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MovingShadow

MovingShadow

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For some time now I've been considering of going back to school while keeping my current job.

Would be more adult school that would take place once or twice per week and from 18h00 until 22h30.

I would also ask for a kind of vacation you can ask at work that is for going back to school (educational absence) so I get paid for going to school.

Thing I'm interested in is car mechanic. Even if it's just for hobby or in the end, professional use. I'd love to be able to take a car apart and put it back together myself.

Is there anything that I should consider or not to underestimate?
 
a customer has requested that you look at his car. he reports that the engine isn't warming up to temperature and the heaters are only working at setting 3. what could be a possible cause for heater only working at setting 3?

A) A faulty Rheostat
B) A faulty heater fan motor
C) Thermostat stuck in the fully open position
D) A leaking heater matrix


(answer = A) so theres usually 3 levels. level 1 is kids mechanics, literally what they teach to kids in high school. level 2 is in depth where it's more hands on ... stripping down engines, brakes, transmissions, cooling systems, suspension and steering strip downs ... loads of cool stuff like that. level 3 is basically all diagnostics and electronics. level 3, about 80 percent of the time you'll have a multimeter in your hand trying to track down problems with emissions etc it's a pain in the neck! A level 2 course would be perfect for you Matteo, the question i gave you is the sort of question you get on a level 2 course exam.

level 2 - engines was my favourite part of the course. getting to strip down engines to their very cores. remove piston crowns, connecting rods and big end bearings. remove crankshaft and measure for end float and run out of the flywheel etc, timing belts, clutch replacements, basic electrical stuff like testing sensors for voltage / resistance.
sorry for going on a little bit but i thought you might appreciate a bit of a better description on what to expect and what course may be right for you :D

best of luck Matteo dude!
 
Did you ever apply for anything? :)
And does Anybody know what'd be best for doing this in the UK?
College? Uni?
Needs to be on a night aswell as I work through the day
 
sullii94":3hwclwqw said:
Did you ever apply for anything? :)
And does Anybody know what'd be best for doing this in the UK?
College? Uni?
Needs to be on a night aswell as I work through the day
Click to expand...

i'm not sure there are any courses or uni's which will offer city and guilds / IMI courses as evening classes. infact, to be honest i've never heard of such a thing. you can however get evening classes sometimes on the basics of car maintenance and such likes.

the imi / c&g courses are full time or part time if i remember correctly and are ran throughout the day

my advice to you would be to buy yourself a project car, a gumtree £250 special and get yourself a basic tool setup - 1/2'' socket set and ratchet, spanners, torx bits, male and female torx sockets, allen keys, 1/2'' and 3/8 torque wrenches and a multimeter .... the best way to learn about a car is to get yourself a good book such as hilliers / heinneman and then go to town on it yourself, you have the internet available to you incase you get stuck or are confused about anything :)
 
Got all the tools I would need in the garage! My dad's got about 30 years worth of them, so I suppose I could steal them if I ask nice enough :)
I was thinking that would be the best idea! The twingo probably isn't the best car for taking apart to learn! Ha!
Had a look at some college courses but you're right I think it's just the basics, would like to learn to weld aswell, but I suppose it'll be the same again? Get some scrap metal and go to town on it :)
 
all you'll be doing in college is working on the worst of bangers, and be left to your own devices .... when you get stuck, if you can pry the lecturer away from his class favourites then you might get some help!!!! the only difference between college and teaching yourself, is that you get to use cool equipment such as expensive emissions testers + access to ramps... and you'll get a piece of paper at the end of it saying you're awesome :p

welding isn't a part of any automotive course unfortunately, that's something you'd need to teach yourself. but basic welding is easy enough. in my oppinion anyone can weld, the only ability you need is a fully working arm and hand lol ... the rest is just practice, smoothing your lines etc getting the hand steady. i have a welding machine that's cheap and cheerful and does everything i need it to in terms of MOT repairs such as welding sills, floor pannels etc. self taught!
 
Sounds like being at school then! Ha! Self taught is probably the best bet then :D that'd be the only difficulty I think not having access to a ramp :/
You can take welding courses though can't you? Although you're probably right self taught would be best! Would like it to be neat though, not look like some 5 year old did it :lol:
 
practice practice practice dude. it's the number one rule of welding, practice! ask any professional welder, they'll tell you if they stopped for 6 months they'd be back to square one as it's all about a steady hand that's 90% of welding. the rest is knowing what kind of weld you need for each application, and knowing that kind of wire etc blahh blahh blahhhhh ..... you get the point lol :)

might be some night classes somewhere on welding? can your dad not teach you? no better a guy to learn from than your dad i say.
 
Thought practise would be a lot of it, just like anything really...
Will have a look around at courses etc, see if there's any decent ones, or I might just invest in a welder myself and see how it goes :D
 
Well today I made a deciscion.

I registered myself to a 'Gespecialiseerd ondernemer voor het auto- en motorbedrijf (optie autotechniek)'

Which means (translate) Specialized enterpreneur for car- and motor company (option car technics)'.

It's a 3 year evening course.

Starts with the basic about car mechanics and ends in company management.
 
i'm going back to college this year to do a welding and fabrication course 1 day a week for a year, on a fast track (a 2 year part time course crammed into 1 year) so it's slightly more advanced. I really need to get my welding certificates so that I can properly make braces with certification etc :D


well done on getting into college! although those translations make no sense, your english is usually excellent lol but that attempt at a translation was absolutely one to be forgotten :p(L)
 
Well technicaly it's not college degree (I think).

At the end you get a certificate rather than a bachelor diploma that are given in college.
 
Nice one MS, you'll enjoy it no doubt!! Have fun and we are all here to help if you need it.
 
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