Chapter Two
Where are the spark plugs?
The purpose of this book is to help educate you about the future of the automotive repair shop, and where it is going. In addition, I will help you better understand your automotive mechanic. As you cruise into this book, you will see why the "Grease monkey" or "Mechanic" of yesterday is now known as an "Automotive Technician."
In today’s society of auto repair the question, "what does he mean by that?" has been asked repeatedly by virtually everyone who owns some mode of transportation, be it worth fifty dollars or two hundred and twenty thousand dollars.
If you have been in a driver's seat since 1975 you would remember the brand new clutch smoking, tires screeching, ground thumping, blur that cost you four or five thousand dollars. Your boyfriend or husband was proud to do the work by themselves on this sleek machine; it was easy back then. You could see the spark plugs. And they were pretty simple to change.
Back then automotive parts seemed fairly inexpensive. Besides, it was enjoyable for some to spend the weekend bonding with their ride.
Let’s look around 1985. What about those changes? Isn’t this about the time we heard more talk about a car's computer? Didn’t some of us say, "That’s impossible!"
And what about the cost for one of these environmentally safe gutless wonders? They sure saved us time at the gas pump though, and hey we were helping the gas shortage, right? What a price to pay. I remember it took twice as long to reach 55 mph! Did you ever find yourself leaving the house ten minutes early to make up for the lost performance of your new car? After all, you could jam the throttle through the floor and hardly even move. And what about the cost? The last time you spent that much money, it had a foundation under it. Sure, you could still kind of see those spark plugs, even though they were a little harder to get to, but hey, you were able to stick the money saved on next month’s car payment.
What about 1996, the year of the stylized, sleeker, aerodynamically designed automobile, with hundreds of different shapes, sizes and an array of colors that would make even Picasso jealous. What power, what class, what gas mileage! All this, and still environmentally safe. The cost? Well, it’s only a monthly payment.
About this time, you’re thinking, "This is awesome. I’ve got it all." Then comes that dreaded day when you open the hood, scratch your head, saying something like "I know those spark plugs are somewhere, right? And where is the oil filler cap?" No problem, I’ll just follow the spark plug wires. Now where do you suppose they hid them? Where’s the distributor? And what is DIS? And can you explain what you mean when you say my O2 sensor told the ECM to dump less fuel through the EFI?
Now, in 2013 we have shapes and sizes that most of us never knew existed. From the Smart Car to the Hummer, these cars come equipped with so many technological gadgets that I could write another book describing each of them individually. Following is a small sample of what can be found standard in most of today’s cars.