Stethoscope substitute

[argonsagas]

Often a stethoscope is the obvious means to identifying annoying sounds that come from your engine or transmission. Most of us don't have one, or don't have it available at the time.

A simple, and usually readily available, option is a standard wooden broom or mop handle. (Without the whiskers on the end)

All you have to do is hold one end against your ear...use the rounded end as it will be more comfortable, and place the other end against the engine or transmission case. Then listen.

The sound will be transmitted through the handle very well and you will hear vastly more than you ever could by standing beside the machine....and hear it very clearly.

[robben]

So that neighbor banging on his ceiling below me wasn't trying to get me to turn the stereo down... He just didn't quite have the technique on how to use that handle down quite right so he could hear it better. #-o I'll have to turn it up for him. :twisted:

Neat tip, Sir Argon. Never would've thought of something like that.

Robben

[Billy Ricks]

Great tip Ron. The censor did catch you though.

[Planecrazy]

Is that one of those "enlightened" ideas that only comes while tripping on Argon??

Who thinks to try something like that in the first place? If one stops to think of all the seemingly zany solutions to lifes many problems, it's absolutely astounding the things that we stumble upon. Even some of the foods we eat defy explanation. Who figured out that if you let a barrel full of grapes ferment you get something worth consuming? Who discovered that milk gone bad could produce good foods?

Oh, Oh ... I better stop, the brain wants to explode! Haha!

[Anonymous]

My dad taught me that stethoscope trick.

Who figured out that if you let a barrel full of grapes ferment you get something worth consuming?

Actually, there's a strong argument in scientific circles that wheat was originally hybridized and domesticated (from barley, by the way) for fermentation, not the modern staple of flour. I guess back in the stone age, life was pretty rough and they really liked a little fire water to wash away their troubles for another night.

Cheers.

Michael

[robben]

Great tip Ron. The censor did catch you though.

Seems since the update, the word police don't like that little word anymore. I was reading a thread on someone wanting to get a t i t l e for his bike... There were #s everywhere, made a real mess of the posts. :?

Robben

[Anonymous]

Actually I've been using a screwdriver. The metal end against the unit to which one wishes to listen and the handle part in your ear. The size and roundness of the handle (not the rubber kind, just the hard plastic) make it fit comfortably. I've diagnosed many a bad component on engines and computers that way. Besides. a screwdriver is easier to carry around than a broom stick.

Harrison

[biker66]

I too use the screwdriver version.
Much slicker, and since a screwdriver is made of harder material than a broomstick it transfers sound better.
A Hi-Fi version perhaps :?

[argonsagas]

Agreed about the screwdriver...I have used that too, but only for the upper parts of an engine. I prefer the broomstick/mop handle because it allows more distance.



You can even use it to reach under a car when you don't want to, or can't, jack it up.

On car engines, it keeps my hands away from the fan blade and from hot manifolds. On bikes it keeps my hands and head away from the hot pipes.

It also allows you to reach farther down into the engine compartment on a car.

I asked a woman for a broom handle a few years ago and she thought I was kidding. She had called me to come to her house and check out her Camaro, saying the engine was making unusual noises. Temperatures that day were about 0 F/-18C, so I didn't really want to get into the engine compartment, plus I was wearing a suit.

She was right about the noises. Her boyfriend had told her to start it and let it run for about twenty minutes to warm up. Unfortunately, she paid no attention to the high engine revs, of about 4000RPM, until she heard strange noises.

When I got there and she started the car, I immediately heard some noises that told me no broomstick was needed.....just a new engine.