Evening star., 1921-09-18
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
FOR THE ALTONORZLLS1S

Answcrx to East Weeks Questions.
1. As a matter of safety to the car
and passengers. as well as to save the
Storage battery from discharging, a
short circuit in the electric system
should be repaired as soon as possible.
Keep the ammeter in working order, as
this instrument is the only means of
detecting short circuit Immediately
it occurs. A short circuit in the sys-
tenn can be located by the presence of
heat and sparkling at the point in the
wiring. where the defect happens to
be. and if neglected may cause COM
bustion of nearby oil or gasoline.
Rapidly spreading until a dangerous
fire may result.
?. The high tension wiring of the
electric system requires much heav-
Ter insulation than other wires of the
system because of the high voltage cur
rent which passes through the former.
Impulses going through 1t to the
spark plugs would leak through thin
insulation at points where the wire
came into contact with the motor or
metal wire supporters causing the
spark plugs and consequently the
cylinders to miSflre.
;. The clicking of valve pushrods
against ends of valve stems may pos
sibly be entirely eliminated from an
engine which is in good condition. and
has not been long i'll operation. but
TO remove this sound from the Grgine
of an old car is a difficult. if not inn
possible task, due to wear However
this noise when cut down to mini
mum is not objectionable and by
maintaining the proper clearance will
do no harm to valves nor affect the
engines running.
4. A short circuit in a storage bat
Terry is caused by sediment from the
battery plates collecting at the bot
tom of the jar to "a point where the
contact with each other. 1t may also
be caused by buckled plates. The
former trouble is due to not clean
ing out the sediment from the space
in the bottom of the battery intended
for this purpose when it is neceS-
! saIy TO clean ii. and the latter is
caused by discharging or charging
! the battery al too high a rate. Both
| troubles, when bringing the plates
into contact will cause rapid and
complete discharging of the battery.
p Springs break more often on
rebound because each leaf of the
spring bears the weight of the cars
frame. body and engine separately
On rebound or expansion of the
springs the parts of the car which
are suspended above the springs tend
to lift or pull up from the axles and
wheels. separating the spring leaves
anu pending them up and away fran
each Otner. This strain is greatest
when the car encounters bumps on
the road.
.. Ali strain except driving torque
is carried by the housing of the full
hoating type of rear axle. The axle
shafts bear the twisting strain of
turning the wheels.
y The transmission is in direct
drive when the main driving gear and
the second and high-speed gear are
locked together on the main shaft. 1t
is third speed of the three-speed
transmission. To bring the gears into
direct drive the second and high
speed gear is slid forward into mesh
with the countershaft not being used
) Standard gear shifts recommends
ed by the :. A F. are: For the three
speed transmission. reverse and sec
ond speed are forward movements of
the gear shift lever reverse being
left forward and second being right
forward Low and high are back
ward shifts, low being to the left and
high to the right. In the four-speed
gear sets twO sets of movements are
recommended. One consists of reverse
speed forward and farthest left IN a
separate slot. first speed forward in a
slot to the right of reverse second
straight back. third full forward To
the right and fourth straight hack
from third. The other transmission
ShiftS are: Reverse all the way for
ward to the left. low speed, half way
between reverse. and neutral in the
same slot: second. straight back from
low; third to the right and forward
ana fourth. directly back from third