How to Find Your First Mechanic Job

Finding the First Mechanic Job

            Hello, all. With another class of students soon to be graduating from truck mechanic programs all over the country, I thought it would be a good time to write a little about finding that first job. There are several things to think about before embarking on the search. Maybe the first consideration is to think hard about what kind of shop you want to work in. Think at first in terms of the broad categories of repair facilities:

•         Dealers. Obviously, here you would specialize in the makes the dealer is involved with, but they also work on other brands. Training will be up to date, usually done at an online source. After you work there for a while, you could be sent for specialized training for a particular engine, transmission, or system. There tends to be a political structure especially at larger dealerships, so the ability to work with a variety of people and to conform to a hierarchical structure will be important, especially if you want to advance.
•        Independents. Many work on various sizes and brands, and some may be somewhat specialized in the type of work they do. Many offer some kind of training, but new systems and technology aren’t seen until they come off warranty. By then however, repair techniques are mature and information available from multiple sources. The tool and information resources available at independents runs the scale from the absolute (and inadequate) minimum to on par with dealership resources. Most fall somewhere between these extremes, but you will probably need to do more digging for some information than you would at a dealer. Individual effort may be more rewarded because of this.
•          Fleets often run single brands and/or configurations. They vary greatly in size and capabilities. Here again much variety exists in the size of the fleet, the capabilities of the shop, and the management structure. The largest have dealer-level capabilities and training. Some are affiliated with or actually own a dealership. Others with late model equipment do only maintenance and simple repair, while a small fleet with older models may do all work in-house. Training available also runs the scale from dealer-level to nothing but what you pick up on the job.
•         Government entities like county and city shops, schools, and military bases or facilities. Road shops usually run a variety of different on and off-road equipment and may have seasonal workloads. Often there will be some welding and fabricating. Many schools purchase comprehensive maintenance plans with their new buses, so work consists only of tire work and services. The upside of the limited variety of work is a fairly clean and low stress workplace.
•          Specialty equipment installers and fitters. These put equipment like lifts, dump or cargo boxes, and plows on new or used chassis. This kind of work always includes at least some fabrication, in addition to wiring and plumbing work.  In a bigger facility, you might end up specializing in one area of installation. In addition to new installations, some repairs would be done on existing equipment. Another area of specialization is at frame, spring, and alignment shops. The job types here are probably self-explanatory, but you would need to be able to handle an especially dirty and noisy environment.
•          Manufacturers of not only trucks, but of ambulances and fire trucks, city and school buses, and military and specialty vehicles. This is basically factory work, so you may end up working on just one part of the process. You could spend your whole career installing wiring harnesses or body components, for instance. Of course, there are other more varied jobs in factories, but these invariably go to more experienced workers. If you find comfort in knowing what you will be doing every day and that there is always someone above you to go to with technical problems, a factory job may be for you.

            This is not a complete list of the employers you may encounter, but does cover the majority of workplaces hiring mechanics. Don’t forget about manufacturers who make non-vehicle equipment but need people with mechanical skills. I think you should have a career path in mind right from the start, then try to find a first job that will help you achieve your goals. For instance, do you want to spend your career as a mechanic, or do you want to advance to supervision or management? Are you interested in learning as much as possible about a particular vehicle or system, or do you want a broad range of experience? I don’t think you should worry too much about trying to find your dream job right off the bat, but neither should you jump from job to job every few years. It’s just that having a tentative path or goal will focus your job search, and employers like to hire people who seem to have a direction.

            That’s all I have for now, but in the next installment on this topic I plan to talk a little about how to narrow your choices and recognizing a shop as a good place to work. 

Truck service jobs...good for the shop as well as the customer

           

Truck service as a profit center

           Hello, all. Today I would like to talk about the much maligned and lowly service and explain why it may be the most important work a shop can do. The variety of service levels requested varies from minimal to comprehensive and everything in between and occasionally the requests are just plain puzzling. Some customers merely want the oil and filters changed, some want an LOF (lube, oil, and filter) with a minimal inspection, and some want a full inspection along with the oil and lube. Fleets often provide their own checksheets and these often have several levels depending on mileage and equipment differences. Some customers go so far as to specify an oil or filter brand, and some want to bring their own.

            Service work is an area of opportunity for a shop as well as a chance for the customer to keep his equipment in good condition. It is a rare case of being a complete win/win for both parties, if the shop is fair in dealing with the customer and proactive in selling needed work. Traditionally, the service is the loss-leader, billed at near cost. Profit is expected to come from the work found during the inspection. For this reason, services are often done by the least experienced techs and serves as a sort of training ground for new hires. The problem is that even if that tech is well trained and closely supervised, equipment defects are bound to be missed. This is a problem for the shop as well as the customer. The shop may miss out on profitable work, and the customer may suffer an untimely breakdown. Worse yet is if the breakdown is caused by something that should have been caught when the truck was in for service.

            The only way around some of this is if a detailed inspection sheet is agreed on by customer and shop and is then followed and signed by the mechanic. The sheet must specify exactly what is to be checked during service. It is not good enough that this sheet is turned in with the work order, then allowed to languish until the job is billed. The inspection must be done first, and given to the supervisor or service writer who can call the customer to authorize repair. It is always easier to sell work on a vehicle that is already being worked on than to try to schedule a second visit. The customer will appreciate getting needed repairs done during a scheduled time, rather than having to come back in, and this helps create goodwill. It always amazes me that some shops don’t follow this procedure. I guess they feel that if they schedule a full shift, there will be no time for extra work. But too much work is always a good problem to have, and if there is not quite enough work for the shift, the existing work always seems to magically stretch to fill the available time. Almost invariably a little too much work is just the right amount. Novice mechanics doing services must be thoroughly trained as to what is expected and their work closely checked until it is clear they know what to look for. 

            If everyone is vigilant in handling services all parties can benefit. The shop makes more money, and the customer gets needed repairs done when the vehicle is down for service. 

A Workhorse ABS diagnostic problem and a solution

            Hello, all. I recently experienced an unusual diagnostic problem, this time on an ABS system. This was on a Workhorse route truck of an account my employer services. The vehicle runs the Meritor Wabco type D ABS, which in my experience is a reliable system. Usually problems with sensor signals are due to bad sensors or incorrect bearing adjustment. This vehicle had been in numerous times and we had been challenged with a repeated appearance of the light. Codes kept resetting for the rear sensor data improper or the circuits shorted or open. The tone rings were badly corroded (no real surprise there), but changing hub/tone ring assemblies and proper bearing adjustment failed to provide the solution. The sensor voltages were checked by spinning the wheels in turn, and the sensors were providing an adequate signal. On a road test, the left rear sensor had a varying and intermittent rpm signal which never matched that of the front signal, and the right rear sensor always read at 0 rpm. . Complicating the problem was the fact that the truck was only reliably available on Saturdays.

            Finally, the truck came in with the right rear sensor always reading 71 rpm, no matter the operating conditions. When the sensors were reconnected left for right, the right sensor still read 71 rpm. Even with the sensor unplugged, the sensor output 71 rpm with the truck stationary.  Obviously the module had failed, so a new one was ordered for the next weekend.

            When the part arrived, the tech first attempted to eliminate the possibility of a multiple problem by monitoring sensor voltages at the module. The rear of the truck was jacked up one side at a time so it could be run at idle. The green plug to the module was disconnected and voltage was taken across pins 3 and 10, then pins 6 and 7. The voltages were found to be steady and approximately the same side-to-side, with each side arriving at the proper set of pins.

            The module was changed and the codes cleared, but a code immediately reset for a short or open in the rear sensors. The vehicle was driven to check the rear signals against the fronts, but the rear sensors both read at 0 rpm. At least the right side was no longer reading as 71 rpm, so some progress was made. Again the green module connector was unplugged and each sensor circuit was checked. The left side was fine, but both pins for the right side were shorted to ground. However, the resistance was several hundred Kohms, so we obviously had an unusual problem. The whole wiring harness was visually checked, but all looked fine.

            To break the harness down, it was disconnected at the midships connector located in the frame just in front of the modulator. Back at the module the short was now gone, so it looked like the problem was in the back half of the truck. However, ohming the rear portion of the harness found the short was now gone there now, too! The right sensor was unplugged and the harness ohmed from one pin to the other, to eliminate the possibility of a crossed connection. Each wire was insulated from the other.

            When the miships connector was reassembled, the short reappeared, so the problem was clearly at the connector, somehow. The wires for that sensor came from the module as red and black, then changed to brown and black at the midships plug which made sense, as the sensors both have brown and black wires. The red wire from the module connected to the black sensor wire, whereas on the left side, the yellow wire from the module connected to the brown wire to the sensor. (see the image)

ABS wiring for rear speed sensors on Workhorse truck

Eureka! The right side wires were removed from the rear part of the midships plug and their positions exchanged. Everything was buttoned back up and the codes cleared. No code was reset and the vehicle was driven. At 10mph, the light went out and stayed out for a short test drive.

            Apparently the harness was assembled incorrectly in manufacturing. I don’t know why we were sometimes able, at first, to get the light to go away for a short period of time, or why the vehicle could have passed manufacturing inspection without a light being set. The problem must have somehow fused that circuit in the module, causing the indicated rpm to freeze at 71, unless someone somehow applied a voltage to it that did the damage.

    Thanks for viewing   Bruce