Why Modern Cars Don’t Need Tune-Ups Anymore

Modern cars don’t need traditional tune-ups — though they can still benefit from the Jalopnik spring tune-up — because they no longer have many of the parts that required tuning back in the day. In the analog years, cars used many purely mechanical features that required constant attention for optimum performance. A lot of those features have been replaced by newer technologies and more robust parts that either don’t need physical adjustments or simply last longer.

Carburetors, for instance, were used to mix air and fuel before it got to the cylinders through a cable attached to the gas pedal, which in turn opened and closed the throttle valve that controlled how much air was getting into the carburetor. The shape of the carb’s barrel creates a vacuum effect when the air rushes by, sucking in fuel and mixing it with the air before it gets to the cylinder. Dirt and debris, and wear and tear, could often send things out of whack, so they had to be continuously adjusted.

A modern electronic fuel-injection system, on the other hand, is controlled by a computer that can automatically adjust the setup’s operation to help take into account those potential disruptions in the system. Meanwhile, the distributor, used to send electricity to the spark plugs, did the job with points, condensers, wires, and rotors, and today’s coil-on-plug ignition systems have made all that obsolete. Yet while a traditional tune up isn’t necessary, you should still stick to your car’s routine maintenance schedule.

We’re going to take the Humpty-Dumpty approach here and say these words mean just what we choose them to mean. So, we — and other experts — are going to say that a tune-up refers specifically to the traditional process of checking and adjusting/replacing certain mostly mechanical systems on older cars. Routine maintenance, on the other hand, refers to the same sort of process but implemented on modern cars with fewer mechanical-only components and more electronic oversight.

With that in mind, a typical maintenance stop for a recently purchased car or truck could include fluid checks for oil, coolant, the transmission, and the power steering, none of which, you’ll notice, necessarily requires a vehicle component to be adjusted. Checking brake pads, belts/chains, spark plugs, and filters is on the typical maintenance schedule as well, but at intervals that are usually much longer than in the past.

You should further know that the word “tune-up” can have a completely different meaning for shady mechanics despite Lewis Carroll’s language rules. Bad actors may use the term to tack on unneeded service charges to your modern vehicle — which, remember, doesn’t need an old-style tune-up at all. Or, if you use the term, they may think you don’t know what you’re talking about and that you’re ripe for plucking. And the next thing you know, you’ll be contributing to our next installment of These Are Your Worst Mechanic Stories.