Portland Community College | Portland, Oregon

Students will practice the skills, knowledge and abilities necessary to perform, with supervision, base brake and anti-lock brake (ABS), suspension and steering repairs on import and domestic cars and light trucks. This course prepares students to service these systems with limited supervision, which is the skill level necessary for employment at an apprentice level.

The broader purpose of this course is to provide students with authentic experience in basic industry skills and concepts, to ensure their success in later courses and on-the-job. These skills include tool use, fastener tightening, precision measuring and shop safety. Concepts and abilities that they will put into practice include craftsmanship, professionalism, communication of inspection results and responsible customer service.

Upon completion of the course students should be able to:

• Perform comprehensive suspension, steering and brake system inspection, maintenance, diagnosis and repairs with limited supervision.
• Communicate professionally with employers, customers and co-workers using industry standard language and following industry standard protocols.
• Access and utilize repair information in a rapidly changing technology.
• Develop and implement strategies and processes to solve suspension, steering and brake system repair problems.
• Perform suspension, steering and brake system repair to professional and ethical standards.
   

Students will demonstrate achievement of the course outcomes for Advanced Suspension, Steering and Brakes by completing the following tasks:

1. Perform complete brake jobs on customer vehicles (or school vehicles, as needed)
A complete brake job will include the following tasks, to be completed on customer vehicles as required or school vehicles as needed:

Perform complete vehicle brake inspection
Diagnosis of poor stopping or vibration complaint
Overhauling drum and disc brake systems (including machining)
Servicing brake hydraulic components
Performing repairs to correct brake vibration
Performing power assist brake diagnosis
Adjusting base brake systems

2. Perform comprehensive suspension and steering system inspections, maintenance, diagnosis and repairs with limited supervision.

3. Demonstrate professional skills and attitudes throughout AM 142 by:

Maintaining good attendance
Using safe shop procedures
Demonstrating respect for other students, school and customer property
Making good use of class time

Major concepts
Students will practice and apply concepts and skills developed in AM151 and AM 141. These concepts and skills are:

Health and safety

Hazards of brake dust, importance of shop cleanliness
Hazards of chemicals used in brake systems and repair

Professional business and personal conduct

Customer safety
Repeat repairs
Communicating with customers
Customer satisfaction as business strategy
Teamwork
Cooperative problem solving
Work absence and attendance

Physical laws

Leverage
Energy transfer
Heat and Friction
Hydraulic theory - Pascals law

Specific system and component operation

Hydraulic - caliper, wheel cylinder, master cylinder, quick-take-up
Master cylinder, control valves, ABS, brake fluids, brake lines
Disc brakes - floating, fixed, low drag, phenolic, parking brake calipers
Drum brakes - servo, non servo, self-adjusting
Power assist - vacuum, Powermaster, Hydraboost
Parking brakes
ABS brake operation - modes of operation, sensors, OBD, limitations

Skills

Hydraulic systems
Evaluate and overhaul wheel cylinders
Evaluate and overhaul Master cylinders
Evaluate and overhaul calipers
Measure and adjust master cylinder push rods
Bench bleed master cylinders
Adjust brake switches
Inspect flexible brake lines for wear
Flare and bend steel brake line
Bleed brakes using gravity, manual, pressure, and vacuum methods
Bleed an ABS systems front and rear hydraulic circuits
Diagnose control valve malfunctions
Properly select, handle, and install brake fluid and dispose of used fluid

Drum brakes

Measure and evaluate lining thickness
Evaluate hardware condition
Replace linings, using safe procedures
Service backing plate
Perform major adjustment, and parking brake adjustment
Remove, clean, measure, evaluate and machine brake drums

Disc brakes

Measure and evaluate lining thickness
Replace pads, remove and install pad/caliper hardware
Service sliding mechanism
Measure and evaluate rotors for thickness, run-out, and parallelism
Refinish rotors
Overhaul calipers

Wheel bearings

Service conventional wheel bearings
Adjust conventional wheel bearings
Inspect and replace wheel studs
Remove an reinstall sealed bearing assembly

Power brakes

Perform and evaluate power booster function test
Perform power booster leak test

Parking brake systems

Diagnose parking brake problems
Adjust parking brakes

Base brake diagnosis

Identify and interpret brake system concerns and necessary action
Research applicable vehicle service information
Use vehicle identification numbers

ABS Brakes

Evaluate a Wheel Speed Sensor for open circuit, air gap, tone ring and EMI
failures
De-pressurize a high pressure ABS type system
Bleed an ABS system (all circuits) using the recommended scanner
Determine number of wheel speed sensors, hydraulic channels, and type of
OBD on a given ABS system; describe OBD parameters
Perform manual ABS code retrieval and erase code
Perform ABS code retrieval and erase code using a scanner
Perform Scanner live data and auto-test