Y.E.S days

Here are a few pictures from this past Thursday when Kera and I had the opportunity to talk to 7th and 8th graders about the Auto/ Diesel program, as part of the Y.E.S. days. We also showed them the 2018 Freightliner and talked about the DD platform. I think the kids were more interested in the air horn than what we had to say, but that was to be expected.

This is the inside of the 2018 Freightliner.

Here are some students from Caldwell listening to us talk 

about the Freightliner. 

And here is a picture of Kera and I stepping back as the

students were listening to Mr. Nutter

talk about the program. 

Kera and I trying to

stay warm while we waited for

the students to show up. 

Wiring Diagrams

Why is it important to know how to read a wiring diagram? 

In my opinion it is extremely important to understand how to read and utilize wiring diagrams in todays industry. Understanding how to utilize a wiring diagram can greatly reduce time spent troubleshooting and tracing down wires. In todays industry, understanding wiring diagrams is pretty much a necessity. In todays workplace, you probably won't make it very far without some kind of knowledge about wiring diagrams and electronics.

At work, I install all of our "blow and go's." They are a fairly easy system to install. On the "blow and go" , you have two black wires that are for the starter, a red wire that is 12 volt constant, green wire for ignition, and a black for ground. So after finding the wiring diagram for the vehicle you are working on, you the start to take the vehicle apart. I recently had an install for a F150. So I find the ignition switch harness to start to splice my wires in.

With the help of this wiring diagram, I know what color the starter wire is, the ignition wire, and the 12 volt constant. This wiring diagram not only tells you what color the wires are, it also tells you what plug and pin number the wire goes to. I honestly never knew how helpful wiring diagrams could be until I was thrown into doing installs. The 12 volt constant wire is located @ the BCM. Well on this particular truck, the BCM is located in the passenger side kick panel. I knew that there had to be a wire located in the ignition switch harness that ran to the BCM so I looked at another wiring diagram. Instead of running my wire clear to the passenger side, I was able to cut the red/green wire at the ignition switch that was the 12 volt constant wire coming from the BCM.

So, in conclusion knowing how to read a wiring diagram helped me to solve the problem sooner!

Broken parts

At work this past week, we had a Chevy avalanche come in for a brake line leak. So, after flaring a new line and putting it on the truck, it was time to bleed the brakes. No big deal, right? Well I couldn't get the bleeder to brake loose. So one of my co-workers decided he was going to try. So, after beating a socket onto the bleeder, he then attempts to crack it loose using a ratchet. Until, he brakes it off... Great! The customer came in for something simple and ended up having to have a new caliper bought for his truck... I understand that things happen, but when you think you know everything because you are a " strong male" things tend to break.

Back to the Jetta..
I have had the Jetta at the house now for about a month now. I don't have the money to put a new motor in it yet. But I find myself looking at it, and trying to decide what I want to do with it. I thought about getting the head checked and putting new valves in it. In the process of the timing belt coming off, the valves made contact with the pistons. I was looking at the high pressure fuel pump and noticed that the cam follower had worn out causing the cam to rub on the plunger on the fuel pump. And with a little bit of research, the cam follower should be checked every 10-20,000 miles. Well I'm assuming that this had not been done. Here are a few pictures of the hpfp and cam follower. 

 

     

It takes all kinds..

In the majority of my classes, we get put into groups of people that we have to work with for the rest of the semester. Since college is supposed to prepare us for the "real world " we get the opportunity to work with all different kinds of people. People who actually want to learn, and those who don't. People who are genuine, and those that are a**holes. People who have knowledge and those who don't know "anything". People who lift you up, and those that bring you down. People who don't look at you any differently based on your gender, and those who think you will never make it because you are a female or even in some cases just a "stupid" male that doesn't know anything. In the past few semesters, I have had team members that have been all of the above in one way or another... 

In my Diesel engine maintenance class, we have been learning about Kysor vs Horton fan clutches. The truck we are working on has a Kysor fan clutch. We could not get our fan clutch to disengage. We applied air to it, and it still would not turn. With the Kysor type fan clutch, in the event of air pressure failure, the fan clutch remains engaged which prevents the engine from overheating. There are four people including myself in our group. It is extremely hard for four people to be working on something, you typically end up with one or two people standing around doing nothing. So, with the help of one of my team members, we got the fan clutch off the truck and tore apart (I did not take any pictures of that). 

This is the only picture I got of the fan clutch assembly. 

This is a Kysor On/Off Diagnostic Guide that one of our teachers gave us to maybe help diagnose the problem. 

injector removal

This week we removed the injectors in a series 60.