Draft:Overhaul

An overhaul is a set of changes designed to repair, remake, renovate, or re-envision something.

Definition
The scope of the change indicated by the word can vary widely. The United States Army noted in its 1971 Aviation Digest: "Ask the next half-dozen aviators that you meet what the word overhaul means and you're likely to get a dozen different answers. It seems incredible that a simple word with only eight letters could confuse so many people". A 1920 Automobile Trade Journal article similarly highlighted the expansiveness of the term:

"An owner brings in his car to be "overhauled." To his mind that may mean anything from cleaning spark plugs to rebuilding. We will say however, for the purposes of this illustration, that he has made up his mind to spend about $150 on the car. He talked to your technical man. The word "overhaul" to this man means a thorough going over which will cost about $250. He writes the order, "Overhaul Car.” Now the mechanic who works on it has a different conception of the word "overhaul." He gets busy and puts $500 worth of labor and parts on the car.

And so, when the owner gets the bill which he expected to be about $150 he finds that he is asked to pay $350 more—over three times as much."

The article questions the use of the word "overhaul", stating: "It means nothing to anyone. There is no such thing. If you are asked to "overhaul" a car where do you begin and where leave off? This applies to assemblies as well as to automobiles as a whole. There is not a mechanical appliance of any kind which cannot be worked upon more or less at any time".

A 1972 decision of the Federal Trade Commission barred a defendant from "using the term 'overhaul', or any term or words of similar import", to describe any transmission service that did not include a variety of elements, including:

"...the removal, disassembly, and replacement of all worn parts, hard or soft, and the reassembly and reinstallation of the transmission in the vehicle, unless in conjunction with the use of the term "overhaul," in a prominent place and in type that is easily legible, disclosure is made of:

(a) The parts that will be replaced in connection with the "overhaul" and are included in the overhaul price, as well as their price if purchased separately, and

(b) The parts that will not be replaced as part of the overhaul and their price, and/or

(c) The fact that in many cases substantial additional costs will be incurred if parts other than those regularly included in the overhaul must be replaced in order to repair the transmission."

In some domains like aircraft maintenance, the terms maintenance, repair and overhaul also include inspection, rebuilding, alteration and the supply of spare parts, accessories, raw materials, adhesives, sealants, coatings and consumables for aircraft maintenance at the utilization stage. In international civil aviation maintenance means:


 * The performance of tasks required to ensure the continuing airworthiness of an aircraft, including any one or combination of overhaul, inspection, replacement, defect rectification, and the embodiment of a modification or a repair.

Processes
Processes including an overhaul can include:
 * Maintenance, repair, and overhaul
 * Refueling and overhaul (eg. nuclear-powered ships)
 * Time between overhauls
 * Overhaul in firefighting, the process of searching for hidden fire extension on a fire scene. It is used in conjunction with salvage operations to reduce loss cause by fire. Overhaul is one of the last steps in the firefighting process.