What does it consist of? When I was younger, I thought it was an oil change, filter, lube, etc. But an oil change and so doesn't seem like a tune-up anymore.
Does it just consist of changing all of the fluids and filters, a valve adjustment maybe...? This has been on my mind for some time and knew where I could find the answer! ;) Thanks everyone.

30 years ago it was an ignition system tune-up, Don't have any idea as to the use of this term in today's computer world!

There was a time when mechanics tuned systems similar to tuning a guitar. Optimum timing, more or less fuel etc. Today the modern car takes care of all that many times a second. Most MBs now time each individual cylinder plus or minus from the rest. The twin plug motors even alternate which plug fires first and times each plug for optimum efficiency and temperature.

The only thing tuneable on the modern car is the alignment!

Back in the "old" days, about 10 years ago, you could take your car to a Tune-up Masters, which I guess was the equivalent of today's Jiffy Lube. A tune up consisted of something like the following. Don't forget, all replacement parts, if necessary, were extra.

• Inspect, clean and regap sparkplugs
• Inspect spark plug wiring
• Inspect distributor cap and rotor, points
• Check timing
• Adjust idle mixture

What this really meant was:

• Hit the plugs with an airgun
• Wiring works since there's ignition
• You almost always needed a new cap and rotor, so $14 for new distributor cap/rotor/points/condensor
• Turn the distriubutor clockwise or counterclockwise until it sounds good with your foot on the pedal
• turn a screw on the carburetor till it feels good, normaly in conjunction with rotating the distributor

Kuan