Evening star., 1927-10-16

Novel to many car owners and yet
a highly satisfactory and efflcient sys'
tenn to those utilizing 1t Is a plan
which contemplates making trouble
symptoms of a motor car worse IN
order better to discover the causes of
the ailment. This is directly opposed
to the usual method of trying to eft.
feet an immediate remedy.
For instance, instead of aiming Tor
better adjustment of the carburetor,
assuming that there is something
wrong with carburetion, the owner de-
liberately aims for a poorer adjust
ment in order to see whether the par
ticular trouble is unfavorably affected.
1t has been demonstrated that a
trouble can be. singled out more read
lily by aggravating it than by effect
ing slight improvement.
The plan is not unlike the medical
stunt OF injecting various foods into
the patients blood IN order to find
one that makes him feel worse.
Quicker results are often had by this
method than by putting him on a diet
and in turn taking away various ar
ticles of food under suspicion.
AS in treating the human body,
however, precautions must be taken
against overriding the idea. There Is
no need to wreck the car in solving a
problem. by the reversed method.
Moderation will make the idea doubly
effective.
Trouble Quickly Discovered.
In the case of one car considerable
trouble was being had with the riding
qualities. Three possible causes pre-
sented themselves - the tires. the
The problem was solved by giving the
spring control devices bad adjust
ment. The car immediately rode
worse. Proving that the devices were
to blame.
Had the customary method been fol.
lowed the owner would have spent
considerable time with various adjust
ments, always aiming to solve his
problem by doing something to make
the car ride q little easier. Just by
making 1t ride worse he was able, In
one bold stroke, to put his finger on
the cause OF the trouble and take ap.
propriate action
Many knocks In automobile engines
could be located If owners would start
out with the idea of trying to obtain
more pronounced symptoms. The
customary plan In to make such ad
| justments and take such precautions
as would be likely to silence the
| troublesome knock. The customary
plan invariably fails because the mo-
torist is never quite certain what 1t
| is he is trying to remedy. 1t is just
matter of luck If he hits upon the
| right solution.
An interesting example is cited by
| an experienced car owner There
was an odd noise in his new engine
With any of his previous cars he
could have detected a loose bearing
| in n moment. but the new engine ian
so smoothly and was balanced so per-
fectly he could not seem to. diagnose
| by the usual methods.
| Various Methods Tried.
He tried driving at different speeds.
thinking there might be slightly
worn piston pin, which Is often rem.
dered harmless by driving at speed
where there Is higher and more con-
slant pressure on the pistons. Then.
suspecting a piston slap, he tried
using different grades Of oil. He even
went so far as to examine the clutch
and the accessory shaft of the engine.
Then he decided to reverse the
whole process. With one spark plug
wire disconnected he drove with the
engine running on only five of Its
cylinders. With this disadvantage
the engine labored just enough to
make its trouble much more pro-
nounced. He was at once aware that
there was loose bearing.
A car owner who could not seem
to hit upon the right adjustment for
his carburetor turned the adjustments
| until he had rich mixture. The