A Little Knowledge Of Cars Is Still Useful

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXIV, Issue 19397, 7 August 1937, Page 9

A Little Knowledge Of Cars Is Still Useful

|T js often said that there is no sense in a motorist familiarising himself with the mechanical details of his ear, because the great reliability of the modern vehicle makes it a waste of time. Breakdowns on the road arc now rare, and periodic mechanical attention, it is claimed, is better left in the hands of service stations which arc equipped with the experience and machinery to carry them out. far more efficiently than the owner himself can hope to do. The tinkerer is discouraged, and the motor trade urges, with a great deal of justice, that any mechanical adjustments and repairs should be left to experts. That is very good advice, indeed — up to a point. Important jobs like brake and steering adjustments, top overhauls, and the like, are far more satisfactory when carried out by an establishment properly equipped to do the work well. To foster a cult of extreme ignorance amongst owners, however, is apt to prove disadvantageous. Owners, for their own sakes and the sake of the reputations of their cars, should be encouraged to familiarise themselves with the electrical and fuel systems, at least. Cars still give trouble on the road, not frequently, perhaps, but often enough to keep the road patrols of motoring organisations fairly busy on holidays and week-ends. Country garages still receive calls from stranded drivers, to whom the mechanism under the bonnet is a complete mystery. More often than not, the fault can be remedied quickly and easily if the owner has sufficient knowledge to trace it. Nor wotdd he lose faith in his car as the ignorant owner is apt to do if it lets him down. When Knowledge Helped A very good instance of when a smattering of knowledge helped a driver on his way occurred early in the year when a motorist was eight miles from a garage. It was a period of storms, and the motorist found that the electric windscreen wiper would not work. A check of the fuse, the switch, and the wiring found everything in order, and he diagnosed the trouble as dirt on the commutator ol the small electric motor. This illogicallv, was tucked away inaccessibly behind the instrument board, immediately above a big bunch of wires running to ignition and lighl switches. Consequently, in view of the danger of crossing some of these terminals in his attempts at repairs, he had sense enough to first detach one of the battery leads, a precaution which any motorist working on electrical equipment should always take With some difficulty, the cover of the motor was removed, and the tiny commutator cleaned as well as pos sible with a cloth. The motorist was rewarded for his initiative by the brisk operation of the wiper arms.