Philip> Anyone remember what an "Italian tune-up" is?
I'd never heard the term, but Google had:
http://engine.articles.mbz.org/diesel/italian/
I couldn't get to that page, so I used the cached copy at Google to get to
this:
The Italian tune-up - at least in a diesel [although it applies to a gas
car too - Ed] consists of taking a SOUND car out and maximally
accelerating from stop or slow speed to some high speed OR driving at
near full rpm with a heavy load (up long hill) for minutes at a
time. The idea is to get maximal air and fuel flowing through the engine
to develop near maximum heat. This will burn and eject residual carbon
that has collected in the engine. Following such a regimen the idle is
usually smoother and the amount of black smoke at full throttle should
be reduced. This occasionally does not happen the 1st time and the idle
might get rougher or a pronounced knock could occur. This is usually
because some carbon has been "rearranged" but the prechamber environment
isn't appropriate for smooth combustion. Further TREATMENT will clear
this up as more carbon is burned up, but it is a little scary the 1st
time it happens to YOU and your car!
--
Skip Montanaro
Got gigs? http://www.musi-cal.com/
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