Apr 04, 2023
Puzzler time my friends. As promised, this is an automotive puzzler this time.
Years ago, a customer came into the shop right around the start of winter. And at that time of year, people tend to have winter things done to their car, especially up here in Our Fair City.
So, this fellow came in with a list of things he wanted to be done. Winterizing, we call it.
He wrote out the list for us and he said, "I'd like you to do these four things."
And here are the four things on the list. Check the belts and hoses. This is always a good idea when your car is in the shop. He wanted us to change the oil and filter. And also to change out his wiper blades, because he was having trouble seeing the front. And also, drain and refill the coolant. Okay, so it was those four things he wanted us to do and nothing else.
So, the young fellow that was working in the car addressed all these four things, and only these four things. Nothing else. Belts and hoses, oil and filter, wiper blades, and coolant. Then, he comes over to the car's owner and asks, "Hey, are you getting lousy mileage?"
And the owner said, "Gee, now that you mention it, I am."
So the puzzler this week is, what did the young mechanic notice while doing one of these four things that would cause him to ask that question? What did he see while working on one of those four things that led him to believe the owner was getting bad gas mileage?
Good luck!
Okay all. Time for the answer to this automotive puzzler.
Winter time. Customer comes in and asks us to do four things to winterize his car. Belts and hoses, oil and filter, wiper blades, and coolant. Nothing else. Just these four things.
So the young guy from the garage who is working on these four things comes over to the owner of the car and says, "Are you getting lousy mileage?"
And the owner says, "Actually, now that you mention it, I am getting lousy gas mileage."
So the question was, what did the young mechanic see while doing these four things that made him ask that question?
And the answer is, this is a trick question! There are two possible answers to this question.
And here they are.
The coolant levels, and the oil.
He could have noticed when he changed the oil that the oil itself was diluted with gasoline.
And he noticed when he filled the cooling system and restarted it, that the coolant was circulating right away. That in fact the thermostat which should have been closed with the engine cooled off, was in fact wide open. And it was open, meaning that it probably is open all the time. And he's probably not getting very good heat and not getting his engine up to operating temperature and hence not getting very good mileage. However, this would not happen now. Now if you had a modern computer controlled car, you would get a check engine light letting you know that the coolant was low.
And there you have it.
