Mechanic needing advice

[tacostand]

I have ADHD and I do take medication for it but it's like I'm constantly forgetting things and losing focus. Any tips?

Hello twostrokeking,

Your post shows great humility and an eagerness to learn and develop.
Humbleness and the will to improve are tremendous assets that not everyone possesses. Good for you.

The costs of mistakes can be great. There's no fairness to it but that's life.
This won't be your last mistake.
Do your best to learn from mistakes whether you make them or someone else does.

A lot of great suggestions so far on developing habits and systems to check your own work.
It's essential to find what works best for you, and build the habit of doing it that way each time.

Brakes and similar safety systems deal with saving lives in a way that mufflers and air conditioners don't.
When you know you're working on safety parts, make sure to give that your complete focus.
Approach those tasks like a life depends on it because one day it might.
Phone in the drawer.
If one of the other techs is interrupting just politely tell him you'll be with him as soon as you're finished.

Adequate rest and a healthy diet will go a LONG way to helping you accomplish your goals.
You may be surprised at how much they help your focus.

When you're off the clock, enjoy yourself. When you're at work, work with a purpose and a determination that will make you proud of what you've accomplished at the end of the day.

Best of luck,
Dave

 

[Jeremy77]

Perhaps someone taking psychotropic drugs should not be working on mission-critical safety systems on customer cars.
I would recommend you limiting your work to changing wiper blades and batteries.

You'll be lucky to get out without losing everything in a lawsuit.

I'm not an auto mechanic, instead I work industrial maintenance operations and have worked in the same petrochem facility for 15+ years. I daily encounter steam turbines, large compressors, acids, bases, pressurized systems etc. Im 38 and also also have ADHD (as diagnosed by several doctors) and take daily meds for it (as prescribed by a physician). Its yet to affect my job as far as I can tell. Have I made mistakes?...sure, but so has everyone who works with and for me, none of which are ADHD as far as I know. I think the fact that you are concerned/remorseful of what you did speaks volumes. Many people your age would care less and shrug it off. I will say that when working on any mechanical system especially a critical system, that care should be taken. Peoples lives and safety can be affected by our actions...no matter our trade. There are some good tips posted for organizing and checking your work. Find your system and follow it religously...ive always found that being neat and orderly (i.e. laying pieces parts out on a rag or tray) helps a lot. Youll learn more from making this mistake than any amount of reading or studying could ever give you. This is no knock on the OP but if I had a 19 year old "rookie" working for me, id check on their work. Im not sure if SOME of the seasoned guys on here remember a time long ago when they werent perfect.

 

[twostrokeking]

Thank you all so much! And to the idiot who says it's bad to take these medications... without them I can't function. I need them to be a productive member of society. I didn't choose to have this problem I just have it. Thank you for making yourself look stupid. I wrote down all the tips and I am definitely on the right track! thank you all so much!

 

[FunkyfullWidth]

Just taking a guess but a brake job doesn't have that many fasteners to begin with. Slow down. In the shop I'm at after every job we have someone else give a quick look. Maybe you can ask someone to do the same for you.

 

[Ejlanou]

I'm 19 and work at a dealership. I post on here a little bit and although I don't always reply I do soak it in and take notes anyways. I have always loved working on stuff. However I made a very bad mistake Thursday. I forgot to tighten caliper bolts on one caliper when doing brakes and the caliper fell off on Saturday while the customer was driving. It makes me sick to think about what could have happened. I have ADHD and I do take medication for it but it's like I'm constantly forgetting things and losing focus. Any tips?

When I first started out not that long ago an older gentleman who I worked with had been my mentor and what he would do is put all of the caliper bolts back in one turn so the caliper would alway stick out like a sore thumb if it was not tightened down on cars with slide pins on the bolt on calipers he would leave them resting atop the dust shield so u couldn't put the wheel on. Those are both great methods that work I find my self doing this often I also try to clean and lube all the stuff up but assemble one corner at a time so u won't forget anything

 

[Fastfish]

Excellent exchange. Nice to see people helping. I am just a DIY wrencher with a lift, and my 17 year old kid working in the shop often. I am very concerned about leaving critical stuff loose. Very simple to stay focused. not always easy. I really force myself and tell my kid that you must stay focused. To the OP: You are doing a great job by asking for ideas and discussing on this forum.

 

[lynnbilodeau]

Mistakes happen.

In aviation, checklists and processes are used to try to reduce them. I try to go over things in my head, but as I get older I find notes to be a big help. I have two whiteboards in my shop. One has vehicle and equipment maintenance information, and the other I use as a scratch pad, sketch book and reminder. If I have to walk away from something that isn't done, I'll write down "Tighten Caliper Bolts" to make dang sure I don't forget to do it.

Figure out what it takes for you to keep things straight. A notebook with a checklist or one in your head. Whatever works for you.

This x2. Hospital malpractice claims went down dramatically when surgical teams started making lists of every thing that needed to be done. It is usually the mundane, or simple task that gets missed without a list.

When I meet with clients and sign estate planning documents, we always make a list (I have the client assist in making it) before they leave. I normally tell them: "if it isn't written down, it may not get done".

Lots of guys can do major repairs without a list. You shouldn't. Apparently, no one was hurt from this episode. Take it as the serious warning it is, and make a check list each time you start a repair job. BTW "assemble in reverse order" is not a check list.

Best of luck to you, and don't let it get you down too much.

 

[tomstin]

I used to fly with a guy who had thousands of hours experience and still had a checklist every time he got into the plane and I mean EVERY time! I agree with an earlier post, put together a check list for each repair. Have one of the old timers review it with you to make sure you have covered everything.

 

[cdeer001]

On a total side note, this is a great book on the development of Checklists. It's an interesting read. Explains some of the procedures (check, double check, triple check) you see in hospitals everyday.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/0312430000/?tag=atomicindus08-20

or the PDF version

http://static1.squarespace.com/stat...868/1385073329980/The+Checklist+Manifesto.pdf

Here's an excerpt:

On October 30, 1935, at Wright Air Field in Dayton, Ohio, the U.S. Army Air Corps held a flight competition for airplane manufacturers vying to build
the military’s next-generation long-range bomber. It wasn’t supposed to be much of a competition. In early evaluations, the Boeing Corporation’s
gleaming aluminum-alloy Model 299 had trounced the designs of Martin and Douglas. Boeing’s plane could carry five times as many bombs as the army
had requested; it could fly faster than previous bombers and almost twice as far. A Seattle newspaperman who had glimpsed the plane on a test flight
over his city called it the “flying fortress,” and the name stuck. The flight “competition,” according to the military historian Phillip Meilinger, was regarded as
a mere formality. The army planned to order at least sixty-five of the aircraft.

A small crowd of army brass and manufacturing executives watched as the Model 299 test plane taxied onto the runway. It was sleek and impressive,
with a 103-foot wingspan and four engines jutting out from the wings, rather than the usual two. The plane roared down the tarmac, lifted off smoothly, and
climbed sharply to three hundred feet. Then it stalled, turned on one wing, and crashed in a fiery explosion. Two of the five crew members died, including
the pilot, Major Ployer P. Hill.

An investigation revealed that nothing mechanical had gone wrong. The crash had been due to “pilot error,” the report said. Substantially more complex
than previous aircraft, the new plane required the pilot to attend to the four engines, each with its own oil-fuel mix, the retractable landing gear, the wing
flaps, electric trim tabs that needed adjustment to maintain stability at different airspeeds, and constant-speed propellers whose pitch had to be regulated
with hydraulic controls, among other features. While doing all this, Hill had forgotten to release a new locking mechanism on the elevator and rudder
controls. The Boeing model was deemed, as a newspaper put it, “too much airplane for one man to fly.” The army air corps declared Douglas’s smaller
design the winner. Boeing nearly went bankrupt.

Still, the army purchased a few aircraft from Boeing as test planes, and some insiders remained convinced that the aircraft was flyable. So a group of
test pilots got together and considered what to do. What they decided not to do was almost as interesting as what they actually did. They did not require Model 299 pilots to undergo longer training.

It was hard to imagine having more experience and expertise than Major Hill, who had been the air corps’ chief of flight testing. Instead, they came up with an
ingeniously simple approach: they created a pilot’s checklist. Its mere existence indicated how far aeronautics had advanced. In the early years of flight,
getting an aircraft into the air might have been nerve-racking but it was hardly complex. Using a checklist for takeoff would no more have occurred to a
pilot than to a driver backing a car out of the garage. But flying this new plane was too complicated to be left to the memory of any one person, however
expert.

 

[JamieK]

Since you work at a dealership, it should be pretty easy to print out the factory procedure for any kind of repairs. Do this before every job and look it over. After you finish the job, look it over again and make sure you have completed each step. The torque specs for all the bolts involved in that job should be printed on there, so check them off as you torque them. As for wheels, I will only put the center cap on after the wheels are torqued. If you have to leave in the middle of a job, tape a sheet of paper to the drivers window reminding you where you stopped, or what needs to be done. Or get some dry-erase markers and make notes directly on the glass.

 

[checkthisout]

I'm 19 and work at a dealership. I post on here a little bit and although I don't always reply I do soak it in and take notes anyways. I have always loved working on stuff. However I made a very bad mistake Thursday. I forgot to tighten caliper bolts on one caliper when doing brakes and the caliper fell off on Saturday while the customer was driving. It makes me sick to think about what could have happened. I have ADHD and I do take medication for it but it's like I'm constantly forgetting things and losing focus. Any tips?

Well, lots of people without add leave **** loose too.

If you're serious about change, make a checklist. Use it on every car and don't check it off until AFTER it's torqued.

 

[LS6 Tommy]

I just reread my post and realized it may have sounded harsh. I didn't mean it to be. It was meant to show you that you're not the only one that makes mistakes. His was bigger than yours in that he was a "seasoned" mechanic, did it on both front calipers and the person lost almost all their brakes.

Many of the above suggestions are good. The fact that you feel so bad is a good sign of a conscientious mechanic. If your employer hasn't made an issue out of it, don't continue to be hard on yourself. Move on and concentrate on methods to alleviate making the same mistake.

Tommy

 

[LS6 Tommy]

Not to sound mean, but I had to fire a guy for doing the exact same thing. He was older than you and a pretty good tech, but when the customer has no front brakes at the bottom of a hill on a 4 lane highway, less than five minutes from your shop and the tech has a "**** happens" attitude about it, you gotta let him go...

Tommy

I am not sure of your legal obligations and understand that there are risks, but becareful of your reactions and firing someone because of their supposed Learning disabilities, that could have legal implications of their own. We are all human, and while a seasoned mechanic may be at less of a risk for making a mistake, he is just as capable of forgetting to do something as the next guy.

Where did I say anything about learning disabilities? I edited my post to indicate I fired him partly for making a huge safety mistake and mostly for having a nonchalant attitude about it.


Tommy

 

[johndeere7530]

I can give u some advice on this.
I'm dyslexic being wrenching for a good few years never served my time am completely self taught.
I have problems with telling left and right.

U need to double check brakes and other safety features. Did u simply forget to put bolt in or was it not tight?

There's a few rules in my shop
there's no radio
No one comes in and chats
And u never walk away in the middle of doing something ie after dropping oil out.

I never put in a bolt without tighting it or else leave everything lose and go through at end of job.

I was out with a local mechanic lately who has 3 lads working for him they are always talking and messing with each its gone so bad that two engines were ruined cause they forgot to put oil in one and tighten head gasket bolts in another.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk

 

[maxpower_hd]

One last suggestion I didn't mention originally but I also always, always test whatever I fix. I never assume it will work, I make sure it does.

Good luck.

 

[jeepinerdeep]

Bolts and drain plugs are either torqued down or completely out. This solves a lot of problems. Some others suggested paint markers and torque stripes, I think this is a good idea and will get you started for only a few bucks investment.

What you experienced is part of being a new mechanic. I don't see that it's especially related to your mental difficulties. It's good to worried, it shows you care. Now do something about it so you don't have to sit around worried.

 

[nine4gmc]

Thank you all so much! And to the idiot who says it's bad to take these medications... without them I can't function. I need them to be a productive member of society. I didn't choose to have this problem I just have it. Thank you for making yourself look stupid. I wrote down all the tips and I am definitely on the right track! thank you all so much!

Good for you man, please don't listen to the "idiot" in the thread, some people are clueless...

Me, I'm not a mechanic by trade but have always done ALL my(sometimes friends and family's cars too) mechanic work since I was 16. I have made mistakes like everyone else and since it's not a daily thing for me, I try to go back over everything once I think I am finished, just before lowering the jack or closing the hood. I physically touch every single fastener that was removed, usually with a wrench or ratchet/socket but even with the tip of my finger to see if it was properly reinstalled/torqued. It doesn't take but a few seconds to go over every bolt/nut and verify it being tight. Give it a try and see if it works for you, it can't hurt.

Props for you coming on here looking for help/ideas.

 

[colin39]

Put in bolts in an order and then tighten them in the same order, double check em it a qc of sorts. Ignore the **** head your human , thats all. Its not an ilness it a condition, just condition you mind to not get distracted until a job is complete, it dont have to be the whole job , just this side and then the other.
Chill your young youll get there.

 

[dave89iroc]

Whatever you do,. You need to come up with a system that works for you, and systems that work for other people may not work for you, but for now, I agree, if the bolt is in, tighten it

That way, if it's in, it's tight

 

[Bigblue&Goldie]

**** happens, try your best to minimize the amount of **** that happens. We use paint pens on our race cars to mark everything. Not only does it serve as an indicator that the fastener was torqued, it also gives us a quick indicator in the pits if bolts are working loose. Hell, we've even marked tires/rims to see how far they are slipping on the bead.

 

[Jbullfrog]

I have add also and take meds for it as well. How does one get a shop clean and organized with our problem?

I start a project with a clean tray and every removed fastener goes there until it is reinstalled. I use sections of phone wire to mark lines when splitting tractors. I take photos with my phone or tablet while tearing down to aid going back together. Oddly, since I put a TV in the shop instead of a radio I get more done.

 

[lonestarky]

Foreign object or debris type training may help you. Toolmakers and aviation mechanics use it all the time. For fasteners, we always paint marked after torque. 1 joint, 1 subassembly at a time. Dont rush, everything deserves the same amount of attention.

 

[Jetfixr320]

With very few exceptions, that only occur on the internet, everyone made some mistakes while learning their trade. Some of us with years of experience still screw up once in a while. We are of course without flaws on the internet.

You, obviously made a mistake that could have had really severe consequences but I think it's important to keep the proper perspective. I suppose that it's possible that this is a sign that you're in the wrong line of work but based on the limited information here it seems a bit early to jump to that conclusion. The fact that you're as concerned as you are and that you're looking for ways to avoid making mistakes like this are good signs and good first steps.

I have few suggestions for you.

The first is to talk with a health care professional about your meds. The effectiveness of all medication should be re-evaluated on a regular basis. Also, if you're not working with a counselor of some sort to help you with your condition I strongly suggest that you do so.

The other suggestions are more directly shop related.

Develop the discipline of never installing a fastener without tightening it. Don't answer the phone, stop to talk to anyone or switch tasks in between when you start them and tighten them. On fasteners that have to be installed first and then tightened later leave them obviously loose and maybe even hang a wrench off one of them.

Deliberately pause and re-do the job in your head at logical times. For example, just before you stick the wheels on or close the hood give a quick scan of everything there and think through all the parts you put on.

Filling out the job ticket is another time to kind of review in your head what you just did.



I don't know what experience bookworm has had that makes him think this is an appropriate response to a disability but it's not. One of the best techs I know had ADHD and without his meds there's no way he could do his job but with medication he's fully capable. He works right next to a guy who needs heart meds can cause depression if not monitored and a guy who is, as far as I know, perfectly healthy in every way that I wouldn't trust to change my wiper blades.

Great reply right here and can't agree more!