Diesel Mechanic

If you’re driving a remote-controlled car, a couple of batteries will give you all the power you need. If you’re pushing a lawnmower or driving a go-kart, an electric motor will do. And if you’re driving your average sedan, SUV, or pickup truck, a standard gasoline engine is ideal.

When you’re behind the wheel of anything bigger, however — a bus, big rig, ship, train, or tractor — you need a diesel engine, which uses compression, as opposed to spark plugs, to ignite fuel and create energy.

Of course, a special engine isn’t all you need. If that engine breaks or malfunctions, you’ll also need a special Mechanic to fix it: a Diesel Mechanic.

When you’re a Diesel Mechanic, your job is to repair and rebuild diesel engines, which means you spend your days in a shop running diagnostic tests, finding the sources of problems, then removing and replacing faulty parts.

Basically, you’re in charge of checking every inch of the equipment that comes into your shop — everything from water-cooling systems and oil filters to fuel-injection systems and cylinder heads — in order to make sure it’s working and wearing correctly. In that sense, being a Diesel Mechanic is very similar to being a standard Auto Mechanic (or any other kind of Mechanic, for that matter). While the process is the same, however, the skill set is not, as diesel-powered equipment demands specialized knowledge about diesel engine fuel, parts, and components.

Because of that specialized knowledge, you’re a diesel do-gooder: You keep the world’s farms, highways, rails, and waterways running!