Capstone Reflection

In the past few months of my capstone project i have been shadowing an Automotive Technician. The experience was a great one. I had the chance to look at cars in a way that only trained professionals get to look at. I got the chance to look at the cooling system and the break system. I also got a better understanding of how the cars systems work. My mentor was guiding my step by step on how to inspect and fix certain parts of a car. I also took time out to learn on my own with a textbook he gave me to look at.

At times the job shadow was hard because at times I did not understand some of the things my mentor would tell me. Like when he was explaining how to do a break service. He started the lesson off with talking about the caliper. I was completely lost when he said that word. So i asked and he explained what it was. I was trying really hard to keep up so he would not have to keep stopping his job to explain. Days like that i would usually go home and read up on the job we worked on that day.

At the start of my project i thought that being a mechanic was what i really wanted to be. It seemed like the coolest and manliest thing to do because all you do all day is work on cars. But after i was done meeting with my mentor I started to really think of if i really wanted to pursue an automotive career. At the end of it all I came to the conclusion that I did not want to do this for a living. I think cars are really cool and I still do find them interesting. But I find that cars are more of a hobby to me.

The main challenge I over came during my capstone project was the understanding  of all the car parts and their jobs. Like one part of a car that you may have never heard of may be a part of another part that you have not heard of. And I usually would ask a lot of questions or if not try to read up on it so i can try top get a better understanding of the part.

Over all the entire experience was a great one. I got the chance to get an understanding of how the job field is and understand basic components to a car. The job shadow was also great because it showed me that working on cars is something that in really do not want to do as a career. And I am thankful for the time my mentor took to teach me something that he did not have to do.

Thank you for following my time with my mentor and Goodbye

May 9,2013 4:00 to 6:00 PM

this day i did two jobs with my mentor we changed the radiator of a car and an alignment on a car. for the radiator we just had to disconnect all the hoses and snap ring. then put it all back in.. the snap rings were hard to take off cause they were tiny and hard to grab on to. and we changed the tires on a car. we had to replace the tires on the wheels and had to balance them. balancing the tires is putting weights in the tire so that the steering wheel doesn't shake. the jobs we're not hard but it did take time to do. and i did learn stuff that i didn't know about tires and radiators. it was a good time with my mentor.

May 8, 2013 4:00 to 6:00 PM

these days we did brake service on a 2000 Honda Accord. a brake service  We took off the caliper that pushes the brake pads together to stop the car. We took off the rotors on the axle and put this lubricant like thing on the hardware. we put the rotors on a brake lathe to prevent the brakes from pulsation. and we did a lot more things to the brake parts. it was the biggest job that we had so far. i thought it must be a pain to do that to cars. because it was a lot of work to do that on a tiny car. imagine that job on like a truck.

May 7,2013 7:30 to 9:00 PM

i decided to read the book again and looked at cooling systems and how to test them. i read on how to use the cooling system pressure tester. Also i learned what to look for in when testing the cooling system. mainly the hoses and the caps. i thought it was an okay hour spent because when i finished reading it i thought to my self that i am probably never going to test it my self but again you never know when a skill like that might come in handy. 

May 2, 2013 7:00 to 8:00 PM

today i decided to look at some spark plug info in the book that my mentor gave me. I looked at spark plugs and spark plug wires. i learned how to test the wires and how to adjust the ground electrode of a spark plug. i also looked up distributors even though cars don't use them any more. i learned a decent amount of stuff today like how to use feeler gauges. i thought it was a hour well spent on my own. 

April 27,2013 10:00 AM to 2:00 PM

We checked the fuse box of some GMC pick up truck. the trucks emergency lights would not turn off. So we open the fuse box and checked the fuse for the lights and checked for any damage to it but there was not. so we checked the steering column and we found out that the wire was bad. This day was interesting because we had to really figure out the problem of the truck.

April 12,2013 4:30 PM to 6:00 PM

me and my mentor did a tire rotation. Funny thing about this was before we did this i used to think that a tire rotation was when you just lift the car and turn the tires to see if the wheels were okay. Well i was wrong it is actually when you change tires with a different tire on the car. Well what i actually learned also is there is way in putting the tires back on. You must put the bolts back on in a X form. this visit with my mentor was really informative because i learned what a tire rotation was. 

April 7,2013 9:00 AM to 11:00AM

i got to change the oil of 3 cars. Its not the funnest job to do, but its something. The only hard thing in this job is getting to the oil filter. sometimes its in an awkward position. I started getting more hands on with the cars with my mentor. I think that is a big accomplishment because he trusts me in working on something.

March 14,2013 8:00 to 10:00 PM

Today i looked at the text book my mentor gave me. i decided to look at the engine types. The three i looked at were diesel, four-stroke, and two-stroke engines. the book  is actually a really good book to look at. It was really informative. And engines are actually really complicated. I felt like i was reading in a different language. Some of the terms i didn't understand but i looked them up so i could understand what i was reading.

March 10,2013 3:00 to 5:00 PM

its been a while since seeing my mentor but i saw him and he taught me how to change a spark plug. He said you have to use a special socket to take one out because of the ceramic cover on the spark plug. The special socket has a little rubber insert in it so it doesn't put a lot of pressure on the spark plug. This is actually a pretty hard thing to do because sometimes the spark plug is really hard to get to. So he explained to me how to see if a spark plug is good or bad. The one i looked at was carbon fouled. That means there was to much gas burning when the plug went off. This was my favorite visit because i got the chance to actually get the plug out.

February 24,2013 10:00 AM to 12:00 PM

Today i didn't actually get to see my mentor but i had sent him a text to help me with my car. My car had started acting up. So through our conversation he told me that i was low on transmission fluid and that it was good that i picked up on it early because if i had not i could of ruined the entire engine. So i bought a quart of transmission fluid. I learned that to put fluid in the transmission the car had to be on and on a leveled floor. I am grateful that he is my mentor because he helped me a lot on this day. And this actually showed me that working on cars is actually not as easy as it looks.

February 10, 2013 3:00 to 5:30 PM

Today me and my mentor looked at a Toyota Corolla i think it was a 2000 model. Well we open the hood and found that it had a leak somewhere. There was a bunch of oil on the back of the engine so he said there was a hose that was loose. So i got the great job of cleaning the oil. I didn't mind the job because he was giving me the opportunity to shadow him. The day was pretty cool all in all.

February 2,2013 12:30 to 3:00pm

My first day with my mentor was pretty good he basically explained what i was going to do with him and we looked at a car. The car was 2007 Dodge Magnum. We checked the car for technical problems because one of the lights were acting up. The problem was that a wire was loose. I thought it was pretty interesting because i like to mess with electrical stuff. it was a pretty slow day but i liked looking at the car cause it looked really nice.