New-York tribune., 1922-03-19
BY II. Clifford Brokaw
echn'cdl Director. West Side Y. N

iechH'cdl Director, West Side Y. N.
{. a. Automobile Schools
This is the season when folks are
Pu'''ng away their skates, sis, coal
shovels and heavy underwear md are
getting out their golf clubs. Gsh;ng
tackle. lawn mowers and automob;les
an increasing number Of motorists use
1NelT cars as much as possible straight
lhrough the winter. But whether they
40 or not. the machine is apt to run
down at the heels bit during the cold
wcatncr months.
me housewife uses her home all the
year round. out far be it from her to
neglect q general overhauling of every
,hlng IN the spring in the maelstrom
known as housecleaninc And. while
she is absorbed in this enterprisjnr
cndeaVor, Friend Husband doubtless
may be located in the garage car-clean-
hH' tie is going over the machine to
see what needs to be done if anything.
TO put the vehicle in ship-shupe condi-
ton for spring and summer use.
Al such time evidence often ap-
pears indicating that ttip to a selv-
ice station or repair shop is in line
with the good of the order. Then the
question arises as to the best place 10
go to TO get the best service at a 1atr
price.
In choosing place to get ones car
fixed. it is logical to go about the mat
ter as one would select Il dentist to get
the teeth repaired. Inquire of those
VINO have had cars that needed atten-
ton OF one sort or another if you are
a stranger in a place. or if you have
mad satisfactory experience with a
certain place, mistake is not likely
TO be made in going back to ii for
further work.
Finding the Proper Shop
In fact, if person goes to a repair
shop once and seems to have got vcrv
poor service, this still may be the best
place IN the city. 1t is not bad policy
TO go back a second time and give the
manager chance to make good Per
haps the fault VS. as much with the
driver as with the repair mechanic.
For instance, a car was brought into
repair shop recently with leaking
cylinder head gasket. A new gasket
! was installed and the car was sent out
again apparently in excellent condition.
Ruta no sooner VS. it few miles away
curry developed the fact that the owner
had put his car in several different
shops for the same trouble and that
meme OF them had been able to fix it,
This information Immediately gave q
new aspect to the situation. The cyl
lndernder head and cylinder we're
checked up and it was found that the
cylinder head was badly warped. Con-
sequently, no new gasket would hold
until this head had been trued up. If
the owner had taken the car back to
the first shop where the gaskct which
did not hold up had been installed. the
f1>oc t,., Il
known Immediately that something be-
side the gasket was at fault. He
would nave checked up on the other
parts and arrived at the real trouble
and fixed it. Therefore the calls at
the other shops and the extra ex-
pense involved would not have been
necessary.
The first shop could not be greatly
blamed for installing new gasket
without further check up on the ma
chine on the first visit because a blown
out gasket is not necessarily an indi-
cation of fault elsewhere. When the
car failed to operate after the lrst
visit the management should have been
given the benefit of the doubt that the
work was not properly done and he
should have let the mechanic have an
opportunity to see what mistake, if
any, might have been made
Perhaps the owner did not give the
worker all the facts to begin with
Many drivers make the mistake of
Keeping back information which might
be of value to g mechanic in doing a
good job, in the notion that by so
doing the bill for the work will be
smaller. For instance the owner may
be aware of several repairs or adjust
ments that need to be made but he will
take his car to the shop and only say;
I Il think perhaps the valves need
grinding" This, he thinks. will give
the impression that little work needs
to be done.
A Problem for the Repairman
In a case of this kind the shop can
do one of two things. 1t can take
the owner at his word, tinker the
places mentioned, submit small bill
and turn back to the owner car that
really needs other work done on it,
or the machanic can do all the re
pairing that needs to be done, give the
owner a car that will not be apt to
@a