Italian Tune-up + Best MOT ever.

[Frank O' Phile]

My very good friend asked me to get his C240 MOT'd so I duly obliged and booked it into the local garage that I've used for some years. The car was straight in at 9.00 am and by 9.05 I had a cup of coffee handed to me.

All was going well until it came to the emissions part. The car rarely gets out of town and so the nastypoisonoxins particles were reading 0.5 and keeping the revs up slowly brought it down to 0.41. Nowhere near a pass. It was implied that I should make use of the nearby dual carriageway. So I did. Upon my return I was handed a breakfast cob. It had been a late delivery of the breakfast order and therefore remained unwanted by one of the mechanics. So I enjoyed a sausage, egg and beans cob (naturally, I complained at the lack of black pudding) while the emissions test returned a reading measured at 0.03.

So I ended up with a friendly, honest MOT, coffee, breakfast and a PASS (with no advisories). It could only have been better if it had been my car.

p.s. I'd always heard stories of the Italian tune-up but never had a vehicle that ever needed one.

 

[proser]

Happy all round then :bannana:

I always use the same MOT station and have a choice of through town or 1 junction of the motorway and a section of dual carraigeway- always the latter so I can make sure the exhaust is glowing nicely

 

[davidjpowell]

Saab has been in today. Taken by the mechanic that I have recently started using.

He gave it a once over, replaced two bulbs, took it to the MOT station (he goes live on his own in a couple of weeks) where it passed with a couple of minor advisories.

Cost. £40 inc. MOT. I can't see how he makes it work at his prices tbh.

 

[dog68]

Put mine in yesterday (only had it 2 weeks) passed with flying colours always makes me feel like I'm in a maternity ward, lol.

 

[Spinal]

I must ask... what is an Italian tune up? Is it a bit of animated motorway driving?

 

[corned]

Italian Tune-up.

A period of time spent at speed with the motor bouncing off the rev-limiter.

Clears out all known poor running issues in one simple step!

 

[Frank O' Phile]

Italian Tune-up.

A period of time spent at speed with the motor bouncing off the rev-limiter.

Clears out all known poor running issues in one simple step!

And yet mine has never needed one. Go figure.

 

[AANDYY]

Mine gets an ITU regularly, needed or not .

 

[allias]

How to do this italina tuneup on auto so I wont damage anything as well I wont be flying over speed limit trying to reach certain speed and RPM???

 

[Gridlock]

Read your "Driving Manual"

 

[Ted]

Did an Italian tune up on my bike last week, as I normally ride quite sedately, and it bogged down as I was passing a car.

Did the bike a world of good - runs much better even at my normal 'senior' driving pace.

 

[Rory]

How to do this italina tuneup on auto so I wont damage anything as well I wont be flying over speed limit trying to reach certain speed and RPM???

It's not easy - ideally you want to boot the car at full throttle up a long steep hill so the engine is under load. There is such a hill near me, and it's pretty steep, but even so the car is quickly up to illegal speeds. It won't even hold manually selected gears - it still shifts up at about 4,500RPM.

After a long motorway run the other day I noticed it really belched out smoke when I did a fast getaway from the motorway exit roundabout.

 

[Gridlock]

It's not easy - ideally you want to boot the car at full throttle up a long steep hill so the engine is under load. There is such a hill near me, and it's pretty steep, but even so the car is quickly up to illegal speeds. It won't even hold manually selected gears - it still shifts up at about 4,500RPM.

I've never run it to the absolute limit and held it there, but mine has never changed beyond the manually selected top gear?

 

[Alps]

Had my MOT done on saturday too, they put down "plastic undershield" as an advisory as they couldnt check under it!?!?! Passed otherwise

not my usual MOT place i must say nor did i get a cup of tea or baon butty . But it was cheap at £27.

 

[stwat]

(naturally, i complained at the lack of black pudding)

lmao

 

[Rory]

I've never run it to the absolute limit and held it there, but mine has never changed beyond the manually selected top gear?

It certainly does in the diesel's, and I would have thought it could rev quite a bit further if allowed to.

 

[st4]

Italian Tune-up.

A period of time spent at speed with the motor bouncing off the rev-limiter.

Clears out all known poor running issues in one simple step!

Isn't that the normal way to drive?

 

[allias]

Done on mine.... it helped big time. Thanks. :bannana: