Engine City Technical Institute
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Engine City Technical Institute is a
for-profit college Proprietary colleges are for-profit colleges and universities generally operated by their owners, investors, or shareholders in a manner prioritizing shareholder primacy as opposed to education provided by non-profit institution (such as non-se ...
focused on diesel technology and located in South Plainfield, Middlesex County,
New Jersey New Jersey is a U.S. state, state located in both the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. Located at the geographic hub of the urban area, heavily urbanized Northeas ...
, United States, a short distance off of
Interstate 287 Interstate 287 (I-287) is an auxiliary Interstate Highway in the US states of New Jersey and New York (state), New York. It is a partial beltway around New York City, serving northern New Jersey and the counties of Rockland County, New York ...
.


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 13 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 The engine configuration describes the fundamental operating principles by which internal combustion engines are categorized. Piston engines are often categorized by their cylinder layout, valves and camshafts. Wankel engines are often categoriz ...
Isuzu , commonly known as Isuzu (, ), is a Japanese multinational automobile manufacturer headquartered in Yokohama, Kanagawa Prefecture. Its principal activity is the production, marketing and sale of Isuzu commercial vehicles and diesel engines ...
Thermo-King generator/refrigeration engine, as well as do minor tune-up tasks on standard
straight-6 A straight-six engine (also referred to as an inline-six engine; abbreviated I6 or L6) is a piston engine with six cylinders arranged in a straight line along the crankshaft. A straight-six engine has perfect primary and secondary engine balanc ...
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 A multimeter (also known as a multi-tester, volt-ohm-milliammeter, volt-ohmmeter or VOM, avometer or ampere-volt-ohmmeter) is a measuring instrument that can measure multiple electrical properties. A typical multimeter can measure voltage, elec ...
, 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 Detroit Diesel Corporation (DDC) is an American diesel engine manufacturer headquartered in Detroit, Michigan. It is a subsidiary of Daimler Truck North America, which is itself a wholly owned subsidiary of the multinational Daimler Truck AG. ...
,
Caterpillar Caterpillars ( ) are the larval stage of members of the order Lepidoptera (the insect order comprising butterflies and moths). As with most common names, the application of the word is arbitrary, since the larvae of sawflies (suborder ...
, and
Cummins Cummins Inc. is an American multinational corporation, multinational corporation that designs, manufactures, and distributes engines, electric vehicle components, and power generation products. Cummins also services engines and related equipmen ...
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 training. 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).


Affiliations

Engine City currently employs as instructors two former Cummins Techs of the Year, and as such have an extremely strong relationship with Cummins. Engine City also has a strong relationship with Binder as a result of Binder's head trainer being a graduate of the school. Only one individual teaches training programs at Foley CAT, a major Caterpillar dealership. Unfortunately, Engine City has not been able to secure any relationship with
Volvo Trucks Volvo Trucks () is a truck manufacturing division of Volvo based in Gothenburg, Sweden. Volvo Trucks was a separate company within Volvo. The Volvo Group was reorganised on 1 January 2012 and as a part of the process, Volvo Trucks ceased to b ...
or
Mack Trucks Mack Trucks, Inc. is an American truck manufacturing company (law), company and a former manufacturer of buses and Trolleybus, trolley buses. Founded in 1900 as the Mack Brothers Company, it manufactured its first truck in 1905 and adopted its pr ...
beyond Mack sending several second-hand transmissions and rears to the Drive-Train shop.


The future

There are two major potential directions that Engine City's administration is considering taking. The first direction would be to convert their current facility in South Plainfield into an automotive
motorcycle A motorcycle (motorbike, bike; uni (if one-wheeled); trike (if three-wheeled); quad (if four-wheeled)) is a lightweight private 1-to-2 passenger personal motor vehicle Steering, steered by a Motorcycle handlebar, handlebar from a saddle-style ...
training facility, while purchasing a larger building to house the heavy-duty facility, as space is quite scarce in the current facility's bays. The second direction would be to become a CAT affiliate and a major training center for Caterpillar technicians, which would render most of the current curriculum to be moot as it deals with non-Caterpillar technology, but at the same time provide CAT with a golden source of trained and refined techs. As of January 2009, Engine City Technical Institute - Diesel Mechanics School and Training Center has been acquired by Lincoln Education Corporation. This corporation operates over 100 schools throughout the U.S. This acquisition will serve as Lincoln Groups diesel mechanics school for the tri state area. This acquisition will also allow Engine City Technical Institute to purchase more equipment to service its growing student population.


External links

* {{coord, 40.551163, -74.420915, type:edu_globe:earth_region:US-NJ, display=title 1969 establishments in New Jersey Universities and colleges established in 1969 Education in Middlesex County, New Jersey South Plainfield, New Jersey For-profit universities and colleges in the United States