The Washington herald., 1921-11-06
. >. n LocKAL

pulling the way Il should pull. But
&C that. even the best macadam or
coacrete state highway can look
very formidable when the engine II
on its last legs or when Il has 40
tuaily laid down and 10 beyond re-
demption. 20 TO speak.
Relieve me. ! know how formid-
able even q nns highway can look
under such circumstances. for ! had
ample opportunity Just today TO
gather evidence nrst hand.
The scene Is laid in the state Of
wisconsin. and In that particular
section Of the State where the con-
crete highway abounds and where
the connecting roads which are not
of concrete construction are at least
hard and smooth Of surface-and
hills are infreQuent and not OF much
Importance.
For the past few days ] have
been working this section of the
State. travelling out OF Milwaukee.
by car. OF course, for as most folks
know, railroad service Is not very
rapid In Wisconsin. even on lines
running north and south or length
wise Of the State; while east and
west or cross lines are scarce as
hens teeth. A car for a man who
needs to get there in a hurry Is al
most imperative-still, there are
some folks who consider the auto
mobile as . pleasure" vehicle and
a luxury:
Things have been going fine and
this morning I hoped into the car
and headed toward Oshkosh. about
ninety miles as the crow flies, from
Milwaukee.
had two or three calls to max e
In Oshkosh. and l was taking ad-
vantage of the difference in time be-
tween Milwaukee and Oshkosh to
drive over, complete my calls and
get back into Milwaukee tonight
but the car fooled me. 1t complete
ly wiped out the hour l thought
was gaining because OF Milwaukee
running on daylight saving time
while the chrSnometers of Oshkosh
are still running on sun schedule.
was stepping on II and had
gone, perhaps. thirtyfive miles.
twenty of which were along con-
crete highway. when began to
notice symptoms OF over-heating.
That is, every time would slow
down for a curve or to pass an
anu lH6H slCp vi IL
to get going again. the engine
would knock to beat the band
spark knock. carbon knock or fuel
| knock-call IT what you will. At
any rate fl is a certain Indication
that some part, which generally is
| the piston head. is unduly heated.
Still, I held on for a while longer.
! thinking that perhaps ] had driven
xrtfI thn anori nndn1ty Fata Ydad
causing the engine to heat up. But
before I had gone another Ave
miles I had to pull up because ]
began to smell the enamel on the
| engine cooking" from beneath the
hood The oil gauge showed plenty
of pressure and had filled up with
water before leaving so I was at
a loss to account for the trouble.
But the engine was plainly over
heated-very much so. 1t kept right
on running when ! kicked the switch
and / had to stop II by leaving the
lever in high gear, setting the emer-
gency brake and gently letting in
the clutch. And from the overflow
on the radiator came a stream of
super-heated steam at considerable
pressure.
1t is a funny thing. but even those
OF US who have had a very large ex-
| perience with motor cars invariably
when in a difficulty such as found
myself, seek the remedy for the con-
dition rather than the cure. GER
! tainly should have known that the
engine overheated because of some
definite cause and eliminated II be-
fore taking another step.
Had I done so, l would have been
spared considerable trouble and
some worriment.
But I did not. let the engine
cool off for a few moments, then
impatiently drew a bucket of well
water and slowly began to pour II
into the radiator. went very slow
fly and carefully, for I realized any
sudden chilling of the overheated
castings would probably induce
stresses which would crack the
metal and then I would be in n fix.
So I stopped every time a little
pun of steam came out, waited, then
poured in a little more water. Final
ly, when the radiator was about half
way full, should Judge, thought
1 had hit on the cause Of the trouble.
discovered q bad water leak. The
water outlet hose fitting Il attached
to the cylinder block casting with q
cap screw, a gasket being inter
posed between the finished surfaces
to prevent leakage. This cap screw
had loosened up and had q ba6
leak which showed up when the wa
ter level came high enough.
I frightened up the cap screw AND
felt somewhat relieved, and, the en-
CINE having cooled down consider
ably In the meantime, went on I'LL
ing up the radiator. quite contented
| But I guess did not take sum
cient precautions had finished
pouring in the first pail Of watel
and was turning away to go to the
we'll for some more when something
snapped or cracked and was Fl
fear lest IL be q cylinder casting.
could discover nothing and my hope
began to ascend once more. Per
haps II was merely the sound arts
ing from q perfectuly natural slip
lpage of one tight part upon another
due to the expansion and contrac
ton under heat. We hear this oft
times when we shut the motor of
and allow 1t to cool on.
So got another pail Of water ant
went on filing slowly. When tn,
water had about reached the top o.
the radiator and the engine wa
quite cool again, realized that
had done some damage. Water be
gan to leak around the intake mani
fold gasket on cylinder No. anC
the leak was quite considerable.
I thought for half a second ant
determined that IL would do me N
fgood to try and locate the seat o.
the trouble then and there, for