Virginia citizen. (Irvington, Va.) 1891-1921, 1908-01-31
GAS ENGINE TROUBLES.

tell when it will be necessary to know
few points about gas engines as
with them comes more or less trouble.
/ say cit will be necessary to know"
because the more we know about the
gas engine the less trouble we will
have with them. The man. that
says anybody can learn all about
his engine in a few hours knows
nothing about his engine himself.
1t takes years to learn all about
the gas engine. l have been do
ing srooble work for years and /
learn something occasionlly. I read
everything pertaining to gas engines
that comes to hand and learn many
things. When began gas engine work
l had no one to show me; no one to tell
me or anything to read on the subject.
After the first week 1 thought
could give pointers to anyone in trouble,
and thought there was no trouble
could not find in moment and over
come, but just about that time my en-
gine began to fail. / tried everything
L had done before, with no results:
there was something else l did not
understand. This made hard work for
me and / was alone with a 25 horse
poweriengine which had to be started by
main strength. soon began to think
that the man who said, Anybody with
out any knowledge of engineering was
telling something he knew was not so, :"
knew nothing himself.
L soon began studying my engine
when everything was running smoothly
from induction to exhaust; the oil pip
ing, the mixing valve, the fabrication
of cylinder, the circulating water, the
battery spark, coil, wiring connections,
electrodes, contact points, position of
Figniter, point of igniting. studied
hard and made my work lighter.
soon found that it was necessary to
have fuel within certain range of the
proper mixture and good spark to
ignite it. / remembered trying to
start after the engine had suddenly
stopped on me. pulled and sweat and
said few things for about one half
hour, but with no result. looked the
engine over but everything seemed o.
X. 1t would not move only when /
pulled it over by main force. 1 finally
stepped to the back door and there lay
before me three large drums of distill-
| ate. l knew at once what to do, and
that was to put some of the distillate
in my supply tank. Another time
forgot to throw in the switch, but
that was soon discovered, and SO my
troubles would come and go.
The main things about gas engine
are the fuel and spark to ignite it
Most trouble is with the sparkling
outfit. 1t is the best plan always t.
look there first; remove the spark plug
being sure that the switch is open
and then step back from the engine
few feet and try for spark. If mucl
carbon has collected on ore face of tn,
plug remove it, as this will shor
circuit your battery. See that tn,
movable electrodes work free: go owe
all connections of wiring, especially Oh
coil, and tighten them; use good batter
les, in setting up the battery be sur,
that the zinc plates do not come int
contact with the copper plate, as thi
will short circuit the coil and soon de
stroy it. If dynamo is used, set u
where there is no water to splash on it
Do not use your battery box for tool
box: set it up high out of the way an
allow only the battery and coil in it.
: If oil is used it should be straine
before going to the supply tank, and
: strainer is in the supply line it shoul
be cleaned often.
: Another trouble is water colle:tin
: in the contact points; this short circuit
the battery and no spark is the result
If your engine fails to start readily
, work sparker rapidly by handle about
dozen times; this will dry the points.
! If your engine has bronze bearing
r and they should get hot, do not tur
e cold water on them, as this will rui
, your bearing; use oil and let it CO..
e slowly. 1t will pay to shut down Ion
: enough to let it cool. Practic;
Engineer.