Work Experience

Work Experience

Thompson Commercials 

For my work experience in year 12, I was lucky enough to be able to go to Thompson Commercials in Boston who are the largest privately owned Renault Trucks dealer group in the UK. During my time there I was placed in the workshop assisting with inspections on the vehicles and changing new vehicles specifications to the customers requirements.

The site from the yard

Every six weeks a lorry must go to a certified workshop to have an inspection carried out, without this the lorry is not allowed back on the roads. The inspection consists of visually checking the truck for any damaged panels or large chips in the windscreen and that all the lights are working on the vehicle, any imperfections are written down and noted. The truck is then put over the pit and the tester begins to check that all the vital nuts and bolts are not loose, the brake disks and pads are not excessively worn, and that no items are broken or missing that should be there. Whilst the lorry is still over the pit all grease points are greased, then tread depths on all the tires are then taken and the fifth wheel is greased and checked. The truck is then taken for a test drive to check for any mechanical faults that only become present whilst driving such as engine or gearbox problems and rattles.

A job card that is filled out at the end of all work completed on the lorries telling the customer what was done to their vehicle. 

The first job I assisted with was to rewire an engine's loom. When the truck first came in the owners were unsure of the problem apart from they knew it was engine related due to the warning light on the dash board, so we used the diagnostics computer to locate the fault and see if we had the parts to be able to fix the problem.

The diagnostics computer and a list of all the faults with that particular lorry came up including what time and who was driving the lorry when it first appeared.

Once we had diagnosed the problem with the wiring loom on the engine we began to remove the loom and see what was the issue. What had happened was part of the loom enters the actual engine at the back near the rockers, and the rubber seal around that entry point had began to leak and engine oil had begun to seep down the inside of the wiring case and short circuit the signals being sent from the engine ecu to the fuel injectors. Once we knew this we removed the whole loom and replaced it with a brand new one from the stores.

      With the faulty loom off and the new one fitted I was told to start attaching it to a faulty engine that they had pulled out of a lorry the week before, so I fitted the loom with the help of one of the mechanics and over the two weeks added more parts, such as a thermostat housing, that were taken of off other trucks I had helped on over my work experience.

The faulty engine with the faulty wiring loom and thermostat housing attached

Another job I helped on a few times was changing worn brake discs and pads. This was quite a lengthy job as it involved taking off the wheels and if it was rear discs and pads then it was two tires per side, and when each tyre weighs more than I can easily manoeuvre, the job becomes all the more challenging! 

 Changing the front brake disks and pads on a lorry

One of the most frequent jobs I assisted with, was the engine timing. This involved taking the rocker cover off and turning the engine over from beneath using a tool attached to the gearbox. Each cylinder has a shim at the top which changes the spacing between the cylinders maximum volume. The shims vary in sizes from about 3-4mm with around 0.05mm of difference between each size of shim.

The tool attached to the gearbox used to turn the engine over by hand and beneath the rocker cover where the shims are placed (Near each group of three large springs)

The last job I helped on was to replace a starter motor that had heated up and blown a part of its casing off, the starter motor is located behind the fuel tank so it required putting the lorry up on a lift and working from beneath the lorry to be able to get at it. After we had replaced the broken starter motor with a new one we stayed under it and replaced the fuel filter and the ad blue filter, this can be tricky as they are not easily accessible, also they are screwed into their sockets really tight so its abit of a squeeze to get at them and replace them.

The hole in the starter motor.

Here are some more pictures from my two weeks at Thompson Commercials

 The engine beneath the cab on one of the brand new lorrys.

 One of the vehicles in the yard, a recovery truck that had its engine break its mounts and rest on the balancing weight at the front of the truck. 

The broken engine I was adding parts to.

The broken engine I was adding parts to.

The broken engine I was adding parts to.

A recovery trucks engine where we had to replace another wiring loom.

The hole for the starter motor to connect to.