Graham W
10-11-2004, 10:23 AM
> "Staycalm" wrote:
>>How do you know if your car needs a tune-up?
>>Where's the best place to go generally?
>>What's the likely cost?
clockmeister wrote:
> How long is a piece of string?
Precisely!
> What make/model/age of vehicle?
For most of a car's life, the maintenance specified in the owner's
manual or service book (including inspecting for unscheduled problems)
is all that's really needed.
You can keep track of your fuel consumption by resetting your trip meter
on each tank and always filling completely. If the mental arithmatic is
too much for you (some days it's too much for me!) you can keep a $5
calculator in the glovebox. Particularly if you fill the same day each
week, so every tank has a similar mix of commuting and weekend drives,
you'll soon have a very good idea of your fuel consumption. When it
moves by more than about 10% for more than just a week or two, it's
definitely time for a tune.
Generally speaking, some faults in a car happen slowly and give you
plenty of warning if you pay attention to things changing. The car
starts to get harder to start on cold mornings, the clutch starts to
pick up higher, the tyres wear down, the air con loses it's cool.
Obviously get this stuff assessed and sorted as you recognise it.
Other faults can happen slowly but only become apparent suddenly, like
wearing out your brake pads and damaging your brake disks. This is the
stuff they inspect for when you have the car serviced. The stuff which
can change even quicker, you inspect yourself, like oil and water levels
and tyre pressures.
>>How do you know if your car needs a tune-up?
>>Where's the best place to go generally?
>>What's the likely cost?
clockmeister wrote:
> How long is a piece of string?
Precisely!
> What make/model/age of vehicle?
For most of a car's life, the maintenance specified in the owner's
manual or service book (including inspecting for unscheduled problems)
is all that's really needed.
You can keep track of your fuel consumption by resetting your trip meter
on each tank and always filling completely. If the mental arithmatic is
too much for you (some days it's too much for me!) you can keep a $5
calculator in the glovebox. Particularly if you fill the same day each
week, so every tank has a similar mix of commuting and weekend drives,
you'll soon have a very good idea of your fuel consumption. When it
moves by more than about 10% for more than just a week or two, it's
definitely time for a tune.
Generally speaking, some faults in a car happen slowly and give you
plenty of warning if you pay attention to things changing. The car
starts to get harder to start on cold mornings, the clutch starts to
pick up higher, the tyres wear down, the air con loses it's cool.
Obviously get this stuff assessed and sorted as you recognise it.
Other faults can happen slowly but only become apparent suddenly, like
wearing out your brake pads and damaging your brake disks. This is the
stuff they inspect for when you have the car serviced. The stuff which
can change even quicker, you inspect yourself, like oil and water levels
and tyre pressures.