The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1919-11-01

justice to the car owner, there should
be a prior agreement as to just what
work needs to be done and an esti-
mate signed by the shop foreman, In
dicating the approximate cost. This
system is followed in the big service
stations and ii is the only satisfac-
tory one. 1t leaves nothing to the
Imagination of the repairman. Just
so much work will be done and the
charge will be approximately so much.
Fair enough for both sides. If the re-
pairman knows his business, he earns
a fair margin of profit and the car
owner ia protected against extortion.
Repair Men Ignorant.
And that brings us to another
cause of woe in the repair field. the
ignorance of many repairmen in re-
gard to their own business. Let me
cite case A repairman recently was
fixing a Chevrolet rear axle and pro-
peller shaft. Actually he did not
know how to do the work, but told
the owner everything would be ready
in two days. He got along fairly well
up to a certain point. Here he found
that he had left over certain thrust
washers, for which he could find no
place. 1t happened that he had for
gotten the assembly of the rear end OF
the propeller shaft and he fitted the
supposedly extra parts in wherever
they would go. This meant that
neither axle nor propeller shaft was
properly assembled. The car would
run for a certain length. But eventu-
ally the owner would have to come
back for another repair.
Here is another case. The owner of
a small Overland car, fitted with a
magnetic, had trouble from misfiring
at low speeds. He took il to a SER
vice station. The mechanic in charge
decided that carburetion was the
cause of the disorder. He adjusted
the carburetor. He tested the plugs
and found that they were firing prop
erly. Then he decided that a new
gasket would do the trick.
He installed 1t, and turned the car
over to the owner. The misfiring per-
sisted. Back came the car to the sta
ton. The breaker points were tested
and the carburetor, was again adjust
ed. No results were observed in the
running of the engine. Again the car
went back to the shop. This time the1
was overhauled. No use.
Back again to have the valves
ground. When this proved useless,
the sorrowing owner took the car to
a magnetic service station. The in
slruuenI was looked over Dy one Oh
the experts there. Weak magnets"
said this individual after five min
utes' search, "and IL you will wait
half an hour we will fix you up" and
they did,.
Every Trip Costs Money.
Recollect that every trip to the SER
vice station was costing this owner
money. He spent $50 in trying to cure
that case of misfiring, which was
finally remedied in half an hour and
for 81. There are lots of monkey
wrench mechanics" in garages and
repair shops and this fact makes il
additionally necessary for the car
owner to make an agreement before
hand as to what work is to be done
and as to the approximate cost.
Another situation in which the dis
honest repairman finds himself in
clover is when a bearing adjustment
job is turned over to him with the
simple injunction to fix il up"
Properly to scrape in a set of bear
ings requires time and skill. tits far
easier to install the bearings and