Basic mechanic skills

[McGee]

I have been thinking lately why dont schools offer this as perhaps an after school thing or in place of a DT lesson to year 11 students as I think its really stupid that most people cant even change a tyre.

Now im not talking the school funds the whole thing but perhaps local mechanics/D.I.Y mechanic/teacher volunteer to help. Perhaps a teacher/parent can offer there car up for an oil change etc and it would all be taught/done under the watchful eye of the teacher.

I will never forget at college being approached by a girl as her car didnt have any "window spray stuff" left in it, I mean come on easiest thing to do. Also had a friend buy a fiesta to get 12 miles down the road and the thing over heat. Went to help and I had found it had no oil in it. I mean If you teach these things people would know what to look for.

Teach the future drivers preventative maintainance i.e Oil change, fluids, wipers, changing tyres and replacing bulbs you know the easy stuff and it will help them out alot later on.

Then perhaps if they want to know more teach them how to change brakes on andvanced course that the school could basically offer to students if they pay so much.

Maybe even a student could offer up his ped for a lesson and they could be taught the same type of thing but for two wheels.

Im just glad my old man taught me how to look after a car. And I find it ridiculous some people dont even know where to fill thier washer fluid.

Also a lot of people cant even wash a car tidy hence rust in the wheel archs

Any ways what do you lot think. I mean I would offer to help if a school would offer this to students. And dont say take a mechanic course at college cause not every one would want to do a 2 year course on that subject.
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Its pronounced Jixxer!

[Skunkcap Freddie]

some people just arn't able to do any manual work at all.

thats why lots and lots of people still have jobs
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Northern Irish Biker? www.nibikers.com

[Phil_G]

Its a good idea, but I can see some idiot knackering up a wheel change or brakepad change or something and then trying to sue the lecturer for supposedly telling them how to do it incorrectly.


Make people sign a disclaimer before the course would only serve to heighten waryness of why they got to as well :S


Example (thats kind of on this vein): Someone came into a shop I used to work at and said to me they needed oil for their car. So I went through the motions and asked them what car it was etc and so I produced the correct oil and off they went.

A few days later, the store received an irate call from someone representing this person saying that I had sold them too much oil. Upon further investigation ( I was questioned over it) it was established that the person had been told by someone they needed oil. I sold them the oil and they tipped the whole 5 litre container in.

Apparently I was meant to be psychic and know that from being told "i need oil for my car" and them telling me it was for an oil change that the car infact needed a slight top up and they proceeded to dump 5 litres into the car on top of what was already there!

such people, IMO shouldnt be allowed behind the wheel.

IF you were to train for such a thing as an oil check, then perhaps its best to incorporate it into the driving test instead?
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1997 Kawasaki ER 500 A1:- Once again, Its merely crap

[cagiva gezzer]

We had the basics at sixth form. Were not allowed to touch anything for H&S reasons, but it went through the whole:

-> Here is the dipstick, this is how you check your oil.
-> Here is the power steering / brake fluid, this is the correct level.
-> Here is the wiper fluid, here is the coolant.
-> This is how you would change a tyre.

Good for the basics, but face it, most people only know how to put petrol in a car. My driving instructor tried to force me to fill his car up, FFS, i haven't managed to ride a bike for 5 years without putting any fuel in it.


As for above, yes, if they lack any mechanical knowledge, a little can do more harm than good.
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"because one stroke isnt enough and four strokes waste two"

[Itchy]

maybe everybody should just cush up to Stink , I'm personally adverse to doing anything too complex to my bike since its me only form o transport now if I had 2 or 3 or 26 like Kickstart I'd be more adventurous.
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Spain 2008France 2007Big one 2009 We all die. The goal isn't to live forever, the goal is to create something that will. In the end, your life will flash before your eyes. Make sure it is worth watching.

[Rookie]

The government's stance on this is that what you learn on the driving test is enough. Check your oil, check your tyre tread depth and pressure, check your washer fluid, coolant, I think that's it?

Let's face it, some people just aren't mechanically minded, and a car can run on that sort of maintenance for about 10,000 miles I bet.

Fact is cars are much lower maintenance than bikes, and as long as people are supposed to know from the driving test, there's not much else you can do.

But I do agree that there should be a bit more involvement. When I was taking a wheel off the car, it was pure hit and miss.

Maybe Haynes manuals should be subsidised by the government, mine saved me a fortune.

[Itchy]

well... the government is thinking of VAT on books , the tories thought about it and got a backlash, NL want to do it cus they have mismanaged government finances badly , and need ways of making up the holes.
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Spain 2008France 2007Big one 2009 We all die. The goal isn't to live forever, the goal is to create something that will. In the end, your life will flash before your eyes. Make sure it is worth watching.

[Walloper]

That is a good idea.
But then where am I going to meet/get off with attractive girls if they know how to fix their cars?
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W-ireless A-rtificial L-ifeform L-imited to O-bservation P-eacekeeping and E-fficient R-epair

[Itchy]

I don't think we need to worry too much about this in the future

precis

"more and more women treat men as sperm donors only"

https://news.independent.co.uk/uk/this_britain/article549445.ece
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Spain 2008France 2007Big one 2009 We all die. The goal isn't to live forever, the goal is to create something that will. In the end, your life will flash before your eyes. Make sure it is worth watching.

[Walloper]

[Dazbo666]

[TOM M]

[matt89]

happened at my old shcool but only if you got crap grades and didnt learn very well in school, you could choose to do basic mechanic type of course to get you some grades at the same level as GCSE(o-levels) but most of the people that took it did exactly the same in that as they did at school... nothing. it got canceled after about 4months of it being run because no one would do anything there where they were given a car to do up.

Matt

[0ddball]

It's gotta be more useful than knowing what Henry VIII had for his breakfast or what the GDP of Belgium is.

Unfortunately the people making the decisions are the type of people who pay someone to wash their car so they don't get their hands dirty.

[nick.h]

My little sister has just done her options (year 9) she will be studying mechanics as a GCSE.

Nick
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[ZRX61]

Some muppet on Visordown didn't know where to buy a wooden plank...

[Walloper]

[ZRX61]

[Dazbo666]

[chrisw]

[Walloper]

[SoND]

[Jamie.]

I done a GCSE called "Road user and motor vehicle studies"

We watched a lot of videos (mostly about motorbikes because the whole class was boys and interested in bikes) about how to keep yourself safe, change tyres, puncutres, change oil, set carbs.
We watched every series of "A car is born" "A bike is born" and even watched "A chopper is born" and "the great biker build off"

We had the engine from a mini in the classroom which the teacher took apart and showed us what everything was called and explained how it worked and let us put it back together (sometimes)

We had a 50cc scooter and junctions and everyday situations painted on the ground in one of the playgrounds. There was a practical test on this at the end of the 2 years, along with the written gcse (which I passed )


I think we were the only school in Northern Ireland that still do it and I must say it was a great change to be doing something I liked in school and it should be done in a lot more schools

[Method]

I agree with the first bit of your post McGee...

I think that everyone who owns a vehicle on the road, should be able to check themselves that their vehicle is in a roadworthy state, and be able to sort out the things that need checking regularly.

I have been around bikes all my life, but i never realy picked up on much of the mechanics stuff. My dad tried explaining the basics whilst we were out racing etc, the "Suck, Squeeze, Bang, Blow" 4stroke cycle etc... But although it made sense and i half understood it, i never realy felt comortable with it until i started work as a mechanic.

I did a year working for VW and the stuff i learnt there has served me so well over the years! The ability to be able to do work such as oil changes, air filter changes etc, the basic stuff was usefull for my bike! Its great for my folks as it means i am able to check their cars over regularly and advise on stuff that needs doing / do the basic stuff.

Yes i am capable of doing brakes and all that, but i choose not to. I changed the radiator on my mums car before, but thats about as far as i would go, which leads me to my next point:

I disagree that "advanced" courses should be offered, how ever well you know how to do a job, things go wrong. Theres little that can go wrong with checking your oil level, filling your washer fluid etc... but if you are teaching people to fit brakes, and something goes wrong, the odds on them not noticing/realising, or just not understanding the seriousness of that one missing bolt or what haveyou, could be rather dangerous. I think that jobs like that should be left to the people who are genuinely trained, hell im trained to do brakes etc - by a big company, but i still dont feel confident doing them without someone there to just double check them... etc.

So yes and no realy...
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