Automotive Electricians
Install, maintain and repair electrical wiring and electronic components in motor vehicles.
A ute that must leave by morning
You are an auto electrician at a small shop, fitting extra lights and a reversing camera to a work ute for a plumbing business. It is 2:30pm on Thursday. The plumber needs the ute at 7am tomorrow for a big job. You have found two more problems than the quote covered, and the shop closes at five.
Choose what you would do. Then see what happens. There are often good reasons for each choice.
Mate, I know it is more than I said, but I just need the lights working. Can you tap the new bar into whatever is there already and skip the proper relay? It is only a few extra lights.
Tap into the existing wiring as asked, to hit the deadline
The lights come on and the ute leaves on time. Weeks later the original wiring overheats under the extra load, and Rob is stranded on a job site with a burnt smell and no lights at all.
Fit it properly, explain why, and ask what he can live without
Rob grumbles, then picks the camera over a second light so the job can be done right in the time you have. You agree on the order in writing, and both of you know what is fitted.
Fit what he asked, but mention the risk in passing and then get on with the next job
You told him, which is better than nothing, but he was busy and did not really hear it. Mentioning a risk in passing is not the same as getting it decided clearly.
I have found an old wire under the dash that does not go anywhere on the diagram. It looks like the last owner added something. Can I just snip it so it is out of the way?
Trace where it comes from and what it feeds before anyone cuts anything
It turns out to feed an old alarm that still sets off the horn at random. You now know why the ute sometimes goes off at night, and Hamza has learned that unknown wires get traced first.
Snip it, since it is not on the diagram and so cannot be doing anything important
The horn stops working an hour later, and you realise the wire fed a safety circuit someone had quietly modified. A wire missing from the diagram is not a wire that does nothing.
Tape the end and leave it alone, so you can finish the job
Nothing breaks, but the mystery wire is still there, and the next electrician will find it too. Leaving it is safer than cutting it, but not the same as understanding it.
Right, so did you test everything? I am about to head off and my guys are waiting. You can just tell me it is fine and I will sign.
Say it is fine and let him sign, as you are nearly done anyway
Rob signs and leaves. At 6:50 the next morning the reversing camera shows nothing at all, and you realise you never tested it. Your word that it was fine was not true yet.
Ask him for ten minutes and run through each added item with him as it works
Rob is impatient, but he sees every light and the camera work before he signs. It costs him time he did not want to spend, though it saves you both from a call tomorrow.
Finish testing, walk him through what you changed and leave him a short written note
He sees it all working, takes the note for his records and thanks you for the detail. The next electrician who opens that dash will know exactly what you did and where.
How it went
The ute leaves at 5:20 with everything tested and written down. Auto electricians sit between customers who want things fast and wires that do not care. If you enjoyed working out what was safe, and what was not, you might enjoy this trade. What would you have done about the mystery wire?
This is a simplified, fictional situation to help you explore. It is not professional instruction or a test of your ability.
Case study: The florist's van that kept going flat
A fictional case set in a specialist auto electrical shop that fits, tests and repairs wiring in cars, vans and work utes.
The situation
Marguerite ran a flower delivery business with three vans. One of them kept going flat overnight, and twice she had missed a wedding delivery window because it would not start. Another workshop had replaced the battery and then the alternator. Nasrin, an auto electrician, was asked by the exhausted owner to just fit an even bigger battery so it would stop happening.
What they did
Nasrin explained that a bigger battery would only hide the problem for longer. She asked to leave the van with her for two days and connected a meter to see when the drain began. She found that a refrigeration unit added to the van by a previous owner had been wired straight to the battery, with no switch, so it ran all night. She rewired it properly through the ignition, tested it and wrote down what she had changed.
How it turned out
The van started every morning after that. The work cost less than another battery would have. Marguerite asked Nasrin to check the other two vans, and found a tired wire in one of them before it caused any trouble.
What would you do?
- Why do you think the first two repairs missed the real cause?
- How would you feel working for two days on a problem that might have a boring answer?
- What is the difference between a repair that works today and one that is actually right?