CAR MAINTENANCE.

Greymouth Evening Star, 14 September 1934, Page 4

CAR MAINTENANCE.

IT PAYS TO REMEMBER Repair bills can be reduced to a minimum and the safety and efficiency of a car kept al the maximum it a regular maintenance programme is carried out. The following is a programme recommended for cars which are driven about 500 miles, or less, a month: — , ... Greasing.—This should be carried out once a month. If the grease docs not appear to penetrate through .he nipple, the nipple should be unscrewed with a small spanner or a pair ol pliers, and be cleaned with wire or a pin, or else a new nipple should be Differential and Gearbox. —The lubricant in these should be brought up to the correct level when the car is greased. The oil in the gearbox should be drained about every LOOO or 3000 miles, and should be replaced with fresh oil. Sump Oil.—The oil level in the sump should bo examined every time petrol is obtained, and should be adjusted, if necessary, by the addition of oil of the grade recommended by the maker of the The sump should be drained and refilled about every 1000 miles. Battery.—Sufficient distilled water should be added to the acid solution m the battery until it covers the plates, and the terminals should be cleaned at least once a month. More frequent attention is necessary in warm weather. , ~ , Radiator.—The radiator should be kept full. An inspection should be made every few days. Care should be taken to add only clean water. It should be drained and re-filled every month to wash out rust and dirt. Tyres.—The air pressure in the tyres should be adjusted weekly. At the same time it is advisable to inspect the tyres and remove any small pieces ofl, stone, iron or glass, which may have become embedded in the tread. Any fractures in the cover should be vulcanised to prevent water rotting the cords. Generator and Magneto.—One or two drops of light oil should be dropped once a month into the lubricating holes provided. Wheels.—Wheel nuts should be tightened once a month as a precaution in case the vibration of the car has loosened them. 'Brakes. —If the brake pedal can be made to touch the floorboard, the brakerods should be adjusted, and if no more adjustment is possible, the brakes should be re-lined. In the case of hydraulic brakes the oil reservoir should be examined at least once a month and be filled up with special brake oil if necessary.

VARYING BY-LAWS Criticisms of the lack of uniformity in the motor by-laws operating in the Dominion were voiced at a meeting of the Whangamomona County Council by Mr. G, Gower. He condemned the positidn. as “hopelessly ridiculous” (reports the “Stratford Post”). “If I drive my car through the broad streets of Stratford at a greater speed than 15 miles an hour, I risk prosecution, but when I get. to Auckland I am not expected to drop below 25 miles an hour,” he said. "Then if I go to New Plymouth I must park parallel to the footpath, and I must not leave my car parked where I want to. At Stratford, I must nose in and park at an angle, but I can leave my car as long as I like. At Wellington. I must back into the kerb. I have not the slightest doubt that I could have been penalised scores of times in passing through so many boroughs where so many different restrictions are imposed. Surely the time has arrived when some effort at uniformity should be made to apply throughout the Dominion!” Other councillors wholeheartedly agreed.

FOILING CAR BANDITS. Patents have been obtained in Britain for a. novel invention to trap motor bandits! The invention is the work of two unemployed ex-servicc-men, 11. F. Websdale and E. Janies. The gadget, which can be fitted to any make of car, is claimed to be completely fool-proof and thief-proof. Immediately any unauthorised person starts driving the car more than four miles an hour, two red electric signs shoot out above the front and rear number plates. On these are written, “This car has been stolen.” If the bandits still try to escape, they can easily be caught by pursuers, for at a speed of 24 miles an hour the engine cuts out completely. The secret of the car’s uncanny ability to detect bandits lies in a concealed electric switch known only to the owner. When the switch is turned on the car becomes automatically “bandit conscious.”

“The beauty of the thing is that no bandit has time to search all round a car for a small electric switch,” said one of the inventors recently. “It can also serve a secondary purpose, that of guaranteeing a maximum speed to certain cars.”

LICENSING OF DRIVERS. A 25 per cent, decrease in the motor vehicle death-rate (per 10,000,000 gallons of gasoline consumed) from 1926 to 1933, in States having standard drivers’ license laws, as compared to a 14 per cent, increase in other States, is shown in a survey completed recently by the National Safety Council of America. In the seven States with substandard laws of adrainistartion, the death rate in 1933 was 7 per cent, above 1926. Among seven Mid-West-ern non-license States there was an advance of 12 per cent. In the Southern non-license States the rate rose 26 per cent. For live Western non-li-cense States there was an increase of 15 per cent. WEIGHT AND GLARE It was suggested recently in a London newspaper that the driver of a car should readjust his headlights each and every time the load carried by his ■ car (represented by passengers or lug-; j gage or both) varied to any great cx- ’ tent, with the’object of avoiding as ’ far as possible the dazzling of the dri- * vers of oncoming vehicles (states the ‘•Standard Car Review”). The connection between variation in- car loading and headlight glare may not be obvious to everybody, so I may point i out that when there is any variation i in the horizontal alignment of a car by reason of increased or reduced load ,

on the rear springs the beams of the headlights are lifted or depressed; in some cases the difference in the height of the beam above the ground 60 or 70 yards in front of the car may be as much as from four to six feet. This is a point to which I drew attention. some time ago when the proposed regulations of the Ministry of Transport dealing with glare were put forward. A flat-topped beam so adjusted as to cut off glare at 4ft above the ground at a distance of 200 ft II think that was the general idea) would. I pointed out, retain that standard with one distribution only of passenger weight or other load. Put another adult in the rear seat or a trunk on the luggage carrier, and the top of the beam at the specified distance ahead would be appreciably higher, and vice versa. It would be impracticable to conform invariably with such a. standard, and apparently the powers that be came to a recognition of that fact. But, as mentioned above, we have now been told that drivers ought to adjust their headlights wi.th a similar object whenever, for instance, they take on an extra passenger or meet and pick up visitors, with or without luggage, at a railway station to drive them the mile or two home —or ten or twenty miles, if you like. This injunction seems to suggest, that the newspaper correspondent, in, question is not aware of the existence of dip-an'd-switch headlights, which arc far more effective in preventing glare than any tinkering with beam alignment could be.