Marinucci: Auto repair demands skill, patience, attention to detail

Successful automotive repair still requires technicians who have a combination of tactile skills, patience and a knack for details.

Modern technology may help a diagnostician pinpoint a failed component on a vehicle, but the boss still needs a talented technician with nimble fingers, an eye for detail and a surgeon's steadiness to replace that bad part correctly on the first try.

Always keep an eye out for an automotive repair person having the skills of a surgeon, then do your best to recruit that technician and keep him or her on your team.

The value of manual skills was apparent during my earliest auto repair jobs back in the late 1960s. Not only is the same true today, but it also will be in the future.

The reason is that working quarters on many modern vehicles have become tighter and tighter. Overall, physically smaller vehicles aggravate the problem.

The removal and reinstallation (R&R) of failed parts often suggests that serviceability was not a priority in the overall design of the vehicle.

What's more, the R&R procedure spelled out in some repair manuals may be woefully inadequate. If so, then the worker with agile hands, sharp eyes and keen automotive intuition is the one who solves an R&R puzzle.

Sometimes, traits such as nimble fingers and attention to detail seem to be overshadowed by the focus on modern marvels such as the Internet, wireless communication, etc. But these advancements cannot and will not solve the physical challenge of poor accessibility that occurs on many vehicles.

Equally challenging is the misconception that one "wrench turner" is about the same as the next one. Owners, managers and shop foremen who observe technicians should recognize that some workers have stronger manual skills than others do.

Ideally, you should recruit techs equipped with diagnostic smarts as well as nimble fingers, but that said, a tech with stellar tactile skills is an asset to nearly any team — perhaps a valuable complement to a diagnostician with average manual dexterity.

Recently, assisting someone on a timing chain R&R reminded me how valuable manual dexterity is. The tech was replacing a timing chain on a 2005 Nissan Altima with a transverse engine. Here, the front of the engine faces the passenger side of the car.

Reinstallation was particularly challenging because there was limited room between the engine and the right side of the engine bay (see photo).

The timing cover doesn't have a conventional gasket. Instead, a bead of RTV (Room Temperature Vulcanizing) material seals it to the engine. For one thing, safely stripping the OEM sealer from the timing cover is a tedious but necessary chore.

For another, you must patiently, deftly apply a continuous bead of fresh RTV to the entire sealing surface of the timing cover — not too thick and not too thin.

Then you must jockey this cover around some obstructions and back into place without touching anything that would disrupt the fresh bead of RTV sealer. Obviously, a disturbed bead would invite an oil leak.

Bravo! My pal patiently reinstalled that timing cover as if he were born to the task.