New-York tribune., 1921-02-13
Common Sense Is
And Makes a Good
Motor Mechanic
Used All the Time, Ii Will
Help Avoid Trouble and
Later VIII Go Far Toward
Solving Break Downs

Hotc common sense nay DO applied to
the opeTution ard care Of motor car
IS the theme of the fottooiag article. 1t
IS from the pen Of II. C.. Brokai0, tech
5,ieal director Of the West Side Y. n.
{. A. Automobile Schools.
Every one knows one cannot get very
far in an automobile without supply
of gasoline, yet nine out OF ten men
will start away from the garage with
out giving thought TO what is in the
tank. Oh, yes. they "just had it filed"
But maybe somebody else needed gaso-
line, and it won't help any if, when you
stall several miles from an oil station
because the tank is dry, you know that
somebody stole it.
that ought to be made every time the
car leaves the garage: First, the
quantity of gas, the oil level, the water
in the radiator and the tire imitation.
Wise men test the battery also But
one who really cares anything about
his car will go around and twist up the
grease cups, squirt few drops of oil
where they will do some good and see
that things are generally shipshape. If
SAANiC 10 Io ISsSINC COIApaEJmGnG In the
gas tank he will see that there is q
gallon Of gas in the car, and another
gallon of oil. Even if these things are
not needed, just think what a glorious
feeling he gets when he comes upon
the other fellow who did not think
ahead, and who wants to borrow. II
gives chance to play the good
Samaritan
These things are common sense.
MIph SO
when 1T comes to trouble. The engine
begins to overhead or develops a cough,
or the cylinder quits firing, or maybe
the car stalls. The man with common
sense, if he has not guessed the
trouble because he remembers some
thing that he did not remember while
back, does not waste time looking for
something that is not wrong, nor ex-
haust the storage batter tryinc 70
make things right with the starting
pedal. He will start in with the igni-
ton, II 1t is missing in cylinder or
two. to find whether he gets a hot
spark at the plugs. If he does, the
ignition is all right. Then he will get
out the hand crank, prime the cylin-
ders and turn it over.
II 1t Starts and Stops
II the motor starts, runs a few mo-
ments and then stops, he knows that
he needs to examine the gasoline sup
ply The first thing he does is to look
at the tank to find out if there is a
SUPPLY. Next he finds out whether any
IS reaching the carburetor. If there
is not it indicates that the pipe be-
tween the tank and carburetor is
ciogged, or between the supply tank
and vacuum tank
If there is plenty of gas in the car
buretor there may be water there, too,
or dirt. 1t then is necessary to open
the drip cock and drain off the foreign
Nubstances. Ii it still refuses to run
It may be necessary to open the needle
valve. This is done in order that a
speck Of dirt which may have lodged
IN 1t may be drawn out. Of course
turn back the needle valve to the exact
point where it was originally.
There might be a loose gasket be-
tween the carburetor and the intake
manifold, or between the intake mani
fold and the cylinder block, which
would allow air TO be sucked in and
disturb the mixture so that it would not
fire. This might disturb only one or
Two OF the cylinders. If there is mix
ture, and it does not fire regularly in
the cylinders, it is time to take the
plugs out and examine them for carbon.
ne man with common sense will have
some extra plugs along so he need not
stop TO clean dirty plug on the road.
fabrication is one, of the requisites
Tor running an engine, but if the en-
Glnc cranks over freely it is a safe
conclusion that the lubrication Is nj
right. Naturally in turning the engine
over by hand he has an opportunity
to discover if there is poor compression
in any cylinder.
When Ingnition Is at Fault
If he does not find spark at the
Plugs he tries at the distributor to see
whether the spark got that far. If not
he goes straight to the battery, testing
it with a hydrometer to find out
whether it is charged properly, whether
there is water enough to cover the
plates and whether the terminals are
all properly tightened and free from
corrosion. If there is a ground wire
he sees to it that the ground wire is
properly fastened to the car frame and
that there is no break in the insula-
ton
Then he tests to see if there is q
current at the switch, and if all the
wires are properly fastened to the