“I am taking a road trip in my 2008 Honda Fit and I wanted it checked out and, I guess a “tune-up.” “Don’s Automotive no longer performs “tune-ups.”

This is not my being difficult, but, rather we need to look at a fundamental change in automotive technology.

Here is an analogy for all you musicians: A Steinway grand piano has over 200 strings each of which has a tuning peg. It has 88 hammers each of which is propelled by a mechanism that has multiple adjustments. To be worthy of a concert performance this piano requires a few hours of tuning quite frequently.

Now let us consider a modern Yamaha electronic piano. You can make a selection to emulate all sorts of instruments perhaps including the Steinway grand. It does this through the software written to it. Can it be “tuned” in the traditional sense? Not at all!

Ok, a 1965 Ford pickup has adjustable points which slowly wear and go out of adjustment from the day they are replaced, adjustable timing, adjustable idle speed, adjustable accelerator pump to give a little gas when the pedal is depressed suddenly, adjustable to choke to give extra gas for cold starts and cold running. So, there are lots of things to “tune” and the skilled tuner will even make allowance for what octane fuel is usually purchased, altitude, driver taste and etc. etc.

The modern car has none of these adjustments and everything is written into a computer program. It is not “tunable.” At somewhere around 100k miles a spark plug replacement is called for. This does not change the “tune” of the car but merely prevents a malfunction should the spark plugs become too worn to operate reliably — triggering a misfire and a “check engine’ light. Likewise the air filter should occasionally be checked and replaced before it can become so grossly dirty as to impede airflow into the engine. If something in the emissions/powertrain control system should fail it will usually trigger a “check engine” light and perhaps poorer performance and a specific targeted repair is needed.