Tune-Ups
Regular upkeep is a great way to protect your income; adhering to the guidelines in our guide will allow you to get your ride back in shape. Have a look at our article for a few tips on how to get your ride back in condition.
You can benefit greatly from the tune-up of your vehicle.
It’s one of the best ways to maintain original performance.
In fact, repairing a car that is very out of tune can significantly increase both engine performance and fuel consumption*. A vehicle that works in optimal condition today avoids and reduces costly future repairs.
Our tuning guide shows the common parts that are replaced when adjusting a vehicle, such as spark plugs, connecting cables, air filters and fuel filters. It’s also a good time to check other components that are under the hood, such as belts, hoses, and liquids.
What is a Tune-Up?
The term “tuning” has changed dramatically since the car was first coined. For more than 50 years, tuning meant replacing or adjusting the vehicle’s ignition system (brake points and condenser), installing a new distributor cap, a new rotor and new spark plugs, adjusting the ignition time, and adjusting and “adjusting” the car’s carburettor (hence the term) for optimal performance. The process was as complicated as tuning a musical instrument: ignition and refueling had to be perfectly coordinated to achieve optimal performance, hence the term.
With older vehicles, this was common. When electronic ignition replaced point systems, it was still necessary to adjust the spark plugs, caps, rotor and carburettor, but even that was eventually extinguished when disignition systems (without distributor) and computer-assisted fuel injection became the norm. Today, the vehicle’s engine computer and engine components ensure that these systems are constantly working where they should.
Nowadays, tuning is a bit of a misnomer in its simplest form, an outdated word that describes each time a variety of basic routine maintenance tasks are performed on your vehicle. Regular maintenance can extend the life of a vehicle and ensure that it operates at its full potential. As a rule, the “Regular Maintenance” section of the instruction manual indicates when the adjustment should be made.
Tuning your car today can mean a lot of things. It’s a good idea to check the car’s filters, belts, hoses, and fluids. It’s also a good idea if you don’t know when you last changed your spark plugs or wire/coil sleeves, now is a good time. Many of them may not need to be replaced, but this gives you an opportunity to avoid small problems that could turn into big problems if left uncontrolled.