Automotive Technician Classes Finale

After my last class I stopped to say hi to two of the instructors, Mike and Bobby. 

With the end of Electronic Fuel Systems Class, I've completed all of the Automotive Technician car related classes at York Technical College. Over the past two years I had a lot of fun going to school and learning a LOT. I've certainly done a lot of automotive repairs that were new to me, and realized that there is still a LOT MORE that I don't know about working on cars!

Fuel injectors at the bottom of the picture.

It would take a very long list to mention all the things I learned, or work that I did on a car for the first time, so here's a few highlights. We learned how to use the tire mounting machine, how to balance tires, how to use the AC equipment. Heck, I'm a certified AC guy now! Electric classes covered the basics of electricity, so that was fun! In automatic transmission class we did group projects to rebuild transmissions, and in manual transmission class, well, we learned about those too!

Turbo install by one of the other students. 

Along the way we got to set off some air bags outside of a vehicle, so that was impressive how quickly they can ignite! One very rewarding part of the classes was being able to use these skills at home on my own car, like the epic power steering lines replacement on the Porsche. There is no way in the world I could have done that job without some training and gaining the confidence that "Hey, I can do that!" OK, the real reason I want to be able to work on my car is to save money! Speaking of which, I'd like to thank the Post 9-11 GI Bill for covering some of my education, and the South Carolina Education Lottery for various scholarships that paid for most of my classes. 

Student Miata in the shop. 

Another memorable repair job in class was to replace the head gasket on a Chrysler mini-van. This was a pretty big job that my friend Mac and I took on, and in case you've never done this, it's a little more challenging because the V6 engine sits sideways in the engine bay. That means that the back bank of cylinders and the exhaust manifold is up against the firewall. It's not impossible to do, but it's not the easiest either. Along the way on this job we also got to use some machines to grind and adjust the angle of the valves to make sure they would seat properly. Getting this work complete and having the engine fire up first time was pretty dang cool! 

Here is a VW GTI that belongs to a classmate getting ready to walnut blast the direct injection "gunk" that builds up. 

All the instructors I had were experienced teachers and technicians, with years and decades of experience. Many times they would give us the "book answer" on how to do something, but then also give us the valuable "real world answer" too! I know in a lot of careers you're probably looking for a mentor to help you out, and I'd say these instructors were great mentors. Even for those of us not planning to work in a shop for a living, they shared their knowledge and lessons learned. 

If you're trying to find an exhaust leak, grab a piece of hose, run the car, and use it to listen to the exhaust system. You'll be able to hear where the leak is!