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Educate in the sense of saving money and avoiding any potential rip-offs or advantage taking from any particular shop.
I've only taken a manual transmission repair course at a local college back in '02, but even I felt I was picking up things pretty quickly when it came to the different vehicles that were brought in.
I haven't owned a car myself in 6 years due to a rather, horrifying event with a shop I'd like to forget.
However, I'm looking at getting something simple for long trips than I could handle on my bicycle and before I do so, I'm even looking at taking the entire series of auto tech courses, Diesel included, for the sole purpose of taking care of the machine myself.
Not to mention it will give me an even greater excuse to get some of those awesome socket sets as well.
depends on what class, and how expensive it is. Going to a place like wyotech or UTI where it costs 20,000+ would seem silly. Check your local community college and see if they offer a program like that. Chances are they have the "exact" same program and it will cost around $5-7k, of course the cheapest option is to just buy a Chitons/Haynes/google and FSM for your year make and model and start wrenching.
depends on what class, and how expensive it is. Going to a place like wyotech or UTI where it costs 20,000+ would seem silly. Check your local community college and see if they offer a program like that. Chances are they have the "exact" same program and it will cost around $5-7k, of course the cheapest option is to just buy a Chitons/Haynes/google and FSM for your year make and model and start wrenching.
I avoid those places like the plague and have mainly been looking at CCs in areas I'm thinking about moving/employment transfer to.
I've already looked at the CC in Chandler AZ and even one where I was living, SBVC in San Bernardino.
With both of these places having Auto, Diesel, and even Aviation tech programs, it's all about seeing where I'm planning on going once I get my six months completed down here in Clovis.
The various guides you mentioned, Google, and the FSM are helpful, but I'd rather get some hands-on training with some ex-techs so I could increase my chances of doing it right the first time.
I've always been a bit of second-guesser and classes like these I feel will somewhat lessen that train of thought as well.
CC's offer the most comprehensive and cost effective schooling in the biz. The for-profit training centers don't turn out better techs than they do ... and many times, in my experience, they aren't as qualified to work on stuff as the CC program grads.
As far as manuals go ... the Chilton/Hanes level of information is almost next to worthless when you are looking for information beyond the simplest maintenance procedures. Far better, although pricey, is to get the FSM for a given vehicle. The best information source is to get a single-vehicle subscription from Mitchell1 at a nominal cost per year; available on the 'net, it has the advantage of comprehensive information and updates; ie, recalls, updated service/repair information, TSB's, tips from other techs, wiring diagrams in color ... a wealth of information that isn't in the published FSM and most certainly is not available from the entry level owner's manuals.
Back in the days when I was teaching euro motorcycle repair at Cycle Institute of America, we had a high percentage of people who were taking the classes solely to learn how to work on their own bikes, not go into the trade. My impression was that they were generally satisfied with the product, and the people taking the classes on that basis were more engaged than the youngsters who were there on public monies (many of whom were under court orders to go back to school or face time in the justice system). Like any other adult learning situation, it's what you make of it. If you are planning to use this training for your own enjoyment and satisfaction of working on your own stuff, you'll find the current level of technology in cars to be very interesting.
CC's offer the most comprehensive and cost effective schooling in the biz. The for-profit training centers don't turn out better techs than they do ... and many times, in my experience, they aren't as qualified to work on stuff as the CC program grads.
As far as manuals go ... the Chilton/Hanes level of information is almost next to worthless when you are looking for information beyond the simplest maintenance procedures. Far better, although pricey, is to get the FSM for a given vehicle. The best information source is to get a single-vehicle subscription from Mitchell1 at a nominal cost per year; available on the 'net, it has the advantage of comprehensive information and updates; ie, recalls, updated service/repair information, TSB's, tips from other techs, wiring diagrams in color ... a wealth of information that isn't in the published FSM and most certainly is not available from the entry level owner's manuals.
Back in the days when I was teaching euro motorcycle repair at Cycle Institute of America, we had a high percentage of people who were taking the classes solely to learn how to work on their own bikes, not go into the trade. My impression was that they were generally satisfied with the product, and the people taking the classes on that basis were more engaged than the youngsters who were there on public monies (many of whom were under court orders to go back to school or face time in the justice system). Like any other adult learning situation, it's what you make of it. If you are planning to use this training for your own enjoyment and satisfaction of working on your own stuff, you'll find the current level of technology in cars to be very interesting.
Agreed, Haynes and Chilton contain general repair info and Mitchell is far more detailed. My local library has an extensive collection of Mitchell repair manuals both foreign and domestic dating back to the early 90's. The only problem is that they are reference only, so you can't sign them out. I always bring my camera, so if I need to I can take a snapshot of wiring diagrams etc., I can. When I need info, that's where I head.
It is a little confusing as to what you expect to gain from 'taking an auto tech course"Every driver should own ,read, and understand the service manual for his car for several reasons. First by understanding how your car works you can do many simple repairs yourself and save money if you have a basic mechanical ability. Next even a good novice mechanic will from time to time find things he just cant fix and then have to seek help from a pro . Your mechanical knowledge of YOUR car will help in dealing with a pro mechanic and can let him know that you are too educated to lied to about what is wrong with your car. As far as taking a course unless you plan to get hands on experience and make auto repair a hobby or a vocation I think you are wasting your time.
It is a little confusing .... Your mechanical knowledge of YOUR car will help in dealing with a pro mechanic and can let him know that you are too educated to lied to about what is wrong with your car. As far as taking a course unless you plan to get hands on experience and make auto repair a hobby or a vocation I think you are wasting your time.
You've just conflicted yourself.
OTOneH, it's good to have mechanical knowledge of YOUR car ...
and,
OTOH, it's a waste of time to take a class unless you're going to make this a hobby or vocation ....
There's a lot of personal satisfaction to be gained from studying subjects which will never be a hobby or vocation; it's called the "joy of learning" and many people pusue extended studies into subjects which will never be more than an academic exercise. And the OP stated that they wanted to be able to be knowledgeable about auto repairs in light of prior less than satisfactory experience with the repair industry.
As far as "every driver should own" .... blah blah blah. BS. Most drivers will not understand or need to know most of the stuff in the FSM for their vehicles, nor should they be so encumbered. No more than I need to know what goes into my computers' inner working or the programming. It's a tool to me. Take it out of the box, set it up, connect it to my aux equipment, and put it to work. Same for most folk and a car; put gas in it and drive. They don't need to know how or why so many of the functions creating an end result are achieved.
I love having an idea of what the problem is and knowing about how much it will cost. I'm not thrown for a loop most times and, know if an estimate is fair or not.
I would say that taking courses just to learn how to wrench on your own car is probably going to be a bit of a waste of time and money.
For starters, there's hardly any mechanics out there that are "jack of all trades" types these days... it's becoming highly specialized. Now sure, taking a course that teaches you how to work on drum brakes would be helpful... if your car was 30 years old and still had them. Teaching how to do a brake job (especially with disc brakes these days) is pretty damn easy and can be figured out on your own.
You really need to decide what type of car you are going to get first. Once you've done that, find a factory service manual on ebay for cheap, and then sign up for an internet forum for that car. There's forums out there for most popular types of platforms, whether it's a car or SUV, foreign or domestic, etc. If you're buying a fairly new car, then invest in a OBD2 scanner, or even better one that is car specific. Cars today have just about everything controlled by sensors and computers, and will spit out a code when something goes wrong. Plug in the code reader, find the problem, check the service manual on how to replace, and start wrenching.
All that being said... I took classes in high school to teach me the basics, for free. Even got HVAC certified through it to work on A/C systems. However, this was 20 years ago. Not too many specific lessons learned then even apply today. I think if you are serious about working on your own vehicle, then you don't need to take a class, you just need to know how and where to find the correct info, and have the confidence in yourself to just do it.
Good luck
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