What's an "Italian Tune-up"
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High intake velocities tend to inhibit carbon deposit formation or so I'm told.
Isn't that pretty much the same thing? If I had to guess I'd say it's called an "italian tuneup" since Italian cars are all high revving.quote:
Originally posted by sxg6:
i always thought it was just driving hard, not high revbut it is a fairly new term to me so im prolly wrong.
Actually an Italian tune up is where you rev the engine up and and at the highest RPM you are going to rev, you cover the throttle body, or carb. This sucks any loose carbon in the engine.
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I've heard this referred to as a Mexican tune up. The high vacuum dislodges any blockage in the jetting of carbs.
Now the high revving thingie. In my 78 BMW 320i it was recommended that if you were in a line of traffic for a few miles ..to run the engine between 4000-5000 rpm for about a mile to remove any carbon deposits (this was the last year for leaded fuels in the engine). This naturally meant 2nd gear @55 mph to be legal. I actually drove the thing like a fuel squeezer one day (I drove it up to 350 miles a day) ..and could barely start it the next morning.
Perhaps it can be called a "Euro-tune up"??
JHZR2
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My 91 318i still has that reccomendation!
JMH
JMH
High RPM's combined with agressive engine brakeing.
It looks like everyone has there own definition. Usually I've heard it referred to a flat out or high speed drive to "burn the carbon out". It mainly comes from the old carb days when driving conservatively caused build ups in engines(not so much the case any more.). Theoretically dumping tons of fuel into a hot engine would clean it out well.
-T
-T
The goal is to get high cylinder pressures and temperatures to burn off some carbon deposits. If old people pressed the gas on their Cadillacs more often, GM wouldn't have made Top Engine Cleaner. On a side note, I think this is why I have seen no change from using fuel power in either of my cars. I have no problem putting the gas to the floor and letting the engine wind fully out. And with 206k miles on my Caprice with driving this way since 113k (even the transmission is fine and I haven't had a fluid change since then!!), I don't think I am hurting anything.
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To me, the Italian tune-up is normal driving. Avanti!
Remember Italy does not have a lot of long straight roads. Lots of high RPM down shifting. GM even had a version of this. You would leave the automatic equiped car in 2nd and driveit up close to redline. Some place between 55-80 MPH depending on car and then let off the gas. Do this repeatedly and it was supposed to help unstick the rings.
Now if you could manual lean out the enigne at a constant RPM like light aircraft you could clean the plugs and mild carbon from the pistons.
Now if you could manual lean out the enigne at a constant RPM like light aircraft you could clean the plugs and mild carbon from the pistons.
Amazing that nobody has nailed this yet
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Add 2 shots of Sambucca Romano to the crankcase, a double espresso with slice of lemon peel into the fuel tank, a glass of home-made red wine into the cooling system while making polite small talk and slicing warm, semolina bread. Just prior to turning the key to start the car pump three 45 caliber slugs into the block!
Fugetaboudit!
[ November 20, 2004, 10:19 AM: Message edited by: mikep ]
Add 2 shots of Sambucca Romano to the crankcase, a double espresso with slice of lemon peel into the fuel tank, a glass of home-made red wine into the cooling system while making polite small talk and slicing warm, semolina bread. Just prior to turning the key to start the car pump three 45 caliber slugs into the block!
Fugetaboudit!
[ November 20, 2004, 10:19 AM: Message edited by: mikep ]
I thought leaning out the engine was what burned holes in pistons. Presumably because the combustion, lacking normal fuel and having the necessary oxygen, uses the metal for fuel (my hypothesis and probably wrong). Anyway, does the constant RPM prevent the destruction normally associated with lean out?
BTW, I was Italian tuning up wife's Aerostar by matting the pedal down freeway ramps, but I can see it also needs some second gear hard driving in town too. Hey all this is fun and necessary--can't beat that! "But Honey, this is good for your van.
quote:
Originally posted by TallPaul:
Originally posted by JohnBrowning:
[qb]
BTW, I was Italian tuning up wife's Aerostar by matting the pedal down freeway ramps, but I can see it also needs some second gear hard driving in town too. Hey all this is fun and necessary--can't beat that! "But Honey, this is good for your van.When I was a little kid, my dad did that all the time with our Aerostar. It sounded like a hot rod to me...LOL
We were taught to do this in flight school if we thought we had a fouled plug. I am sure if you abused this procedure or did not do it right their is a chance for breakage! You do not want to know how a sticking/carboned up valve was delt with! It included lapping compound on the valve and running the engine with the lapping compound on the valve!
I could have sworn that I saw a TSB for an "Italian Tuneup" , but not sure which manufacturer. It wasn't called an Italian Tuneup per-se, but something like "Carbon Buildup Removal Procedure". The procedure first said to make sure oil and coolant were at proper levels and in good condition, warm car up to operating temp, then get on the highway. Engage transmission to lowest gear possible while maintaining between 5000-5500rpm (legal speeds of course), and run for 10 miles.
Probably a good time to do this would be like 5am in the morning, unless you like getting strange looks and glances from people passing you on the highway.
Probably a good time to do this would be like 5am in the morning, unless you like getting strange looks and glances from people passing you on the highway.
From the thread on the pinging 4.6 in the additives section:
I had it up to 5700 on the 1-2 shift before, but don't want to sustain that kind of revs. Sounds wonderful doing it though.
I'm trying this on the Interstate tomorrow. But I'm not touching Bobert's 5000-5500 rpm run.
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