March 26th-29th

Overall the entire week went well. I was for the most part always busy in the shop, especially on Monday, and Thursday. I really enjoyed my entire week as well, as It has aloud me to get to know the mechanics pretty well. It has been about a month since I began Co-op and I really enjoying every thing about as I believe it is a great learning experience, as it has also give me a pretty good view of what the trade will be like when I get in to it. I am now very comfortable with all of the mechanics in the shop as I am no longer shy to ask questions and talk to them. I feel that the progress I have made has been very good, and I look forward to the rest of my months working at Oakville Chevrolet.

Journal April 16-20th

I was surprised many times throughout the week. The aspect that surprised me the most was the amount of work that I am doing now, compared to the amount that I did at the beginning. The workload has increased dramatically probably because of the better whether and the fact that the mechanic now trust me a lot more to do certain tasks. I feel good when I am given work to do on my own, as It really makes me feel like part of the team. My supervisor is a really cool person. He treats me like he treats everyone else and he is really laid back which creates a good atmosphere to work in. My colleagues are all good guys. They treat me like anyone else and show me lots of respect. I never feel disappointed at my coop because it is all a learning experience and I should never feel disappointed. I hope that everything stays the way it is now, because I really like how everyone treats me and the amount of work that I am doing. When my work is finished, I tend to look for more work. If I can't find anything, i usually just watch a mechanic who is doing some work.

Friday April 20th

Once I arrived to Oakville chevrolet the mechanic I work with was just about to go on lunch. So he gave me some easy tasks to keep me occupied until he was finished. These included servicing the battery, lubricating all hinges as well as doing an oiol change. The truck I was working on also needed a new oil pan gasket, so we took the old one off, only to find out that the parts department ordered the wrong oil pan so we had to reassemble everything. After that was all settled, we did a P.D.I. on a new vehicle. After we completed this, we did a transmission flush and a coolant flush on a truck. Once this was done, the day was pretty much over.

Thursday April 19th

Today in co-op it was fairly busy, s two of the mechanics did not show up. Throughout the day I did many small tasks and was always busy. The biggest thing i probably did today was change a diff, this job took approximately two hours, which was mostly the entire time I was there. This job went very smoothly, however it was very hard to remove the old gasket. This was because the heat melts the gasket onto the Diff making it very hard to remove.

Wednesday April 18th

Today was a good day as there was lots of work to be done. To start the day off I helped a mechanic change a transfer case, which was very interesting for me as there was some new stuff that I learnt. I then did an Etest on a customer’s car and did an oil change after wards. Later in the day I balanced a set of tires for a customer. At the end of the day I helped out a mechanic by beginning to take off many parts such as the air cleaner, Engine covers, so that he could reach the water pump as he was changing it after that i then went home.

Tuesday April 17th

Today unfortunately was not as busy as yesterday, but there was still work to be done, as when I first arrived I helped out by cleaning up the shop and picking up air hoses. However as the day progressed it got a little bit busier when I then did an oil change, tire rotation, changed a set of tires, and balanced tires. I also fixed an alienator. Overall the day went well.

Monday April 16th

The week started off good for me at Oakville Chevrolet as there was a lot of work for me to do. I started off with doing an oil change and then once I completed that I changed a fuel filter, and then a mechanic showed me how to service a vehicle, which just required cleaning the brakes, and the rotors, and oiling the hinges. After that I assisted in changing a pair of brake pistons. To finish the day I watched a mechanic do an emissions test on a vehicle. Overall today was a great day.

Wednesday April 11th

Today there was Literally No Work to be done! I believe there was only one mechanic working when I arrived today and he was changing a head gasket but once he finished that I really had nothing to do, and really do feel sorry for the mechanics that came to work today, because they get paid flat rate .... Which means since there was no work the majority of the mechanics didn’t get paid anything! So overall the day was kind of boring as there wasn’t any thing for me to do.

Journal: April 2nd - 5th

The Week was slow but picked up much near the end of it when Easter weekend was getting closer as there were not very many things to do in the beginning, but however I did manage to help some mechanics, as a few of the things I did over the week were: changed a fuel pumps, changed winter tires to summer tires, balanced tires, as well as a few oil changes. When it wasn’t busy and there was not anything for me to do I passed the time by talking to mechanics about the trade and learned a bit of stuff about getting your auto mechanics license I also helped out by cleaning the shop when it wasn’t busy.

Tuesday April 10th

Today unfortunately was not busy at all. When I first arrived I helped out by picking up tools, and cleaning the brake lathes, and organizing some parts, and tools. Later in the day I did a winter/summer tire change. I balanced a set of tires and did one oil change. After I completed those tasks there wasn’t any thing else to do so I talked to the mechanics until it was time for me to leave.

Thursday April 5th

Today was another exiting day as was yesterday. Some of the Jobs in which I performed were: Brake change oil changes, fuel filter, fuel pump, and machined rotors. I am also proud to say that I did learn something new today, as a mechanic taught me how to successfully machine rotors. Once again today was another fun and educational day.

Wednesday April 4th

Today was much busier then it had been at the beginning of the week, probably because the dealership was going to be closed over Easter weekend. As soon as I got to my co-op placement I immediately began working on a customer’s vehicle as over the time I was there in that day I managed to do: a brake job, brake service, two oil changes and changed a couple of customers tires so overall today was an awesome day.

Tuesday April 3rd

Today was another slow day as there were not very many things to do, however I did manage to help some mechanics, as a few of the things I did was : changed a fuel pump, changed winter tires to summer tires, as well as a couple oil changes. When It wasn’t busy and there was not anything for me to do I passed the time by talking to a couple of mechanics about the trade and learned a bit of stuff about getting your auto mechanics license.

Monday, April 2nd

Today at Oakville Chevrolet dealership, it was pretty slow. However I still did manage to do some work as the business did begin to pick up later in the day. After cleaning up the brake lathes and organizing some tools, and air hoses, I changed a set of tires, and balanced them. I then proceeded to do an oil change. After that I greased all the U-joints on a customer’s truck, and then assisted a mechanic in changing a water pump in a Truck.

March 29th

Today unfortunately was not nearly as busty as yesterday, but there was still work to be done, as when I first arrived i helped out by cleaning up the shop and picking up air hoses. However as the day progressed it got a little bit busier when I then did an oil change, tire rotation, changed a set of tires, and balanced tires. I also fixed an alienator. Overall the day went well

March 28th

Today in Co-op it was surprisingly another busy day as I worked on many cars. I began the day with doing an oil change on a customer’s vehicle. After that I then serviced the brakes on two vehicles, and rotated the tires. Once I completed this I then switched winter tires for summer tires, once I finished that I then had to balance the same tires and put them back on the car.

March 27th

Today was similar to yesterday however not quite as busy. At the beginning of the day for about the first 30 minutes I watched a mechanic change a head gasket on a mini van. Once the mechanics started getting back from there lunch they had me doing more work, as i did and oil change, assisted in changing a muffler and changed a couple of light bulbs as well as rotate tires. Once again to finish of the day I watched a mechanic perform an emissions test however this time he showed me how to work the machine and what every thing means. So overall today i learned a lot.

March 26th

The week started off good for me at Oakville Chevrolet as there was a lot of work for me to do. I started off with doing an oil change and then once I completed that I changed a fuel filter, and then a mechanic showed me how to service a vehicle, which just required cleaning the brakes, and the rotors, and oiling the hinges. After that I assisted in changing a pair of brake pistons. To finish the day I watched a mechanic do an emissions test on a vehicle. Overall today was a great day.

March 1st 2007

The first day of March started extremely slow. There was only one car that just needed an oil change for the entire day, after that there were only a couple cars that needed to be washed. The reason why there were not any cars today was probably because of the snow storm that is occurring today. Since there weren’t any cars that needed work I just helped clean up the shop. Once I had cleaned up the shop my supervisor sent me home around 2:15, because there wasn’t any thing for me to do and he didn’t want me driving home in the storm. So Overall today was very slow, but hopefully tomorrow it will be busier because there weren’t any customers today.

Feb 28th 2007

Today I arrived around noon, and when I first should up there wasn’t really anything that I could help with, so I just watched a couple of mechanics do some more testing on the Hummer that was in the shop, to figure out what was wrong with it. Near the end of the day they still did not know what the problem was, however they did have a lot of the engine taken apart, and it was very interesting watching them do this. Around 2:00 pm a Cavalier came in the shop to get an oil change and a fuel filter replaced, so I changed the fuel filter while the other co-op student did the oil change.

Tuesday Feb 27th 2007

Today was a better day because there a few more cars to work on, as the past few days there hadn’t been too many cars. Today I helped change two ball joints, changed a couple light bulbs, watched a mechanic machine a pair of disc brakes and drum brakes as well as change the brakes. With there being much more work to do it made the time pass much faster, so I ended up staying until about 3:20. Overall today was a great today and I really enjoyed it.

Monday Feb 26th 2007

Today at Oakville Chevrolet a new co-op student came in. The day was kind of slow and there weren’t very many cars to work on, however I did still help out cleaning stuff up around the shop and did a oil change on a customers car. I mostly just watched people work on cars, as the little bit of stuff that was happening around the shop was a little bit to complicated for me to help out on. I did enjoy watching a group of mechanics analyze a hummer to try and figure out the problem was with it. I ended leaving my placement around 3:00 like I normally do.

Feb, 19th - 23rd 2007

My first week at the Oakville Chevrolet has come to an end, and I much say it was a very exiting week, as I was always meeting someone new each day. Not one day was the same, as I got to participate in many different tasks. This week was however very slow as there was probably only an average of 6 cars that came in the shop each day I worked. The Mechanics had said that the month of February was a very slow month for them, because of the weather, and time of year. I feel that i made a good impression through out the entire day, as I always showed up early and always stayed a couple minutes past. I really enjoyed working with the mechanics there on the different types of vehicles that came in. I look forward to the next week and I believe that I should thoroughly enjoy the rest of the semester working at Oakville Chevrolet.

Friday Feb 23rd 2007

Today was probably one of the slowest days all week, as there were only about three cars in the entire shop. Since it was slow I mostly helped out with washing cars. However I still learned something new today. Today I met a very nice mechanic whom let me change a fuel pump by myself, with a little assistance and guidance. He let me change it by myself because he did not care if I broke anything, as the car was under warranty, so therefore the parts were free. Today was slow but still a great day.

Thursday Feb, 22nd 2007

Today I arrived at Oakville Chevrolet at about noon and worked until 3:00 pm. It was another very slow day today as it was yesterday, however apparently in the morning it was very busy. Since there weren’t very many cars to help with I just helped wash cars. I probably washed approximately a dozen cars and then after that i went and watched a mechanic machine a set of rotors for a customer’s truck. Nothing to exiting happened today however I did happen to meet a few new people, overall it was a great day.

Wednesday, Feb 21st 2007

Today I arrived at about 11:50 and got a head start. When I first showed up today I was extremely surprised to see Wendell Clark (old Leaf's captain) talking to my supervisor, unfortunately he was really busy and I was unable to meet him, however my supervisor promised that next time he came in, he would introduce me to him. Today was a very slow day, as I only worked on about three cars. I basically watched a mechanic change a water pump, and then I helped out with changing a fuel pump and did a oil change. I ended up leaving at about 3:30pm because at the end of the day I was helping some one fix a customers drum brakes.

Tuesday, Feb, 20th 2007

Today, I arrived at Oakville Chevrolet around 12:00 pm and worked until slightly after 3:00. For the most part today was a lot of the same stuff as yesterday. I did about 3 oil changes and changed a set of tires. I never really did anything to interesting today, however I did help out on 2 alignments which was something I have never done before, so that was a good learning experience. I also washed a couple cars, which I didn’t do on my first day.

Monday Feb 19th 2007

Today was my first day at Towne Chev Odls. I arrived there at around 11:50 because I wanted to be a bit early in order to make a good impression. My supervisor is a very friendly person. When I first arrived he gave me a tour of the place and assigned me to a locker. After he then introduced me to almost all of the mechanics working that day. After my supervisor had introduced me to everyone he assigned me to help two or three people. At the start I was mostly just watching people work on cars but after about 30 minutes of watching they had me doing some basic stuff, such as rotating tires, changing tires, balancing tires, toping up fluids, and helping out with the oil changes. Throughout the day i had a lot of fun and believe that i will continue to do so. I also learned a lot and overall I feel that co-op will be a great learning experience.

Today's Blog

Today in co-op, we completed safety 101 on passport to safety.