Overwhelmed with wires and hoses
Discussion
Hello.
Whenever I open a bonnet of any car even for the sake of looking at it,I find it overwhelming to see all pipes and hoses, how do the mechanics figure out which hose and pipes belong where, example where the power steering pipes,brake pipes, radiator hoses and many others belong to,as in where is there start and endpoint.
I am a novice mechanic with limited experience in working on cars, it appears in my opinion that the cars tend to not like me around them I am trying to reconcile with cars in Salvage yards.
Has any felt intimidated by the amount of wiring,pipes and hoses on a car and how have they dealt with it to improve?
Whenever I open a bonnet of any car even for the sake of looking at it,I find it overwhelming to see all pipes and hoses, how do the mechanics figure out which hose and pipes belong where, example where the power steering pipes,brake pipes, radiator hoses and many others belong to,as in where is there start and endpoint.
I am a novice mechanic with limited experience in working on cars, it appears in my opinion that the cars tend to not like me around them I am trying to reconcile with cars in Salvage yards.
Has any felt intimidated by the amount of wiring,pipes and hoses on a car and how have they dealt with it to improve?
It's absolutely confusing and intimidating when you're not used to what's what. Modern stuff is even more confusing as it'll have pipes / wires going places that don't make any sense because of the amount of 'stuff' that'll be involved in improving the emissions.
The examples you mentioned are fairly plain to see to be honest, for example
Power steering pipes, if it's still hydraulically assisted, modern stuff will be electronically assisted. There'll most commonly be a pump driven off the accessory belt, it'll have a reservoir with a steering wheel on it most likely. The pipes will go reservoir -> pump -> steering rack -> reservoir.
Brake pipes, there'll be 4 of them going to the 4 corners of the car. They'll meet in an block somewhere which will be the ABS, this will likely have 2 larger pipes in it as well that go back to the brake master cylinder. This will probably be sat on the firewall roughly in line with the brake pedal. They'll also be made of metal, and they're all the same size so relatively easy to spot.
Radiator hoses, I don't know how else to put this mate, these go to the radiator. They'll come from the water pump which will be mounted on / in the engine one way or another.
It's easy to be overwhelmed by the stuff, I'd suggest focus on identifying the stuff you do actually know, even if we're talking "the engine block" and "cylinder head(s)". You'll know how many cylinders it has (hopefully), there'll likely be that number of very similar looking things in a row (or rows for a V) that are likely to be coil packs or glow plugs (depending if petrol or diesel), or feasibly plug leads if it's not a coil on plug type engine.
There'll be a plastic box to one side that then runs to the top of the engine via a tube. That'll be your air intake and will go to the throttle body (or not if diesel...) and will have the MAF in a straight section of the tube.
Just work on identifying the basic stuff, and accept that the preposterous amount of emissions crap is probably unknown to most people, and equally probably not that likely to stop an engine from running either.
The examples you mentioned are fairly plain to see to be honest, for example
Power steering pipes, if it's still hydraulically assisted, modern stuff will be electronically assisted. There'll most commonly be a pump driven off the accessory belt, it'll have a reservoir with a steering wheel on it most likely. The pipes will go reservoir -> pump -> steering rack -> reservoir.
Brake pipes, there'll be 4 of them going to the 4 corners of the car. They'll meet in an block somewhere which will be the ABS, this will likely have 2 larger pipes in it as well that go back to the brake master cylinder. This will probably be sat on the firewall roughly in line with the brake pedal. They'll also be made of metal, and they're all the same size so relatively easy to spot.
Radiator hoses, I don't know how else to put this mate, these go to the radiator. They'll come from the water pump which will be mounted on / in the engine one way or another.
It's easy to be overwhelmed by the stuff, I'd suggest focus on identifying the stuff you do actually know, even if we're talking "the engine block" and "cylinder head(s)". You'll know how many cylinders it has (hopefully), there'll likely be that number of very similar looking things in a row (or rows for a V) that are likely to be coil packs or glow plugs (depending if petrol or diesel), or feasibly plug leads if it's not a coil on plug type engine.
There'll be a plastic box to one side that then runs to the top of the engine via a tube. That'll be your air intake and will go to the throttle body (or not if diesel...) and will have the MAF in a straight section of the tube.
Just work on identifying the basic stuff, and accept that the preposterous amount of emissions crap is probably unknown to most people, and equally probably not that likely to stop an engine from running either.
Rajput,
It is daunting! You say you are a 'novice mechanic' - is this for home maintenance, or do you want a career in the trade? Either way, the answer is training! And both may be available at a local 'College of Knowledge'.
After I retired I did a two year, BTEC course at a local college, which equipped my co-students for jobs in the industry, and made me very confident about DiY. Search for "courses in DiY car maintenance" for many options, both online or at a college near you.
And buy a manual for the car you have. Haynes have the best reputation.
Good luck!
John
It is daunting! You say you are a 'novice mechanic' - is this for home maintenance, or do you want a career in the trade? Either way, the answer is training! And both may be available at a local 'College of Knowledge'.
After I retired I did a two year, BTEC course at a local college, which equipped my co-students for jobs in the industry, and made me very confident about DiY. Search for "courses in DiY car maintenance" for many options, both online or at a college near you.
And buy a manual for the car you have. Haynes have the best reputation.
Good luck!
John
Keep at it. Cars and their engine bays are often complicated things, but then lots of things in life are complicated
...and we all learn In the same way, by fixing whatever needs attention and identifying those parts that are relevant to a particular task
If a part on your car has failed, its often useful to remove it from the same type of vehicle in a scrapyard to see what problems you might encounter (eg difficult access, hidden fixings, tooling that you need to buy to complete the task). You might well choose to use the second-hand part, or you might just treat it as a 'practice run'.
Build confidence by starting out with the small jobs, such as an oil change, and have a chuckle at the Thread where everybody confesses to some sort of embarrassing c*ck up, coz we've all done it and you will too; its part of learning.
Good luck!
...and we all learn In the same way, by fixing whatever needs attention and identifying those parts that are relevant to a particular task
If a part on your car has failed, its often useful to remove it from the same type of vehicle in a scrapyard to see what problems you might encounter (eg difficult access, hidden fixings, tooling that you need to buy to complete the task). You might well choose to use the second-hand part, or you might just treat it as a 'practice run'.
Build confidence by starting out with the small jobs, such as an oil change, and have a chuckle at the Thread where everybody confesses to some sort of embarrassing c*ck up, coz we've all done it and you will too; its part of learning.
Good luck!
If you have a car that bears even the slightest resemblance to "modern" you don't need to worry about it.
Yes, by all means check your tyres, change the oil, change the brake pads or whatever - but the rest of it has moved on a century since the PH beards were fettling their MGBs.
The point is "diagnosis". More than 25 years ago the Americans (California first) decided to clean up car exhausts and introduced the concept of "OBD". Which means On Board Diagnostics. This has then broadened into monitoring all aspects of a car's existence. You plug an electronic reader into a socket under the dashboard and the car tells you what it thinks is wrong with itself. It'll either be exactly right or at least point you in the right direction.
Very often, modern problems are "sensor" issues.
Sure, OBD is not foolproof - but it's much better than setting out wearing a blindfold and replacing bits until the car miraculously starts to work again.
Yes, by all means check your tyres, change the oil, change the brake pads or whatever - but the rest of it has moved on a century since the PH beards were fettling their MGBs.
The point is "diagnosis". More than 25 years ago the Americans (California first) decided to clean up car exhausts and introduced the concept of "OBD". Which means On Board Diagnostics. This has then broadened into monitoring all aspects of a car's existence. You plug an electronic reader into a socket under the dashboard and the car tells you what it thinks is wrong with itself. It'll either be exactly right or at least point you in the right direction.
Very often, modern problems are "sensor" issues.
Sure, OBD is not foolproof - but it's much better than setting out wearing a blindfold and replacing bits until the car miraculously starts to work again.
Thank you for your help, you all have been very kind in helping with your suggestions.
I don't possess a car of my own, I just do DIY MECHANIC with Scrap cars, with intentions of getting the knowledge around car repairs and other sciences related to the vehicle Engineering.
I will definitely need to go back on a refresher course in College,I had completed my MECHANIC training in 2000, as qualified but after that I encountered many more problems of getting a job, no mentor, no knowledge of not having enough experience to know where to ,how to gain experience; which became a vicious circle, with the added pressure to get a job, to which made me say "Farewell" to the Motor trade.
Twenty two years later,I realized the wisdom of making radical changes starting from home.
Sorry if this turned out into an Autobiography of myself, but a little background of myself may help in clearing an misunderstanding about my forum members may have about me.
I don't possess a car of my own, I just do DIY MECHANIC with Scrap cars, with intentions of getting the knowledge around car repairs and other sciences related to the vehicle Engineering.
I will definitely need to go back on a refresher course in College,I had completed my MECHANIC training in 2000, as qualified but after that I encountered many more problems of getting a job, no mentor, no knowledge of not having enough experience to know where to ,how to gain experience; which became a vicious circle, with the added pressure to get a job, to which made me say "Farewell" to the Motor trade.
Twenty two years later,I realized the wisdom of making radical changes starting from home.
Sorry if this turned out into an Autobiography of myself, but a little background of myself may help in clearing an misunderstanding about my forum members may have about me.
Get a car that you like and enjoy driving and you'll be motivated to learn. I've had newer and, on the face of it, "better" cars than my current Alfa but this is the first one where I'm motivated to research any problems and fix them myself. I started with oil and filter changes, then brakes, but have gradually built confidence to do more involved stuff like a cambelt & water pump change. Next job is going to be replacing the front wishbones. It helps that there's an active and helpful owners' club forum.
I would recommend a browse over the youtube channel SMA - South Main Auto - yes, he is over in the states, but he does some amazing following of wires, following the wiring diagrams, following the colour coding, following pin numbers in junctions etc. (when he is not fighting New York rust)
https://www.youtube.com/c/SouthMainAutoRepairAvoca
https://www.youtube.com/c/SouthMainAutoRepairAvoca
underwhelmist said:
I’ll take a look at his channel, Eric The Car Guy is also very good.
https://youtu.be/i02YxayQtJM
Had a look at this video, well detailed explanation like a mentor would.
Thanks for the suggestion
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