El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1917-12-15

] paELLLHELE LEED from 6All
l. trouble as VIII cause an en-
barrasing breakdown on the road
! often are the center Of irritating an
noyances which have the affect of
| causing temporary delay, lack OF
power because Of mIsfiring, hard
starting. overheating, etc There are
in use two forms OF ignition systems,
( one using only q magnetic with per-
haps a battery system fin conjunction
I for starting, and the other using only
a storage battery and a timer dis
tributer. The latter IS now in more
! general use.
Regardless Of the type OF system,
efficient ignition is dependent upon
the unnampered generation Of cur
rent, the proper Interruption OF the
primary circuit, the free flow Of cur
rent 10 the spark plugs and spark
plugs which are properly adjusted TO
take that spark so as TO produce a
good explosion. With a battery sys-
. TEN there naturally comes uD the
need for battery properly charged
connections must be tight and clean
II they are not tight there IS liable TO
be misfLriuE, II they are corrOded
there may be no firing at all, or
mistiriuE coupled with hard starting.
The wires from the battery TO the
Ignition device must be perfectly iu-
sulared. A broken insulation making
intermittent contact with a metal
part Of the engine may cause misflr-
ing. The lnrerruprer points in the
ignition device must be separated
about .U45 inch when wide open. These
points must be clean and level II
they are too close together OF toe
vide apart dirty, gummFs uneven, or
Worns there is liable 20 be mlsflrlng
The distributor arm which turns
around and masses the spark % the
sesments which in turn pass it 10 the
spark plug wires, must be clean ar
its end and the segmeuJs must be
clean
The high tension wires 20 the
spark plugs must make good contact
plugs. The cables must have perfect
Insulation The plugs themselves
must not have cracked insulat0rs.
dirty points, or points which are too
wide or too close. Amy Of these con-
dltions may cause mlstlrlnE- A pecul-
lariry OF most ignition trouble Is that
when 80 develops e IS most likely 10
he In particular cylinder though ir
IS possible TO have the misfIring first
in one cylinder, then fin another.
In testing for ignition trouble the
first thing 20 do IS 20 determine IL the
spark is firing spark To do this
a good way IS 70 remove the plug
from the cylinder, attach the cable
and place the plug on top of the
cylinder Then crank the engine by
hand with the syitch turned 10 bait
terry. Watch the plug end as you
turn or some one else turns for you.
If there IS a good spark, the plug IS
firing II the spark Is very weak. iL
is probable thar il is not firing under
compressor This should be done
with each plug if there is uncertainty
as TO which one is at fault In order
to tell which plug IS faulty the old
fashioned but good method OF short
ing the plug with q hammer head or
screwdriver should be used. While the
engine is running, snort circuit the
spark plug by holding the metal ham
mer head against the top OF the plug
and the cylinder II there is no change
in the firing OF the engine as told
by the sound, then that is the bad
cylinder. Another way which may be
used IN engines having separate eN-
haust passages IS 20 drop water on
the exhaust pipe at each cylinder. The
cool portion indicates the bad CYL
lnder. After a syliuder IS found TO
misfirs the first thing 20 do as 20 eE-
anime the spark plug the next thing
to trace the wiring 70 the ignition
unit To make sure the trouble IS in
the plug try plug from another cyl
lnQer- After cylinder is found 20
OF dlEL on the lnLerrupler points
should be emOTed with q dr0D Of
kerosene. II the points are uneven,
file them straight with a special file.
If they are too wide or too close adj
just them
In four unit coil ignition any nal
adjustment OF The coil interrupters is
likely TO cause mlsfirinE. In magnetic
ignition, the interrUpter mechanism
IS much the same as that ia the bat
terry system and the same Instructions
apply. In maguetOs. however. the
may become weak and
this VIII usually cause misfiring at
low speed, though not always at high.
Coil connections should be watched. B
in fact the prevalent trouble fs caused
by loose or dirty connections.