Overhead valves, worked by a rocker arm, must be lubricated every time the car is taken out. The lubrication is not included in the ordinary lubrication scheme of the engine, but must be done separately.
Careful attention to these minor points will result in greatly lengthened life for the car, and in a much higher value when it is traded in for another car. The man who buys a used car would better inspect closely along these lines if he desires to buy something better than a bunch of junk. The owner should not trust to his chauffeur the care of these parts, unless he has found out that the man knows of the importance of lubrication, nor should it be taken for granted that the garage man is attending to them. Make sure yourself is the best rule. It is well to remember that “many a mickle makes a muckle” in wearing of auto parts, and look after the little things.
CHAPTER VIII
SOMETIMES THE CAR SMOKES
The officer will get you if you don’t watch out, if you leave a trail of smoke behind you; then it will be:
“Good morning, Jedge, your Honor.”
“Guilty? Two dollars, please.”
“Cheap,” you say. Yes, if it were only the two dollars; but there is the time lost in appearing in court and then, really, you know, to make that smoke you were burning money.
Such smoke comes from two sources: Burning too much gasoline and using too much lubricating oil; usually the latter. Excessive use of gasoline comes from faulty carburetor adjustment, or poor design of carburetor or intake manifold, or keeping the engine cylinder at too low a temperature, because of the water being too cold in the cooling system.
In the latter case the carburetor may vaporize the gasoline properly, but it condenses in the cylinder and does not burn well and the part which is not consumed passes off as black smoke, which issues from the exhaust pipe.
We must have a certain amount of oxygen to consume the gasoline entirely. The size of the cylinder limits the amount of air (from which the oxygen is taken) which may be taken in and if the carburetor is adjusted to feed too much gasoline, there may not be enough oxygen present to consume it all. Practically speaking, what is not consumed forms carbon or smoke.