Audubon County journal. (Exira, Iowa) 1884-1993, 1919-02-27

Repairing Gas Engine on
prepared by the United States Depart. I
ment of Agriculture)
The gas engine, great labor saver
on thousands Of farms on which sta
honary engines, tractors, motor trucks
Or automobiles are operated efficiently,
Is also at times the cause of great
waste Of labor. Often large crews
hired to help with thrashing, hay bal.
Ing, cutting ensilage, ETC., draw full
wages for hours spent in idleness ow
Ing to inefficient handling of the en-
CINE. A man frequently will spend
much more time and energy in start
Ing a gas engine to pump water for
stock, run milking machine, or for /
some other similar purpose. than
would be required to do the work by |
hand. The time lost throughout the
country In this manner, enormous In
the aggregate, is to great extent |
preventable.
It is not desired to convey the linz
preston that gas engines usually give
trouble, or are difficult to operate, for
this Is by no means the case. Delays
from engine trouble are usually due
to the operators ignorance of some Of
the details essential to proficient oper-
alton.
Use Information Furnished.
All catalogues and directions fur
nished by the manufacturer should be
studied carefully. If none are received
with the engine, request for them
should be sent promptly to the manu-
facturere It is to be regretted that q
few. manufacturers are rather lax in
the matter of furnishing such ma
terial, although it is obviously to their
interest to make use of this compare
lively inexpensive method Of assisting
the purchaser to obtain satisfactory
service from the engine.
Any instruction book furnished by
the manufacturer should be kept in
safe place, but convenient for refer
ence.
1t is safe to assume that the man
who made the engine knows something
about its operation and can give some
information of value to the purchaser.
In altogether too many cases. the in
struction book and other literature
intended to be Of assistance to the
user of the outfit are either thrown
away or ignored completely, and not
!nfreQuently q man is sent from the
factory, or a local expert is hired, to
make simple adjustments concerning
which full instructions are given in
| literature furnished by the manufac-
/ turer but which had never been read
1 by the owner.
fabrication.
| A large percentage of repair ex-
penses Is due to insufficient or Inn
4 proper fabrication. In far too many
cases owners of gas engines use grades
of oil entirely unsuited to their en-
gines, Notwithstanding the fact that
In each case the manufacturer has fur
nished a long list of various brands
and grades of oil which have been
tested and found suitable to the engine
In question, and which can be obtained
practically anywhere in the country.
Another common error is to use too
little oil. It is poor economy to try to
save on oil. On the other hand, an
excess Of oil In the cylinder, while
better than too little, will cause car
bon deposits, followed by loss of
power, overheating, and preignition.
Heavy, blush smoke from the exhaust
indicates that the cylinder is getting
too much oil, but 1t is usually i'd
visable to furnish enough to give at
least a slight trace Of blush smoke.
If the cylinder is oiled from the
crank case by the splash system, the
lubricant being used over and over
again, the oil should be examined FIRE.
Mently, and as soon as 1t becomes
Idly discolored or very thin 1t should
drained out and new oil substituted
Many manufacturers furnish direc
lions as to how often this should be
done. Filling the crank case with kero
sene after draining out old oil, and
then running the engine a few minutes
without load, ig1neder to Remove dirt
and carbon from Bearings Ind other
parts, is frequently recommended. This
Is good practice where the crank case
can be drained completely, but or
many engines there are pockets which
cannot be fully drained, and the kero
sene remaining in these pockets will
thin the new oil. Under such circum
stances the rfnsing Is of doubtful
value. After such rinsing is done, tht
engine should not be run at full spees