When you hear the words “tune-up”, you might think of street racers fitting loud mufflers, flashy body kits, and flaming nitrous injection systems to their sports cars, just like in The Fast and the Furious. Well, that can be one form of vehicle tuning, but the kind of tune-up that most drivers need is more like fine-tuning a musical instrument. Your vehicle has several components that are built to very exact specifications, and being just the slightest bit too tight, too loose, clogged, worn out, or out of specification in any other way can cause you to have a rough running engine, less power, worse gas mileage, or any number of other drivability issues.
The purpose of a tune-up is to keep your engine running at optimal performance. Replacing spark plugs and spark plug wires ensures that your vehicle will ignite gasoline in its combustion chambers properly. Replacing your fuel filter helps keep contaminants out of the fuel that flows into your engine. A new air filter will improve engine efficiency. New belts and hoses will keep parts moving at the correct synchronized speeds and can save you from serious damage from a belt or hose failing in the future, and proper fluid levels prevent wear and overheating in your engine and make it run smoother.
A complete, comprehensive car tune-up includes spark plug replacement, brake rotor replacement, fuel injector cleaning, a new air filter, a new fuel filter, a new PVC valve, and cursory checks on various systems including fluid levels, ignition, emissions, intake, compression, timing, idle, distributor cap, battery, vehicle ECU, belts, and safety. Anything that shows wear should be replaced during a tune-up.
At ExperTec Automotive in Huntington Beach and Costa Mesa, we focus on three things during your tune-up: preventative maintenance, performance analysis, and adjustment. The typical recommended tune-up interval is every 30,000 miles, or two to three years, but consult your owner’s manual to get specific instructions for your car. If you haven’t had a tune-up in a while, or notice a drivability problem developing with your car, come in to ExperTec today so we can get your car back in tip top shape!
