Hello, my teenager just graduated high school and is interested in automotive repair. What is the best route to go about this? We have looked in to UTI but also our local community college. UTI would be a 2 1/2 hour drive from our home and we would probably need to look for housing for him close by. We are in the Los Angeles area to be more precise in the Antelope Valley (Palmdale). Can someone give us some good advice/guidance. Thank you in advance.

Hey guys, I need a little help with ODIS.

I'm in an aftermarket shop and we have ODIS which I've been able to use for replacement ECUs and adding keys etc. I'm currently having trouble with a used transmission I installed in my personal 2017 A4.

I went through the guided function of replacing the control unit. I copied my old control unit, replaced the transmission, and when i went to write the new unit I didn't have both keys on me so I told ODIS that I didn't have them both and it aborted the procedure. I got the second key and went to write the used unit with info over the server since the old control unit was no longer accessible (it's on the bench). It walked me through writing both keys to the immobilizer and looks like it succeeds except it throws two codes.

P062F00 - Internal Control Module EEPROM Error

P170100 - Transmission control module locked

When I look at module information it reads all the hardware, software, and various other data except under VIN it says something about an EEPROM error. I'm guessing for some reason my VIN didn't write.

Is there something I need to do to address component protection or something along those lines? I can put the old mechatronics unit in but the used transmission has 70,000 miles less than my car so I figured that unit would be an upgrade and I already filled it up with expensive ass fluid so I'd rather not do the swap.

Thanks all.

A little bit high after 12 hours weekend shift and over 10 shots. the guys who removed CAT to grain couple horse power is the worst human being ever. I have zero respect to them.I told the young guy in my shop face to face after he idols his civic in shop. Killing the earth with no reason..

I work at an independent shop in town. Last tech I knew at the dealership has since left. This is for my personal vehicle. I’m looking for someone with access to techline to request a bcm vci update to add rpo code UF3 per UI Bulletin #82H. We have a mdi and access to acdelco tds but since we’re not dealer we don’t have techline. WILLING TO PAY TO BE ABLE TO USE A LOGIN. Thanks

I’m going into my first winter season as a full time mobile mechanic, so I’m going to be outside in the cold all day. In charlotte it is half around 45-50 degrees, but that is super cold to me…. Any advice on what to buy to help stay warm, whilst staying comfortable and ready for the job?

Im 17, looking for the next step in life as for im a senior in school. Ive expressed deep interest in going to UTI (the auto school lol) and the dream would to be a porsche tech. Im obsessed with porsche and love the brand and think it would make work fun/enjoyable and able to look forward to. Ive been involved in the aftermarket scene all my life for my dad owns a suspension and sort of a one stop shop for aftermarket parts. Im doing quite decent in school and taking a few advanced classes. I could totaly go to college and learn maybe industrial design for i would say im creative. I dont know what to do and as of now im leaning towards chosing the technician route. Please let me know advice! Thank you

I used to use detroit axle a lot in the shop and 3 times personally. Normal white box rotor repackager. This last time I was incorrectly charged 4 times, the listing was wrong, and the customer service called me thomas, told me to fix it with my bank as they are keeping it, and now are emailing me multiple times a week, signed me up for their email against my will, and seem to have signed me up for spam lists after I contacted them regarding the ussues. Spoke/emailed with Noah, Maddie, and Steph. All almost illiterate and 100% unhelpful. My bank got my money back 4 days later thankfully, but they are no longer trustworthy to me. I have since started using auto shack and trq and it seems like the same white box stuff same as advanced auto etc. Anyone have a better option? Detroit axle was one day shipping for us so it's a bummer they suck now. I assume the herd will be thinning supply chain wise once the tariffs hit.

Good afternoon day my fellow mechanics

Currently I have two job options, Porsche or Maserati, fiat and Alfa Romeo

Little back story about me

I'm currently a Chrysler Technician, but as well do used cars.I have done engine on all makes and models as well as build Subaru engine because of my skill. I feel under paid and not appreciated where I'm at. I know my worth. I toss a hook out there and caught multiple offer. But the fallowing two caught my eye. I love Porsche and have done all of work on them, as well as my Chrysler training transfer into fiat, Alfa Romeo, ano Maserati.

Massi has offers me & $35h flag rate, guaranteed 40 a week for 3 months. Bonus if I sell 20hr CP, as well as bonus if I flag 45-60hr a week. They have allot of CP, the shop foreman and I have a great conversation as well as shop talk

Porsche offers me $37, yet their pay plan is team base pay. Which mean everyone get 3 checks a month, your guaranteed 80 bi weekly. Plus the third check, the extra team shop ours as well as bonus’s if you hit production. Total of around 220-250hr a month at my labor rate , plus bonuses . The service drive manager is cool as shit and have me and offer on the spot. But the shop foreman got very technical and can tell he's a dick.

I'm stuck on what to choose as well as that would benefit me more long run. I'm 28 as of now and have excel pretty good where I'm at, as well as I'm not afraid to touch any brand

Hello, I am 14 years old and am really interested in auto mechanics. I really want to learn how to fix and restore vehicles but don't know how to go about learning. Also, what would be a good starting vehicle and model to learn to work on. Something small and simple that I can drive like a Honda express.

I’m currently a master at a small Toyota dealer. Money is ok but I haven’t been turning great hours the past few months. I got an offer from a Hyundai dealer in the same town willing to pay $8 more an hour flat rate. Any of you guys have any insight, is Hyundai decent to work for, is $8 more an hour worth a switch?

Been in the industry for 10 years now across 5 different shops, and something I've noticed lately is how many shops are moving to tile floors and its absolutely infuriating.

I've worked at 2 of them myself, and holy shit, they're actually terrible to work in.

Whenever it rains cars track all that water in and turn the shop into a fuckin ice skating rink. My hips and back would be on fire by the end of the day. Whoever made this decision must have had his wife run off with a technician because its straight up hateful to have someone doing tire rotations on such slick floors.

Not even to mention if brake fluid is spilled on it, game fucking over, that bay is a hazard to mankind. Legit had trouble leaving a bay covered in it because I didn't even have enough grip to step while wearing boots. Shitty ass shop I worked at put the time clock in my bay so everyone would walk through my work area when they clocked in/out. It timed up right twice where I had a master over flow then people walk under the car to bust their ass.

I worked in a shop right after they had it installed and was like, hey, that looks nice, but that lasted 6 months, maybe. No amount of cleaner would keep oil and grease from staining the grout, and tiles would break but owners are cheap asses who don't fix shit. Even worse one of the shops had to have an entire new lift installed and the new tile did not match at all, and the rest of the floor was still relatively new.

Just fuckin, have concrete floor you dumb fucks. Best shop floor I've had was epoxy with a grit sort of surface on it, cleaned up nice and had plenty of grip. Too bad the foreman was a grade A asshole there.

But on a serious note, it just seems openly hostile to the techs. I hate to see all these shops pop up, this industry really takes a toll on your body and a complete lack of grip is going to accelerate that hardcore. I moved to a heavy duty shop and my back feels great even at the end of the week, while by lunch time on a tile floor I was in pain.

My 22 year old has been a mechanic for 3 years working at a number of independent shops. Primarily general repairs. Currently, he is working at a well know body shop in the area.

Smart kid. He's looking out 3 - 4 years from now and trying to figure what direction he'd like to go.

He is kicking around the idea of opening his own shop - general repairs. Lots of overhead and competition if he goes this direction not to mention the initial cost to rent/buy.

He's done a number of high performance rebuilds from bare block along with performance tuning. Not sure if there is something here he could pursue.

Auto-body?? but again the overhead and competition.

So for you seasoned vets...if you had to do it again what would you do?

Location - Northeast USA

Is Automotive technician job Physically Demanding and has other people done it with leg injury. What is it like?

I have offer for Is Automotive technician. The role requires standing at workbenches, welding, lathes and mills for extended periods of time. There is alot of striping, building, and fitting engines. There's a lot of walking around from lab to lab, there's also some heavy lifting required, lifting stock materials, such as steel and stainless steel, moving equipment around the labs etc, installing equipment/rigs.  

I have hip injury where one side is weaker than other and muscle decreases faster on that side than the other. This causing stabbing pain or ache in hip. I have to continuousally maintain hip strength by going to gym and reduce pain

Preferably online. Can anybody point me in the right direction? Thanks!

I need a new pair of boots for the shop I’m working at, I have flat feet and need something comfortable for all day on my feet, I can’t find any that seem to work really well. I checked out cornwells selection and they offer 2 month comfort guarantee for $170 for those slip on blue steel hobart boots. Anyone have any better recommendations for flat feet?

Evolving as a tech, do I need to get 3/8 and 1/2 impact and chrome sockets? In which situation do you use chromes?

Shop owner here. I recently had a vehicle brought to my shop and it died, seems like low fuel pressure but that's beside the point. The guy and his dog live in his car and he had to leave for work today. I asked if he had any kind of budget and he said he has no money. I told him we cant work on it if he has no money but i was fine with him leaving it there for the night so he can figure something out......... Wellll the car is still here and that poor dog is not having a good time. I try to be a good guy and help out how i can but I'm tempted to call animal control and get the car impounded. What would you guys do in this situation?

Wanted to share an experience I had with a customer, and ask "What would you do?" Recently a vehicle was towed in for a "kind a/sort a" crank, no start. Customer stated that the starter had been making a "funny" sound for quite a while, and this sound had gotten progressively worse. Now the engine will not start. When I tried to start the car, the starter made a terrible crunching noise like the inside of the starter was broken internally. So, diagnosis was pretty obvious that the starter was toast. The customer had already purchased a "rebuilt" starter from the local auto parts store because he wanted a "lifetime warranty". So, I quoted him a labor price to install the new starter. Labor guide called for 2.5 hours. He agreed and signed the work order that clearly stated, No Warranty on Customer Supplied Parts. I installed the new starter, and the engine cranked and started normally. Customer was happy. He paid me, started his car and left. I would see him drive by each day as he went to and from work, so I assumed all was good. And it was good, for about two months. That is when I got a phone call from this customer stating that his starter was making a funny noise again, and sometimes the starter would crank the engine and sometimes it wouldn't. He lived close, so I drove over to his house to check on the car. When attempting to start the engine, sometimes the starter made a crunching noise, other times it would just spin fast without engaging and turning the engine, and other times it would fully engage the engine and crank the engine at normal speed, and the engine would start and run. I jacked up the car in his garage, and crawled underneath to inspect the starter. Made sure all bolts were tight, and all electrical leads properly installed. Made sure the battery was fully charged, and the terminals were on tight. I informed the customer that I believe his "rebuilt" starter from the auto parts store is faulty. And that he should contact the auto parts store where he purchased it from and ask them how they want him to proceed concerning warranty. The next day, the customer called me and stated that he had talked to the auto parts store, and they said to remove the bad starter from the car and bring it in for warranty. So, the customer wanted to know if he could tow the car to my shop so I could change out the starter again. I said yes, however he would have to pay me for labor again. I reminded him that there is no warranty on customer supplied parts. And that I am confident that my workmanship was done correctly. So, if he wanted me to work again, then he would have to pay me again. He BLEW A GASKET!!! Said that is NOT FAIR!! I asked if he had a job, to which he replied YES. Then I asked if he worked for free at his job. At this point he went on a long tirade of yelling and telling me what a bad person I was. This went on several minutes. He was not interested in anything I had to say. Then suddenly he stopped yelling and hung up the phone. Being an auto mechanic is fun, isn't it? And to this date, I have not heard anymore from this customer, nor do I want to. So, what would you have done?

Hello I currently work for an all in one powersports ag and marine dealership for about 8 months I don’t really mind the work however there have been a few issues that I have ran into . 1.i have seem to have gotten in over my head with a current project that they have me working on I had to replace the spider gears on a 1626 gear mahindra I was able to dissemble it with the help of some of my fellow co workers and got the part replaced no problem the problem is even though I did my best to document the process my add brain doesn’t want to cooperate and it has taken me much longer to reassemble I have already had a few instances where I broken and mower engine and it has made me nervous I’m afraid I might get fired .

2nd my boss while they have their moments seems to have a bit of a temper not for me so much but for some of the other coworkers I’ve heard him yell at my fellow coworkers for stuff that wasn’t even their own doing also heard him nearly get into a fender bender with one of my co workers when he was clocked out and ready to leave he was yelling at him telling him he needed to complete the job even though we where done for the day his father which is the owner isn’t any better decided to have a shouting match in the parking lot with the same guy while he just got back form lunch for the same reason only it was on a different machine . Frankly while this job has been somewhat of a good learning experience im about done I have thought about going back to school to further my knowledge maybe start from scratch any advice

I’m talking about like a full on swap completely change type shit

I am in uti and I spoke with my career advisor and he says that I have a pretty good shot of getting into the Porsche program however theres this dealer group that owns a Toyota dealer and they offered me a job once I graduate but they want me to take the Toyota program which I would have to pay for it and I didn’t ask if they have a tuition payback deal. In any case I just want to hear about people that have experience with either of them.

If it matter the auto dealer group is Morgan Autogroup.

What is a good work shoe? Boot or shoe? Which brand?

I’ve seemed to have only hear anecdotes of people at independent shops turning more hours than at dealerships. This isn’t just a reddit thing as I know someone who is at one and turns way more than all but one person at my dealer.

I was wondering if there was any merit to this and possibly more differences between them pay/workflow/ or career wise

Hey all gotta job that requires ase certification manager said brakes is the one they want me to get what’s the best to buy to ensure I can be properly ready for the test. thank you

First off, I am currently living in Alberta, Canada and an immigrant and I'm 18 years old. I am looking for a path and a job after high school and start working but when I've gone researching on what I'm going to be expecting in this career. All of response are people who are unhappy with the working conditions, limited career opportunities, the flat rate pay, and the constant change of the industry (buying new tools for the next gen cars etc.)

And I stepped back and told myself "is this auto tech really worth it?" So I've scoured through the internet again finding something positive but ended up finding some negatives. I am starting to give up on this path because I thought this career would be awesome because I've started taking an interest on cool cars like a Nissan R34. And I thought it would benefit me because I can fix a car on my own.

I don't even know what to do anymore, maybe I'm just making excuses for a easy steady job. If it's worse that someone says then I'll do welding or plumbing, or maybe work on an office that some recommended me on r/skilled-trades.

And I apologize for my grammar on this post, you can call me a crybaby or something on the comments that's fine.