ON THE ROAD.

Southland Times, Issue 19395, 8 November 1924, Page 3

ON THE ROAD.

AND ENGINE TROUBLE. MUCH CAN BE AVOIDED. number of motor-car troubles on the road are due to the most trifling causes. Curiously, foremost among them is lack of gasoline. The motor dies several miles from nowhere, you walk around to the tank in the rear, and you see to your disgust that the guage register is empty. The experience is particularly annoying, because it is such an obvious trouble, and so easily avoided. Perhaps the safest rule is to know how far your car will go on a gallon, keeping track of both the gasoline gauge and the speedometer. When your tank registers less than one-quarter full, have it filled without delay. This is important, for if the gauge is inaccurate or there is a dent in the bottom of the tank, or if the car is not perfectly level, the amount of fuel in the tank may be considerably less than five gallons. To be on the safe side, the gasoline gauge should be inspected at least once a day, and oftener on a long run. Lack of oil in the engine is even more serious, and a safe rule is never to allow the oil level gauge to register less than half full, and even then it is a good plan to carry a gallon of oil in the car at all times. Here, again, it must be noted that when the gauge shows half full the oil reservoir may be only one-quarter full, due to a defect in the guage, to the parking of the car on a slope crosswise or lengthwise, or due to the shape of the oil reservoir. If, however, the oil supply is allowed to get too low, remember that usually the oil pressure gauge on the instrument board will indicate less than normal pressure before any real harm occurs to the engine. Therefore, when reduced pressure is noted, first look at the oil level gauge. If the level is low’, fill the reservoir at the first opportunity, meanwhile driving the car slowly if the pressure is very low, but do not run the engine after a marked loss of power is observed. Whether the oil reservoir is full or empty, never run the engine after the pressure gauge on the instrument board fails to register pressure. In some cases this trouble may be cured on the road by removing the external oil piping and blowing it clear, or by removing and cleaning the strainer. Otherwise the car should be towed unless it is possible to obtain several gallons of oil, in which case it is permissible to proceed at a moderate rate after pouring oil slowly into the running engine until it begins to smoke. Every 10 miles or so add oil until the engine begins to smoke again. Failure to observe these directions may result in burned-out bearings, scored cylinders, and pistons, and many other serious troubles. Engine missing a stroke or explosion, is becoming rarer, year by year, but it still is one of the most common troubles. In most cases it is due to carbon deposit on the spark plug porcelain. After removing the offending plug, all carbon should be removed from the porcelain, the points should be adjusted to 1-32 inch and the plug put back unless the porcelain is cracked, in which case the plug should be discarded. In examining fuses in generator or lighting circuits it is well to bear in mind that the wire within the fuse may burn at the end where the defect cannot be seen. Thus a fuse may appear to be all right, and yet be burned out. To guard against this possibility, when examining a fuse, twist the two ends slightly. If the wire within twists the fuse is all right, but if the wire rotates without twisting, the fuse is burned out.