What Is A Tune-Up? Do You Need One?

Getting a tune-up doesn’t mean the same thing it used to. What’s a tune-up and when do you need one? Click to find out! #tuneup #carmaintenance #carrepair #preventativemaintenance
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Chapters:
00:00 Intro
00:25 What is a tune-up?
02:10 What’s included in a tune-up?
03:48 How much does a tune-up cost?
04:29 How often should I get a tune-up?
05:21 Can I do my own tune-up?
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[@novakandfaith123]

good stuff

[@noartifacts1983]

As a dental hygienist i always use car analogies hahaha so it'd great to see it the other way around!

[@1001Hobbies]

There is no such thing as a "Tune-up" anymore as everything, except for spark plugs, no longer exists.
A Tune Up used to consist of:
Cleaning and adjusting the choke, adjusting idle mixture, and adjusting idle on the carburetor, which no longer exists.
Inspecting, adjusting, and sanding or replacing, if needed, the points. Replacing the condenser, and replacing the cap and rotor on the distributor, which no longer exists.
Replacing spark plug wires if needed, which no longer exist.
Setting the timing, which is no longer adjustable.
Replacing the PCV valve. This still exists.
Most places charged extra for the air filter and breather filter, and thus was not part of the tune-up.
The only things left of a Tune Up are the spark plugs and PCV valve. Spark plugs now have a change interval of about 100,000 miles because of iridium spark plugs being used, as opposed to 20,000 to 24,000 miles of long ago.
So now it is just a spark plug change at 100,000 miles, which to me is not a Tune-up. Its only changing spark plugs. I changed the PCV valve in my car at about 120,000 miles, just so I would feel better. My engine had no running issues. I have 160,000 miles on the engine now and it still runs like new. It's perfectly clean inside when visually inspected. I am waiting for some warmer weather to put the third set of spark plugs into it. I replaced the originals at 70,000. It still has no running issues but, again, I want to change them just so that I feel better.
I believe anytime a person is told by a shop "Your car needs a tune-up" that they are trying to rip them off. They are only going to change spark plugs. If they put an air filter into the car it will not be part of the cost of the "tune-up."
I have been preaching this on the internet since distributors went away but there were still spark plug wires on ignition packs. At least they might get new wires too. Nobody is getting adjustments to their carb or adjustments and new parts for their distributor either. And timing is not being touched either.

[@ivonnehernandez8748]

Let me tell you that you’re absolutely right in everything you just said, I’m a woman and I had my car checked in and the mechanic told me at first It needs to do a complete tune up, when I asked him about specific why I need to do it at the and he just needed to change the spark plugs and brakes. Thank you so much, I really appreciated you shared this information to people like me that don’t know nothing about cars.

[@1001Hobbies]

@@ivonnehernandez8748 - You're welcome. Yes, I am especially concerned about women and cars. I saw my wife's Aunt get taken too many times when my wife and I were just dating. Then I told her I would do the work on her car. Saved her a LOT of money. However....turns out she is one of those people who if her car goes when she pushes the gas pedal and eventually stops when she pushes the brake pedal, she will keep driving the car no matter what sounds it is making, what it is doing, or what it feels like. I had to get her to believe that those noises are the sounds of the car destroying itself.
I got into cars at age 16 and went to an automotive tech school when I was 22. I worked in a shop for a few years, but I've worked on cars now for more than 40 years. I watched all the changes happen and kept up on the technology as it changed. Good luck!

[@novakandfaith123]

Very good stuff, but you're talking about modern cars of course. I for example have a 1990 Toyota Corolla and all of this information still exists very well in my case. And because UA-cam reaches worldwide, there are a lot more people driving old cars than just on the US. Ops: I hope combustion cars never disappear :).

[@1001Hobbies]

@@novakandfaith123 - Well, I'm sure you don't get any adjustments to a carburetor/choke since your car is fuel injected. 😃
My car is a 2012, so all this information applies. While not what I consider an old car, and certainly nowhere near as old as yours, it is still 12 years old. The engineered life expectancy of a car is 10 years (the amount of time the manufacturers want them to last, and then you will need to buy another car from them) so my car, by industry standards, is old.
However, with good upkeep they can go far past this, as your car proves. My co-worker has the same car I do, only 2 years newer, and has 310,000 miles on it, and it still runs like new. And like mine (with only 170,000 miles) he has not had to do any major repairs.
How many miles does your 1990 have?

[@sheilatyson397]

I never did a tune up