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How often do you give your car an Italian tune-up?


LoneWolf

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37 minutes ago, maddmaxx said:

Highway on ramps.  Sport mode 6 gears.

Yep. After the car is warmed up I'll floor it to reach the highway speed.

One of my cars has direct port  injection. I use Sea Foam on it about once a year to clean the intake valves as with direct injection, fuel system cleaner in the gasoline doesn't get to the valves. That stuff sure makes a lot of smoke but really seems to help.

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1 hour ago, JerrySTL said:

Yep. After the car is warmed up I'll floor it to reach the highway speed.

One of my cars has direct port  injection. I use Sea Foam on it about once a year to clean the intake valves as with direct injection, fuel system cleaner in the gasoline doesn't get to the valves. That stuff sure makes a lot of smoke but really seems to help.

Adding a catch can helps too. It keeps much of the gunk from getting to the valves in the first place; you just have to empty it occasionally. I got my kit from SXTH Element Engineering (so mine has a nice easy way to mount it), but there's other good spots too.

I plan to do this to mine once the weather gets better. Already have it here, just waiting, because I have a turbo GDI engine.

https://www.roadandtrack.com/car-culture/buying-maintenance/a27182434/how-oil-catch-can-works/

If you're skilled enough to get to your intake valves (knowing you, I bet you are), CRC Valve Cleaner (soak for 20min with a valve closed) and a brush can work wonders. From what I've read learning from pro mechanic Youtube channels, one of the best poor-man's brushes can be made by tying a handfull of zip-ties together with another zip tie, and putting it on the end of a drill. The zip-ties act like fingers, and are cheap, and clean very well without being abrasive.

I've also looked and apparently if you use CRC valve cleaner up to the top of the valve stem guide, then CRC brake cleaner up to the top of the intake port as a first mixture, then the valve cleaner you can get them even cleaner. Personally, I think I'd use a turkey baster to get most of the fluid out of the valve chamber rather than this guy (using all shop towels); less waste.

 

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8 minutes ago, maddmaxx said:

Good, but the Scion IM is supposed to be grandma's hatchback.  It got bad reviews for being underpowered.

 

Snort.

Bleh. Don't have a Scion. :P

2019 Hyundai Elantra GT N-Line. 1.6L twin-scroll turbocharger, intercooled. 201hp, 196lb-ft torque. 

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4 hours ago, maddmaxx said:

Highway on ramps.  Sport mode 6 gears.

Yeah....  even in the Prius... I ACCELERATE a lot on the on ramps.   The floorboard have been visited by my right foot a lot over the years.   I just hate people who get to the end of the ramp, going 35 and then they think... I guess I need to go faster.   You can die on a Chicago expressway by merging too slow.

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10 hours ago, Bikeguy said:

Yeah....  even in the Prius... I ACCELERATE a lot on the on ramps.   The floorboard have been visited by my right foot a lot over the years.   I just hate people who get to the end of the ramp, going 35 and then they think... I guess I need to go faster.   You can die on a Chicago expressway by merging too slow.

One of my great pet peeves.  I never know whether to ride 6 inches behind their bumper or slow down to 10 on the ramp so I will have room to accelerate to merge speed.  IMO they are among the most dangerous and most likely to cause an accident drivers on the road.

I prefer to hit the top o f the ramp at speed limit plus so I have a range of choices where to merge.

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How often?  How about every stoplight?

 

22 minutes ago, maddmaxx said:

One of my great pet peeves.  I never know whether to ride 6 inches behind their bumper or slow down to 10 on the ramp so I will have room to accelerate to merge speed.  IMO they are among the most dangerous and most likely to cause an accident drivers on the road.

I prefer to hit the top o f the ramp at speed limit plus so I have a range of choices where to merge.

Agree!

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10 hours ago, Bikeguy said:

Yeah....  even in the Prius... I ACCELERATE a lot on the on ramps.   The floorboard have been visited by my right foot a lot over the years.   I just hate people who get to the end of the ramp, going 35 and then they think... I guess I need to go faster.   You can die on a Chicago expressway by merging too slow.

We were somewhere in Tennessee in the motorhome pulling the race trailer so we were loaded. I have my foot to the floor accelerating looking for the gap where I can slide into when I realized that the car ahead of me was hesitating about merging into traffic.

They got to the end of the ramp and STOPPED where NO one expects you to stop.

With hard braking and a quick turn of the steering wheel I was able to rearranging everything in the trailer and the motorhome. 

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Apparently not enough in the Miata. Sometimes when I "give her" the carboned up exhaust fumes make their way into the car when the top is down.:dontknow:

However, with the CX on our trip towing the trailer at ludicrous speed, we were smelling the exhaust burning off any oil left from the manufacturing process. That, and it smelled like any paint near the turbo and exhaust manifold got burned off too. :unsure:

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1 hour ago, BR46 said:

They got to the end of the ramp and STOPPED where NO one expects you to stop.

With hard braking and a quick turn of the steering wheel I was able to rearranging everything in the trailer and the motorhome. 

Once that happened to me....  I had enough room along the shoulder on the right.  I just passed them.  I merged with no problems.  They were still sitting there for a LONG time,  Soon they were out of sight, in my mirrors.   Lots of people got stuck behind them.

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2 hours ago, maddmaxx said:

I prefer to hit the top o f the ramp at speed limit plus so I have a range of choices where to merge.

That's exactly my plan.   It's much easier to slow down a bit, rather than accelerating a LOT when you are merging. 

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49 minutes ago, Bikeguy said:

Once that happened to me....  I had enough room along the shoulder on the right.  I just passed them.  I merged with no problems.  They were still sitting there for a LONG time,  Soon they were out of sight, in my mirrors.   Lots of people got stuck behind them.

I've done that.  My bird changed sides from top to bottom when it flipped.

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Italian Tune up?  And all along I just called it "driving"

Love that Sea Foam stuff.  I run it all my cars periodically, rarely do the full smoke job, I don't think it's needed for most cars, most of the smoke is Seafoam burning, not crud.  My neighborhood knows the difference.  Brought home a '83 Dodge pickup straight six.  $500.  Ran like crap, about 60 HP.  Plugs were caked.  So, new plugs, half a can sucked though the power brake booster hose.  Sat 10 minutes, that thing blew huge clouds of black smoke for a half hour.  Another half can, until the smoke turned gray then white then none.  Easily doubled the HP in that thing.

I've got it in the GTI tank now, I burnt off the gas that sat almost a year,then seafoamed this tank.  I used the spray version with a long straw through the oil filler to reach the sticky valve.  Probably should put some more right in the oil before the next change

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9 hours ago, jsharr said:

Pretty often.  8 speed transmission makes 300 hp kind of fun.  Wish I got the Sport version with paddle shifters at times 

I have them, never used them.  I can also put it into "manual" mode and force the shifting, never done that either.

I have used launch control a couple of times.  That is pretty cool.

My little 6 cylinder has more hp than any of my 8 cylinder cars had.

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2 hours ago, Square Wheels said:

I can also put it into "manual" mode and force the shifting, never done that either.

WoBG's Honda Prelude has an auto 4 speed transmission.  (the car is 24 years old)  I asked her once a long time ago.... "Have you turned your car into a race car yet?"    I still don't think she has done this.

In the auto mode, the transmission up-shifts too soon.  In the manual mode (using the shift selector's +/- mode, no paddle shifters back then), the variable valve timing kicks in and there's a big surge in power starting at 5000 rpm.  I up-shift manually at 7500 rpm just below the fuel cut off of 8000 rpm.  Of course the pedal is on the floor.   The car is much faster when the valves are open all the way.

The car can take a corner very fast.  Even WoBG noticed... once she confessed...  when there is a yellow warning sign that says 35 mph, she knows it can just about go thru the turn close 70.  

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  • 2 weeks later...
On 3/1/2021 at 9:20 AM, jsharr said:

Pretty often.  8 speed transmission makes 300 hp kind of fun.  Wish I got the Sport version with paddle shifters at times 

I loves me my paddle shifters.

I just got the 17" wheels with snows off and put the 18s with performance all-seasons back on. Difference is night and day. And I'm contemplating summer tires (just not yet, temperature still isn't guaranteed to stay over 40, though it's been a lovely week).

As for the onramp pet peeve, mine too. I find the SUV-craze (or perhaps something else) has made precision driving a lost art. People no longer:

  • Get that on-ramps were made to accelerate to merge at highway speeds
  • Understand that you can actually let off the gas instead of using your brakes! Saves your brakes AND makes others happier
  • Have the knowledge that you don't have to stop before making a turn when you have the right-of-way; you could just slow down a bit
  • Comprehend that hanging out in the passing lane when you shouldn't be and building up a circus parade of cars behind you is a buttclown move
  • Realize that putting your turn signal on doesn't give you the automatic right to change lanes no matter what the traffic situation is. That is, assuming you even use turn signals to turn or signal your lane changes at all. Or realizing that turn signals are to tell people ahead of time that you're making a turn, not at the moment it had already become painfully obvious to everyone.

Half the people out there have Bluetooth in their cars, don't realize it, and STILL have their phones up to their ears, eliminating hands-free that is so much safer. Perhaps their children or a clued-in soul should teach them this nifty trick. Someone needs to line these people up so that I can bless them with my clue-by-four.

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