Changing Parts TORONTO - For Centennial College Senior Professor Thomas Brown, textbooks can only convey so much to his students studying automotive climate control. The Toronto-based college is one of the most culturally diverse post-secondary institutions in North America - with more than 100 ethno-cultural groups represented and 80 languages spoken on its campus.
(Photo: Centennial College)In the motor vehicle service discipline, which requires some unconventional products and techniques, standard textbooks fail to mention instances where repair, rather than parts replacement, is a better option for consumers from a cost, time and effectiveness viewpoint. Brown supplements texts with his 35 years of experience and accumulated insights, in addition to extensive hands-on lab work in the school's 4,000-square-foot, eight-bay repair facility. Few colleges, for example, teach students how to weld aluminum lines, manufacture air conditioning (A/C) system hoses, use refrigeration system sealants, retrofit systems for hydrocarbon-alternative refrigerants and even rebuild compressors. Brown notes that in the real world, the correct A/C hose, rebuilt compressor or evaporator coil might not be in stock. More importantly, it also might not be efficient, environmentally friendly or even the best economical choice for the customer. Brown made the decision to present both sides of the argument in a non-biased manner to students. "Car or OEM parts manufacturer recommendations are fine, but in the real-life world of A/C repair, those recommendations aren't always the best option for the service tech or the customer," says Brown, who supplements traditional instructional materials with his own 58-page trouble-shooting book, A/C Tech Tip Guide.
(Photo: Cliplight Mfg.)
For example, Brown points out that a customer with a leaking evaporator coil in a Saturn worth $2,500 isn't getting the best choice when a shop technician's only recommendation is replacement at a cost of $1,500 for labor and parts. However, applying a refrigerant sealant will seal the original evaporator and get the car back on the road for 30 percent to 60 percent of what the replacement would have cost.
"I'm an advocate of things like sealants because shops that offer the customer more than one avenue of repair typically have more customer loyalty, which leads to higher profitability," says Brown.
Another example of information a textbook won't contain is Brown's recommendation of putting a refrigeration sealant in all Chrysler cars with fixed displacement compressors in expansion valve systems. "My policy is to put in a can of sealant regardless of whether they're leaking or not as a measure of preventative maintenance," notes Brown. "These Chrysler systems are notorious for evaporator coils that eventually crack and allow the refrigerant to leak out very slowly while the compressor self-destructs due to oil starvation."
Another unconventional A/C option that illustrates this philosophy is component overhaul. "The first choice of the shop owner is to replace, but once again, knowing how to rebuild a compressor gives the customer another alternative," says Brown. "In the case where new or rebuilt compressors aren't available immediately, the car can be repaired and returned [more quickly] to the owner."
The same impetus applies to classroom training in welding aluminum lines and manufacturing A/C hoses. Finding the correct A/C hose is not always expedient, according to Brown, so technicians can offer the customer faster service with this knowledge. "Just last month, I had a first-year student help a local garage by cutting off rotten refrigerant lines and welding new ones onto a damaged condenser," says Brown. "Knowing these techniques will many times get the car back to the customer faster - and the shop makes more money."
Teaching principles of hydrocarbon-alternative refrigerants is perhaps the most controversial, according to Brown: "Some people think teaching this is blasphemous, but hydrocarbons are part of the marketplace and therefore technicians will undoubtedly be confronted with them in the field."
Teaching students to be a complete professional, rather than simply a parts-changer, adds value for everyone - the students, the shops that hire them, and consumers.
(Source: Cliplight
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