The conference began in the morning, with vendors exhibiting their wares to auto mechanics teachers from across Colorado.  In midmorning, the conference moved to a meeting room on the PCC campus where an orientation was given by Robert Maez, a PCC automotive instructor and current CATS president.

 
During the technical session, Jon Romsdahl of RTI Technologies presented a technical view of why inflating tires with nitrogen gas will become standard procedure for vehicles equipped with the new electronic tire-pressure monitoring systems (TPMS).

"Shops are ruining TPMS sensors by pumping moisture-laden shop air into tires," Romsdahl said.  "Not only does the moisture corrode the TPMS sensor, but the subsequent pressure variations with air are much wider than the parameters that many TPMS applications are programmed to monitor," he said.  "Nitrogen reduces pressure variations because it expands and contracts less with temperature change."

In his next presentation, Romsdahl said that although current-generation recyclers are grandfathered in under the J2788 regulations, those requirements on the measurement of retrieved and injected refrigerants and oils are much tighter.

"Because modern air-conditioning systems use less of both, it's estimated that 70 percent of all A/C systems on the road today are overcharged on refrigerant and oil," Romsdahl said.

After lunch break, Ford Automotive Student Service Educational Training (ASSET) Instructors Tony Schafer and Dennis Wagner of Southeast Community College in Milford, Neb., provided an overview of constant variable transaxle (CVT) technology.

"The CVT transmission may be used in Ford's smaller vehicles with engines less than three liters of displacement," Schafer said.  Although the CVT is similar in principle to a snowmobile's variable-ratio transmission, it uses a metal drive chain and a planetary gear to engage forward and reverse gears, he said, adding that a separate computer is employed to keep the engine in its optimum power band.

"Because the CVT uses a special green-colored fluid, topping it off with conventional red fluid will ruin the frictional qualities of the drive belt," Wagner said. "In this case, the CVT will be destroyed and must be replaced by a new unit."

Schafer and Wagner closed their presentation by discussing the advanced technology now used to diagnose and repair noise, vibration, and harshness (NVH) issues.  "Many in the aftermarket don't know that automakers often use tire designs to fine-tune NVH problems out of specific vehicle applications," Wagner said.  "Replacing original-equipment tires with aftermarket substitutes may suddenly cause an NVH issue that didn't previously exist."

Next on the agenda, Bob Sidebottom of Automotive Youth Educational Systems (AYES) said one high school had been dropped from the AYES program and that another was being considered for approval.  The AYES program provides cooperative education opportunities in industry for high school auto mechanics students.

Ben Nesbitt of SkillsUSA Colorado brought "drop dead" dates for entry into the SkillsUSA Colorado contest to the assembly for discussion and approval.  Kelley Herbert of Warren Tech presented a $500 scholarship fund check from the Rocky Mountain Automotive Boosters Club to the Automotive Industry Management program represented by Ron Darby of Colorado State University at Pueblo. 

 
The meeting closed in late afternoon with an introduction of Frank D. Cowgill III, the only Colorado auto mechanics program student to win a SkillsUSA Gold Medal at the recent national SkillsUSA competition in Kansas City, Mo.