Evening star., 1935-01-20
HELPFUL HINTS FOR.
M|LADY'S DRIVING.
Trouble in Restarting Aided
by Cranking With Open
Throttle.
BY FREDERICK C. RUSSELL.
once again accident statistics show
~ that motorists are partial to black
and blue.

once again accident statistics show
that motorists are partial to black
and blue.
If you are unable to restart the
motor after 1t has been running, try
cranking with the throttle wide open.
This process clears the cylinders Of ex-
cessively rich mixture, but should the
plan fail and you seek service assist
ance, suggest to the repairman that
possibly the carburetor riser Is warped.
This Is the pipe to which the auto
matte choke is attached. Cases have
recently been found where warped
risers have interfered with the action
of the choke Naturally when the
motor Is hot the riser warps more.
Plenty of odd things are happening
to cars these days. One Of the strang-
est that has come to my attention was
the engine that started when the
owner switched on the lights. After
hours of searching clever mechanic
traced the trouble to the use OF the
wrong type bulb in the stop light sig
nal at the rear of the car. The car
happened to be the kind with an in
terconnected hand and foot brake, so
that when the hand brake was set for
parking the foot pedal went down far
enough to pull on the stop-light switch.
When the driver switched on the lights
current passed through the stop-light
switch, thence through the bulb and
back to where this light is wired to the
"of" side Of the ignition switch.
Things like this simply go to prove
how necessary it Is to be sure the parts
you buy for your car are intended for
the particular make. That single
contact bulb would have been all right
in another car, but in this particular
machine only double contact bulb
would keep the electrical system
| normal.
Mechanic Joe is great believer in
modern testing, but when checking
over a customers car he prefers not
to have her looking on. Too often, he
contends, motorists forget that their
| cars must be adjusted to meet road
conditions and not merely to match
normal requirements of the testing
equipment. For instance, when ad-
justing the carburetor mixture, his
custom is to make the mixture richer,
so as to give that extra power needed
for acceleration and hill climbing.
If the customer watches the testing
equipment, she thinks the mechanic
isn't reading it properly or that he
doesn't know how to make the ad-
| juStment.
Some interesting letters are pour
ing in as result of. my recent sug-
geStion that readers pass along to
| others details of their most peculiar
experiences with cars. One of the
darkest moments for one reader was
when her car brushed the side OF
de luxe machine in such a way as to
lock bumpers. She found, of course,
that she could not back out Cf the
situation without doing serious dam
age to either one or both cars. Re-
membering the value of patience she
decided to follow the slower. but
surer course of jacking up her car
from the center Of the front axle so
as to lift one bumper clear of the
other and then push the car of the
jack. Two such operations, sile said,
did the trick.
What I like especially about this
readers letter is her statement that
although she has been driving for Il
years she Is always ready to avail
herself Of the opportunity to learn
something new and helpful. A SINH
lar attitude on the part of all ex-
perienced drivers would go long way
toward making motoring far safer
| than it is. Constantly there are new
problems coming along, not one of
which can be met merely with the
aid of experience New problems need
new remedies. Consider that new rule
about not setting the hand brake
after the brakes have been used Wig
orously. Overlooking this rule is
quite likely to result in warped brake
drums and all manner of trouble that
follows.
Speaking of new ailments with cars
reminds me to warn against going
downhill too speedily in second gear.
These modern gears are pleasantly
quiet, but due to the rather general
use of hexibly mounted motors there
often Is excessive movement of the
motor and transmission when driv-
ing at speeds Of 80 miles per hour
and over. If the downhill trip is
taken too speedily the shift lever
is more likely to slip into the neutral
position, thus allowing the car to
coast. At more moderate speeds there
is less chance Of this happening and
less strain on the braking system
should the car slip out Of gear.
When gears slip into neutral on
downgrade remember that you can
get back into second gear or high by
acce)erating the motor with the clutch
engaged, then shifting into gear I'M
mediately upon pressing the clutch
pedal to the floor. Race the motor
more when shifting to second, as its
speed must naturally be much higher
in proportion to the speed of the car.
If were learning to drive a car
all over again, says a regular reader
Of these comments on motoring,
would start out on rainy day. Most
women wait for clear day so that
they will be assured of maximum
traction. Then when they take the
car out in the rain they are quick
to note that traction is not so good,
becoming fearful as a consequence.