Engineers, the Smart Guys

Why would anyone (in the U.S.) choose engineering as a career?

There’s different types of engineering…Mechanical engineering or even more specialized Automotive Engineering in my opinion is a dead-end career here in the US.

Electrical Engineering has been declining since the mid 80’s.

But industrial engineering, civil engineering, environmental engineering and even software engineering is still very strong. I have two openings right now for entry level college graduates. Starting salary $60k - $70k (depending on GPA and college attended).

Thats why they need to design the body around the engine, and not vice versa.

Worse example of that was my 84 S-15…What a pain. I had to replace the valve cover gaskets (3-4 times actually)…And the first time I did it…if that engineer who designed the engine compartment was within 10’ of me I’d have decked him…The drives side back bolt that was nearest the firewall also held a clip for a spark-plug wire spacer. That spacer had to be removed before you could access the bolt. Once it was removed (which took a while…actually had to break it off)…you couldn’t get a socket on it because the bolt was actually under the top of the fire-wall…You could only access it with a small open-end wrench and turn it 1/16 turn at a time…it was a royal pain. When I removed it I put on a different bolt that was much easier to remove.

A small oil filter, by itself, is no big deal. The locations of some of them are. Why in the world, for a service that may be performed 20 or 30 times during the life of the car, do they make them either inaccessible, or locate them so that a pint of oil runs everywhere when you pull the filter?

My Silhouette goes around 7000 miles when the OLM gets to 10%.

“Why would anyone (in the U.S.) choose engineering as a career?”

It’s rewarding. Engineering is a great way to solve puzzles - all day long. The job pays well. It’s fun. Sure, it can be tedious at times, but when I see the systems I work on in action, I’m pleased of my contribution.

Here’s some info about the GMOLS from Cadillac. If you can ferret through the sales talk (Caddy explains the system to dealers), there is useful information about how it works. It’s mostly in the first post, for those who want a quick read.

“I want to see the results of compression tests and other analyses of the engine internals after 300K miles using OLM vs. something like a 4-5K mile change interval. I just happen to think that engineers think in terms of the first 100K miles - not the couple 100K miles that could come after that. There’s a difference between good enough for X and ideal for maximum longevity.”

Go to sae.org and look through their papers on oil life monitors. It has been extensively tested and reviewed in professional journals. You could contact GM, who has been testing the GMOLS for the last 26 years; 18 of them with the monitor in production vehicles (Oldsmobile). Maybe they will share information with you. Don’t expect them to share SAE papers with you (copyright infringement).

Yes, I’ll put that stack of papers right next to the stack that says extensive testing has shown that you can leave your transmission fluid & filter for 100K miles (or even “life”).

Cars manufactured in Germany have the gas cap on the right so that, in the event you have to fill up on the side of the road, you can do it from the reasonably safe side and not the side that will put your butt in the path of traffic. Cars manufactured for sale in the States put the gas cap on the left for the convenience of the driver. Different countries, different priorities.

Since we’re off on a tangent, Hear! Hear! My BSME is worth diddly in the engineering field. Look, I’m in the Army’s JAG Corps. Back in the world I was a glorified drafter and a surveyor. Nothing wrong with either, in fact I enjoyed my work immensely, but we’re a dime a dozen.

My gas cap is on the right on my domestic car.

I was amazed at how small the filter was on the '81 Pontiac I had many years ago. That one may have been cheap design. Of course the car had engine, transmission, suspension, and electrical problems too, so really none of it was designed very well.

Have you ever heard of a single engine failure where the owner had ALWAYS replaced the oil and filter when the OLM told them to change it, while using the recommended oil type, on a vehicle that hasn’t had modifications done to it?

Ever?

I’m waiting.

I take it you’ve never owned or heard of a Chevy Vega…

A small oil filter, by itself, is no big deal. The locations of some of them are. Why in the world, for a service that may be performed 20 or 30 times during the life of the car, do they make them either inaccessible, or locate them so that a pint of oil runs everywhere when you pull the filter?

My 98 Pathfinder was like that…Had to drop the splash guard (10 bolts ) just to get to the filter…I eventually cut out a section and then hinged it back in with one bolt/clip to make it easier…Kept that vehicle in the family for over 300k miles and I did every single oil change (usually around 5k miles). That’s a lot of oil changes.

My 4-runner is just the opposite…the easiest oil filter change I ever had.

It’s rewarding. Engineering is a great way to solve puzzles - all day long. The job pays well. It’s fun. Sure, it can be tedious at times, but when I see the systems I work on in action, I’m pleased of my contribution.

Once we cycle through all the boring requirement meetings and actually get down to design and implementation it’s a lot of fun. If you find a job you LOVE then it’ll be very rewarding for you…Been programming computers for over 35 years…From Fortran IV and IBM 360 Assembler to C# and JQuery…what a trip along the way.

“That’s a lot of oil changes”. Sixty to be exact, at probably $10 for the oil and $2 for the filter for a total of $12+ times 60=$720 for the life of the car so far.

Compared to doing any internal engine work, that’s peanuts. Even if you used Mobil 1 at $4/quart, you would only be out less than $20 per oil change and $1200 over 300,000 miles.

As they say, oil is cheap, but engines and engine work are expensive.

Sometimes the requirements meetings can be fun. I like to find ways to get get what I consider important included in requirements, as everyone would. The fun part comes in figuring out ways to make that happen. If someone is burdening something with over-stringent requirements, I try to direct them into a set of circumstances that will make the outcome I prefer more likely. The end customer’s manager in my subsystem wanted to do more evaluations than I considered reasonable. I explained why, and got an agreement to do it my way if a test turned out certain results. The test outcome was about what I expected. I not only got what I wanted, I gained status with my peers and customers by working the system efficiently and with the outcome that the guy with the checkbook (and I) wanted. Now that’s a heck of a lot of fun.

There’re even “value engineers” (hack, coff, gag). GM had multitudes of them…

Right Mike. Way back in my college days I was a pipeline inspector for a gas utility. Some bean counter decided our standard size Chevies and Pontiacs with no extras cost to much to run and convinced the company to switch to Morris Minors for field inspectors and notekeepers.

Even with religious maintenance (a company policy) most of us burned out the valves in these little long stroke coffee grinders in 20,000 miles or so. My project was at the end of a 100 mile new expressway, and every week I had to report into the head office and then drive back to the job. The little car just made the speed limit of 70 mph. I burned the valves out in 10,000 miles. Those that were driven slower started buning oil at or before 40,000 miles and needed ring jobs. But the leather upholstery sure smelled nice.

The company then went to Ramblers with a straight 6 as the next best choice. They stood up remarkably well.

I have two Toyota’s whose models were available for sale at the same time. My Supra fuels to the right. My Celica fuels to the left.

Also, some Ford’s fuel to the right, others to the left. My 2000 Explorer on the left, my neighbors, 1999 Mustang on the right.

If it is a priority to you, just make it so when you buy.