Thursday May 31, 2007

Once I arrived, the mechanic I work with was just about to go on lunch. So he gave me some easy tasks to keep me occupied until he was finished. These included servicing the battery, lubricating all hinges as well as the weatherstripping. The truck I was working on also needed a new mirror, so we took the door panel off, only to find out that the parts department ordered the wrong mirror so we had to reassemble everything. After that was all settled, we did a P.D.I. on a new vehicle. After we completed this, we did a transmission flush and a coolant flush on a truck. Once this was done, the day was pretty much over

Wednesday May 30, 2007

Today we worked on the lincoln aviator from yesterday. The shop manager changed what we were to do on it, we only changed two rims and then changed all 4 tires. Putting the tires on took wuite a while, but after that was done, we put them back on the truck and then started working on the next job. This was a fairly easy job, so I did most of it myself. A ford taurus needed rear endlinks replaced and by the time this was done, it was time to leave. I did not get to g0 on the road test of the lincoln so I don't know if it fixed it, but I will find out tomorow.

Tuesday May 29, 2007

Today Richard came back, and it was a busy day. The day started out by working on a P.D.I. After that I working on a Ford F-250. I did a maintenance 3 and a brake service. This job took a ittle while. After I finished this job, we moved onto a lincoln aviator. The owner was complaining of a vibration. Upon taking the vehicle out, we noticed that we haveworked on this car before and we remembered it had bent rims. So we figured that was the source of the vibration, but we took the truck out for a road test anyways. Upon returning, we decided to suggest the owner replace all for rims and tires. This was a big job so we had to get the approval from the shop manager before giving the estimate to the customer. At this point it was time to leave.

Monday May 28, 2007

Today Richard was away, so I just went to the Fastlane to work for the day. Mostly, it was a very slow day, but I did get a few small jobs to do, like tire rotations. Although at the end of the day I did get my hands dirty. I did a brake service on a Ford F-150. This included wire brushing the brake pads and lubing up specific components the brake calipers.

Thursday May 24, 2007

Today I worked on two Ford Escapes. ON the first one, I changed the lower control arms and the tie rods. There was more work to be done on it, but we left it for another mechanic who wanted the work. After that We moved onto another Escape. On this one we changed the brake shoes on the rear brakes.

Thursday May 24, 2007

Today was a pretty busy day. It was very fast paced. The day started off with a customers van who was complaining of a vibration. It seemed like it was an issue with the tires, so I balanced the wheels and re balanced them. We took the van out following the balance and it revealed to us that the problem was solved. As we returned to the shop from the road test, another job was given to us, it was one of their bigger customer so he got immediate service. We took out his car for a road test for a general check. It showed us numerous components of the front end needed replacing as well as the switch to control the front window. This job was followed by a tire rotation, 4 wheel alignment and a road test on an Escort, then it was time for me to leave.

Wednesday May 23, 2007

Today we started out by working on a work van from UBA inc. We did a maintence 3 on it as well as the rear and front brakes. Additionally, we did a number of other small tasks on it. We then started to work on an older Mercury Grand Marquis which needed 2 new tires. We put the new tires on the rims and then balanced the wheels and put the car back together. After a road test, we gave the car back to a customer. After that we worked on another ford F-350 which needed new tires on it.

Tuesday May 22, 2007

Today was the first day back from the long weekend. THe day started out by working on a Ford F-350 super duty. We balanced the tires and put them back on.
THis was a fairly simple task. After that, we started to work on a FOrd Five Hundred. We did a road test on it and gave it a quick once over to make sure it was in good shape. We did a maintenace 3 on it which consists of lubricating all hinges and weather stripping as well as inspecting major components of the car

May 14- May 17 2007

Something that happened this week that makes me feel that I would want to do this job as a career is the amount of work I did independantly. It gives me a glimpse of what it would be like to be an apprentice or a mechanic. I would not need to change in many ways in order to do this as a career. I would just have to be a little less hesitant to try new things. Additional education that I would need is I would just need some more extensive explanations on certain tools and also some more on the job experience would greatly help. People at my placement enjoy their career because they have always like being around cars and prefer to be working with their hands as opposed to being stuck behind a computer all day.

Tuesday May 15, 2007

Today was a slower day. It started off by doing the brakes on a Ford F-150. This consisted of removing the caliper and caliper bracket, sanding down the bracket and hub, replacing the brake pads, lubricating and re assembling everything. This was followed with replacing the wheel bearing on the same truck. We road tested this truck and it was all repaired so we continued onto the next job. The next job was a big one. Last week, there was a focus with a noise and we could not figure out where it was coming from, well today we were replacing the steering rack to try to fix the problem. This was a big job and was not completed by the time I had to leave. Tomorow I will ask Richard if this fixed the problem.

Thursday May 17, 2007

Today started off with an intersting job. We needed to replace the timing belt and belt tensioner. So while Rich left for lunch, I started removing the wheel well cover so we could gain easy access to the tensioner. Once Rich returned he drew out a diagram of the pulleys so he knew the set-up when he went to put everything back together. After this job, we moved onto a P.D.I. which are pretty routine now so I get them done very quickly. Today was the slowest I have seen the shop in a long time. There was a lot of downtime throughout the day, which gave the mechanics an opportunity to clean up around the shop. I helped with this clean up by moving many tires from the shop floor into the storage room. After a while, it was time to leave, hopefully on Tuesday the work pace goes back to normal.

Wednesday May 16, 2007

Today was a busy day. When I first arrived we did a road test on a Ford Excursion and a generqal check of it. We found out it needed brakes. Richard decided since I have done plenty of brake jobs that I could do this on my own. I did this job on my own and was very satisfied after Richard told me I did a good job. Their was a Barbeque for lunch so we took some time out to go get ome food from the barbeque. Upon returning, we replaced all the necessary parts on a lincoln towncar that I inspected earlier this week. After this was done, another Excursion came in needing brakes and I did this one also on my own. Overall, today was a very satisfying day.

Monday May 14, 2007

Today was a pretty busy day. It was very fast paced. The day started off with a customers van who was complaining of a vibration. It seemed like it was an issue with the tires, so I balanced the wheels and re balanced them. We took the van out following the balance and it revealed to us that the problem was solved. As we returned to the shop from the road test, another job was given to us, it was one of their bigger customer so he got immediate service. We took out his car for a road test for a general check. It showed us numerous components of the front end needed replacing as well as the switch to control the front window. This job was followed by a tire rotation, 4 wheel alignment and a road test on an Escort, then it was time for me to leave.

May 7- May 11 2007

I have had alot of opportunities at my placement. Once and a while there is talk of a possible part-time job once my placement is over, but nothing is finalized yet. Also, this whole experience would be considered an opportunity. Not everyone aspiring to be a mechanic will have the benefit of co-op and I see this experience as an advantage in the future. My parents think that co-op is "great" and that I am getting a lot of valuable experience from it. The typical problems in my workplace are people bringing in their vehicles with nothing wrong with them. They compain of noises that are normal and it is a waste of time for the mechanics when they could be working on other jobs. The Highlight of the week was when I installed the control arms on the Focus by myself. It gave me a boost on confidence knowing that I am able to do jobs by myself. The low point of the week was when I was having problems with the tire machine and getting the tire off. It was very frustrating, and it was very hot in the shop which added to the frustration, so I decided to grab a drink and take a little break which helped a lot. Before co-op is over, I want to get a job at Oak- Land Ford.

Friday May 11, 2007

The day started as usual, with Richard leaving for lunch. While he went on lunch, I was assigned to change a set of tires from the winter tires to the summer tires. This was taking longer than expected and was not done by the time Richard was back and he decided to finish it off himself. Once this was done, I took the rims and put them back on the truck. I took the winter tires and put them in bags then into the truck of the car to be returned to the owner. We roadtested the truck to make sure there were no vibrations, and there wasn't so it was ready to be returned to the customer. Next, we did a P.D.I. Following the P.D.I. there was a Mercury Sable that needed a brake job, as well as new shocks and struts. I have not done struts yet so I watched Rich do them. It seemed fairly simple, but could be very dangerous since we are dealing with compressed springs. Once this was done, they were installed on the car and it was time for me to leave.

Thurdsay May 10, 2007

Today was a busy day. When I arrived, Richard was just leaving on lunch. So, he gave me lower control arms to install on a Ford Focus. I was mostly completed the job by the time he came back from lunch. I was very proud of doing this job by myself. The reason that this was done was because the owner was complaining of a clunking noise while going over bumps. After a road test, we found out that the new parts did not solve the problem, so we decided to put on new inner tie rods. This did not fix the problem, so we decided to start working on a new car. We did a P.D.I. and then by the time this was completed, it was time for me to leave,

Wednesday May 9, 2007

Today was a busy day. I started the day out by sanding and grindaing rust and other impurities off of brake rotors and the fron hubs on a Ford Escape. This was done while Richard was on lunch. When he returned, we changed the tires on the Escape. This was a fairly easy job so I was told to do this. Once this was completed, the wheels were remounted in the truck. This was followed by a roadtest and then it was ready for delivery to the customer. After this job was completed, we needed to replace the powersteering pump on an older Ford van. This was taking longer than expected and was not completed by the time I left.

Tuesday May 8, 2007

Richard came back today from his extended weekend. We started the day off by setting the tire pressures to 35 psi's and set it up for alignment. After that I took the summer tires out from the trunk of a customer's truck. I then took off the wheels, but later on in the day I needed to put them back on so the tune-up guy could take it for a test drive to give an estimate on how much it would cost the owner to get the rear end rebuilt. ONce this truck left, Richard showed me how to do a tire repair. It is fairly easy and I can see myself doing lots of these in the future. After this, another customer's car was brought in and the tire had a leak in it. We took the tire off and we determined that the tire could not be repaired. Later, an employee's vehicle had been brought in with the owner complaining af a rattle, after a road test we could not here the rattle. But after we lifted the car up and did some tests, we could hear the noise. BUt before we had time to figure out the source of the noise, I had to go put some wheels back onto a truck, and then it was time to leave. Hopefully tomorow I can find out where the noise was coming from.

Monday May 7, 2006

Today Richard was not here, so I went back to the fastlane to work with dave, and Jim. The day started off slow, but eventually I got my fair share of work to do. I started off by balancing wheels off a van. This was very simple and did not take long. After this, we did a tire rotation on a car. This was followed by a seasonal tire change which I completed all by myself. A seasonal tire change includes dismounting the winter tire off the rim, which is followed by remounting the summer tire on the rim. Then you take the wheel and balance it. Then place it back on the car. After this, I did another rotation on a Ford Escape. This Is when Mr. Grace came in and took some pictures of me and the Fastlane. This took up pretty much the whole day and it was time to leave. Tomorow Richard is coming back.

April 30- May 4 2007

Since starting co-op, I feel different about myself. I am alot more confident when working around cars and especially with the tools. I also feel alot more independant since I am given more independance at co-op than I did at school in auto class. I've learned alot about myself from co-op. I realized I used to be very reluctant to try new things, but now I do new things almost everyday at co-op and it is a very good learning experience for me. I've learned that my supervisor has a lot of responsibility. He has the resposibility to make the company money, to get vehicles in and out of the shop as quick as possible all while ensuring that the customer is satisfied. I've learned alot about working with others. I learned that since other people's work habits may differ from mine does not mean that they are wrong. I should always listen to what others have to say. Now I am more comfortable with everything. I am more comfortable in the enitre work environment, but especially with the tools. To show initiative at my workplace, you have to do things before someone tells you to do them. What I remember most about this week is when I did the endlink replacement on my own on the Mustang, I am very proud that I did that without any assistance.

Friday May 4, 2007

Today the day started off like a normal day. Richard was just leaving for lunch and I just cleaned up around the area which we work in. When he returned, we began to work on a Canada Post Van, which needed it's shocks replaced. The nuts holding the shock on was seized so we needed to get the torches to loosen the nut so the shock could be removed. We did this on both sides. After that, we did an alignment on the van and road tested it. This job was followed by a convertable mustang who's owner was complaining of a clunking noise while cornering. We did a road test and this test revealed a broken end link. This was an easy job, and since the parts were in stock, I started the job, but then had to leave since the time was up. Monday Richard will not be there, so I will probably work in the Fast Lane where I first started.

Thursday May 3, 2007

Today, as I arrived Richard was just getting back from lunch. We were working on a van. It was a Windstar and the complaint was that the ABS was not always working. We did a road test which did not provide us with any conclusive results. We had to resort to a new technology which I have not used before at Oak-Land. We used a computer to clear the codes on the vehicle. The codes told us that the wheel speed sensors were failing, but after a road test and other computer simulations, this proved false. We checked all the terminals on the module for breaks, but this was not the source of the problem. This is the only job we worked on all day and by the time I was leaving, we had still not found a solution to the problem.

Wednesday May 2, 2007

Today we started off working on a Lincoln Navigator. Richard was leaving as I was arriving. He told me to remove the calipers and pads from the truck. I was finished this by the time he came back from lunch. I then sanded down the bracket to remove the rust which had formed which could lead to sqeaky breaks down the road. Once the fron brakes were done, we moved onto the back brakes. This proved to be a real hassle. The rear rotors were rusted on so we had to take the truck out for a drive and periodically apply the parking brake to remove all the rust which had built up. Once we returned to the shop, a few good hits with the hammer and the rotor was off. This was easier since the rear rotors were in alright shape, so they only needed to be machined. Once this was done, we took it for a road test with showed us that the vehicle was ready to be returned to the customer. It was time to leave after that, hopefully tomorow is a good day.

Tuesday May 1, 2007

I did not attend co-op today.