MOTOR AND CYCLE

Taranaki Daily News, 11 July 1929, Page 22

MOTOR AND CYCLE

TINKERING MOTORISTS. WHEN IGNORANCE IS BLISS. (By Gerald Ely.—Special to News.) London, May 23. From a correspondent who complains somewhat pathetically that he has no head for mechanics, comes the query: “What is the minimum technical knowledge essential to run a car?” From his letter I gather that he has definitely decided to go in for a car—his very first —but cannot take for granted the apparent miracle involved, that it should be possible to sit down at the wheel of a formidable mass of mobile ironmongery after two or three lessons and drive it whither he will, from one end of the island to the other, without requiring to worry as to .what goes on under the bonnet and beneath the floorboards. He cannot for the life of him see how it is possible to achieve this magic-carpet-like transportation without°at least some technical knowledge. The first observation that falls to be made in reply to this correspondent is that lack of mechanical knowledge need not deter him from clinching the deal and obtaining delivery of his car. It is, in fact, an advantage in some ways for those who have “no head for mechanics” to know nothing about a car’s “innards,” for in motor engineering as in other phases of human activity, a little knowledge is a dangerous thing. If an owner-driver is not content with the ordinary superficial knowledge that accrues to him after the usual driving lessons, such as manipulation of the various controls, and he desires to know more about the “works” with the laudable ambition of being able to carry out his own running repairs and adjustments, he ought to go the whole hog and learn the thing.from A to Z. Otherwise he will become one of the great army of “tinkerers,” and consequently, a nuisance to himself and to his family. *

JOBS TO AVOID.

In anticipation of the Sunday run the new owner-drivei*tinkerer will devote the whole of Saturday afternoon to “tuning up,” or “going round with a spanner,” or “looking at the mag.” Any of these processes, if carried out by the average tinkerer usually leads to a thoroughly unprofitable and oily Saturday afternoon, and as often as not some of the Sunday morning is also docked off, for the car naturally cannot be permitted to take the road until the mechanical “mess-up” of the previous afternoon has been put to rights. The result is frayed tempers all round, and a shortened run. If a car is properly looked after and not subjected to abuse, there should be no need for any tinkering. “Tuning-up,” for instance, when necessary, is a job for the expert, as is also anything to do with the magneto. The familiarity with motoring nomenclature indicated by an abbreviation such as “mag.” does not necessarily imply familiarity with the mechanism itself.

Ae for the more modest task of “going round with a spanner,” that is afl very well, and highly commendable, if the owner-driver of little mechanical knowledge confines himself to tightening the nuts that require tightening. I have known a heavy-handed tinkerer to break the heads off bolts through misapplied energy. The great, guiding principle for the ordinary owner-driver should be: Let well alone! It is only because the modern car has achieved a high degree of fool-proofness, and because it requires no technical knowledge to drive it, that motoring has achieved such phenomenal popularity.

USEFUL KNOWLEDGE.

At the same time, my correspondent is right in assuming tacitly that a certa:n minimum of technical knowledge is desirable; Such knowledge need not, in my view, extend to much more than ability to dismantle the carburettor and to replace a fuse. It ia -essential to be able to dismantle and clean a carburettor because even with the most expensive cars, a “choke” may occur at' any time, probably far away from the nearest gavage or upon an unfrequented road. There can be no more hapless plight than that of the driver who knows by the spluttering of his car that the carburettor has choked and who is yet unable to remedy the trouble because he does not know how to begin. In the same unenviable position is the driver.whose lights suddenly fail on a dark, ditch-bordered road because of so simple a matter as a blown fuse and who does not know how to replace it with another. Obviously it is impossible within the scope of the present article to describe the way to dismantle and clean the jets nf a carburettor, or to fix a new fuse, nor is it necessary. A much simpler course for everybody concerned is for the driver to ask one of the hands at the nearest garage to give him a practical demonstration in the art of dismantling and jet-cleaning. The mechanic will be quite prepared to give such instruction for half-a-crown or so, and the money thus spent will be well spent. One can learn more from a single practical demonstration than from a score of text books.

WHERE TEXT-BOOKS FAIL.

Besides, the text-booke are such recondite publications, and they do not always contain the information sought. When some text-books do condescend to deal with such “elementary” topics as choked, carburettors, they usually pick out, for purposes of diagrammatic illustration, a make of carburettor of which the ordinary owner-driver has never even heard.

But .although nothing much goes wrong with the modern car with ordinary usage—a happy circumstance which tends to rule out' the need of .technical. knowledge—it is desirable that even the owner-driver in whom the mere mention of technicalities induces a headache, should familiarise himself with certain symptoms that are the forerunners of serious potential trouble. FORESTALLING TROUBLE. From the point of view of safety the two vital parts of a car are the brakes and the steering; and every driver should make it hie job to be able to recognise signs of wear in these two parts of the chassis. No technical knowledge is required for such recognition. . Neither steering nor brakes goes wrong with ordinary treatment, but rough usage or lack of proper attention over a long period sometimes brings one or the other, or both, to a stage where

breakdown, with disastrous conse* quences, becomes a possibility. It is t 6 duty of every driver to himself and to other road users, to prevent such a possibility from materialising. The main symptom in the case ot tne steerin<r is backlash, which should never be neglected. As soon as the steering wheel 0 wives evidence of more than ordinary play before the road wheels are moved by the steering mechanism, the whole steering apparatus should be submitted to expert overhaul. In the case of brakes, one of the mam symptoms is excessive travel of the foot pedal. Brak ? which do not begin to decelerate the car almost as soon as pressure is applied’ should also be looked at bv a competent mechanic who will not only make the necessary adjustments but ensure that the brake-linings are not worn out. . The prudent owner-driver see to it that a qualified mechanic examines Ins steering and his brakes once each season.

SERVICE AFTER PURCHASE.

“TRADE-INS” OR REPAIRS?

LIGHT ON A DIFFICULT PROBLEM.

(By “Autoscribe.” —Special to Neus.)

How much service should go with a new car? That is a question which 1S always cropping up in the motor woild, and in this country, on the whole, it is a fact that the purchaser expects considerably more service than is usually <riven in other countries. Of course there are a few dealers who feel that their job is finished when the new cai has been driven out of their garage,, and these men spoil things for the considerate dealer, juet as the inconsiderate motorist who wants too much for nothing makes the dealer cautious of the free service he gives. There are still some dealers who do not wive sufficient attention to the service “side of the business, although this can be made just as profitable as the selling side. It is a question of educating the motorist up to have confidence in a repaired car, instead of iunnino- off and buying a new model after his ° car has done comparatively few miles. Service, and new car sales are not antagonistic to each other, and in America, the world’s greatest motoring country, both flourish. There, with twice as many care per hundred people, .as there are in New Zealand, saturation point for new car sales has by no means been reached.

MINOR ADJUSTMENTS.

Every new car will need a few minor adjustments during its first thousand miles, and ■where these are not caused through fast or careless driving, the seller should make them as part of his new car service. The few hours needed for early adjustments should be added to the selling price of every car, for it is obvious that the purchaser who is called upon to pay for these, will be dissatisfied. Later on this dissatisfaction may take the form of buying a different make of car, and the garage will suffer a definite loss through a mistaken policy. The motorist who expects free repairs for an indefinite period, is one of the bugbears of the industry. Every trouble the car may experience he regards as being due to an inherent defect. He is an illustration of the desirability of having definite agreement os to what constitutes “service,” and what comes under the heading of “repairs.” Competition is nowhere more fierce than in America, but there garages state clearly what is to be regarded as service for the new car. In many cases a printed statement is issued with the car when sold, and the purchaser can claim free service only in respect of the items mentioned. As far as failure of the car through defect is concerned he is protected by the maker’s guarantee of course.

TRADE-IN OR REPAIR?

There is a time when every motorist has to. seriously consider the question as to whether he will trade-in his present i car in part exchange for a new model, or whether he will put it in first-cla«s order by a thorough overhaul. There are two schools of thought amongst motorists —the school which thinks it best to trade-in befdre any trouble is experienced, and that which believes in getting the greatest possible mileage from the car. Which school the individual motorist belongs to depends very largely on his dealer’s attitude, to the" 7 business.' One of America’s leading service managers recently said:. “Dealers neglect the best part of their business when they do so much trading and buying, and consider the service department as a white elephant of the business they can’t do without.” That is the attitude of some .New Zealand motor sellers, and it is wrong. Here, where first cost is much greater than in America, the policy should be. to see that the motorist gets as much mileage as possible from'his car. It can be done only if those who sell one particular make of car specialise in repaii - ing those cars and provide satisfactoiy J '°Most “trade-ins” are made when cars have gone between 15,000 and 30,000 miles —a mere fraction of what the car of to-day can do if rebuilt by a good mechanic. The man who has done a small mileage expects a high allowance on his car when he trades-in. There is the high initial depreciation which must always exist with a new car, and sometimes the seller cannot recoup himself. Surely it would be a more payable pioposition to provide greater facilities for repairs and “re-builds,” than to specialise in trading-in. cars as early as P °Sometime three cars have to be sold before the dealer is sure of his profit on one new car, a typical instance of which came under the writer’s notice recently. A car which had done only 8000 miles was traded-in for a more expensive model. It was resold at a slightly lower price to ft man who traded-in a very old car. It was two months later before that car was resold (without profit), so that the dealer sold three cars over a period of three months, but collected a profit only from his first sale. I know th. t will be taken. as an extreme instance, as no doubt it is, but it shows what difficulties are found under the present system. ENCOURAGING REPAIRS. The writer believes that dealers would in the long run find it more profitable to encourage repairs, and. that this policy would be in the best interests of the motorists themselves. Cars would be used almost to their extreme limits , of age, and when a new car sale was made only a very small allowance would . have to be made. The motorist would i f get from 75,000 to 10,000 miles’ use from

his car, by means of complete overhauls —amounting to “re-buildings” every 25,000 miles. The encouragement of such a policy (which now obtains in parts of America and England) would mean better equipped repair shops and cheaper repairs, on a flat-rate basis. Thus the owner would know exactly what he would pay for a complete rebuild which would put his car practically a« good as new again. It would need advertising and education for the motorist, but it could be made very profitable indeed.

The motorist who sells his car when it has done 20,000 miles does so because he believes that expensive repairs w’ll come soon after’ and that the car “will never be the same again.” This is purely a fallacy. The cheapest car made, is sufficient on an engineering job to give a much greater milcage if thoroughly overhauled.

Owners should be encouraged to take their cars back to the dealer from which they purchased. He will specialise in repairs to those cars and may therefore be expected to make a cheaper and more efficient repair job than any other garage. The buyer on his part should remember that service after purchase is something which while intangible, is one of the greatest assets he can have. It means .that he is always certain of repairs at reasonable prices, and that spare parts are readily obtainable at short notice. These are points which often escape notice when the brand new car is being driven out for the first time, but which are major items when bad luck, in the shape of a smash, is experienced. A more aggressive “service’ policy, a greater advocacy of long service from any car, and greater encouragement to the motorist to get the full mileage from his car, will benefit the garages and motorists alike. There are already many garages which specialise in this work. It is to be hoped that their numbers will be still further increased as time goes on.