Apart from having it foisted on me the last couple of years I worked (after the IT guy found another job), I've never done IT. Always straight programming. We had half a dozen people who did stuff like I/O and communications device drivers, low-level system stuff, things like that. Another half dozen on high-level GUIs and whatnot. And we had half a dozen EE's to design the hardware side of the product.
I was so relieved when I hit 65 and could get Medicare. I retired the first day of the month in which I turned 65. IT sucked the life right out of me.
I was interested in changing my plugs 3 cars ago but the engine was sideways and I coudln't figure out how to reach the back 3, so i gave up the idea of bothering with the first 3. 3 more cars like that since. I've never had trouble starting.
I figured out how to reach the back 3 plugs in my 04 Sienna. It was not easy. It did involve removing the wiper mechanism and the plastic tray it sits in below the windshield, and part of the air intake/throttle body to do it, IIRC.
From my son's college fire fighting course - class of ~ 25 people , 4 were hired right away - 3 were auto mechanics ; the 4th was a 10-year volunteer firefighter, class president, etc ... My son got hired on about 10 years later. John T.
The early Ford (1948) 8N tractors had the distributor in front of the engine just behind the radiator. Replacing the points and condenser wasn't convenient. . You might be a redneck if you were at a funeral and popped a beer open at the end of the eulogy.
My Sienna had 130K when I got it. After a few years, I decided it should be done. In the first few months I had it, I replaced ALL the fluids - Brake, Power steering, transmission, differential, transfer box, anti-freeze.
I bought a new car once. Worst problem car I ever had. It started with going into the shop on day 2 for 6 days. BAD investment.
The car wasn't impressive but the entire hood/fender assembly opened forward so you could sit on the tire with the beer on the cowl.
I had a Continental where just the hood opened forward. It had a taste for fuel pumps which were on the front of the engine and damn near inaccessible. Big car, big engine compartment, and a big 430 filling it.
I kept my timing light and bought the scan tool too . I like my old truck with the distributor , my wife prefers something newer with fuel injection and electronic management systems . I still have a tach/dwell meter , one of these days I might have to step back to a points distributor .
Good mechanics are becoming a rare breed . A lot of the people I know that work on cars are parts swappers ... here we are lucky . Lots of older vehicles that need hands-on diagnostics rather than looking at a screen .
Even the new ones require diagnostics. The "screen" just tells you the problem - not the cause. Just because the OBD2 tells you the O2 sensor is reading too rich or too lean does not mean the sensor is bad OR the engine is running lean. Lots of things can cause thew O2 sensor voltages to be out of range, or not clocking. Same with other sensor outputs. It IS true that many "mechanics" just throw your wallet at the problem though - - -
Wow, quite a prediction that in 10 years there will be nothing mechanical to fix.
Too many students get degrees that offer them little in the way of skill to earn a living.
Here are the 10 most popular college majors based on NCES data. Social Sciences and History. ... Engineering. ... Biological and Biomedical Sciences. ... Psychology. ... Communication and Journalism. ... Visual and Performing Arts. ... Computer and Information Sciences. ... Education
In a decade, the internal combustion engine will be a rarity.
Cite some evidence for "too many".
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In 2020, postsecondary institutions conferred 1.0 million associate's degrees. More than three-quarters of these degrees (79 percent) were concentrated in six fields of study:
liberal arts and sciences, general studies, and humanities (400,400 degrees, 39 percent); * health professions and related programs (181,000 degrees, 17 percent); * business2 (116,100 degrees, 11 percent); * engineering technologies3 (48,700 degrees, 5 percent); * homeland security, law enforcement, and firefighting (35,000 degrees, 3 percent); and * computer and information sciences and support services (34,200 degrees, 3 percent).
Postsecondary institutions conferred 2.1 million bachelor's degrees in 2020. More than half (58 percent) were concentrated in these six fields of study:
business (391,400 degrees, or 19 percent); * health professions and related programs (268,000 degrees, or 13 percent); * social sciences and history (160,800 degrees, or 8 percent); * biological and biomedical sciences (131,500 degrees, or 6 percent); * psychology (126,900 degrees, or 6 percent); and * engineering (126,000 degrees, or 6 percent).
So, that's 8% of bachelor degrees in social sciences and history.
And who are you to object to someone's choice of major?
That's partly because cars are complicated and anyone who can be a good mechanic can probably make more money doing else, that is interesting too. Clare is an example of that... He went from mechanic to computers.
I had a friend who ofte talked about working on his car, but it turned out all he did was change belts and hoses. He changed all of them on a used car.
Yes, I had that exact problem. The check engine light was on when I bought the car -- maybe why it was so cheap -- and I figure, "Easy Peezy. I can fix that!" Worked a lot the first summer going through the whole checklist of what causes a lean mixture, a little the second, not all iirc the third, and finally fixed it after 3 1/2 years. I was about ready to start changing sensors, when I leaned a little on the big heavy hose from the air cleaner to the throttle body, and it came off.
I couldn't get it on right, because it had been on wrong for years and was distorted. But a new one fixed things.
I had gone over the engine with a hose from a propane tank looking for an air leak, and I thought I looked everywhere including there too, but now I'm not sure.
So will people that can take care of them. Could be a great trade. You can be a specialist and make wages like a neurosurgeon.
Your barista at Starbucks.
I don't object but don't complain when you can't find a job paying enough to make a good living, buy a house, support a family. Oh, and cannot afford to pay your student loans. You made them, taxpayers should not pay them.
Installing the new one, that wasn't malformed, was easy. Aftermarket, not OEM, from Autozone.
The question occurs to me, Why was it on wrong? Did they get it wrong at the factory and it was wrong ever since, from 2005 to 2017? That's hard to believe. So someone must have taken the hose off and then put it on wrong. The CE light didn't go on for a while and when it did, no one connected it to the previous work, you coudln't tell by looking that it wasn't on all the way, and they never managed to fix it, and the owner bought a new car.
I bought it from a guy who buys cars at auction.
So it must be that some "mechanic" messed it up.
I still got good gas mileage, even before I fixed it. That seems strange too.
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