Tune your vehicle

Press, 11 July 1980, Page 9

Tune your vehicle

By Ross Schols, from the Performance Safety Test Equipment Division of Applied Powe l ' (N.Z.) Limited. In a report presented just on two years ago, the Motor Vehicle Exhaust Emission Investigation Committee recommended to the Ministers of Health and Transport tha t a test for carbon monoxide and hydrocarbons emissions be made part of the Warrant of Fitness requir-'inents for all cars. The committee further recommended that the regulation should be implemented in urban r.reas in July 1979 and that from July Ist, 1980 vehicles not complying with the standards be refused a Warrant of Fitness. It is probably to the Government’s credit that this regulation was not implemented, though tests carried out in Christchurch, and Dunedin during the investigating committee’s work certainly show that such measures would be justified. But over-regulation is never popular and now that earless days have been relaxed, the Government with its “Breath test your car” campaign has clearly decided to adopt the committee’s recommended procedures, though leaving the final responsibility with vehicle owners to actually carry out corrective tuning measures where they are necessary. What is making this campaign feasible is the now widespread use of infra-red exhaust gas analysers whi?h swallow a gulp from a vehicle’s exhaust and quickly analyse results on an instrument panel. The widely used Blackhawk TE-191 analyser for example, eads the number of particles per million of carbon monoxide and hydrocarbon present in the gas. When the percentage of these substances is too high, it is a clear indication that the engine is

running too rich and corrective tuning should be carried out. A good mechanic can tell quite often what adjustments will be required. Naturally ..here garages are operating infra-red gas analysers thev —ill have a workshop that is also equipped with electronic diagnosis equipment that “reads” how an engine’s functioning internally to detect faults. Spark plugs coil, ’ distributor. condenser, all these parts and many others are scrutinised carefully and the experienced mechanic can tell at a glance when a component is performing below par. When a car has been neglected for a year or 18 months, Vane electronic diagnostic and tuning equipment can produce improvements that will cut petrol consumption by usually 20 or not uncommonly 30 per cent. The cost of the tune-up often, will not exceed $4O or $5O

and if the procedure is repeated every 10,000kms, The other obvious bene--fit of course is that apart from helping to cut the cost of fuel, the car beomes a delight to drive again when the engine’s giving the power it is supposed to. Garages have one word of warning though. Just because you are driving a new car do not imagine you will not benefit from an electronic tune-up. Every mechanic has his. story of the new car that gives poor petrol mileage for no apparent reason. Usually it is a hairline crack in a distributor, a bent distributor shaft, something hidden that the human eye can never hope to detect. It does not often happen but it is a fact that because of a hiccup somewhere in quality control, a non-so-perfect . component can slip into a new vehicle and cause havoc with fuel consumption.