ROADSIDE AND GARAGE.
Page 31
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(On page 536 of our issue of November 29th we published a letter, signed "Puzzled," from a Ford owner, who was having difficulty owing to excessive lubrication of the first two cylinders of the engine of his vehicle. The following letters are selected from several offering a solution of the difficulty. As it would. not be fair to award the extra payment of 5s. to any of these contributors we shall pay at a uniform rate of 10s. per letter.)
[2,334] " A.M.D." (Lanark) writes :--" The letter which you. published .from Puzzled' as a problem actually gives its own explanation of the trouble, and suggests the-obvious remedy. Trouble from excessive oil in cylinders of new Ford engines is no phenomenon, and is due in great measure to the exigencies of mass production. Your Blackburn reader has been unlucky. He has evidently secured delivery of an engine with badly fitting pistons, and has, in addition, been unfortunate in the matter of advice as to the remedy, since the one adopted merely served' to aggravate instead of to cure the trouble. Having the cylinders rebored and now rings fitted was good so far as it went ; unfortunately, it did not go far enough. The repairer ought to have gone a little farther and fitted new " oversize " pistons. Apparently, to judge from the letter, 'Puzzled' is still running on .-the original pistons which, a poor fit, before, are now probably i quite sloppy. All that is necessary s to go to the expense of a couple
of oversize pistons. These will, with new rings and gudgeon pin complete, cost about 21. When procured they must be carefully lapped into the rebored cylinders, and when, the lapping is finished they should be so close a fit that they will just slide down inside the cylinder under their own weight."
[2,335] " T.H.W." (Wigan) writes:•"' Puzzled' should examine his engine with a, view to reassuring himself " (a) That the oil delivery pipe from the flywheel end of the engine to the timing case is quite sound, and has not been burst near the end; of Nos. 1 end .2 cylinders.
"(b) That Nos. 1 and 2 connecting rods do not dip more than 1-16th in. ,into the oil in the troughs.
(c) That, all the troughs' carry oil to the same depth. "As a last resort, if a, b, and c are found to be in order I should fit a baffle plate, similar to that shown in the sketch, below Nos. 1 and 2 cylinders.
"I had a similar trouble some time ago with a Maxwell engine, and as the lubrication of the Maxwell is somewhat similar do the Ford, reference may be worth while. Inthis case I cured the trouble by undercutting the piston skirt i
as shown n one of the figures of the accompanying sketch, and drilled holes in the bottom of the groove for the lowest ring. I have, of cotirse, assumed that the pistons in the cylinders of ' Puzzled's ' engine are a good fit and that his rings are in order."
[2,336] "R.W.J.H." (Hanham) writes : —" I had a similar difficulty to 'Puzzled' some time ago with a Ford. that was in my charge, and I got over ite as illustrated in the accompanying sketch.
"Take out the pistons 'of the two cylinders which are causing trouble and remove the middle ring. File the lower edge of the piston ring slot as shown in the sketch until a. flat is made, just large enough to allow of an in. hole being drilled. Drill four such holes in each piston, spaced equally round the circumference. Replace rings and pistons, and your problem is solved."
[2,337] " J.M." (Todrnorden) writes:" The trouble of which 'Puzzled' complains is not new to Ford owners. I should say that about 90 per cent. of these engines give trouble through overoiling during the first six months of their lives. He has eitherbeens very fortunate with his first and second Fords, or he has bong it them second-hand after they have been worked in. In view of the fact that he had the cylinders rebored and new piston rings fitted, he ought to make sure that the old pistons are not now too slack; he should also take care that there is no risk of the slots in the piston rings getting into line. Having done so, he should then turn his attention to the sparking plugs of these two cylinders, see that the electrodes have a gap of quite 1-32nd part of an inch, and, in making any adjustment, bendthe small electrode, the one that earths, the current to the body of-the plug, upwards, thus providing for the oil to run away from the gap. I me iron plugs, as they get hotter than brass ones, and I like a plug which has plenty of , clearance between the porcelain and the plug shell. He should then examine the lower oil tap to make sure it is not stopped -up. In one case of over-oiling, which gave a lot of trouble, I discovered that a stoppage in the lower tap was the real source of the trouble.
"It may be of interest if I describe 'my own methods in connection with new Ford ton trucks. Our last one has been on the road since April of this year. For the first, three months I kept the oil at such a level that it produced a quick flow from the -upper tap. All four plugs oiled up quite frequently. This I anticipated, and was quite content to clean them off from time to time, looking for: ward to the time when the engine, after some little time, would be quite a good one. After a few months'of running in, I generally get the level so far down that it, wi harayflow from the lower tap, and I make la practice of adding lubricant frequently and in small quantities. This procedure naturally demands more attention and more frequent inspection • than that 'usually required, but I find it well worth while, As a final hint to Puzzled,' he should get the gap of No.1 plug slightly larger than' the rest; in any case, it is 'usually found advisable to allow a wider sparking gap in the plugs used on the Ford engine in order to overcome their tendency to oil up."
Lamps Alight.
• On Saturday, December 31st, light your lamps at 4.28 in London, 4.14 in Newcastle, 4.31 in Birmingham, 4.14 in Edinburgh, 4.31 in Liverpool, 4.38 in Bristol, and 5.14 in Dublin.