The Washington herald., 1919-11-09
WINTER BRINGS
ENGINE TROUBLE
Use Ether with Gasoline
And Do Not Employ too
Much Gasoline.

In cold weather gasoline does not
vaporize as II does In higher tempera-
lures, resulting In all sorts Of engine
troubles from hard starting to lack
OF power. As gasoline gets colder 4,
becomes, We might say. thicker OF
heavier. and then instead Of flowing
freely through the nozzle OF the car
bureter It has difficulty in getting
through at all. especially on starting
up. In order to make the action clear.
imagine the gasoline to be as thick az
mucilage. The latter cannot be forced
through q very small opening such as
q caroureter nozzle and formed into q
fins spray. 1t might be forced through.
but II would run down the sides OF
the nozzle or be pushed into the Tnani-
fold In the form OF drops Cold gaso-
ilne does just that
= On starting a cold engine on these
days Of poor Cheavy) gasoline even
on q moderately warm day IL Is neces-
sary to apply the choke This Is done
In order that large amount Of gaso-
line will be drawn through the nozzle
In the hope that In that large amount
there Is enough OF a volatile nature
to get into the combustion chamber
and explode. 1t Is for the same reason
that you prime the engine through the
pet cocks or a special primer. You
Introduce into the combustion cham
Ser a comparatively large amount OF
fuel the greater part OF which Ii 80
heavy that 1t will not vaporize even
with ordinary heat applied.
The remainder. though . small
portion OF the whole, forms a suf-
fcisntly large volatile volume to
start an explosion which is all that
So necessary. The trouble with
printing and with keeping the
choke applied is that IL wastes fuel
and also lets into the engine a guam
tity of gasoline which does no work.
In fact. II is harmful. II We may say
the production OF carbon and oil con-
tamination are really harmful. The
gasoline that does not vaporize does
not all 60 out through the exhaust
Some Of IL does, but much burns with
O dame and deposits carbon Some
also flows down the sides of the pis-
tons and gets into the crank case.
where II mikes with the oil. Both
conditions are not the best for the
engine, and of the two the oil dilu-
tion Is the worst The oil is thinned
and weakened, hence fabrication Of
the entire engine is impaired.
The owner can overcome some of
these difficulties by making a few
changes and observing certain facts.
First install a primer. but instead of
using ordinary gasoline use a mixture
of gasoline and commercial ether.
This gives firing immediately. provid-
ing the spark Is good. and avoid US
ing a large quantity OF fuel to get
initial firing. Secondly. avoid keeping
the choke applied longer than neces-
sary. So much for getting started.
After the engine Is started. IT should
run at such a temperature that the
fuel will be vaporized before II gets
into the combustion chamber This
does three things: 1t saves fuel. gives
more power. and keeps the engine
clean. The same results practically
are had II the fuel is preheated
enough and kept so until Il reaches
the cylinders.
There are various ways in which the
engine temperature can be kept up.
One Is to use a radiator shutter or a
radiator cover. When the engine Is
cold these can be made to keep out
the cold or they will so reduce the
effective fan draft as to reduce the
cooling effect on the water In the
radiator. Thermostatic control OF the
wnter Is another method. but II is not
considered to have all the ADVANTAGES
of air control The tharmostat block
ing the water passage when the en-
gins is cold is likely to cause freez-
ing Of the water at the bottom OF the
radiator while the rest Of the water is
warming. By all means it Is neces-
sary for the owner to alter the car
hureter hot air opening While for
part Of he running u will ba advis-
able to close the air control alto
gether. II also will be found that doing
this reduces the power perosptibIy II