More on Auto Instructor John Berkheimer

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Emil Andrews
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1 More on Auto Instructor John Berkheimer Peruse through the following if you need to know more about me, where I came from, and what I ve been up to for the last 47 years or so! If your not interested, well then just skip this portion. But don t forget as we advised you before, you should check out your future instructors before committing to any automotive training program!

2 Hello, my name is John Berkheimer I m the first year instructor for the Automotive Technology program here at Thaddeus Stevens College of Technology Pay us a visit, we would be glad to show you around and explain our program. Any program is only as good as the instructors. They must provide you with the training you will need to be successful in this field! Anyone can boast about how smart they are, but car smarts come from things learned by actually working in the field over a period of time, and constant up dating your technical skills by learning from the experts! This is a life long challenge, do you think you're up to it?.

3 What made me want to be a car person Well, I was always a motor head. Even in high school I belonged to a car club called the Axle Snappers who had a flat head dragster that held the national NHRA record for its class for many years. Below my high school yearbook photo it said; Berkheimer will attend Stevens Trade School for auto mechanics, and so I did, graduating in 1963 at the age of 19. After two years working as an mechanic, at two independent shops, ( we did not use the term Auto Tech till a few years later), I landed a job at the local Chrysler Plymouth dealer and spent the next 20 years as a tech, working shop foreman, and even a short stint as service manager. I was fortunate to grow up during the Muscle Car Era and spent many a day performing what we called super tune ups to all types of neat stuff; Mopars with 426 hemis, 440s, 383s, 340s, and the such, along with assorted corvettes and big block cheys, 442 Oldsmobile's,. GTOs, well you get the idea. Of course we all had to make the transformation to the electronic world through the 1980s and learn about the computerized things to come. I miss those days!

4 This might give you an idea of those good old days, my apartment in Ephrata in early My 6 Pak Road Runner, and my wife s 440 Cuda, also with a 6 Pak setup installed by me. Between the two, that s about 800 plus horsepower! Like I said, I miss those days!

5 Another Transition in Life After 20 years a major job change was in order. After that 3rd disc operation my surgeon told me it s time to get off that concrete floor, and find something less physically demanding. Well as luck would have it my old instructor from my previous years at Stevens was retiring and there was a teaching position about to open. That was that, and there I went, back to my old school. So here I was at Stevens with all my Chrysler and Mitsubishi experience, knowing I would be teaching all types of vehicles. So, it really meant back to school for me again!

6 Back to School for the Next 25 Years After a few years at Stevens I quickly realized that I will become technically stale with all the changes happening in the car industry. I started attending OEM training from Chrysler, GM, and the occasional Toyota classes as much as I could. Lots of summers attending many GM classes at HAAC (Harrisburg Area Community College), & Chrysler training in Malvern. I also took as many evening courses from aftermarket trainers that were available. In the mid 90s if found myself looking for more high-end specialty training, and read about a one week boot camp guru school in Indianapolis held by Jim Linder, the injector guru. That was, and still is, the best investment of training I ever made in my career as a tech or a teacher! That was the summer of 1998, and I have been back to Jim Linder at least 12 different times for specialized training. This has opened up a whole new world of aftermarket training, and allowed me to teach both the OEM methods, and the aftermarket philosophy of repair procedures!

7 How do Automotive Instructors keep up to date on new Technologies? Since I have committed myself to life long improvement, I have spent a great deal of time attending automotive training. I have been training all through my automotive career, and if you click on my VITA page you will see how its been on-going for the last 47 years including my 2 years at Stevens. I have attended multiple sessions offered by the best out there. Just to name a few; Jim Linder from Indianapolis, Bill Fulton from Ohio, John Thorton from Illinois, Randy Dillman from Indiana, Dan Marinucci (Mr. foreign car service), Jere G Truglia from New York, Mac Vanden Brink the Scope Guru from Michigan, Dave Scaler from the MEA in New Jersey, Mark Warren from Arizona, Dave Crippen & Mike Saurer from Bosch/Vetronix, Doug Wolverton with Hunter Engineering. Hybrid training from Craig Van Batenburg from Massachusetts. This is how I try to keep up to date, and I ll finish out these slides with a few hi-lights of some really neat places I have been for training. Like I said this is a life-long commitment!

8 How do the Instructors keep up to date with the new technology? Here is a shot of the Hunter engineering training facility in Jessup MD. Both instructors spent an entire week receiving hands-on instruction from Matt Winslow on the new Hunter equipment just purchased by the College.

9 How do the Auto Tech instructors keep up to date? We go to school! Here is a shot of the class at Jim Linders guru II training in Indianapolis. Instruction is being given by Mac Vanden Brink, the scope guru. First year instructor John Berkheimer (that s me) attended the one week guru I training in June 1998, and the guru II class in August 2000.

10 How do the Auto Tech instructors keep up to date? We go to school The picture on the left is from a special 3-day ignition system conference featuring new amp-ramping standards hosted by Linder Technical Services in Indianapolis in March of Attended by first year instructor John Berkheimer (that s me again). Stevens students were ampramping coils in April!

11 ARE THE INSTRUCTORS UP TO DATE ON CUTTING EDGE DIAGNOSTICS? Stevens instructors keep themselves updated by attending special training schools and seminars. Here was a unique and intense 4 day training session on assorted import vehicle diagnostics attended by first year instructor john Berkheimer (me again) in June 2001

12 MORE ABOUT THAT SPECIAL SCHOOL; LOCATED IN NEWARK, NJ. THE MECHNANICS EDUCATION ASSOCIATION OPERATED BY DAVE SCALER The school put on a special on week training package on import drivability. They featured a special instructor for each vehicle line twice a day. These special tricks and procedures were quickly passed on to my students. This is the neat stuff you might miss in a OEM only training program!

13 What do I do during my time off over the summer? I go to school! To the right is a shot of several of the instructors from Harrisburg Community College who have been GM trainers for many years. Every summer for at least the past 15 years the college hosts a special week just for automotive instructors. They bring in trainers from GM, Chrysler, Ford, Toyota, and others. Attendees get to see the newest models and the technical changes that take place year to year! Just a few years ago 12 instructors, including myself got to tear a new Toyota hybrid in pieces to learn all about it and how it works! Neat stuff!

14 Special Treat in Florence Indiana! The gentleman in the center of the lower right shot is Fred Hines, owner and founder of ATech Training Inc. a company that produces automotive teaching products in Kentucky I was lucky enough to be picked, along with 19 other automotive instructors throughout the country, to attend a week long all expense paid training seminar in June The week was spent learning to teach automotive electronic trouble shooting skills using simulators. See the upper right shot that shows what each pair of instructors shared during training. Did I mention a free week at a Beltara Resort along the Ohio river. Neat!

15 Training schools/seminars/conferences/evening Courses/New equipment training/safety & Emission Training from Harrisburg, it's all good Besides the special subject training schools put on by Linder Tech in Indianapolis, they host an annual training conference in September. Every year the 3 day conference is held at a fantastic facility only a few miles from Linder Tech headquarters. There is usually 275 to 300 attendees from the US and Canada. They are shop owners, drivability techs, and automotive educators like myself. We all come for the presentations provided by selected top end trainers from across the nation. Top notch technical information is available. I ve been lucky enough to attend the last 5 conferences, Great stuff!

16 Last but not least! If anyone out there is still reading, and they are already working in the automotive field, never say I just don t know where to go to get good automotive training There is so much available out there, and so little time! There are many places I ve been for training but may have left out. The ASA hosted Visions in Overland Park in Kansas City. I was there in March, and previously several years ago. It s tremendous, one of the biggest in the country. There was 1300 techs there for the Sunday morning breakfast. They had over 30 trainers with half and full day presentations! The Harrisburg hosted AASP organization sponsors an annual weekend training seminar, this year in Grantville. I have attended the past 6 conferences. Amongst others, I had some great hybrid classes there. If you re just starting out, then that s simple, come see us at Stevens!

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