. FORD VAN POINTERS.
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By R. T. Nicholson (Author of "The Book of the Ford ").
WHEN I LAST wrote, I was putting myself in the position of the Ford agent, and was saying what I would tell the driver wild took delivery of one of the new power-starter models—what I thought the driver ought to know before he could be trusted, or before he could trust himself, to take the new van out on to the road.
183. More About the Power-starter.
I traced the path of the current from the generator to the battery, through cut-out and ammeter, gave some account of the purpose of cut-out and ammeter, and showed how to make sure, that the battery was kept up to its job, and how it should be tested to see that it was up to its job. From that point we will now go on.
From Battery to Starting Motor.
The transMission cover has been remodelled so as to make it possible to bolt the starting-motor to it. The startingonotor lies—a second roly-poly—on the left-hand side Of the engine. It is the machine by which the electrical power slaved in the battery is changed, back into mechanical power ; the generator being the machine by which the mechanical power developed by the engine is turned into, electrioal power, which is stored in the battery. You connect up the battery with the starting-motor when you press down the foot-switch. That simple action should set the motor working, and thus spin the flywheel inside the transmission-cover. That means that the engine is `.` turned over "—just as it would be if you went to the starting-handle and did it. Therefore, the charge in the cylinder should then fire.
184. Preliminaries.
Should then fire. Yes ; but it will not, fire unless you have seen to all the points that you have taken good care about if you had been going to start by hand turning. You must switch on ; you must see to it that the carburetter adjustment is right—se set as to give a liberal gush of spirit : you must close your air-throttle by means of the stud on the dash—which works to just the same effect as if you had pulled out the ring in front of the radiatori.e., it floods the carburetter: you Must have commutator, plugs and other parts of your ignition system in good order. Only when you have seen to these points have you any right to call upon the starting-motor to set the engine firing. There is a strong temptation to neglect these little fine points. when you have a power-starter fitted—to think of the power-starter as a lazy man's drudge, which will save him not only the trouble of grinding at the starting-handle, but also the trouble of thinking. You must think about these little pre It really is not .fair on the starting-motor to make it grind away at the flywheel When you have forgotten to switch on, for instance. That is all waste labour, which you would take jolly good care to avoid if you had to start up by hand. It is no use to excuse yourself by saying that the battery and the starting-motor cannot feel, or get pumped. It is true that they cannot feel, but it is not true that the 'battery cannot get pumped. It can—and that pretty readily. The battery holds enough energy for a number of • starts_, one after another, but you can easily run it down by letting the starting-motor grind away at an engine that cannot fire because you have muddled things.
You ought' never to let the starter grind away for more than 30 seconds at the outside if the engine will not fire. You ought to be able to start in less time than that, if everything is properly setli,AOtherwise, you are putting a heavy unnecessary strain on your battery. Don't do it' ' Of course, directly your engine is running at a speed representing over 10 miles an hour on the road, you begin to pay baok the power you have borrowed from your battery to start it, so that it wil; ;soon be up to full strength again. It is the long pull of effort that4tells on the battery, not4the occasional short bursts. Borrow little at a time, and pay back soon, is the rule for treatmentzof a battety. Then it will servo you for years on end.
185. A Few 'Cautions.
I have already given you one caution as to your not overworking your battery. Here are a few more:
Watch the Ammeter.
It is very important that the current ground out by your generator should reach the battery. The am meter is the instrument that tells you whether it is doing so or not. (In unusual eircumsta.nces, the ammeter may lie about this, but you may take it as practically certain that if the ammeter shows a reading of 10-12 when you are running at 15 miles an hour or over, the generator current is reaching the battery.) If the ammeter does not register whenever the engine is running at a good speed, you know that the current is not reaching the ammeter, and unless it does roach it, it stands to sense that it cannot be getting to the battery, since it can only get to it by that route.
Later on, I will tell you how to set things right when the ammeter does not register when it should da. But an the road, unless you have plenty of time for finicking, the best thing is to unhitch the wire that leads from the generator, by loosening it from its terminal, and to substitute a length of good stout copper wire (not less than in. thick), fixing one end of that wire to the generator terminal, and the other end to some point where you can get good elecoltl.
trioal connection. One Of the best points for' this purpose is under one of the valve cover nuts. You can get a good tight electrical contact there if you will make sure that the parts which the end of the wire touches are clean.
What this does is to provide a short path or circuit for the current turned out by the generator. If the current was not reaching the ammeter, it meant that the current from the generator could find no outlet, so that the generatoritself had, an to speak, to swallow it, and that was bad for the generator—very bad. With the length of copper wire attached up as described, an outlet is provided. Of course, you will not, in such ciscumstances, get any current delivered to your battery: all you do is to prevent any strain being set up in the generator. You must, therefore, as soon as possible, get.things put right, so that the generator will deliver to the battery via the ammeter.
What's Wrong?
When the ammeter will not register, see that all connections between generator and ammeter are clean and tight. Trace them through. 0.1i. ? Look then stall connections between ammeter and battery, and then at the "earth ". connection between battery and frame. All these must be clean and tight too. Failure at any point in wiring or connections round this circuit will stop the ammeter registering. If attention to these points does not set matters right, I have not much hope that you will be able to do so. But in 99 eases out of 100, failure ot the generator to charge the battery will be due to a loose or dirty connection.
Therefore, make it a point to keep all electrical connections spotless, and to go the, round, of rneeterrninals from time to time to see that they are thumbtight. Do not try to make them pincer-tight. Pincers ought never to be used on electrical terminals, because they are generally too frail to stand rough treatment of that kind. Be content with thumb-tightness, but see that there is that much tightness at allpoints.
186. Battery Terminals.
It is particularly the battery terminals that are liable to foul up, and they are much more likely to foul up than to get loose. Indeed, if you leave them long enough without cleaning them, they are likely to bind so that it will be difficult to free them when you want to do so. keep4them clean by polishing them, up at odd times. If they have got so foul that rubbing will not clean them, apply a little anianonia, on a rag, or a strong solution of soda in water, anc0 so scour them. To keep them from fouling up, wipe the terminals over, when clean, with a light smear of vaseline.
187. Testing the Generator.
If you cannot get any current through the ammeter by attending to the points that I have mentioned, test the generator itself, but do not suspect that generator, and do not play about with it, till you are cocksure that all connections are clean and tight. The generator is not at all likely to go off duty—not nearly so likely as you.' are to overlook some little point of slackness of connection.
But if you have found nothing wrong with the connections, your next job is to see if the generator is actually turning out current.
Take off the wire, or cable, leading away from the generator, by loosening its terminal. Take a screwdriver With a wooden handle, and with its blade make a bridge across from the empty generator terminal to the generator housing or easing. You should see bright sparking at the points of contact when the engine is running, and you tail/ see them if you make the test properly, and the generator is on to its job.
If I were you, however, „I would not be too sure that I had made that test properly, unless I was used to making Such tests. ''Better let somebody make it who knows about the way electricity should behave.
Do not run t4e engine any longer than you can help with the generator cable off, unless you provide a path for the current in the way I described earlier, by running a " relief " wire to," earth." (Of course, your screw-driver is as good as the relief wire so long as it is held in position.) -4'You strain the generator internally unless there is some outlet for the electricity produced—always supposing that it is being produced.
188. If the Generator Will Not Work—What ?
If the sparks do not come when this test is. properly made (that being quite unlikely), the only course is to have the generator removed and sent to a Ford depot for attention.
I do not recommend you to remove the generator for yourself, unless you are a pretty good mechanic, with a nice sense of the proper way to do a rather delicate job. But as you may have to do the job for yourself, this is the way to do it.
Tale out the three cap-screws that hold the generator to the front end cover of the engine. Slip the "business-end" of a screw-driver between generator and front-end cover, and prise the generator off. starting at its top side, and prising backwards and 'downwards at-the same time. Then cover up the hole that you have left—this you do by attaching the plate provided in the kit. The engine will then be enclosed again. Pack carefully in some soft material.
Of course, there is no harm in running the engine with the generator right off. You can start it up by hand "in the old way."
But do not call upon the battery for service more than you can help until you have the generator beck again in position. Do not call upon it, particularly, for self-starting, or you will soon run it down. Do not use it more than you can help for lighting even. Of course, your hydrometer test will show whether it is well up to a lighting job ; but stop using it in any event when the hydrometer reading is as low as 1.225. That is the beginning of danger.
Of course, you can get your battery charged by an siectrician independently of the generator, if you must use it for lighting in. the absence of the generator. But you will have to get it charged pretty often, and 'that costs money.