Thinking about going to diesel tech school . . .

The good thing would be you could be home every night.
If all you ever did was grease and oil changes, I could see a guy getting frustrated with that.
But there could be a lot of satisfaction in solving and fixing problems for truckers. You could achieve a great sense of accomplishment.
Having your own business as a mechanic could also be a headache as you could be dealing with customers that blame you when things break shortly after they leave your shop.

 

As a licensed truck and coach tech and auto tech in Ontario I would say go for it. I have been wrenching for 20yrs on trucks and equiptment. I was getting burned out at the one shop I was at and decided since he also owned highway tractors I challenged the drivers exam and got my cdl. ( This was about 15yrs ago challenging is no longer permitted) I drove flatbed long haul for about 6 months until I got called back to school to finnish my mechanic apprenticeship schooling. I am now municipally employed and have been for over 10yrs. Having a cdl was a requirement for the job so I am glad I got it many years ago.

My point is you have the cdl so if you do enroll in tech school and get a job at a truck repair place you will have a advantage over many techs that do not have a cdl. And if at any time you decide you like driving better you are really only out the money for the tech school. with wrenching experience and cdl no matter what happens in the future you should never be out of work.

 

Go to school. Good mechanics can write their own ticket. They're harder to find than good drivers.
And if you want to have your own business you're making a good start.
Once you get your mechanic training done take some night classes on business management.

 

I'd say go for it. If you're good with a wrench and the diagnostics the money is excellent.

 

All the problems today are electronic, go to school to be a electrician

 

The problem with techs today is most can only understand and do what a laptop tells them to. They can't think outside the box. I've been asked to install so many sensors and electronic components that mechanics on another shift have ordered and ended up finding something simple like a chaffed wire, a leaking intake boot or a fuel line sucking air.

If you can think logically, understand schematics, properly read and follow a diagnostic flow chart and be able to pound out the grunt work you'll be in high demand.

 

50 perecent of the time trouble codes are wrong, ive learned the hard way. Dont trust your labtop 100 percent

 

Exactly. I find they give you a direction to look at and go from there. Funny thing is the troubleshooting procedure 9/10 times has you checking the basics first. Last step is always something like "Replace ECM" Its amazing how many will jump right to replacing the ECM. I've been at this over 10 years now and have only ever seen maybe 3 ECM's that legitimately failed.