The Washington herald., 1922-07-02
IGNITION SYSTEM
IMPORTANT ITEM
in MOTOR UPKEEP
Owners Should Realize
Need for Constant
Inspection.

Many drivers, and oftentimes me-
chanics as well. do not seem to
fully appreciate the necessity for
keeping the ignition of a car in
good condition. BY ignition is meant
those units OF the electrical system
which supply the current to the
spark plugs at the proper time for
exploding the gases in the cylin-
ders. The units which go to make
up the system are the battery. gen.
orator. coil, and distributor.
OF these Instruments, there are
one or two which demand more at
tention than the others. The gen.
orator requires little care except to
see that 1t is fabricated at the prop
er Intervals as shown in the lubri-
cation chart OF your instruction
book. Occasionally 1t may be neces-
sary to adjust the third brush regu-
lator on the armature of the gen.
orator. This adjustment should be
made by an electrical service sta
tion and is needed only when you
find that the battery is being con-
stantly overcharged. This condi-
tiion will manifest itself by the
quick evaporation OF the distilled
water in the battery. II the battery
repeatedly shows dry at the two
week testing period 1t may be that
the generator is overcharging and
the third brush regulator needs at
tention. Do not jump to this con-
clusion. however, for possibly one
of the jars of the battery may be
cracked. causing the. rapid disap-
pearance of the water from the bat
terry.
While speaking Of the battery, it
is well to touch on a few necessary
precautions. The most essential of
these is to religiously have the
liquid tested every two weeks by a
battery man. If necessary, he will
add sufficient distilled water to
bring the liquid in the battery up
to the required height. He will also
advise you when your battery needs
charging.
The next point to observe In the
care of your battery is to keep the
terminals coated with vaseline. This
will cut down the corrosion on top
of the battery. II the corrosion is
permitted to accumulate the termi-
nal connections will not make good
contact and some day you may find
that you will either have difficulty
in starting, or that when started
the engine may skip and miss. He
sure to keep battery terminals
clean and above all, see that the
negative or ground connection is
both clean and tightly bolted to the
frame OF the car.
The oil seldom needs attention as
about the only thing that can hap
pen to it is to burn out the small
resistance unit at the top. under
the little umbrella-shaped cap. On
the eight-cylinder models this re-
sistance is located on the distribu-
tor. The other point where difficult
ty might rarely be experienced is
in the secondary winding. This
winding is composed OF very long
strands of fine wire which might
burn off under an excessive electri-
cal load. These two difficulties can
be located by an electrical expert
only.
The distributor is the little in
strument from which the wires lead
to the spark plugs. This should be
attended to and watched proba bly,
more than any other part of the ig-
milton system. The function of this
instrument is to distribute the high
tension electrical current to the
cylinders at the proper instant for
frin nrir a-;l
composed of what is known as the
rotor, the cam, and the breaker
points. The cam is timed or set in
such a manner as to cause the spark
to occur at the proper moment in
each cylinder. The rotor leads the
current to the proper spark plug
wire. The breaker points, being
actuated by the cam, interrupt the
current at the proper instant to
cause a spark to jump the air gap
between the points of the spark
plug. Only three things are neces-
sary to observe in the care of the
distributor: First see that the cam
is set right. Second. adjust the gap
between the breaker points. Third,
see that the contacts of the breake er
points are not burned or pitted.
The points of the distributor should
be set so that when opened by the
cam. the maximum distance be-
tween the points is the exact thick
ness of the thin guage attached to
the side of the distributor wrench
provided in the Oldsmobile tool kit
II they are not separated this dis
tance, the points should be first
cleaned or filed to remove the
burned or pitted surface. The ad-
justment can then be made by turn
ing the stationary or screw point