Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1935-06-02
USEFUL AUTO TIPS
G|VENF0R WOMEN
Easier for Repair Men to
Study Car After 1t
Co0Is Off.
BY FREDERICK c. RUSSELL.


Eighty miles an hour is a perfect
speed to travel if your destination is
the hereafter.
Motorists sometimes are annoyed
when service men ask them to leave
the car in the shop for few hours or
perhaps the whole day before making
a diagnosis of what's wrong. The in
clination is to assume some one in the
service station wants to take a spin,
but the truth Is the service men want
to study the situation after things
cool off A water leak in an exhaust
manifold, for example, may not be
visible when the engine is running
because heat evaporates the water.
Some mechanics hesitate to have
work done to the brakes if they have
been put through lot of hard service.
When they cool of they will operate
more normally, and should be tested
under such conditions.
In some of the latest types of indie
pendent front wheel suspension there
are no provisions either for adjusting
the Gambler or the caster. Assume
for the moment you know what these
terms mean and understand that,
previous to the latest design, most
knee action units were adjustable for
these features. Learning that one or
the other of these features is not
adjustable may lead to the impress
sion that they need never be checked.
That's just the point I wish to get
at. Regardless of whether Gambler
| and caster are adjustable, go to your
service man occasionally and ask MIN
to check these angles. Your car may
have been in an accident or have been
strained through hard driving and
careless parking.
Where there is such likelihood of
misplacing your handbag. it is an eX-
cellent idea to carry a spare ignition
key somewhere in the car. One de-
butante tied the extra key to one of
the wires up under the dash. An
other inserted the spare key in the
| tool bag. But of course you will want
to think of something original for
the sake of the extra protection it
gives you.
Taking the hand crank along when
going on a motor camping trip is
good advice, but rather than prefer
to have dangerous and often hope
less struggle with the motor I suggest
following the plan of a certain out
door girl who always makes it rule
to leave her car on slight down.
grade. She blocks the wheels with
stones, but should the battery fail to
| crank the motor in the morning she
can get started by letting the car roll
down the grade in gear.
Do the headlights flare up now and
again? If so, take it for a fact that
there is loose connection in the cir
cult from the generator to the bat
terry. Your service man can check
over this in short order Don't me-
elect having him do this. since an
open circuit is likely to burn out the
headlights.
Two thousand dollars for a pair of
stockings is lot of money. That's
what an insurance company paid for
an accident claim when a motorist
backed up slowly and just touched
woman pedestrian enough to tear
her stocking. And speaking of hose,
| don't forget that spark from the
cars cigarette lighter can start a run
that will do as much damage as the
| incident that resulted in record for
high-priced hosiery.
! And did you know that since women
left off wearing white stockings they
have been placed in a much more
hazardous position when obliged to
walk along the highway or change
tire at night? Any piece of white gar
ment is excellent as protection when
drivers are finding it difficult to
identify objects along the road. Your
face and hands are fairly effective in
rejecting light, but of course largely
to the oncoming driver. That is the
best reason why it is important to
walk against traffic instead of with it,
or, to be more exact, on your left
hand side of the road.
Planning to have service work done
on the car, most women seek time
when they are alone in the car. This.
| however, Is not always the wisest
course, since passenger weight can
be useful in obtaining accurate inspec-
lions and adjustments. If the rear
seat is not normally filled when the
headlights are adjusted. for example.
allowance must be made to take into
account the Upward tilt of the lights
when the rear end says down.
Beginners at the wheel may feel
justified in thinking it's difficult to
tell whether or not the modern quiet
motor is running, but there are several
definite and handy ways of telling
without going to the trouble of accel-
Grating the motor until it becomes
noisy. One is to glance at the indi-
Gator of the oil pressure gauge which
will not drop to zero while the motor
operates. Another is to glance at the
ammeter which will show a nervous
reading. especially noticeable when
the engine is idling. A third indica-
ton is the motor temperature gauge
which will read higher quite rapidly
as soon as the engine stalls.
Queries From Car Owners.
@. Whenever I take my car on a
trip notice that it is easier to steer
than when am merely using it
around town. Even when I stop en-
route and must park the car it is
easier to handle than when am
making short runs around the city.
What's the answer?-G. L.
A. Tire pressure increases with
heat. Modern tires will pick up"
considerable air when the car is
travelling at road speed. This ac-
counts for the greater ease of steering.
@. am having trouble with the
twin horns on my car. Often at
night, and particularly when driving
fast, the horns either fail completely