Erratic Engines

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXI, Issue 18313, 3 February 1934, Page 9

Erratic Engines

OCCASIONALLY it happens that when the ignition is switched off at the conclusion of a mu during which the cylinders have become well healed, the engine will not stop immediately, b.ut will continue to run erratically for some time. Such behavior should not be regarded with puzzled tolerance, for it is a clear indication that some part of the mechanism is in need ot' attention.

Ail obvious possible explanation is that the ignition switch is defective, and does not always break the circuit when it is switched off. If it is certain that no ignition spark is occurring in the combustion chamber, it, is clear that this continued living must be due to the presence of some incandescent object which ignites the incoming charge. If the engine has not been decarbonised for a considerable time, it is most likely that deposits of carbon are to be blamed, but if that theory is untenable because of the known cleanness of the combustion chambers, there is left the inevitable probability that the electrodes of the spark plugs are the cause. The good running of an engine depends largely upon the use of the right type of plug, and if plugs intended for relatively low compression and "cool” units arc used in fast, high compression machines, their electrodes might get so heated that they become incandescent, and so produce an effect similar to that of particles of glowing carbon.

Conversely, it might be noted that plugs which arc meant for high compression work in hot engines are generally unsuitable for engines in which such combust ion temperatures arc not readied. The motorist should be guided by the recommendations published by the spark plug manufacturers, in which the type of plug appropriate to each make and model of engine is named.

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