When I got mine in 1995 their was I think around 3 ways/sources IIRC to get certified to handle R12 at the time, MACS, ASE AC and I guess yours (had forgotten the name)… But if you went ahead and got your ASE in AC repair you might have gotten it also… MACS and ASE AC had been around a little while so I guess you either forgot or didn’t check into it far enough back then… The only reason I got it was due to the Boss saying hurry up and do this EPA has been hitting shops around here, ours never got inspected… lol
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I have MACS. If I recall correctly, at the time ASE had 7 including trans, parts, engine, steering/brakes/suspension (those could be separate?)… not sure what else but 7 stuck in my head. Don’t recall AC. The company we bought the AC machine from administered MACS so that’s what I took.
I’ve been out of automotive field for almost 20 years but I still do my own AC repairs using $100 harbor freight pump and $40 manifolds. Replaced my '04 4Runner condenser a couple of years ago. No biggie.
Re: Engineers vs technicians
I’m an engineer, and can’t really dispute the antipathy technicians have towards engineers … lol … a story if you’ll allow … I was working late a night preparing the final parts of a super-expensive scientific instrument for shipping to a trade show the next morning. Had a little difficulty with getting one part to fit flush, so figured it was just a trade show, decided the way it was, good enough. Works fine, fitment problem can be corrected later. Buttoned it up. Around 3 am, went home. I got a call around 6 AM the next morning, from the shipping technician. George! What do you think you are doing? The way you left it, there’s no way to put it in the shipping crate! … lol …
Not ASE certification, but ASE AC certification to handle freon…
ASE also had the 8 standards ASE certs for brakes, steering and suspension, electrical, automatic transmission, manual transmission and drive line, engine repair, engine performance, HVAC… and if you had HVAC then it gave you ASE AC to handle freon, but having ASE AC did not make you ASE certified in HVAC… I may be missing some from back in the day… yes I know about the L1’s and all that…
But just because you are good at passing test doesn’t mean you know how to repair a vehicle… I have seen many techs that had the certs and couldn’t put that knowledge to their hands…
I got my ASE way back when, and never cracked a book to study and passed with very high scores, I think I only missed 2 on brakes, because my job required to have 5 for my position and a bonus for each, but I let them all expire later cause they don’t mean much to me…
I’m more impressed with the tools you have then the certs you have… lol
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