When did mechanics become techs

When wyotech ( and the like) came into the game. Dummed it all down and lowered the wages..

 

you said it swiss50chevy! your a tech when gotta work on cars with computers that communicate with each other with high speed and low speed lan. wtf. some days i want to kill these cars!

 

When daily drive passenger cars & trucks started being built with 800 pounds of electrical wire & hardware in them.

Maybe when you could not make one run with out a CPU - and you needed a scaner to work on one.

Maybe when the price of certain Luxo & sporty cars cruzed past 100k.

 

I remember going to Carb School at GM Training Center in 1958. One week, 8 hrs a day, and there wasn't much that we did not cover, and I became pretty good. LOL Most folks today don't know an air horn from a fog horn. Probably the most important thing I learned that week is, if they put the part on the car, it there for a purpose. Put it back on and make it work. Its designed to be there to do some thing. So today I don't know all the fancy stuff about S/S, FIs, but I know that to make it work well, find the problem, fix the problem, and it will be OK. But the TECKs today are working with things we never thought would be on a car. I had a guy call me cause he (tuned up his Model A) and now it won't start. His son is a Ford factory trained Teck and couldn't find the problem. I set the timing and it was running in 10 mins. But I couldn't fix the new Ford 150 in the drive way. Still a mechanic but not a teck. Iceman

 

It happened when the suits figured out they could call you a tech and pay you a third of what they had to pay a mechanic

 

Please don't tell my mother that I'm a mechanic,she thinks I'm a piano player in a whorehouse

 

And you have to buy more tools and have more training. This is a sore subject for me . I have a lot invested in my career. I didn't go to school for it but I have almost as much in tools as my house. I am ASE master and Have more training from Honda than I care to mention. I was the 4th guy in the country to earn Honda factory Master when they first awarding such a thing. Now I make about 40k a year less than what I was used to. I would much rather work on the mechanical side of it but that don't happen. Once you have half a clue as to how things work you just figure out problems.

 

Several of the guys I know who call themselves 'techs' or 'mechanics' would be more honest if they called themselves 'parts swappers'

 

Up here in Canada, MVMR stands for "Motor Vehicle, Motor Repair". My think-so on this topic is this: once mechanics gave up rebuilding engines (due to flat rate restraints, customer demands - "I need my car ASAP", warranty issues, mechanics taking the shortest path to the WEEKEND and the PAYCHECK, mental stagnation, etc.,etc.), the powers- that- be (Department of Labour) had one more reason to redesignate the mechanic as a Technician.
The Auto Service Technician who took over my Mechanics teaching position (when I retired) had rebuilt only one engine in his entire career and that was under the oversight of trade school instructors. Not being too critical of him, he brings the new technology with him to the classroom. And he is now learning the fascinating art of engine rebuilding because of all the equipment at his disposal. His numerous years at a dealership did not allow him that opportunity.

 

I think it was right afer Garbagemen became Sanitation Engineers...not trying to draw a parallel, or make a joke, but a lot of job titles were upgraded about the same time.

To add a few more (after reading some replys, a lot of "Clerks" became Technician as well...Payroll Technician comes to mind, Wrecking Yards became Dismantlers, etc, etc...

 

About the same time Garbage men became Sanitation Engineers. Damn P.C. bullshit!

 

A college degree makes me a Tech. Thanks. All I need is a white lab jacket to complete the whole car doctor thing!

 

Tools do not make the mechanic nor does a huge tool box!!! I remind this to people I have worked with over the years. I teach old dogs new tricks.

 

X2!!! We have been busy for a long time....all last year, and have stuff waiting Monday.

 

Hey it was just yesterday I couldn't even spell mechanic nows I are one!!!!!!!!!!

 

Hey All,
I'm proud to hold an ASE Master Auto/HD Truck Technician certification for over 20 years but my job title is road mechanic go figure...LOL I currently work for a construction equipment rental company and whoever the dummy was that put computers on construction equipment needs a reality check as the environment they live in is MUCH worse than anything a vehicle will ever see . I drive a 2005 Ford 450 service truck and it just got towed in for the seventh time this year. It always does the same thing and all they do is hook their computer to it and it is healed for $1,500.00 in only 10 minutes. This started at 102,000 miles with a 100,000 warranty I now have 148,000 and I'm going to get it back monday...lol I can babble all day about this but it won't do any good so I'll close.
TTYL,
Bruce

 

When I pumped gas in the mid 80's we were "petroleum transfer engineers" then in the late 80's I was a bodyman that became a "body tech" about the same time bondo became "plastics". but I'm just a maintenance mechanic now.

 

Jake tell me where I can make 30 bucks an hour. please. I can run circles around the fellas I work with and I get 23.35 an hour= Gay as fuck and hard to pay bills. 30 bucks would make life a lot less stressful. I am not one to toot me own horn but I can fix a car or two. I came from 75-80k per year in cali to 35-40k in or. kinda hard to get used to. even though it is cheaper. I could use a new job if anyone has any Ideas.

Eric

 

by the way. they are just cars and not completely hard to fix. the hard part is the changing systems every two years as they get more and more compilcated. try getting used to a new computer every week. kinda like that.

 

I have said this for a long time,

Mechanics can fix shit with hammers and make things work.

Technicians read computers and replace stuff until something works.

 

Hey pizza boy! Don't be a hater on the guys that have a real trade!!!

 

Dude. I have worked for VW AUDI for 9 years and have rebuilt at least 50+ engines.

Ever diagnosed a convertible top with 25+ sensors and communication with 4+ control modules and a few other shops looked at it First.

Or how about a fuel injection system with 1400 psi.

Just checking.

Not like it used to be holmes.......

 

CAN bus WHAT???????

 

Hey you were that customer today that wanted your points adjusted on your 93 saturn sc coupe huh....

douchebag???????

 

Diagnosing is part of it dude....so is troubleshooting, in case you missed it... 1400psi injectors, is that all? I am a Heavy Duty Equipment Technician, and the fuel systems i deal with on a daily basis are more than 5000psi

 

Cool. SO you just hook up a computer and replace stuff on a whim huh. Glad I fully diagnose stuff first. could cost me a lot of money. If Diag and trouble shooting is part of it then I guess you dont just hook up a computer. damn. all the things you learn by doing not talking

 

Am I wrong? You plug the computer in, it tells you what code is tripped, and you replace parts.

Correct?

 

And compared to the 7 psi that your 3x2's run off of that is a shit ton of psi that gets monitored by a lot of things. you don't just throw around 1400 psi and hope it works. crack open the wrong line and your hand is missing.

 

Saturns don't have points.

 

You sound like your about 25 and still in trade school.....Bah! you probably still live with mom and dad!!!

Kids.....