How To Drive A Motorcar
A Key To The Subtleties Of Motoring

 TROUBLE WITH THE CARBURETTER mixture were too strong it will now be quite weak, as the gas will rise up (it does not rise very high) suffi- ciently to leave a weakened mixture. Now put about six drops of petrol into each petcock and again allow them to remain open for a bare half-minute. Close them and have another swing. If the difficulty has been one of bad carburation the engine will probably start now, and when once running the trouble is not likely to be very manifest. It is rather a difficult matter to lay down any didactic instructions as to tuning up or adjusting a carburetter which is out of adjustment, as there are so many of them, and they vary considerably, not only in their complaints but also in the method of adjustment. In fact, it would require a small book for this subject alone, if one were to give a full series of instructions in the art of adjustment and the work of tuning up the variousjsiandard carburetters on the market. If the foregoing simple instructions have not proved successful in solving the problem, which seems to appertain to carburation, then one may be looking round for indications of trouble further afield. Just occasionally it may be that a continual flooding takes place, and if this is so it is probable that a slight leak has occurred in the float, so that some petrol has got inside it, and it does not rise quickly enough to actuate the little ball governors which shut off the needle valve. Yet, again, it may be that the jet is choked with a minute particle of dirt, or partially choked, so that there is not a quick enough flow of petrol, in which cass it is, of course, necessai’y to remove the jet and clean it. Sometimes the jet itself may be found to be quite clear, but the passage from the float chamber to the jet may, perchance, be blocked up: there is usually a little screwed plug which can be readily removed to make sure this is not the trouble. On the other hand, the filter may be choked up, and this is a trouble which can be simply remedied. Yet, again, even the petrol pipe itself from the tank may have got choked or the tap in some way have been turned off, either of which complaints can soon be detected. 41