That movie is so old that the guys that were techs back then are long dead as is the technology. I started working on new cars in 1980 and the Bosch fuel injection we had then was like carburetors to the engine management systems we have now. In 1983 the DME in a 911 had about 100 map points for the fuel injection, the latest have 10,000. Somebody said 3 - 4 control units....some models have over 50! And they all communicate with one and another over a CAN bus. But the basics still apply when diagnosing an engine running problem; you still need spark, fuel, compression and timing. A vacuum guage still works great on any engine. This week I used one on a 2006 model to diagnose a broken valve spring. Good techs are in very short supply nowadays and a good one can make excellent money, especially working on high end euro trash. I have to take a test in a few weeks to re-cert my ASE L1 which I'm dreading.
The two MOST important points shown in this film are it's emphasis on continuous learning and it's emphasis on always doing the best you can. While not true for everyone, these two traits are sorely lacking in today's American culture.
I was told the other day that I'm a mechanic and they'res a great shortage of them nowadays. I took that as a great compliment. As far as the kids doing northstar swaps and such, I ran across a tech at a local repair facility who had a 04 suburban's heads off. I was amazed at that. He however said it was easy. He had a 66 mustang that was freaking him out with the points. I showed him the secret and even let him keep the match book as a complimentary perk. 2 weeks later I get a call and he's frantic. 69 Chy New Yorker. "It has two of the sumbiches??!!"
Great clip! That is the problem nowadays - all schools want to teach is how to sit in a cubical and tap a keyboard. Its rare that you find a public schools actually teaching how to do something - whatever happen to shop class?? I remember when I took shop in the 1970's they said something about neck ties and spinning machinery - what was it now?
"Plug it in, find the code, and replace the part (hopefully under warranty!)." I'm guessing you don't work on late-model cars for a living because you clearly have no idea how complicated the job really is. I get really frustrated by customers that think there's just some magic "diagnostic machine" that we plug a car in and it tell's us everything that's wrong with it. I'm sorry, I enjoyed the clip and know you probably meant no harm by your comment. I just think you're under-estmating the amount of time, training and experience that goes into being a professional, modern mechanic. Sorry if I took your comment the wrong way. I'm kind of a spaz. Jay
Solid points here, fellas. I think this is something the general public just doesn't understand - how a tech is half called that for being a mechanic and half for being a computer geek. Sad thing is, I don't really think auto mechanic salaries have really kept pace. Sure computers make some aspects of our jobs easier, but shouldn't we be making more like what an IT specialist does since we have a largely overlapping skills set? Of course it comes down to whatever the market will bear, so I guess maybe the best we can hope for us credit from our peers.
The Jalopy Journal
