Foundational Skills: Do you have them?

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Foundational Skills: Do you have them?

Micheal Smyth • Sep 21, 2021

I was lucky to grow up in a time before...

I was lucky to grow up in a time before video games, computers, the Internet, and other immersive indoor activities.

Don’t worry, this isn’t going to be one of those “I had to walk to school five miles in the driving snow, uphill both ways” articles, but some groundwork needs to be laid. Instead of an Xbox, smartphone, tablets, and high-end computers (all of which I have now, to be truthful), I had a bicycle, scrap lumber, a go-cart, and a shed full of tools, nails, screws, and bolts. I grew up building things, tearing stuff apart and reassembling, and determining how to use things for tasks they were not initially designed for.

I had a great childhood.

The skills I learned from being a destructive soul with access to lots of mechanical items helped me develop a curious mind and gave me the self-confidence to approach a problem with the attitude that I could figure just about anything out as long as I applied myself. When I wanted to use a 12 horsepower motor from the neighbor’s lawnmower on my go-cart, I figured it out. I even built what had to be one of the world’s first mountain bikes by haphazardly adding the gears from my sister’s ten-speed to my 20 in banana seat bicycle (sorry, Diann.)

And then I went through my electrical phase. How many of you children of the seventies remember Heathkit? For those not in the know, Heathkit sold kits to build something as simple as a breadboard beeper or as complex as a television. My father, a very patient man, steered me in this direction after I had disassembled my new cassette recorder on Christmas morning in an attempt to hook it up to our home stereo. My first kit was a simple crystal radio, but it got me hooked. That simple kit morphed into a birthday gift of an electricity educational system where spring-loaded terminals and leads could be connected to build hundreds of different systems that not only were fun but taught electrical theory along the way.

A few years ago, my work at West Virginia University’s National Alternative Fuels Training Consortium took me to automotive technical colleges around the nation, and I still have great friends in that industry. Anytime we discussed the state of their programs, the conversation always circled to the successes and failures of their current student enrollees. However, one statement always stuck with me. A department head from a school in the Midwest stated, “I love it when a farm kid enrolls. They’ve spent their life working on equipment and understand how to use tools effectively and understand electrical systems.” This same midwest school was in the process of developing an introduction to tools and electricity class for new enrollees, as many students entering their automotive program couldn’t use essential hand tools correctly and barely knew the difference between AC and DC circuits. Some get these necessary skills organically; others need them to be taught.

The issue of understanding basic electrical is not solely a challenge for just the new automotive student. Techs that have been in the industry for years sometimes struggle with effective electronic diagnostic capabilities not because they aren’t capable of grasping the theories but rather that they just have not had the opportunity or drive to seek out the training. For those of you in the industry, how often have you seen someone continually throw parts at an electrical gremlin only to find out that the issue was just a fundamental ground or something a voltage drop test would have discovered? How will this tech effectively work with ADAS and electric vehicles if they cannot correctly use a DVOM? Quality training on automotive diagnostics is essential for the new and established tech. Each and every one of us can always learn more and help us perform our jobs better and have more self-fulfilling results at the end of the day.

One of the things I got excited about when the folks at ATech asked about the articles I’ll be writing for them is the opportunity to discuss the importance of foundational skills. Unfortunately, not everyone was lucky enough to grow up with low expectations and access to a well-stocked tool shed as I did. If not acquired before enrollment in a trade school or employment, these basic skills will need to be developed in school or on the job. Perhaps one of our most significant challenges as an industry will be to establish the opportunity for automotive personnel to access this foundational training without bruising their ego. No one wants to be the person in the class who raises their hand when something isn’t understood, but we will continue to spin our educational wheels without such an opportunity.

I brought up HeathKit earlier for a reason. Training organizations are building the modern-day version of electric HeathKit trainers that educate on the key skills that new and established techs may be missing, including the three fundamentals of measuring electricity, voltage, amps, and resistance. Understanding these three and how they relate to each other is the first step in effective electrical system diagnostics. Perhaps a broader use of these tools can circumvent the ego, as mentioned in the earlier challenge. I hear from automotive colleges and training organizations that practical education exercises need to start with training tools, then move into on-vehicle diagnostics for the best, well-rounded pathway to acquiring this critical skill.

Again, this training is valuable to all technicians. Some senior automotive techs have been around before the rapid application of electronics and networks commonplace in today’s vehicles. One quote that I’ve always kept around from an unknown source states, “We’re not mechanics; we’re automotive technicians. You practically need to be an I.T. guy to work on newer cars.” Coupled with the industry statistic that 70% of diagnostic procedures performed today deal directly with electrical systems and components emphasizes the need for this skill set to an even greater extent.

Working toward an excellent grasp of those fundamental skills is an essential and rewarding step to being the best diagnostic and repair automotive tech. Just because this skill is lacking in today’s world doesn’t make it a deal-breaker. Recognizing a challenge is the first step in conquering it.

- Micheal Smyth

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Engines of the Future are Already Here!

By Jeff Bogue • 12 Dec, 2023

I have been dreaming about and studying engines and engine performance of cars, trucks, and motorcycles for the better part of 45 years. It’s a hobby. It keeps me busy on cold winter evenings. It’s something that has become a large part of my life and, like playing with dogs, is something I love to do. I have written about engines and the engineering that is involved in them for the last 15 years, and I have always been forward-thinking. When a new engine is being lauded by the manufacturers as the next big thing, I read all about it and report those findings here. In the past, I have written about every one of the engines in this article at one time or another, and each one was glowingly revealed by the engineers with the statement “We can expect these engines in our cars in the next few years”. Well, a few years have passed and now most of these engines ARE in our cars and trucks and should be reaching repair shops and dealerships now. We just haven’t heard that much about them because people, as a general rule, really don’t care that much about which engine is in their car if it gets good gas mileage, is reasonably reliable, and has a little umph to get on the highway. Well, that is not us. We care. We study it. It’s what we do and why you are where you are reading this article. Without further ado, let us look at the “Engines of the Future” that you can buy (and service) now.