Evening Star Newspaper, April 4, 1926, Page 54

Repairs of Former Day Unknown to Modern Auto Driver, But Better Performance Is Possible. BY. Bringing Springti of the princ alter the a I reforms this season in motordom. 1l process to meet new requirements are | WILLIAM ULLMAN. 1e overhauling up to date promises to be one Suggestions to many of them are too valuable to be over- both now the annu »sired results are to be had. e nd driving conditions have al rejuvenation process must also Many of the opera- ions that were essential at least once a year in the old days, or even quite 1 well as new place Wher ti ods of doing m d take up , today are out of date. g customary work, are taking their New operations, as is troubled with a bearing knock. once a regular feature of Springtime repairing to » on loose bearin, the average veral seasons without giving this matter Wit h reasonable care, bearings will iston pins are being included in the posi- in an increasing number of makes, the of pins is growing less and less each s necessary to is more im- portant th: to treat the car to certain ns of care, which re little pensation in Spring- consider the bea seldom underst 1s the keyr time se t would have issiness in the old srequisites to long a of motoring that tkease came days service. is when down yearly for tightening, it often went bz again without any one taking the trouble Lubrication was by the sy tle dirt mor past used in nearly all engines. A little dirt may occasion a lot of trouble. In any event, a clean crankease adds im- to the life of the engine. s in the past, the crankcase should come down once a yvear on cars that are not equipped with air clean- gasoline filters and fuel rectifiers. such features are far nst the accumulation The average en- least should have a annually so that its tight bearings will tight. Clutches Are Abused. is to be done to the chassis on the theory that something may need attention, the work should begin with the clutch and not with the differential or the universal joints. Clutches never have been better, but it is also true that they never have been 1more abused and more regularly over- worked. Formerly, the cone clutch took care of itself. It was a rough acting affair, but it stood the gaff. If it did not operate smoothly, or if the driver did not know how to keep it from grabbing, the consequences were promptly inflicted upon the universals and_the differential. Occasionally a tooth would be chipped from the pinion or ring gear-—and that would start a long series of troubles and adjustments In the modern c takes all this punishment. sequence any annual overhauling should give it due consideration. Clutch shafts have a tendency to rust through condensation following the sudden couling off of overheated parts. Plates are apt to become warped as a result of overheating through slippage. If a clutch begins to act inefficiently it is apt to Inflict unnecessary wear upon the final drive of the car. Springtime overhauling, therefore, properly is becoming more of a mat- ter of prevention than actual repair. Tt i s0 many vears ago when engines became so noisy after a few vears' use no one would notice an un- necessary din coming from the fan. If any overheating developed it was regarded as a sure sign of the ap- | proach of the car’s old age. The result was that many a worn fan bearing was never detected, though it was the reason for much of the engine’s noise and in some cases, all of its overheat- ing. Fan Adjustment Important. In golng over the car this Spring, the fan should have attention. The bearing of the fan does not always re- celve the lubrication it needs. Some- times it is a little out of alignment. So long as the transmission is not going to be taken down at least a lit- tle consideration should be given for these smaller parts, which always have given trouble and which are now the basis of real satisfaction in owner- ship of a cz For years, starter motors and gener- ators have been among the average car’s most neglected units. The own- er said he didn’t have time to conside: se slud; It anything rs the clutch itself As a con- Exide Sales Service AUTO ELECTRICIANS Julius H. Rieley 656-58 Pa. Ave. S.E. Lincoln 7289 AS EBONITE Strngs foa Stick ‘hy —and nothing else but quality—that’s EBONITE all over. At dealers in five-pound cans, and service stations from the Checkerboard pump only. these parts because he was too busy keeping other units of the car working properly. He knew that some day the brushes on the electrical units would g0 bad, but often he found himself marooned before going into this sub- ject. The new trend in car care will obviate this predicament and offers the owner an opportunity to give the | electrical units the attention that will | serve to make the car practically free of any trouble from these parts. Springs Can Be Improved. When it isn't neces: to replace broken springs in the Spring months, the motorist should welcome the op- portunity to have this part at least cleaned and lubricated. Instead of finding that his car rides as well as it did before service was necessary he will find it rides as well as it did when it was purchased. One motorist, who has found that with regular lubrication and reason- able care in driving, the complete rear end of his car never needs overhaul- ing, has made it a practice for two vears to have the body bolts tightened each year. At the same time he has a mechanic go over the car with the view of ridding the body of all other squeaks and rattles. In other words, the better cars of the day offer an opportunity to make Spring repairing give the owner new car performance. In addition, the time saved on actual overhauling can be employed in those detalls of inspec- tion and adjustment that go a long way toward preventing the brand of troubles most motorists have come to expect as inevitable in the old age of the average car. This year Springtime overhauling involves overhauling of time-honored customs in the servicing of cars. Spring has become the motorist’s an- nual opportunity, not only to undo Winter's wear, but to improve Sum- mer’s service. pyright. 1928.) RS byt ENTIRE CAR NEEDS CARE. Safety Inspection Does Not End With Testing Brakes. Safety {nspection of the car does not end with testing out the brakes and greasing the steering gear. It has to do with every part of the car, includ- ing the battery, the carburetor and the electric wiring. A dead battery would prevent you from going into low gear and using the starter motor to pull the car off the tracks should the engine stall on a grade crossing. An unreliable carburetor or one ad- justed for too lean a mixture would fail you when sudden acceleration was essential. Neglected wiring carries the possibllity of having fuse blow out some night when you are hitting it up along the highway, leaving you in total darkness. NEW FEATURE PLANNED. National automobile shows next Winter will offer an entirely new fea- ture. Modern methods of servicing all types of cars and trucks will be shown. The shows at New York and Chicago will have a segregated operat- Ing and demonstrating service equip- ment section, designed to acquaint visitors with the more intimate details of car construction and repair. pendu your motor 0 meet every mnmd. when it is equipped s with a Stromberg @rburetor CREEL BROTHERS Automotive Specialists 1811 14th St. NW. Potomac 473 THE SUNDAY STAR, WASHINGTON, D. C., APRIL 4, 1926—PART 3. = = R 3 SN S NSNS NS N Police Hit Habit Of Doing Odd Jobs While Driving Car Too many drivers do odd jobs while their cars are in motion, in the opinion of a local police official. He pointed out that an operator on Connecticut avenue recently nearly struck a Dupont Circle safety zone light simply because he was too busily engaged in tugging at his windshield to watch where he was going. The official declared that he had seen other people, too, who crank their windows up and down while driving. Others light cigars and cigarettes with both hands off the steering wheel, adding that such persons would lose little time If they drew over to the curb to per- form those little operations. SIMPLE TIRE RECORD. Mark Diagram With Arrangement and Mileage at Each Change. There is no need to grope for a simplified system of keeping track of mileage obtained from the tires. The logical plan is to Indicate the four tires in use by drawing the tire marks of four wheels on a large sheet of paper. A number of groups of these tire marks can be made on one sheet of letter size. Number the tire marks to correspond with the numbers of the actual tires in use on the car. Also record beside each tire mark, the mile- age when installed. If a tire is changed go ahead to the next tire diagram and record the new tire arrangement, together with the mileage at the time of starting the new arrangement. Snow removal crews are kept busy on 5,200 miles of improved roadway in Pennsylvania during the Winter. A force of 6,200 men is employed for this work. H. L. ENGLAND Pres. and Gen. Manager West 2251 —By FRANK BECK. THE JOVIAL MOTORIST WHO INSISTED ON RETURNING A FRIENDLY WAVE — MOTORIST’S SPRING DECALOGUE 1. Check the car all over, beginning at the radiator. Inspect hose connections, throwing away flabby Flush the radlator and cylinder block, removing scale with a Be sure to clear the block and radiator of non-freeze solutions. ones. light soda or Iye solution. all this solution. 2. Drop the oil pan. xuoflna. Remove all Scrape it and clean it with kerosense or Let it dry thoroughly before replacing it. 3. Clean the transmission and rear axle housing in the same manner. 4. Clean all screens and strainers. engine olling system, the vacuum tank and the fuel line. This job is made simple by the use of fuel line should be renovated. compressed air. 6. Readjust the carburetor. mixture in cold weather. much better performance. 6. Remember the batte the weather gets warm. the Spring. Have It ingpected They are to be found in the The entire Very likely it has been set for a rich Readjustment will save gasoline and give This is a job for a skilled mechanic. It will need attention more often as ":\ADOX'H“OV‘I is slow in Winter and rapid in and corrected. Put yourself on a regular schedule in the matter of having it inspected. 7. Adjust 8. Correct fan belt tension. attention. It may be performance. 9. Inspect the spark plugs. 10. Don’t be an extremist in the matter of ofl. the breaker points. This point almost universally escapes minor, but helps toward good warm weather Because one has used light oll during the Winter, one is not called upon to go to the other extreme for warm weather. One shouid not treat this point haphazardly. Use the oil your car calls for, but first find out what it is. THE OLD MECHANIC SAYS: Repair work has got to ‘“season, if it is to be 100 per cent effective. Careful buyers will turn down cars with green cylinder blocks, but they're buyin' green repair work every day. After valves are ground in they do not seat just right until they have baen pounded down a while. In the old days when owners ‘were mechanics themselves, we used to let an engine run for several hours be- fore attemptin’ anything like a quiet tappet adjustment. Even when we turned the car over to its owner he understood it would be noisy for a few days. We told him not to drive too fast and to be sure to come around again for the final tappet adjustment. It's different today. FEvery one seems to want work done in the shortest possible time, and they get that kind of work. If we take up on the tappets until there is just the normals clearance, the chances are some of the valves are goin’ to hold open and burn. The valves won’t have a chance to reseat them- selves, and the advantage of the work is half lost. We even have owners who feel that valves should be quietest just after a grindin' job. All along’ the line it's the same story. We used to burn in brakes after relinin’ and then readjust the whole layout. Now the owner comes around for his car before we get through and what's there to do but ANNOUNCING Our appointment as Willys-Knight and Overland dealers for the District of Columbia Our New Address Will Be 3110 M St.N.W. All the latest model Willys-Knights and Overlands will be found on display ENGLAND MOTOR CO. 3110 M Street N.W. West 2251 “Jitney” Is Correct, Analysis of Auto Figures Reveals Another new reason why the term “jitney” applied to the auto- mobile is not a misnomer has been discovered: An analysis made public by the National Automobile Dealers’ As- soclation shcws that only 5 cents of the American wage and income dollar for 1925 was spent for motor vehicles. This is in comparison to EFFICIENCY IN MOTORING GAINED BY OBSERVATION Car Owners Can Save Time, Money and Effort by Learning From Costly Mistakes of Others. BY FREDERICK O. RUSSELL. Errors of omission and commission by the rank and file of motorists are the detour signposts by which the careful car- owning public is guided. and distresses of the other half By observing and noting the troubles the more particular owners are getting greater efficiency out of their cars at a minimum expensc Drivers who keep their eyes and ears open when about public garage or while going through traffic are in an excellent position to profit by picking up valuable pointers. The thought is based upon the theory that a mistake is more likely to attract attention than something done in just the right manner. When Lucman, the fable-teller, was asked from whom hé learned manners his reply was singularly in harmony with the new thought now prevailing among car owners. unmannerly,” he answered. “From the Every accident is a lesson to the witnesses, provided they wil see the real cause. Motorists, however, are warned against snaj judgments, such as mistaking misuse of brakes for faulty brakes or bad steering for natural skidding. Viewing traffic driving as a sort of game in which each driver endeavors to make his various gains with safety, it is interesting and helpful to watch other drivers and to note just where they make their mistakes. A motorist who has benefited considerably through this sort of observation says that while he was watching traffic the other day he noticed one driver give way to a half dozen other cars simply through misjudging the avail- able space between a parked truck and a street car. The driver under observation was trylng to gain by passing the street car, but his mistake necessitated his waiting for the other cars following directly behind the street car to pass before he could get back into line again. Here is another instance: A driver was hurrying down a main avenue with the idea of trying to help his passenger catch a train at the depot. There had been considerable careless- ness in the rush, and luck was not with them. One more wait for traffic and the train would be missed. Down near the depot in the city where this incident happened there are two streets where drivers can make left-hand turns, so as to @wy with the traffic on the main | street. These two intersections are so close together that a driver at one of them can see what the traffic situation is at the other. As the speeding car approached | the first intersection the driver failed to take advantage of the opportunity that was then presented to turn, and instead rushed ahead to the next in. tersection. There he waited two min- utes and missed the train. Tips on driving, however, are 6 cents which went for pleasure resorts. The 6 cents does not in- clude theater and other amusement admissions. S g BETTER TEST BRAKES. Rule Given Autoists for Period ‘When Streets Are Wet. When the streets are only partially wet, as when they are in process of drying with about half the driving section slippery, better test the brakes to find whether one adjustment is “off”" enough to lock one wheel sooner than the other. If there is a varia- tion in the brake adjustments see that the wheel doing the locking keeps on dry paving as much as possible. Just a little anti-skid idea, but it all helps. Just because the streets are drying up is no reason to conclude that skidding danger has passed. let him take home a green repair job? Nowadays a motorist wants the bearin’s tightened up but doesn’t stop to consider how important it is to work in those bearin's before puttin® the car to actual use. He doesn’t act that way with the rest of his property. If his watch doesn't keep good time he's willin® to leave it with the jeweler for a week or more. among the least of the pointers mo- torists can pick ') through observing. Around any repair shop or service sta- tion there are always owners regis- tering complaints that are nothing more or less than admissions of igno- rance or downright neglect. Trouble Savers. These make fine trouble savers for the wideawake owner. Here is one owner complaining about premature- ly worn piston pins, which the me- chanic proves was due to too sudden acceleration as a constant diet. There is another owner paying the penalty for having made adjustments on his new car without stopping to think that he was still going by the rules that applied exclusively to his former car. Perhaps one of the most interesting points picked up in a repair shop was that told by a motorist who had always had dificulty in getting auto- mobile mechanics to diagnose car troubles accurately. Time and again he had taken his car to good repair- ers with complaints about this or that, only to return home with the same old trouble. The real cause of his failure to make any gains in this line never occurred to him until some other wor- ried car owner was discovered in the act of making the same mistake. There was a queer noise coming from somewhere in the chassis. The owner was seeking suggestions, but was making the common mistake of telling the mechanic what he thought clearly | it ws Here was the tip for the o} server! The car owner was throw the mechanic off the track by sugge: ing possible causes, and the wror causes at that! Doesn’t Worry Now. Since making this discovery, th observer in question says that he ¥ little trouble getting correct dtagn of his car ills. When the mechar starts off with a clean slate h much less ltkel roneous concl the car owner. If the conc not erroneous, he points ou never have had to take h shop. There 1s a lesson to the average m torist in the sight of another owne having the engine flushed out wit} kerosene. This is just one of the ol mistakes that still persi Wise car owners nowadays flush out with a quart of fresh ofl. Why does the other fello in water and add ofl to the look to see if he enough gas be fore starting the engine? It woul save a little gas and reveal a little consideration for the people who are obliged to breathe carbon monoxide while the engine is fdling Why doesn’t the other fellow takd a rag and wipe off the wet humper at night? It's so much easier thar spending a half hour polishing the nickel. What makes the hoods of most cars go dull? What mistakes In_buyl cars are keeping most people f having newer and better c frequently? How coul 1 reached Profit Accordingly. To know the answers is to profit accordingly. What passes for care lessness and willful destruction fs usu ally nothing more nor less than ig norance. It is belleved by many car owners who have discovered the value of knowing the other fellow’s mistakes that if automobile dealers would pofnt out the things that can go wrong wit the cars they sell, by reason of mi: takes in their operation, there would be far less dissatisfaction. One motorist, who has carried ¢he idea to the very limit, says that he never drives his new car a mile until he has browsed around the service stations and talked with other owr ers in order to find out just what sim ple but costly mistakes he might make in_driving and caring for it. He is the exception. So is the un abused car and the untroubled owner (Copyrisht. 1928.) i Pennsylvania's highway department has 492 snow plows available to keep tmproved roads passable during the Winter. YOUNG LADY Stenographer—Secratary ookkeaner 14 Years Commercial & Automotive EXPERIEN Qualified to manage o all detail For appointment, phone Main 9850 M Reid w A Demonstration Will Convince You WASHINGTON FLINT COMPANY 1605 14th St. N.'W. Pot. 1673