What Are People Talking About When They Refer to an “Engine Tune-Up?”

Posted: Feb 10, 2021
Author: Country Town Tire & Auto Service Center

If you are secretly left scratching your head when you hear people talk about getting an engine tune-up, then rest assured that you are not the only one. An “engine tune-up” lacks much description of what service or repair is actually needed or being performed.

According to Cars.com, the term “tune-up”, when used in reference to a car, is considered a commonly used, but mostly outdated term by some. Apparently, back in the day, a tune-up referred to required services to bring your car up to date with parts in the ignition and fuel systems relaying to the engine to bring the engine performance up to speed with current technology. It kind of sounds like the regular updates we now perform on our computer software systems in some ways.

Over the years, the term “engine tune-up” as it refers to car repairs has become more of a generalized term for replacing spark plugs, filters, doing an oil change, and having diagnostics or inspections done on your car or engine if your car doesn’t seem to be performing as well as it should (such as having trouble starting).

As far as current terminology in the car repair world goes, consider an engine tune-up like an annual medical check-up for your car to catch anything that’s not quite right before you have any major issues to deal with down the road. If you want to be more involved in the care of your car, consider finding a way to track your own vehicle’s various maintenance schedules as provided in the user manual or online and ask for the specific things that you need (such as you are due for a coolant system flush).