- An auto mechanic has many duties during the day--but he spends most of his day turning wrenches. Being an auto mechanic is a very demanding job--physically and mentally. Some auto mechanics work on only one area of one type of car, such as transmissions on Chevrolet trucks. Old-school mechanics and mechanics that work for smaller shops can work on just about anything from steering to brakes and suspension, and they can do it on any car from an Acura to a Yugo.
- Auto mechanics that work in a dealership report to the service adviser. The service adviser tells the auto mechanic which car to fix and deals with the customer for the auto mechanic. An auto mechanic in a small shop must do all of this himself. He will meet with the customer and listen to the customer's car complaint and draft a work order based on what the customer tells him and what he sees in the test drive.
- The auto mechanic will then diagnose the car. Diagnosing is the most difficult part of the auto mechanic's workday. She uses various computers to help her make drivability diagnoses, though if the computer will not read the information from the powertrain control module, the auto mechanic must use his knowledge and deductive reasoning to figure out the problem. The computer will only give codes for emissions control parts such as the oxygen sensor, map sensor and coolant temperature sensor, and fuel injection issues among other sensors. If the problem is in the wiring or on a "hard" part, such as a water pump or in the air conditioning, the auto mechanic must rely on his knowledge to diagnose and repair the problem.
- Once the problem is diagnosed, and the auto mechanic is sure a certain part is causing the problem, he will contact various auto parts suppliers to find the best part at the best price. He writes this down on the work order, along with the amount of labor involved in diagnosing and repairing the car, then calls the car owner for permission to complete the repair. He must quote the price of the repair and explain the repair to the customer.
- Once the auto mechanic gets the go-ahead on the repair, he will then complete the repair, test drive the vehicle to be sure the repair was successful, then contact the car owner to let her know the car is ready to be picked up. Once the owner arrives to pick up the car, the auto mechanic may show the car owner the bad parts and explain to the car owner what they are and how they made the car run bad or not at all. He then collects the amount due from the car owner.
- Other duties an auto mechanic completes during the workday include cleaning up his bay, cleaning his tools and doing maintenance such as tire changes, rotations and balancing, oil changes and tune ups. Generally, people know what the maintenance schedule is on their cars, and will let the auto mechanic know what service the car needs. When doing an oil change, the auto mechanic will check the rest of the car out--this is called a safety check. He checks the brakes and all the fluids, and checks to see if the car also needs a major-mile tuneup.
