The Adjustment

Time for the puzzler. This one is an old one, for certain.

Years ago, a customer came into the shop with an old Volvo. It was a 1960's vintage P1800.

It's an interesting looking car, this old Volvo sports car. His complaint, very simply, was that the car didn't seem to stop very well, and he was sure that his power brakes weren't working.

A quick test drive revealed this to be the case. When you first stepped on the pedal, the first time you slowed down, the car seemed to stop quite well. But if you applied the brakes several times, as if slowing down to avoid crashing into the back of some other vehicle, after two or three applications of the pedal, it would be pretty hard to depress. The car didn't really want to stop unless you stood on the pedal with all your strength.

So after the test drive, we get back to the shop. And I said, "Okay, there's definitely a problem and it is very likely the booster."

And the customer said, "Oh great. I have a used one, and I know it's good. I'll bring it in."

So a few days later, he brings the car and the booster over, and we install the booster. I test drive the car. I call the customer and ask him to drive it, because I didn't notice any significant improvement. And we are sure now that the booster is okay. There's nothing wrong with the booster. So we know now that the booster was not his problem.

So, we begin looking around for what could be the problem. We look at the hose, to see if it is blocked or restricted. We replace it, but there is no improvement.

After a few more minutes of tinkering, doing various tests, Ralph finally figures out. And it has to do with the gas that he's been using. Ralph does an adjustment that fixes the car.

What's going on here? What adjustment does he perform that fixes the car, and it is not adjusting the timing either.

Good luck.

Answer the Puzzler »

Remember last week's puzzler?

Killing The Battery

Puzzler time. This one is automotive. Here we go.

Years ago, a customer came into the shop complaining that when he went away on business trips, his car would be dead when he returned a week or so later. But if he was in town and drove the car every day or every other day, it worked just fine.

So, he brings the car in to us. We do all the testing we can around the issue. We couldn't find any current draining or anything like that. We could not find anything wrong with it that might be causing this issue.

We replace his battery anyway.

He goes away on another trip, and he comes back and he's incensed that the battery has been killed again.

He brings the car back and insists there is something wrong with it. He leaves it with us. And we again find nothing wrong. At that point, we try to return the car to him. But he says he is going away on another trip, so we can't return it to him.

So we agree to keep the car while he is away and see if it will die on us, while we have it, while he is away. We insisted there was nothing wrong with the car, and he wanted to prove to us that there was something wrong.

So, he leaves the car with us, we park it and we do not touch it for the entire week, so we can see if it will die again.

A whole week goes by. We don't touch the car at all.

He gets back from his trip and comes in to see us. He goes to the car. He turns the key, and it starts right up.

And he says, "What could I be doing wrong? What could be different for me when I have the car at home?" He accuses us, of course, of driving the car every day, charging the battery up... all that stuff.

Of course, we had done nothing to the car the whole week.

So, I asked him one question. I asked him where he parks the car.

He tells me that he parks in his driveway.

At which point I said, "I know what's wrong. I know what's killing your battery."

So, that is the puzzler. What was killing his battery?