Italian Tune-up any good for your car ?

[Merkava_4]

Does it help the engine to stretch out its legs once in awhile ?

There's this one on-ramp in town that goes up a slightly steep 30 degree grade. When the oil is nice and warm, I take the Buick 3800 up to its 6000 rpm yellow line. Being that the ramp goes up a grade, it puts a healthy load on the engine and keeps it from revving too quickly. The car reaches 70 mph at the exact moment in crosses the freeway entrance line. Am I doing the engine any good; or am I taking a chance on throwing a connecting rod thru the engine block ?

 

[ram_man]

Gray area..... driving to gentle can cause issues on some engines. But abuse obviously isnt good. I would say getting it into the upper rpms is fine I wouldnt run it in the yellow though, just my opinion. To heavy of a load can wear the center of the rod bearings quicker than if you just drove it normally.

 

[Quattro Pete]

Originally Posted By: Merkava_4
Does it help the engine to stretch out its legs once in awhile ?

It certainly seems to be good for DI engines. Helps minimize valve deposits.

 

[JHZR2]

Originally Posted By: Quattro Pete
Originally Posted By: Merkava_4
Does it help the engine to stretch out its legs once in awhile ?

It certainly seems to be good for DI engines. Helps minimize valve deposits.


Problem is, define "stretch legs" and defne one in a while... For DI or regular engines.


The reality is that modern cars are so grossly overpowered that if you actually LOAD the engine up (WOT at 25MPH in 4th gear just off lugging so that speeds are controlled is neither of the above), you just are going too fast for any practical use. Having a long, steep mountain climb can work, but not everyone has an 8% grade for four miles just local to them to use when they desire.

Its all about time at temperature in engines, and the reality is that unless youre crossing the rockies or a few select places in the Apalachians, it can be tough to truly get decent time at temperature, to get load at high RPMs.

Driving hard is fine, but also likely less safe, and not necessarily much more of a benefit. Its more transient, but not necessarily truly driving long and hard.

I can give my MB diesels an IT because in reality Ill never easily crack 100 MPH. However, even my modestly powered 318i (138hp), saab (175 hp) and VW (170 HP) would be doing well over 100 MPH if I ever really tried to drive it too long in a manner that actually LOADS it vs just spinning the engine fast.

Load = acceleration or incline.

I doubt that racing from red lights or the equivalent does a whole lot.

 

[TomYoung]

Drive your car as you see fit. People who think that Ïtalian tune-ups" make sense are simple-minded. Modern cars are protected against getting near the redline by electronics, and as the other commenter noted, it is nearly impossible to bog down the modern engine. Downshifting at speed is one way to invite problems.

 

[CHARLIEBRONSON21]

The only way to daily drive a rotary

 

[eljefino]

I wind it up in the gears but at 2/3 throttle. I figure it's not super uber rich and might actually get more carbon out than it puts in.

 

[TomYoung]

Originally Posted By: CHARLIEBRONSON21
The only way to daily drive a rotary


I am going to go ahead and say that the market has spoken on rotary engines. Although your comment may be true.

 

[Merkava_4]

Originally Posted By: JHZR2
define "stretch legs" and define once in a while...


stretch legs = yellow line/red line

once in awhile = once a week

 

[Joe_Power]

Unless you live in Italy, I would advise against it.
Go for the good ol American Redneck tune-up. Start it cold, immediately throw it in gear, and floor it.

 

[tightwad]

Caddy Northstars need a procedure that I guess you could call a reverse Italian tune-up. These cars tend to use oil because the rings stick from low speed driving. The rings were redesigned in 2006, but the process on the earlier models is to put the car in second gear and accelerate to 80, doesn't need to be WOT. Then just let off the gas and coast down to 20. Do this a few times to loosen the rings.It seems to work. Cadillac recommends it.

 

[spasm3]

I add a bottle of techron, drive normally for 1/2 tank. The second 1/2 i let it rev and accelerate very briskly as often as i can with a few wot runs from 30-70mph.

 

[bvance554]

As long as you're not over revving it, which you can't in todays engines, you're good. Sure driving it at constant WOT probably isn't best, but you're engine was designed run at the limits set by the manufacturer. 'What type engine?' 'How often?' Thats is the hair splitting you get by the experts here on BITOG. Stretch its legs.

 

[strongt]

In the Jeep 4.0 it can help a 4.0L Multiple Cylinder Misfire as per this TSB: Jeep TSB

From the TSB:

NOTE: THIS BULLETIN APPLIES TO VEHICLES EQUIPPED WITH A
4.0L ENGINE (SALES CODE = ERH).
SYMPTOM/CONDITION:
The customer may experience an incident of engine misfire during certain vehicle
operating conditons. The misfire may occur when the vehicle is operated between
80 - 112 KPH (50 - 70 MPH) and under light loading conditions, e.g. slight uphill
road grades. This condition may occur at all ambient conditions, but is more
noticeable when ambient conditons are less than 0 C (32 F).
If the vehicle is equipped with On-Board Diagnostic (OBD), a MIL illumination may also
have occurred due to Diagnostic Trouble Code (DTC) P0300 - Mulitiple Cylinder Misfire.
Various single cylinder misfire DTC’s may also be present. If the frequency of misfire is
high the Powertrain Control Module (PCM) may place the engine in “Limp-In” mode.
The misfire condition may be caused by one or more engine exhaust valves that are
slow to close. Late closure of an exhaust valve may be the result of no valve rotation
and associated build up of carbon on the exhaust valve stem.
DIAGNOSIS:
1. This condition may occur when the engine is not allowed to run at engine RPM’s that
are greater than 3,200 RPM. At 3,200 RPM or higher the engine exhaust valves
will rotate if not impeded by high carbon deposits. Low engine RPM’s and high
carbon deposits are associated with short trip driving where the vehicle engine is
not allowed to fully warm to normal engine operating temperatures. Cold ambient
temperatures will increase engine warm-up time and add to the opportunity of
carbon deposit build-up on the stem of the engine exhaust valve.

 

[92saturnsl2]

Originally Posted By: Merkava_4
There's this one on-ramp in town that goes up a slightly steep 30 degree grade.


Please take a picture of this 30 degree on-ramp grade, as it probably the only one in the country, let alone the world that is that steep.. Do you know how steep a 30 degree grade would be? That would scare the bejeezus out of people. Most would consider 7-8 degrees steep, by highway standards...

 

[Nick1994]

Originally Posted By: 92saturnsl2
Originally Posted By: Merkava_4
There's this one on-ramp in town that goes up a slightly steep 30 degree grade.


Please take a picture of this 30 degree on-ramp grade, as it probably the only one in the country, let alone the world that is that steep.. Do you know how steep a 30 degree grade would be? That would scare the bejeezus out of people. Most would consider 7-8 degrees steep, by highway standards...


30 degrees lol. Must be in San Francisco

 

[Vikas]

Jeep pays 2.3 hours to manually clean the exhaust valves per that TSB! Man, the technicians must love you when you come in for that repair :-(

 

[accent2012]

In my opinion, I wouldn't stretch the car's legs halfway into the OCI of your vehicle. The oil, while it's still good at doing it's job, may not be able to protect well under a heavy load like redlining resulting in premature wear or worse, catastrophic failure, than it would be able to if the oil was fresh.

Only time I would "stretch its legs" is about a couple of hundred miles into the OCI of any oil.

 

[bvance554]

Originally Posted By: accent2012
In my opinion, I wouldn't stretch the car's legs halfway into the OCI of your vehicle. The oil, while it's still good at doing it's job, may not be able to protect well under a heavy load like redlining resulting in premature wear or worse, catastrophic failure, than it would be able to if the oil was fresh.

Only time I would "stretch its legs" is about a couple of hundred miles into the OCI of any oil.


I think you're worrying... or thinking about your oil a bit too much.

 

[Mykl]

For those of us with direct injected engines from manufacturers that have struggled with carbon build-up on the intake valves, tests have shown that getting heat into the engine helps keep the carbon at bay. So in that spirit, yes, Italian tune-ups are good as long as you're thorough enough to get the heat to the point that it needs to be.