O.K. it's been awhile since I've posted. My life has been in a state of change for the last year. I got my first job when I was fifteen in high school and have been working pretty much ever since. There were a few years in my twenties when I owned my own automotive repair shop. We did Toyota service and repairs for the main source of income and then did a lot of performance and racing work to keep it exciting. Even though I was a young business owner, and a lot of people thought I was very successful, I still had to be there every day and it became a job just like all the others I'd had.
Marriage, several location changes, kids, and many other jobs later I find myself living in the most beautiful place in America, with a great wife and family, working to support them by doing automotive work from my home, and some welding and fabrication. It's been nearly a year since I've had to make a change. The last job I had was as a mechanic for an underground construction company here in town. I had a contract with them to take care of everything they had. They paid me a fat weekly salary, and I kept them working, fabricated all of the underground things they needed and even took care of their personal vehicles as necessary. As far as jobs go, that was a good one for me. Although I had to be there early, I pretty much made my own schedule and did my work my own way.
As good as it was, I could see that the construction industry locally was slowing down. In an effort to give myself a way out, I bought the service truck and tools from my boss. I figured that if they went out of business at least I could make a living out of my truck by taking care of some of the remaining contractors. I never thought that there would be no other remaining contractors. Well there are only a couple of contractors left here, and they are the big guys who have their own service crews. This leaves me having to go back to doing general automotive work and fabrication. There has been some fabrication, but the main body of my work has been automotive.
Now I have been an ASE certified Master Automobile Technician since 1984. I have re certified several times and have never failed an ASE test. I graduated 2nd in my class from Sequoia Automotive Institute, but the automotive industry advances so fast that that it is difficult even for me to keep up with the changing technology when I'm working from home.
Recently I have had to do a diagnosis on a Ford Probe. The timing belt had been mis-installed and the owner, who had just bought it, did not know that the belt had been done. I've done a complete air conditioning job on a 96 Pontiac Grand Am, and a water pump on a 95 Grand Am. Anyone who has ever worked on either of these vehicles knows what I'm saying when I say that the Witnss Protectection Program was created for American automotive engineers. Every mechanic in the country would be gunning for these guys because of the garbage they have designed if they could be found !
This week though, I had a nice experience. A breath of fresh air if you will. I had the good fortune of doing a head gasket job on a 1997 Honda Civic with a 1.6 engine. There was not a single bolt that could not be reached, nor a connector that could not be unplugged during the entire job. This vehicle is service friendly and I commend Honda and their engineers for that. A little forethought goes a long way when it comes to vehicle design. My customers save money, and I make money, and I feel a lot better during and after the job. So I have to say.......
THANK YOU HONDA11111
