tell by my previous post I am a little tongue in cheek on this subject.
Eric, when you talk about staying current in the field all that means to me is staying employable. If you are not current you can still fix cars the only thing is you are no longer fast.
All us DIYers are never current. We have to look up information before we start. Do we fix cars? Oh yeah. Most times when I do a job it is for the first time and maybe for the last.
Good experienced technicians who have worked on things like whatever they are presently working on may just figure this gizmo is the same as the others. Doing this can end lead to big blunders, blunders I won’t make because I need the shop manual in one hand. So there is experience and there is the person (slow me) with the shop manual in his hand. Each has its advantages.
I used to work with a guy who was a car flipper in his other life. He had his own file cabinet at the DMV but he got to drive and work on about everything out there. I doubt you’d make much money doing this but it would keep you current.
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