Evening star., 1928-02-26

reasonably so, that the trouble was
somewhere in the feed line or that lack
of gas was the cause. II 1t didn't pop.
he found he would have to 60 further.
Perhaps the ignition failed. Was the
switch open. or the switch key In and
turned? Yes. Should the battery be
dead? No.
Then he thought back on a previous
stoppage Of the car and what the me-
chanic had told him was the trouble:
Yes. his high tension wire had jumped
out of the socket. Was that the cause
of the present stoppage? It might be.
But 1t wasn't. So he had to look fur
ther. He got out the instruction book
and traced the way tho current runs
through the wire from the distributor
to the spark plug and then gives a
spark by jumping across the gap OF the
plug to the grounded part. So he took
one of the plugs out of the engine and
laid It on the cylinder block, turning
over the engine by hand. II it didn't
spark. he wasn't getting the Juice
through 1t, and the trouble must be
either in the distributor or In wire
between 1t and the high tension coil
II It spanked in snappy fashion. he
Judged the cause OF the stoppage was
somewhere In the mixture or the gas
line.
Experience Was Costly.
He found how to adjust the breaker
points In the distributor and how to
clean the carbon contact points so that
clean contact would result. And he
learned by expensive experience that
spark plugs with too much OF cap
pitted his breaker points. That cost
him real money, for breaker points arc
made of platinum, as he found out
when the mechanic rendered his bill.
He found out that a carburetor has
risibilities, and that II tickled It won't
laugh. but may tell a queer tale--of a
clogged gas line or leaking vacuum
or bad strainers. or what not. He
found out all these queer sounding
things having to do with the engine,
so he as we'll as the engine. wasn't
stalled when something went wrong.
And he also found that riding the
clutch meant something TO his pocket
book when his mechanic told him his
clutch facings were burnt out He
learned that even though it looked
quite dashing to throw her into f1rst
and spin the rear wheels for a roaring
start. II wasn't SO good for the rear
end, and that such stunt as that
cost him gobs Of money--not immcdi-
ately. but eventually. Rear end Jobs.
he found. mount into considerable cash.
Many other things he learned about
the care of motor car. and quite
proud he was to take care Of 1t when
1t went wrong. He learned that lye
isn't SO good as a radiator cleaning
compound when he spilled some of the
solution on his hood. and that 1t ate
hose connections down To a frayZle He
found that when driving at high speed
it didn't help his tires If he cut corners
at speed, and that couple OF thou
sand miles might be added to his rub
Der If he took proper care OF the in
flation Of his tires.
Upkeen Kept Down.
A funny whistling sound under the
hood puzzled him for couple of days.
until he traced II down TO generator
brushes lacking oil. just drop OF a
light oil fixed that. He found that a
well creased steering wheel loses It's
effectiveness II the front tires lack air.
Something went wrong with the
windshield wiper. operated from the
vacuum in the inlet manifold. and his
engine stopped. That also stopped him
for a while until he reasoned II out
and found that too much air getting
into the vacuum interfcred With the
operation of the butterfly valve. BY
tickling the ticker on the carburetor.
he found that 1t flooded and raw gas
spurtcd up around the connections.
Water in the gas puzzled him for a bit
until he had his tank drained and dried
out. finding lots OF sediment and pieces
of cotton which has worked out OF the