The Washington herald., 1916-01-09
HINTS FOR AUTOISTS.

Drivers should be certain that grease
cups are filled regularly. If this work
is done by a garage assistant, take the
time to watch that it is really being
done. Filling grease cups is too inn
portant to be trifled with. The caresul
car owner should give his car that con-
sideration which it deserves, namely,
seeing to it that all grease cups are
regularly filled and regularly turned
down as needed. Neglect means large
repair bills.
After scraping the carbon from the
cylinders OF a motor equipped with an
air starter care should be taken to re-
move from the cylinders all the loosen
ed carbon. The reason for this is that
any free carbon may make its way to
the check valve and either prevent the
flow Of air to the cylinder or cause a
leak. The leak will be caused by the
improper seating of the valve, which
in the case of the winton air starter
Is a ball The carbon will deposit itself
around the ball and keep the latter
from seating, thus allowing air to pass.
The practically universal mistake of
clashing gears in changing from high
to intermediate on a hill may be avoid
ed il the. gears are placed in neutral
for a second and the engine accelerated
slightly with the clutch in. Then de-
press the clutch pedal and when the
change is made the gears will mesh
quietly and easily since they are rotat-
ing at the same speed-or will be after
a little practice.
A clean, well-polished car is a thing
of beauty" In order to preserve the
original luster of enameled and var
nfahaH arTrFapag the mud should ha
rinsed off with a gentle stream before
it has become dry. The surface should
then be dried with an outing flannel"
cloth that has been wrung out as dry
as possible from clean water. A good
polish is made OF one part kerosene,
one part vinegar, an done part color
less liquid shellac.
Here is a little dodge that may on
occasion save the motorist consider
able trouble. If there is a crack in a
pipe or tank, or even in the radiator
and no soldering equipment is at hand,
common rOsin, melted and run over
the leak to a depth of a quarter of an
inch will serve temporarily to stop
the gap. II a little more permanent
job is desired, a bit of leather placed
over the hole before running the rosin
makes a wOrkmanlike job of it.
When a crack in a fender resulting
from vibration. causes cracking
noise that is very annoying. it is
sometimes hard to locate.
If you will use soft yarn instead of
hardwoven thread in mending tears in
leather or mohair cloth, the stitches
will not tear out quickly.
The most dangerous time for the
novice in automobile handling is Just
when he first feels that he has mas
tered the machine and that he has
nothing to fear from It; that, after
all, it's an easy thing to manage, and
that he is equal to any emergency.
Shortly after that, II his confidence
overcomes his caution, he will have
his first real fright or his first acci-
dent.
In starting do not open the throttle
too wide. Two or three turns with
the spark off. and a single turn with
spark on will give the best start Spin
ming the motor should never be done
with the spark on. The object of
spinning" is to fill the combustion
chambers with an explosive mixture,
and this can be done with safety only
when the spark is off. After the cham
bers are filled a single pull upward
will secure all the results of the spin
ming, and eliminate danger from
back-fring.
Always carry two or three short
lengths of rubber tubing in the tool
box, the diameters corresponding to the
sizes of copper piping in use on the car
for the gasoline, oil and pressure
pipes. If a pipe is completely frac-
tured, spring one half of the pipe out
sufficiently to push a length OF rubber
tubing over it, then bend it back again
to join up with the other half and
work the tubing over the fracture. If
there is any difficulty in carrying out
the repair by this method. cut little
of each half of the piping and then
join up with the tubing. If you have
no instrument to cut the piping. spring
both halves away from one another
and then curve the end round to make
a slight semi-circle SO that the pipe
apertures point toward one another.
Join up as before with the rubber tub
ing. II the pipe is simply cracked
bind it round tightly with insulating
tape, which Is always a useful article
to carry. for binding up electric cable.