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#AskAGuru: 1994 Chevrolet S-10 Making Sucking Sound
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By Counterman
These days, many will tell you that the tuneup is dead – a vestige of a bygone era. But I say the answer is far more subjective.
It’s true: People rarely ask for a tuneup. Once the “king” of automotive service, the process of regular adjustments to the carburetor or fuel system – as well as the ignition system – has all but fallen by the wayside. It’s all handled now by a computer. The best part is these computers, known to us as engine or powertrain control modules, do a really great job at it.
The worst part is they do such a good job of adjusting things and keeping cars running seemingly flawlessly that many people overlook the basic maintenance that’s still required. What this means is the tuneup is far from dead. It’s more important than ever, and in many aspects the same as it always was.
The Way it Was
There are many reasons a tuneup was so popular back in the day. Fuel systems (namely carburetors) were inefficient and required occasional adjustment. Spark plugs wore out quickly, often needing cleaning, gap adjustment or replacement. Points wore in pre-electronic ignition systems, requiring a regular dwell adjustment and frequent replacement. Distributor caps, rotors and wires needed frequent replacement to keep ignition systems in top condition.
All of these factors and more contributed to very noticeable drivability issues on older cars, prompting owners to get a tuneup.
Common replacement items also included air and fuel filters, crankcase ventilation filters and positive crankcase ventilation (PCV) valves, not to mention additional services such as a valve adjustment or belt adjustment. So, how does all this stack up to today’s vehicles?
Spark Plugs
There’s no comparison between the plugs of yesterday and today. Modern spark plugs simply work better and last a long time, often as long as 100,000 miles. But here’s the catch: They still wear out. As they wear, the computer continuously adjusts fuel mixture and timing to maintain optimum combustion. The engine runs perfectly the whole time, but behind the scenes, more energy is required to jump the gap of the plug.
This adds additional load to the coils, eventually causing premature coil failure. Then there’s the potential of trouble removing a plug that’s been stuck in the cylinder head for many years. Ignoring spark plugs can be a costly mistake.
It all seems great at first, and plugs definitely don’t need replaced as often as they did in the old days. But, many manufacturers are slimming down the replacement intervals. For me, I’d rather spend a little extra and replace those plugs before the target mileage.
Coils and Boots
Most modern ignition systems are a coil-on-plug system. They generally work or they don’t, meaning replacing them isn’t going to improve performance. But they don’t last forever. If one has gone bad, the others won’t be far behind. And the boots between the coils and plugs? They’re equivalent to a plug wire – just shorter – and they wear out just the same. In most cases, you can’t see them. They’re hidden from view in the middle of the valve cover.
Quite often, the spark-plug-well seals go bad, leaking oil onto the coil boots and destroying them. This is all the more reason for regular inspection, and a reason to replace valve-cover gaskets when replacing plugs, coils and boots. Valve-cover gaskets were never considered part of a tuneup. They can be now.
Tuneups = Maintenance
Air filters are only new for a second before they start to get dirty. Less air to an engine means less performance. The computer again adjusts the fuel mixture to compensate.
Neglected fuel filters can overwork the fuel pump and cause it to fail prematurely.
The mass airflow (MAF) sensor sends critical data to the computer for engine operation. Cleaning them can improve performance and prevent drivability issues.
It’s amazing how dirty throttle bodies get.
Oh, and PCV valves? They’re still on a lot of cars.
Even electric vehicles will require a tuneup of sorts. Battery-management systems (BMS) have an algorithm that can cause the indicated range to be less than it actually is, depending on people’s driving and charging habits. Recalibrating the state of charge will prompt the BMS to recalculate and restore the lost range.
The bottom line: Maintenance. That’s all a tuneup was and what it still is. And maintenance never goes out of style.
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By NAPA
Bill McAnally Racing (BMR) has solidified its driver lineup for the 2023 ARCA Menards Series West season and will be led by Las Vegas, Nev., native Tanner Reif. The 17-year-old and two-time race winner in 2022 will drive the No. 16 link hidden, please login to view Chevrolet SS full-time to pursue BMR’s 12th championship. Cole Moore, who earned his first-career victory at All-American Speedway last season, returns to BMR for a partial schedule and will share the seat of the No. 19 Chevrolet SS with La Center, Washington’s Eric Johnson Jr.
Reif delivered an impressive rookie campaign in 2022 by earning two victories at Irwindale Speedway and Evergreen Speedway en-route to a runner-up finish in the championship standings. The sophomore driver is positioned to build on his rookie season and extend BMR’s mark of 107 wins and 11 titles on the tour.
“This is such a great opportunity for me to join BMR and the NAPA Auto Care team,” Reif said. “BMR has been the standard in the West Series for so many years, so to have this chance to join the team is exciting. Last season was great to get a couple wins and compete for a championship, and I know the potential is there to accomplish more this year.”
“We’re excited to have Tanner join the NAPA Auto Care team after the season he put together last year and showing his talent,” team owner Bill McAnally said. “We’ve been fortunate to have a lot of great young drivers be a part of our team in the ARCA Menards Series West that graduated on to the NASCAR national series, and I think Tanner has what it takes to compete for a championship this year and be a threat to win each week.”
Moore finished the 2022 campaign third in the drivers’ championship standings thanks to a victory and an average finish of 7.1, which was tied for third-best in the series. He’ll chase an owners’ points championship along with Johnson Jr., a late model racer who served as a mechanic and spotter for the BMR team last season.
“I’m excited to have Cole return after winning at Roseville last fall and provide an opportunity for Eric to get experience,” McAnally said. “Both of them are going to make a great combination to go after the owners’ points championship and hopefully this gives them a chance to continue their development together throughout the season.”
The ARCA Menards Series West tour will kick off on Friday, March 10th at Phoenix Raceway. Stay connected with the BMR team by following @BMR_NASCAR on Twitter, @bmr_nascar on Instagram, and Bill McAnally Racing on Facebook.
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By Counterman
Akebono Brake Corp. recently expanded its EURO and Performance ultra-premium lines of disc brake pads.
Akebono added three new part numbers to its EURO line: EUR1850, EUR1850A and EUR1850B. The company added one new part number to its Akebono Performance line: ASP1718. An electronic wear sensor and premium stainless steel abutment hardware are included in the kits that require them.
The release includes EURO brake pads with premium stainless hardware and electronic wear sensor for BMW 530e, 530e xDrive, 530i, 530i xDrive, 540i, 540i xDrive, 745e xDrive, 840i Gran Coupe, 840i xDrive Gran Coupe, M550i xDrive, BMW X3 M40i, X3 sDrive 30i, X3 xDrive 30e, X3 30i, BMW X5 M50i, X5 sDrive 40i, X5 xDrive 40i, X5 xDrive 45e, X6 M50i, X6 sDrive 40i, X6 xDrive 40i and X7 xDrive 40i. Akebono Performance brake pads add coverage for Cadillac ATS V, Chevrolet Camaro SS and Corvette.
“We are thrilled to announce that today’s release of three new EURO and one new Akebono Performance part numbers, which include significate late-model coverage for BMW and GM in which VIO (vehicles in operation) is above 640,000,” said Jennifer Lajcaj, marketing specialist at Akebono Brake Corp. “All of these parts are in-stock and ready for shipment.”
A complete listing of Akebono applications for these parts and the rest of Akebono’s product offering is available at akebonobrakes.com or directly via https://akebonobrakes.mypartfinder.com/.
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By Counterman
While the premise of a vehicle with no steering wheel and no human driver is not something the motoring public is quite ready for, the case for Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS)
is strong.
In October, automaker Ford posted a third-quarter loss of $827 million, and said it was largely due to its self-driving tech partner Argo AI going under. That same month, J.D. Power and Associates released a study that showed consumer understanding of automated vehicles is rife with misinformation.
On paper, one can make a pretty practical case for autonomous driving – the most obvious benefit being that it could potentially increase road safety and eliminate traffic deaths. Additional justification lies in the ability to reduce collision insurance claims and increase independence for certain populations who are currently limited in their options for safe and reliable transportation – such as the elderly and disabled.
However, as real-world testing begins, the technology is encountering some pretty significant roadbumps, and consumer understanding of the technology isn’t belying the confidence to make the mass adoption of fully automated vehicles a realistic possibility any time soon.
The recent J.D. Power study found 65% of consumers surveyed were unable to accurately define fully automated, self-driving vehicles. Plus, 56% of respondents incorrectly classified the driver-assist technologies available today as fully automated, self-driving technologies. The survey hints that consumers are lagging in understanding as well as preparation for higher levels of automation.
The current system for classifying levels of automated driving was established by the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE). Ranging from 0-5, the SAE levels run the gamut from Level 0 where the driver is fully responsible for the vehicle’s operation and supervision of the technology on the car at all times, to Level 5, which gives complete control of the vehicle to the operating system itself and requires no human supervision at all. At this time, there are no Level 3-5 autonomous vehicles on the road today, according to J.D. Power.
Today, the most widely used safety technology on vehicles on roads today would be considered Level 2 – which would include such things as Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) – automatic emergency braking (AEB), and Electronic Stability Control (ESC), lane assist, parking assist, driver drowsiness detection, gaze detection, etc. These technologies provide partial automation by taking over control in specific situations – such as turning a corner too fast, or coming to close to a vehicle in front of you. In 2008, ESC systems became mandated by NHTSA on all new vehicles by 2011. All automakers are currently participating in a voluntary commitment to make AEB standard on all vehicles as well.
In a recent webinar hosted by Reason Foundation, Brookings Institution and Princeton Autonomous Vehicle Engineering, several experts on AVs shared their thoughts on the subject, hoping to correct some of the common misconceptions and inject a dose of realism into the public debates surrounding autonomous vehicle technology. One of the three speakers, Alan Kornhauser, professor, Operations Research and Financial Engineering, and faculty chair of Autonomous Vehicle Engineering at Princeton University, said he believes ADAS should be mandated.
“ADAS is focused purely on safety,” said Kornhauser. “It’s on all the time, and it overrides drivers only to avoid getting into a crash situation. We’ve had a number of these systems in our vehicles for a long time. As long as we’re not using the brakes inappropriately, they just work the way we want. Otherwise, the system takes over and doesn’t allow you to lock your wheels. Same thing with electronic stability control. You can go around corners just fine. You go around too fast, all of a sudden, the system takes over and makes sure that you don’t lose your rear end. And maybe one of the most successful of these systems is reverse automated braking systems so that if you back up and there happens to be a child behind your car, the car stops.
“This has enormous implication on insurance because in fact, if there is no crash, then there’s no insurance that needs to be paid out. There’s no lawyer, there’s no ambulance, there’s no medical payments that have to be paid,” Kornhauser added.
When it comes to seeing federal or state regulations that could pave the way for more fully autonomous (i.e., driverless) cars on the road, Marc Scribner, senior transportation policy analyst at Reason Foundation, believes we aren’t quite there yet. Having consistent, published technical standards may be one of the bigger roadblocks, he said.
“Automated vehicle regulation is not going to occur in the near term,” said Scribner. “I think the delay is, in part, due to the lack of published voluntary consensus standards that may be ripe for regulatory incorporation. But, there also seems to be generally, at least so far [in] this administration, perhaps less enthusiasm for automated driving systems than the previous two administrations. But, I do think the lack of published technical standards that could be incorporated into regulation is a hurdle. Where federal regulators are silent, states may act instead. States and locals have primary authority over vehicle operations and infrastructure management. They own the roads; they manage the roads. They license drivers, they register vehicles. All of that kind of thing goes in with the vehicles actually out there in the real world,” said Scribner.
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