Engine City Technical Institute

Engine City Technical Institute is an accredited, diesel technology school located in South Plainfield, New Jersey, a short distance off of Interstate 287. It is currently the only such school in the Northeastern United States, and, as such, its graduates are in high demand amongst the area's industrial centers.

History

Engine City was founded in Union , New Jersey, in 1969 as a training center to accommodate the need for diesel mechanics in New Jersey and the surrounding areas.

Curriculum

Engine City uses a nine-week "phase system", where a student will attend the same class, five hours a day,(morning or afternoon) five days a week, for nine weeks before moving onto the next class. Program length is typically about months. The classes are as follows (not all students take the same classes in the same order):

• Drive-Train: The student trains on various transmissions and rear-end carriers for light- through heavy-duty applications. Transmissions typically worked on are New Process, Spicer,and Eaton-Fuller Road-Ranger transmissions, the most common in the heavy-duty truck industry today.
• Basic Engine: The student learns about the all basic components of a diesel engine, such as the cylinder block, cylinder head, pistons, and crankshaft,(to name a few). In the shop, the student will completely disassemble,clean, measure, reassemble, and run a four-cylinder Isuzu Thermo-King generator/refrigeration engine, as well as do minor tune-up tasks on standard straight-6 heavy-duty engines.
• Chassis: A heavily shop-intensive course, the student will learn safe tire removal and replacement,hub service and types, wheel bearing service and adjustment, brake service, clutch replacement, front and rear suspension repair and maintenance, air-system maintenance, and preventive maintenance schedules used by many well known transportation fleets.
• Electrical: A more classroom course than the other phases, the electrical class reviews basic electric theory, teaches use of multimeter, starting and charging systems, engine and non-engine related electronic troubleshooting, schematic tracing, and sensor and actuator theory and operation. Trucks in the shop are used for real time projects.
• Fuel Systems: A continuation of the Basic Engine course, this class requires both Basic Engine and Electrical as prerequisites. The student will learn in-depth information on fuel system troubleshooting on both all-mechanical and electronically-governed diesel engines, performing both basic maintenance and advanced troubleshooting tasks on Detroit Diesel, Caterpillar, and Cummins engines, both on separate engine stands and in actual trucks.
• Advanced Shop: An almost entirely shop-oriented course and typically the student's last stop before graduation, Advanced Shop sets the student on live trucks and extremely-advanced tasks, such as removing, overhauling, and reinstalling the engine successfully into a truck. Live projects are also used for taining. Transmission, suspension, hydraulic, etc. projects are available. Students are also given some degree of freedom in learning how to cut and weld. Stick welding, gas welding, wire feed welding, as well as the proper use of a gas torch and plasma cutter are covered. Students fabricate various stands, (for engines and other devices).

Engine City Technical Institute is an accredited, diesel technology school located in South Plainfield, New Jersey, a short distance off of Interstate 287. It is currently the only such school in the Northeastern United States, and, as such, its graduates are in high demand amongst the area's industrial centers.