Noticed a shift in how younger guys approach diagnostic work

Last month I had a young guy from a trade school shadow me for a week. He kept wanting to plug a laptop into everything before even looking at the engine. My way has always been to listen, smell, and check the basics first. Three years ago I would have just told him he was wrong, but last week I showed him how a simple air filter check saved us two hours on a Peterbilt. Has anyone else seen this change in how new mechanics are trained?

2 comments

2 Comments

mia_anderson26d ago

Told my buddy Dave about this. He's been a diesel mechanic for twenty years. Had a new kid start at his shop last spring. Kid tried to run a full computer diagnostic on a truck that just needed a new fuel filter. Dave made him watch while he swapped it out in fifteen minutes. Kid's face went red. He admitted he never even thought to check the simple stuff first.

blakem8226d ago

Jumped right into that trap myself once... Had a kid tell me a computer said the issue was a bad sensor on a rig, but @mia_anderson's buddy Dave would've laughed at me too - turned out the wiring was just chewed through by a rat. New guys put too much faith in those laptops without checking the simple stuff first.