My first paid gig as a mechanic!!

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She Devil

She Devil

Work in Progress
Joined
Dec 1, 2009
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Location
Kannapolis, NC
My bf got a call on Saturday from a friend of his who's 79 Dodge pick up had a small electrical fire in his engine compartment. His friend wanted to know if I could come by and see what had gone wrong.
So, Saturday evening Brian and I went to dude's house and I took a look at the carnage. The truck was able to crank up but wouldn't run and he still didn't know what could have caught fire. I took a look and found a bunch of melted wires and a couple of loose wires. He also had some aftermarket items that had been installed by a previous owner. I convinced the friend that he needed a Haynes/Chiltons so I could take a look at a wiring diagram to figure out the loose wires etc. before I could do anything. Once we got the Haynes I was able to verify the loose wires belonged to one of the aftermarket items that was no longer in use.
The wire, which had a stripped end, was bouncing around the engine compartment and had bounced itself onto the pos. battery post which had caused the fire. The fire had melted the wires around it which were part of the ignition circuit, and were feeding to the "run" function of the ignition switch.
I pulled the charred wires, spliced in new wires and cleaned the engine compartment of all unnecessary wires so this wouldn't happen again.
The truck started right up was finished within the deadline (dude had to go to work) and my customer was more than happy to pay...... partially because I offered him a "my first customer discount" and only charged him a dollar lol
All in all I think it went well though and my bf was so impressed he spent the rest of the weekend bragging about me
 
good job, I think women working on cars is hot, my wife used to jump in a engine bay, when we were dating, but I think that was just so she could drag my azz to the alter.
 
Good for you! Gonna frame that $1 bill?

Lots of "so true" in your post. You'll find anyone with electrical problems thinks you have the answer right there in your head. They don't seem to understand that you need the manual to figure out what should be there and they also don't seem to understand that every vehicle model is different. Also was doing the been there, done that about the aftermarket wiring. In my experience, clear that mess out of the way and you are usually 99% on your way to fixing the problem.
 
Congratulations, SheDevil. That's cool.
 
Outstanding She Devil :cheers:
I am going to be bragging on you all this week :-D
I have only met two ladies that would jump under a hood and do repair work :happy10:and one raced a Challenger and the other was a farm hand 8)
Not many ladies do, so glad to have you on board with us
 
Congrats! What was the aftermarket item? Glad u got it all fied up and did it the right way!
 
Thanks guys!!!! :) It really was an amazing feeling to go into that engine compartment and feel confident about what I was doing. I am amazed how much I have learned in the past year and I am so excited about how much I still have to learn!!!

mac daddy mopar said:
good job, I think women working on cars is hot, my wife used to jump in a engine bay, when we were dating, but I think that was just so she could drag my azz to the alter.
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I'm pretty sure the bf's doing the same thing lol

Gryzynx said:
Good for you! Gonna frame that $1 bill?
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Absolutely!!!!!! Brian's getting a frame for it, we're gonna hang it in the garage

DarTT said:
Congrats! What was the aftermarket item? Glad u got it all fied up and did it the right way!
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It was 2 things, an ignition control module with only 1 wire connected to anything and the rest hanging. The other thing was some sort of propane converter thing, I honestly have no idea what it does, but the wires weren't attached to anything.
 
Is that you in your avatar???? Is that your tail???? You are HOT!!!! Love the pitchfork!!!!!!!
 
Gotta see some pics though. Good job. Come on over anytime and help on the present project....what ever it may be. Proud of ya.
Small Block
 
memike said:
... I have only met two ladies that would jump under a hood and do repair work :happy10:and one raced a Challenger and the other was a farm hand 8) ...
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Hey now Mike!!! You forgot one. LOL

Way to go SheDevil ... nice to see you jumping in there and getting it done. Hopefully it's that first dollar on the way to many, many more. :-D You don't work a day when you do what you love.
 
Its all over for you now, you'll have friends you didn't even new existed. Everybody wants a mechanic for a friend. Congrats! I wrenched as an ASE certified mechanic for 19 years, I have way too many friends!!!, but I love each & every one of them!
 
8) Great job She Devil. These cars require as much brain as brawn ;)

Congrats
 
Good job!

I have to say that for all the years I've been working on cars electrical was my blind spot. Then I went to work next to a guy who explained it in such a way that I had the epiphany! "I got it now!" :-D I even started volunteering for those kinds of jobs.

So good for you when you jumped on it and went to work.

I will say though, that when your post started out with "an electrical fire" and late 70's Dodge truck...you'll be back to work on this one. Except it will be under the dash next...
 
ramenth said:
I will say though, that when your post started out with "an electrical fire" and late 70's Dodge truck...you'll be back to work on this one. Except it will be under the dash next...
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Possible, but it'll definitely be from a new issue :)
 
She Devil said:
Possible, but it'll definitely be from a new issue :)
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That's right.

I hate it when a customer thinks that I'm Harry Potter and when I've worked on the car once, that means I've waved some kind of magic wand over the freakin' car and have cured every problem the car will ever have.

Case in point: I put an ignition switch in a GM with the PassKey system not too long ago. Got a call from the owner yesterday who said the car won't start. It's been a month with the car working properly. Now it won't start so that automatically means it's the ignition again. Not that starters go bad or batteries go dead or... like I explained to him on the phone: tow it up and I'll take a look at it. If it's the ignition, I'll warranty it, but I have to see it to know what's going on.
 
You have much to learn yet, young grasshopper...............well done. I work in a place that has about 500 guys ( diesel fitters, fitters, machinists, mechanics, sparkies, etc ), and there are 3 girls. 2 are apprentices ( diesel fitters ), 1 is a tradesperson ( diesel fitter ).
Again, well done.....have confidence, and you will go far.
 
way to go thats always nice to know what your doing, dad was a mechanic for 20 years and always jumped on the electric jobs now he does maintaince on cnc machines keep up the great work!!
 
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