Changing to Auto Electrics

[John Matrix]

Has anyone made a change into auto electrics? I just have a level of curiosity about it. Don’t know why. Just thought I would see if anyone else has done it,
Kind regards

 

[plugsandsparks]

I do it as a hobby, spent hours and hours installing new ecu, PDU, Dash and other stuff, hours and hours of back breaking work,,,, ha.
As a job i guess you will be mainly doing maintenance as cars break down. Unless you go into motorsport where you can build the systems from scratch.

 

[ruston]

As above , you need to be as agile as a monkey on the new vehicles , there is just no room . Also you will need sophisticated diagnostic equipment as the vehicles share the same concept but still differ greatly from model to model in degrees of sophistication. Even run of the mill stuff like tow-bars are no longer straight forward unless you fit the manufactures dedicated harness's , if available.
And not fault all codes are available, some faults need to be referred to the manufacturer to be reset or reprogrammed.
An interesting job though , but can be very taxing.
Once you have been around the block and get to know the models the faults are recurring to a degree.

 

[John Matrix]

As above , you need to be as agile as a monkey on the new vehicles , there is just no room . Also you will need sophisticated diagnostic equipment as the vehicles share the same concept but still differ greatly from model to model in degrees of sophistication. Even run of the mill stuff like tow-bars are no longer straight forward unless you fit the manufactures dedicated harness's , if available.
And not fault all codes are available, some faults need to be referred to the manufacturer to be reset or reprogrammed.
An interesting job though , but can be very taxing.
Once you have been around the block and get to know the models the faults are recurring to a degree.

I have issues currently with my partners Peugeot 308 and I’ve been trying to find it myself and quite enjoyed it. It just appeals to me for some strange reason. I wonder what training is needed?

 

[ruston]

Vehicle electrics have evolved beyond recognition in the last 20 years and are progressing all the time . I could not advise you on training if you are starting from scratch. I do not do much now and also come back to surprises when I do the odd love job , and I have access to equipment

 

[plugsandsparks]

Dont know about training but you need to be able to read wiring diagrams and for cars they run into 100 or so pages, you also need to be able to use a laptop, download vehicle specific software, or invest in very expensive diagnostic equipment. Its basic electrics which you find in industry, e.g Sensors- temp, pressure, magnetic and hall effect pulse generators, level sensors -, outputs are solenoids, relays, motors, injectors and spark generators....all cars nowadays use a comms bus to connect a plethora of "controllers" - so without software to interrogate the controllers its impossible to work on them. I would start with your own car see if you can get diagrams and software and have a play

 

[UNG]

The skill with auto electrics these days is getting to understand the fault hierarchy and not take the easy route of box swapping till the problem goes away
The downside is to get set up properly needs a lot of expensive diagnostic equipment to be able to work across the whole range of vehicles

Before you take the plunge into this line of work I would suggest you get some cheap diagnostic kit and start by reading fault codes and analysing the fault cause to see if this type of work is for you

 

[ruston]

That's correct , if you have an understanding how the vehicle works you can understand the progression of the fault codes , particularly the engine and fuel system. It is not always the code that shows up that is causing the problem.

 

[DPG]

As an example, my car (Jaguar XF) is currently at the dealers for an electrical problem. It has been in for a week so far, and not only have they not found the fault, but another problem has arisen (something to do with the main control unit not talking to the keyless start/immobiliser unit).

They have been in touch with the main Jag technical place for a couple of days now but no success as yet.

I suppose the point I'm trying to make is that (as mentioned above) cars these days are very complicated beasts, and have many separate modules connected together by high speed bus systems (usually CANBUS). Gone are the days where you trace a wire from the headlamp switch to the headlamp - nothing is done like that now.

Even if you have a basic code reader, it won't give you the same level of information as the proper dealer equipment. And also even if you do get a fault code, you can get into the trap (as UNG said above) of swapping things one by one. This is not good when the items in question are expensive!