SOUTHERN LIVING USA

Auto and car tune-ups are one of the most grossly overpriced scams going today. If your auto or car is a late 80s model or above, you really only need a simple periodic maintenance tune-up. Otherwise, you’re wasting money paying for old-fashioned “complete tune-up.”

You see, before the late 80’s, vehicles needed complete tune-ups as often as every 6,000 miles. There weren’t many vehicles that could be driven more than 12,000 miles before noticeable performance deterioration.

So, over the years, motorists became conditioned to the idea of 6 month or annual tune-ups, that is, new points, plugs, condenser, ignition timing adjustment, new air and fuel filters, carburator adjustment, and sometimes the replacement of distributor cap and rotor.

Well back in the 70’s, manufacturers stopped making vehicles with points and condensers. Then in the 80’s, munufacturers started producing vehicles with computerized electronic ignitions, followed by computerized distributorless ignition systems.

So what’s left to tune? Vehicles built since the early 80’s can not be tuned up in the traditional sense. As a matter of fact, if you look in your engine compartment, you’ll see a label clearly advising you that no tune-up service is required. You will also find the same advisory in your owner’s manuals…which few people read.

If people would read this information in the engine compartments and owner’s manuals, they’d see that the only routine ignition “tune-up” work needed is spark plug and air filter replacement every 30,000 miles or so. This is called a basic maintenance tune-up.

Folks in the auto and car repair industry are not anxious to educate motorists about these facts. However, if you read the fine print of tune-up advertisements, you’ll notice they say “replace spark plugs, check all wires, check all emission hoses, check timing, check this, check that; check…, check…, check.” Lots of checking, but no real work.

There is no carburator to adjust, and fuel injection systems are largely nonadjustable. So all you really need is a basic maintenance tune-up which should be done according to the schedule in your owner’s manual, usually every 30,000 miles, not anually. If you’re making the mistake of getting so-called 6-month or annual tune-ups on a computer-controlled fuel-injected engine, you’re spending a lot of money for some new spark plugs and maybe a couple of new filters.

However, this doesn’t mean that your vehicle will not require periodic ignition-system or fuel-system work. If your vehicle doesn’t run properly, a basic maintenance tune-up probably will not correct the problem. Your vehicle will need computerized diagnosis of the engine management systems.

Many shops still mistakenly call this kind of work tune-up service, even though it involves much more than a tune-up and costs a lot more.

As a general rule, you shouldn’t pay for basic maintenance tune-up unless your vehicle calls for one according to the maintenance schedule in your owner’s manual. If your vehicle is not running properly, and it’s not scheduled for a maintenance tune-up, ask for diagnosis of the engine management systems. Sure, this costs more than a tune-up, but you’ll save the money you would have spent for unnecessary tune-up work.

A complete engine diagnosis can reveal a variety of problems responsible for a poorly running engine.

Bottom line here is to only pay for what you really need.

Do you fully trust the folks who you take your vehicle to for work? If you’re like most people, you don’t. So take a look at carrepairscams/mechanic by Clicking Here. You’re in for a real eye-opener.

Some domestic cars and many import models have motors that require periodic valve adjustments. If the valve clearances are excessive, you will hear an annoying tapping and clattering under the hood of your car. Clearances that are too narrow are even worse, since tight valves will be quiet, but they will also burn out prematurely.

Many valve adjustments that you pay for are never really done. Often, mechanics are so brazen in the way they chisel their customers that they don’t even bother to remove the valve cover, which is a necessary preliminary step to reach the adjustment mechanism.

If you are suspect of the honesty of any shop you do business with, you can put a mark on a fastener on the valve cover to make sure that a mechanic at least went through the motions of removing the cover.

Put a small dab of paint of colored nail polish on one of the nuts or bolts that fasten the valve cover to the cylinder head. The paint must touch the nut or bolt and a portion of the valve cover itself. Pick an inconspicuous location and make the dab of paint or polish very small so as not to advertise your actions.

After they say the work is done, if the paint or polish has not been disturbed, you know that the cover was not even removed…so the valve adjustment could not have been done.

In that case, demand your money back and find another shop…an honest one hopefully.

One of the favorite scams of the automatic transmission repair business is baiting customers to come into their shops for amazingly low-priced fluid and filter change, band adjustment and inspection service with the hope of selling you far more expensive and often unnecessary work.

When the transmission oil pan is removed to gain access to the filter, you, the customer is shown metal particles accumulated at the bottom of the pan. The allegation is made that these particles indicate some serious internal damage that must be fixed right away.

If you fall for the scam, then you’re in for a very expensive transmission overhaul that your car probably doesn’t really need…especially if you weren’t having no problems with the transmission in the first place.

Here’s a little know fact…all automatic transmissions accumulate some metal particles in the oil pan, and it’s perfectly normal.

So, if you are given this sales pitch, have them to put your transmission back together again real quick, and beat feet out of there before you get taken to the cleaners.