THE NEW CAR

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XXI, Issue 243, 26 September 1931, Page 14

THE NEW CAR

RUNNING-IN PERIOD. NECESSITY FOR CARE. Occasionally one still nears the purchaser of a mass production car mention with some perpledty the vexed question of “running m. ” He rakes delivery of a mass production car, possibly decorated with a red label, “Do not exceed 30 miles an hour for the first 500 miles,” but finds the restraint extremely tedious. Moreover, he has read that cars of the make have their engines tested at full power for half an hour on the bench, and may even have seen testers driving sister cars all out on the roads. If his engine has already travelled at the equivalent of sixty miles an hour for some 45 minutes, what, he wonders, is the sense of his accepting the voluntary purgatory of 500 miles at 30 miles per hour! Much every way. For should any tightness or distortion occur during the factory bench test, it will be noticed and the cause will be remedied. In most cases though not quite invariably, similar action will be take.n if any misbehaviour is noticed during the road test. But if the motorist flogs his new engine he will very probably have to put up with the consequences by driving a damaged car for the next year, or paying experts to correct the injury. It is regrettable that so few factories copy the sensible plan of fitting a washer in the inlet pipe of new engines so that they cannot be overdriven until they have bedded down. This is the sole check on road testers and delivery drivers, and it has saved private owners a great deal of dissatisfaction. Two or three hours should be devoted to -the car after the running-in period has expired. All containers should be drained —petrol tank, gearbox and back axle. The level of acid in the batteries should be restored. The filters should be examined and cleaned—the oil filter in the sump, and the petrol filters in the tank and autovac. Every bearing should be relubricated. Those supplied with nipples should be fed till grease emerges freely at the far end. The small control bearings should be oiled. The hubs should be filled with greasp. The wheels should be jacked up simultaneously and the brakes brought to a perfect adjustment. A spanner should be used to test all accessible nuts Looseness is emphatically probable in the nuts which hold down the cylinder head, as the gasket. 1 certain to have settled a little; and special attention should be given to any nuts which may be responsible for oil leakages, especially round the edges of the sump. The tappet clearances will usually repay adjustment; and in this case the feeler gauge should be applied a second time after the locking devices have been tightened, as the clearance is apt to vary when the adjuster is tightened. After this overhaul the owner will usually feel safe in using his car’s maximum speed and power. But he should continue to remain alert for another 500 miles. If at any time he can “smell” his engine, it is probable that something is running tight. Provided such illegitimate heat is maintained for a few minutes only, no permanent injury is likely. If he allows the engine to cool down the distortion may only be temporary. But if with this smell at his nose he continues to climb fast, or to maintain a high average speed, it is probable that a piston will suffer permanent distortion or that a valve may warp.