- My essential question is, what is the most important factor in extending the mechanical life of an automobile? My best answer to my essential question is regular oil changes because, as my mentor, Jorge Ramos, said: "Engine oil is like the blood of a car." Engine is what keeps your car running. You can have a prefect engine, a full tank of gas and any additional parts you want to increase horse power, increase efficiency, etc. but without oil your car won't run. Engine oil keeps all of the metal parts in your car lubricated so that your engine doesn't blow up from the friction cause by the parts. This is why, when compared to my other two answers, engine oil comes out on top. You can keep your car in almost perfect condition by replacing parts at certain miles and always making sure that your sensors are working but without properly maintained engine oil, your car's engine will be at risk.
2) What process did you take to arrive at this answer?
- The process to arrive at this answer wasn't very long, it was the process to arrive to the conclusion that regular oil changes was the most important factor in extending the mechanical life of a car, that was long. To find this answer, I simply asked my mentor what he thought was most important in a car. He said the fluids of the car were most important but he didn't specify what fluids. I later dug deeper into my research and paid more attention at the cars that customers brought into a shop to see what caused people the most problems when it came to their cars. I found that faulty sensors caused a lot of problems as well as parts that need to be replaced every so often miles. These two became my other two answers for my EQ. I then took these three answers and weighed them out and started looking at what the consequences of each were and came to the conclusion that you can change mile marker, or milestone, parts as often as you want and you can have your sensors in tip top shape all the time but if you don't keep your engine oil clean and healthy, your car will not last you and new sensors and mile marker parts will have been for nothing.
3) What problems did you face? How did you resolve them?
- Throughout the year, I only faced two problems. The first was that when I first started researching for my senior project, I started off with articles that were really technical and had a lot of words that I didn't know, which led to me misunderstanding what I was learning. I resolved this by toning down the academic level of my research. The second was that I couldn't find a mentor. I found a lot of shops that were willing to help me but one of three problems always occurred. One, the shop didn't have enough room for since I wasn't an actual mechanic and would be taking up too much space in such a crowded work area. Two, I had to take and complete an automotive class before the shop let me work with them to avoid probable and fatal mistakes that I could've made on the customers' cars. Three, liability issues with the insurance of the shop. One of these three was always a problem with the shops that I tried to get mentorship with. I actually didn't resolve this, I got this resolved for me by my friend, Yareli. She asked her dad if I could work with him and he said no, but her dad asked her uncle if I could work with them and he gladly said yes. That resolved my whole issue. After that, I didn't have any problems because any questions that I had, my mentor answered. Even now, whenever I find that I have questions about an article that is a bit too technical for me, I ask my mentor to dumb it down for me and he does.
4) What are the two most significant sources you used to answer your essential question and why?
- My two most significant sources were the Engine Bible on carbibles.com and my mentor, Jorge Ramos. The Engine Bible is what the name of it states; it's everything and anything you need to know about how an engine works, the different types of engines, possible problems with engines, how to take care of an engine and informative videos about engines. My mentor was a big help because when ever I had a question about something I didn't understand on carbibles.com or any other article, he'd dumb it down for me as much as possible. He also spent a lot of time with me working on cars and walking me step by step on how to do a job such as changing the transmission fluid or engine oil of a car, replacing the oxygen sensor of a car or changing the timing belt of a car. These jobs helped me figure out what a car couldn't function without and he helped me understand how important engine oil was In a car. So, I guess you could say my two most important sources worked in unison: one gave me written information and the other clarified any information I didn't fully understand.
5) What is your product and why?
- My final product is that I acquired the ability to be able to work on my car and the cars of my family members at home. I acquired this ability through the information I learned from articles and the hands on learning I got at my mentorship. Without my research and my mentorship, I could not have learned any of this without taking an automotive class in college.
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