Auto Parts

Auto parts careers do not usually pay well at the entry level. But if someone has the time and patience not only can this be a fun and rewarding job that can eventually pay well. This is a career that is an excellent choice for those who know about cars but would rather not perform the physical work on them.

Although you may not have to get dirty by turning wrenches a lot of the knowledge required to be in the auto parts business is shared with the knowledge required to be an auto repair technician. Where I work I often discuss highly technical matters with the auto parts counter person.

In fact our parts manager talks to so many technicians throughout the day that she has become quite knowledgeable about the automobile and its systems. She is also on the cutting edge of likely solutions to many different auto repair problems because she gets to see firsthand trends in repairs and failed parts.

As an example although she is a smart lady it doesn’t take an expert to figure out that she has bought 10 or 15 egr valves in the last month for Cummings diesel engines. She responds to this repair trend by stocking an EGR valve on the shelf and replacing it whenever it is dispatched. So now when we need an exhaust gas recirculation valve there is no waiting and the vehicles are up and running quickly.

Other auto parts careers

Working in aftermarket parts distribution is another option for someone who likes cars but does not want to work on them. The word aftermarket refers to a network of businesses that supply replacement auto parts to independent service shops and local dealerships.

A lot of these aftermarket parts distribution centers carry extremely large inventories of many different replacement parts. Warehouse distributors serve as a large distribution center and sell these parts and supplies to shops and driveway mechanics.

Car Parts

Some parts stores focus on individual or walk-in customers. These businesses offer the do it yourself driveway mechanic not only parts but also in some cases advice and testing of suspected failed components. If you take a starter motor into an auto zone in most cases they will be able to bench test the part and determine whether it needs to be replaced.

There are many auto parts career opportunities available in the aftermarket parts distribution network. Companies are constantly searching for knowledgeable people to represent and sell their auto parts and products. For example a sales representative working for an aftermarket parts manufacture should have a good knowledge of the company’s products.

This sales representative can often assist the shop that it deals with in training so that everyone using their products and replacement parts is properly trained and informed. As an example the local aftermarket parts supplier that supplies our shop also holds auto repair clinics once a month after work from 6 to 9. Not only do they provide snacks but they also bring in specialists to discuss certain auto repair topics.

In fact at the last auto repair clinic the local tool man came by and gave us a demonstration of an inexpensive auto scanner that did a nice job. Auto parts careers are perfect for people that enjoy being around the automobile but may not be into the busted knuckles and grease under the fingernails that comes with being an auto mechanic. For more of the latest posts to this website stop by and visit the auto repair information blog.

Diy car repair 84 Prelude

Another factor behind the boom in Diy car repair is the fact that people are keeping their rides longer. After five years of making payments people are hesitant to dive back in for another five or now available seven-year automotive mortgage.

This means they will be keeping their vehicle, on average of an additional three years past the payoff date. As we all know the older a car gets the more things will require fixing.

Preventative maintenance can not only reduce the amount of future repair costs but in most cases is well within the skill set of the average do it yourself auto repair mechanic.

If we look at the big picture 10 years of car maintenance leaves a large opportunity to save money on auto repairs. Performing even just the simple maintenance items on your own car such as air filter replacement and changing your own wiper blades will help.

If you were able to do all of the maintenance schedule, as outlined in your owner’s manual this would add up to even larger savings over that same ten year period. Most car maintenance is considered to be gravy work by professional mechanics.

The reason being is that compared to some repairs on the automobile regular maintenance is much easier to perform and there for more profitable.

How to learn car repair

If you want to mop up the maintenance gravy work, or are interested in increasing your do it yourself auto repair skills you should consider learning more about auto repair. The way I learned was by reading reference materials and applying that new knowledge to actual vehicles.

Learn about auto repair

You can view some of my recommended automotive resources on my page about how to learn car repair. Yes you may not want to start out by working on a Bentley but you can work your way up.

Another good trick is to practice up at the junk yard. Practice taking off a water pump on an old rusted or totaled Monte Carlo before you try the same thing on your wife’s nice Monte Carlo.

Scheduled maintenance is still the best way for new do it yourself car mechanics to get their feet wet. And the owner’s manual that came with the car is the trusted source of what to do and when to do it.

If you do not have your owner’s manual or the vehicle is used. You can still access the vehicles proper maintenance schedule by using online auto repair manuals.

Mitchel Diy manuals is one of my favorite web based programs that can supply a lot of cost-saving information for do-it-yourself auto mechanics. Not only will it tell you what service to perform at what miles but it will also supply factory part numbers and fluid capacities.

This way you know what to get and how much of it you need. Saving money on your automobiles scheduled maintenance costs over a 10-year period can help pay for the next vehicle.

Every preventative maintenance decision you make is important to the future cost of repairs. This is why I recommend quality car repair information as opposed to asking your uncle Burt that may not know as much as you think he does. Car repair self reliance is well worth the time investment in my opinion.

This tool is not only inexpensive, but also provides the quickest route for diagnosis of restricted exhaust systems and leaking EGR valves.

A leaking exhaust gas recirculation valve will cause a low but steady vacuum reading at closed throttle.

This is because EGR flow increases manifold pressure and lowers vacuum.

The engine is designed to tolerate metered amounts of exhaust gases as the throttle is opened. But the efficiency of the cylinders is too low at idle for the engine to accept exhaust gas into the intake charge at closed throttle.

Hence the egr valve is always closed at idle. Or at least it should be unless it is hanging up or not sealing due to carbon deposits on the pintal.

In cases where the valve is stuck wide open, the engine will not start at all. When you have a stuck open EGR valve and the vehicle will not start you will see a vacuum cranking reading of zero.

Where as if the valve is closed a cranking vacuum reading should be around three to 5 inches of mercury.

Restricted exhaust systems

In order for an engine to operate efficiently it must discharge combustion gases at the same rate it draws in the fresh air and fuel charge. When an exhaust system becomes partially blocked this breathing ability is severely reduced.

Instead of combustion gases exiting through the open exhaust valve the gases back up into the cylinder in search of another way out. The path of least resistance then becomes the open intake valve that allows the high-pressure exhaust gases to back flow into the intake manifold.

Under this condition manifold vacuum drops significantly, to check for a restricted exhaust system connect a vacuum gauge to a convenient source of manifold vacuum.

Take a recording with the engine at normal operating temperature and running at around a thousand RPMs.

Next slowly increase the engine speed to 2500 RPMs and note the vacuum reading at that point. If the reading gradually drops more than 3 inches of mercury from the 1000-RPM reading the exhaust system is restricted.

The most likely cause of a restricted exhaust is a clogged catalytic converter. However, don’t overlook the possibility of a collapsed pipe or a damaged muffler stemming from an undercarriage collision. This will also cause low vacuum readings.

Engine diagnosis

Even though today’s power train control systems or extremely sophisticated. They are not capable of compensating for a worn camshaft lobe, a burned intake or exhaust valve, or a loose or stretched timing chain or belt.

Unfortunately, even though these types of mechanical failures create recognizable symptoms of poor performance or rough engine idle, many mechanics get caught up in analyzing the technical stuff like the data stream without even considering mechanical components or hard parts.

That’s why it is so important to follow a logical diagnostic routine. I have more information about where to hook up your guage as well as other things that can be diagnosed with a engine vacuum test.

Online Auto Parts

What about the auto parts counter person. In a previous post I sent a little respect out to the auto repair mechanics of the world.

This led my friend to feel slighted, as his department was completely ignored during my previous post.

So in the interests of fair play this post is about the automotive part specialist.  A parts counter person can have several different duties  and is commonly called a materials person or specialist.

These dedicated people are found in nearly all car dealerships, as well as both retail and wholesale auto parts stores.

They sell auto parts directly to the customer and issue materials and supplies to car repair mechanics in both body shops and automobile service centers.

My friend, Jim M who is a parts counter person is friendly, professional, and very efficient when working with mechanics and customers.

About automotive part specialists

This career is an excellent alternative for those who know about cars but would rather not work on them. Much of the knowledge required to be a technician is also required for a parts specialist. However a counter person will require a few additional skills that a technician can survive without.

Most automotive parts people acquired the sales and customer service skills needed to be successful, primarily through on-the-job experience or training.

They may also gain the necessary technical knowledge on the job or through educational programs and practical experience.

Automotive parts personnel must be flexible

Depending on the store the common duties associated with the position may also include delivery of auto parts.

As well as purchasing a variety of supplies, stocking shelves and maintaining satisfactory inventory levels. They also have to adapt to servicing the needs of both old and newer car owners.

Paperwork responsibilities in the automotive parts department can also include preparing purchase orders, scheduling deliveries, assisting in the receipt and storage of materials and supplies, as well as maintaining a relationship with all vendors on the supply side.

An understanding of automotive terminology, as well as how these complicated high tech systems function is also a valuable skill for any good parts counter person.

Did I mention that car mechanics could be tough customers? Well we can and the parts people have to roll with it.

As far as my friend in the auto parts business goes everybody that has had the pleasure of being served by him appreciates his level of dedication.

And if there is one thing that stands out about Jimmy Mayhews more than anything else, is his ability to deliver the correct auto part the first time. This is why his customers turn into raving fans.

Auto Mechanic

This was an auto repair information blog when I started it two years ago. Things stayed on topic, but changed a little when gas prices started to climb in early 2008. This is also when I purchased the water 4 gas systems and decided to share the details of my project with visitors. In today’s post I wanted to return to the original reason I started this blog. And that was to supply auto repair information for people that like to fix their own cars.

After fielding many questions over the last couple years on my car repair help page I have noticed one very common piece of advice that I continue to dispense. It also happens to be the first step in almost all of my automotive diagnosis procedures that I personally use. And this is the visual inspection. It is very common that I will uncover the cause of the car problem by simply performing a thorough visual inspection.

Auto repair visual inspections

I’m going to provide some examples of what to look for, and some of the most common things that I have found. It would seem that a visual inspection during these winter months are more important then in the summer. But regardless, I perform this procedure as a quick first step in automotive diagnosis no matter what the weather is like.

My first example actually happened yesterday and got me thinking about how I should share this with website visitors. I was working on a 2006 Chevrolet 3500 series van. The driver’s complaint was the check engine light was on.

I scanned the vehicle and found a map sensor code. The first thing I did was perform a visual inspection of the map sensor, the connector and its wiring harness. The first thing I noticed was little black chips of plastic that were laying on the intake manifold. These were obviously pieces from the conduit that protects the map sensor wiring harness.

I followed the harness back and found a spot where a rodent had chewed through not only the protective conduit, but also completely through the ground wire for the map sensor. There was no need for any scientific check engine light diagnosis because it turned out just to be a quick repair of a single wire.

Auto repair diagnosis

Another example of diy car repair diagnosis. My nephew called me from up north and said that he had an ABS light on. I live in Florida now, so I was not able to work on his vehicle. But I did notice in the news that they had recently gone through an ice and snowstorm. So I walked him through some simple steps to do a visual inspection on his own car.

I explained to him where the wheel speed sensors and wiring harnesses were located. When he poked his head around the wheel, he noticed a 15-pound ice burg was stuck and pulling on the wiring harness to his left front wheel speed sensor. Since my nephew is not very mechanically inclined, he was forced to take it in for repair.

But he was armed with the information to provide the service center that saved him Diagnostic time, and also the down time of his vehicle. The weight from the ice and snow that collected on the wiring harness broke the wires where they attach to the sensor head.

Auto repair safety

My nephew would have liked to continue to drive around with the ABS light on as opposed to spending the money on car repairs. In fact, I had to talk to his mother to force the repair to be completed. Antilock brake systems are a fantastic safety feature. During winter weather with ice and snow a properly operating ABS system may save your life or at least prevent damage to your vehicle or other drivers.

In closing I would recommend that when ever you have a warning light on your dash fix it. Either using do it yourself auto repair techniques or a car repair shop. And take a few minutes to perform a thorough visual inspection that is related to your problem. External damage by rodents and road debris can be highly visible and solve your car problems.

When you are tracing electrical circuits using a standard automotive wiring diagram you always want to work from the load or component back to the battery. Find the load device first, for example: light, horn, solenoid or actuator, then find its ground, and then find the battery on the diagram.

Trying to read a schematic from positive battery voltage to negative or ground does not work well. Always work from your load back toward the battery. This rule is important because it gives you a standard and correct direction of diagnosis. If you have proper power and grounds to your load component then you have just solved your problem on the first diagnostic test indicating that the failure is in the device and not in the wiring.

When you are studying troubleshooting manuals and repair diagrams take note that there is usually only one load component per circuit. This simple fact creates a straightforward diagnostic path with better results.

If you are looking at a large repair diagram, and you see more than one load, example starter, light bulb, backup alarm. You will know that each of these items are on separate circuits, and usually run to separate fuses or circuit breakers. In most cases you will find electrical failures isolated to one circuit.

If you find yourself jumping around into multiple circuits for diagnosis, it’s time to take a step back and return to rule number one of electrical problem diagnosis. First sit down and read the repair diagram until you fully understand how the circuit works. This first step may take a little while but will pay big dividends during diagnosis.

Do not be concerned with how long this first step takes it is not a sign of weakness or lack of intelligence. If you take some time to understand the circuit and the flow of the repair diagram you will be able to pick out the malfunction, much quicker. Spend some time now and save a lot of time later.

Just like most things in life the more you use a troubleshooting manual, the easier the repair diagnosis becomes. This is yet another case of practice makes perfect.

If you are interested in fixing your own car I have more information on auto repair manuals and many more articles for the do it yourself auto repair mechanic.

when you are buying car maintenance you want to make sure that you receive what you paid for. A good example of this is that if you frequent a dealership and you purchase their 15,000 or even 30,000 mile maintenance service, there are a lot of things that are supposed to be performed on these checklists.

The 15,000 or 30,000 mile service is usually very expensive and includes many important car safety checks. If you are going to shell out $400 for a 30,000 mile service. Please take the time to review what is supposed to be accomplished During this expensive service.

How to buy car maintenance

A good way to verify that some of these vital safety checks were performed is to ask the dealership to provide information about some of the individual items that are checked. For example, there maybe a spot on the service that requires a brake inspection. Ask the dealership to document the percentage of the brakes that are remaining. In yet another example if the tire inflation is to be checked, again ask the dealership to document the tire pressure in all four tires as well.

As a mechanic that has worked at dealerships for more than 23 years, I can tell you that the technician is paid on a flat rate or percentage basis. The mechanic is motivated to move as fast as he can and may take some shortcuts. This means you have not received a good value for your car maintenance dollar.

Take some time to review, what is included in the individual car maintenance service and ask lots of questions about each item to your service adviser. This will put the dealership service department on notice that you are very hands on and involved in what is being done to your car. This will also make the dealership more likely to complete the maintenance service properly and to cut corners and rush on somebody else’s car.

Car maintenace tip

If your service includes a tire rotation take a minute to mark each tire with a crayon. So that you can verify the tires were rotated during the service. Also when the technician sees these marks on the tire.

He is immediately informed that you are watching him and is more likely to perform all the steps that are included in the maintenance service that you have paid hard earned money for.

Would you like to read more stories about car mechanics and what might happen during your auto service

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I can’t help but break into a story about one of the sharpest most evil service advisor’s I ever met. This man would go through your vehicle and find out as much as he could about the vehicle owner.

He would look for bank statements past due bills and any thing he could get his hands on to find out what your financial position was. He would go through the trunk, the glove box under the seats he was relentless.

One time he came out to my bay and started going through a vehicle and I asked him what he was doing. His reply was making us money. Then He yelled out bingo. I said what did you find.

He said the best thing of all a baby seat and baby toys. He then said this vehicle needs brakes. I said I didn’t look at the brakes yet. He said it didn’t matter what it needed it only mattered what they were getting.

Most people are scammed at some point by the auto repair business

Now in this case the brakes were about 25% remaining so selling brakes to this person didn’t hurt anyone. But the service adviser asked about the baby to set up the sale for family safety reasons.

If the customer hesitated to buy, the service adviser would explain it was for the safety of the baby and how if she performed an emergency stop the vehicle would take longer to stop with worn brakes and he was looking out for her baby. This guy was a shark and pulled down more than $100,000 a year just for selling service.

I tell you this story so you can be on guard if you run into a shark. The shark will start asking you personal questions while you are waiting for the vehicle to be brought into the shop. Not because he cares about you. He is trying to paint a picture of you so he can find the button he needs to push to make a sale. And do not forget to clean out the inside of your car including the glove box. You must protect yourself!

Here is a perfect example of the auto repair business hard at work taking money for unneeded repairs. View one of my online auto repair stories here

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