Automotive Electrician

What is an Automotive Electrician?

Duties

As an automotive electrician, you must handle the following responsibilities:

• Diagnose and repair to specifications – brake and hydraulic, exhaust, primary and/or advanced fuel ignition and electrical, suspension and alignment.
• Adequately explain technical diagnoses and needed repairs to non-mechanical individuals which may include employees and customers on an as-required basis.
• Continuously learn new technical information and techniques in formal training sessions in order to stay abreast with rapidly changing automotive technology.
• Performs major overhauls or repairs of complex automotive problems of vehicle fleet & heavy equipment, repair, rebuilds or replaces minor & major parts (e.g., electrical system components, alternators, water or fuel pumps, clutches
• Constantly learning new technical information and techniques through formal training to keep up with rapidly changing automotive technology.

Day In The Life

As an automotive electrician, you’ll be working with multiple parts of the car – all related to the electrical wiring system. This requires good hand-eye coordination, strong eye sight, a thorough methodology of completing work and a desire to keep learning as electrical systems change and upgrade.

Though the work will vary depending on where the automotive electrician is employed, many of the same work skills are needed. Automotive electricians will be working with computer engine management systems, which will help diagnose any problems in the car’s electrical system. Once the problem has been diagnosed, the electrician will complete the repairs to the parts of the electrical system, including the:

• Electronic ignition
• Cruise control
• Fuel injection
• Airbags
• Automatic transmission
• Air conditioning

Now that energy efficient cars are becoming more popular, automotive electricians need to be able to make improvements to electrical systems to improve their overall efficiency. This is a major benefit to many car owners, and having this skill will come in handy as car manufacturers become more focused on more fuel efficiency.

Once the work is completed, the automotive electrician will be in charge of testing the vehicle to make sure that all parts are correctly installed. If any issues come up during the testing process, the electrician will go back and fix those parts and retest them until everything is satisfactory.

Doing all of this work will also require specialized knowledge of certain tools and equipment. Automotive electricians should feel comfortable using power and hand tools in their everyday work, and they should have an extensive knowledge of industry equipment and machines. Some projects will also require soldering and welding, so having this knowledge will help automotive electricians excel in their place of work.

Automotive electricians work with different cars every day, so it’s rare that they ever have the same day twice. If you like a little variety in your work, this may be just what you need.

Work Schedule

You’ll usually work 40 hours a week, Monday to Friday. You might have to work shifts or be on-call. You’ll be based in a garage or workshop. If your job includes call-out duties, you’ll also work outside in all weather conditions. For most electricians, the day lasts from about 8 am until roughly 6 pm. This will vary depending on the employer, but most electricians can expect a 40-hour work week with the possibility of overtime.

Growth Of The Job

With experience, you could progress to be a supervisor or manager, or move into vehicle sales or marketing. You could specialize in light vehicles (cars, vans and motorcycles), heavy vehicles (lorries, buses and coaches), or one particular vehicle model if you work for a motor manufacturer. You could also set up your own business.

Typical Employers

Most automotive electricians go to work for a mechanic’s shop or a dealership. Mechanic shops employ automotive electricians to work on the various cars that come into the shop. This requires a strong knowledge of a lot of different makes and models.

Dealerships need highly trained automotive electricians who know their products extremely well. Customers often bring in their cars to have them serviced, and they expect high quality work. These electricians need to have solid knowledge on the makes and models of the dealership. If the electrician is working for a used car dealership, then he or she needs to be able to fix up older cars and make them sellable once more.