In other cases when the engine was cranked, there would be a few explosions, a sputter and a stop, and the reason was that the muffler was so clogged that it was impossible to exhaust the gas from these few explosions, the cylinder remained full of burned gas, and, of course, could not take in a further supply. These, of course, are extreme cases, but the writer had this experience not long ago:
He was riding in a car that could hardly make headway against a strong wind blowing. This meant frequent use of the second-speed gear, which in itself causes an undue use of gasoline. He found on experimenting that the muffler “cut-out” pedal could be used in place of the accelerator pedal; that is, when the muffler “cut-out” was open the engine had considerable more power and immediately speeded up. In fact, he kept the “cut-out” open most of the way home and had no more trouble in bucking the headwind. The experience led to the discovery that the muffler was almost totally clogged with carbon.
Of course, where the engine is stopped or there is a decided decrease in power, the owner will hunt for the trouble, and find it, perhaps, in the muffler. He might not notice less serious cases where, while the muffler is somewhat clogged, it does not decrease the power strikingly; but even in these less serious cases it will often be found that the power of the motor may be materially increased by having the muffler cleaned. Yet it is seldom done, even when the car is supposed to be overhauled completely. Many drivers seem to think the muffler can take care of itself. In looking over the inspection card of a well-known make of car it was found that no provision was made for even looking at the muffler. The service-station inspection orders contain no mention of the muffler.
There is still another cause of the clogging of the muffler with carbon, and that is the practice of putting kerosene in the cylinders to clean them. The kerosene cleans the carbon from the cylinder walls and that is what makes the trouble, for it is exhausted right into the muffler. Some drivers understand this and when using kerosene for this purpose open the muffler “cut-out”; this allows the discharge of the greater part of the carbon into the air, but even then some of it finds its way into the muffler and in time makes trouble.
A muffler of modern design, if kept clean, needs no “cut-out” arrangement, but if it becomes clogged it is necessary to use a “cut-out” when the full power of the engine is needed. The consequence may be a trip to the police station and then to the court and then a fine to be paid. It is evident, therefore, that if one wishes to get power out of his car on an economical basis and wishes to escape fines, he should look after his muffler.
Since instruction books, and even service-station inspection charts do not say much about the muffler, and since it is evident that it has an important part in the operation of the car, where the owner does not find sufficient information concerning it from the instruction books furnished him, he would better ask the agency to furnish him a special muffler pamphlet, which will show its construction and care.
CHAPTER XXIV
YOUR BEARINGS
Ever stop to count up how many bearings there are about your car? If you haven’t, you are likely to lose your bearings while you hunt for the several hundred bearing points of the modern automobile.
A bearing is a support for a moving member, so designed as to minimize friction and receive wear, and to permit of fine adjustment.
There are many types of bearings, some in which the metals are selected with the idea of obtaining strength rather than non-friction qualities; others have strong metal shells lined with a comparatively soft non-friction metal. In these bearings moving members slide over each other.