1. Can Auto Manufacturers Tell If A Car Has Been Tuned Chords
2. Can Auto Manufacturers Tell If A Car Has Been Tuned Good
3. Can Auto Manufacturers Tell If A Car Has Been Tuned Bad

A service request could be a call for help after an accident, asking for directions, or calling law enforcement if the car has been stolen. And if you don't like the idea of being connected to a. How to spot Paintwork on a car. This page was created by Bill Weismann and I made an unauthorized copy. Buying a used car instead of a new one can be a great way for a savvy shopper to save money, in some cases a substantial amount. Some cars have a market value that's up to 25-30% below their original list price when only one year old! The car diagnostic can tell you the following about the vehicle: ignition timing issues, level of buildup in the combustion engine, fuel injector performance, whether the ignition coils are firing, engine rpm levels, air and coolant temperature, crankshaft and camshaft position and the throttle opening.

CARS.COM — Automotive historians will likely call this the decade of recalls. Faulty airbag inflators, electronic gearshifts and ignition switches and their potentially deadly consequences continue to make headlines. No doubt the news can seem overwhelming, so let’s a step back: What is a recall, anyway? How long have they been around, and what should you do if you get one?

Some industrial engines (based on car or truck engines) are tuned specifically to work at ONE fixed RPM - 1500 or 3000 for generators, with carefully tuned cam profiles etc. They can make much better power at that ONE RPM than the other variants but, again, would utterly suck in a vehicle.

Related: Why Can Dealers Sell Used Cars With Unfixed Recalls?

Aug 15, 2013  Tune vs Warranty after reflash. Thread starter Lordstout; Start date. Let them know if you have a tune if you don't switch it to stock. Though american muscle is the only vendor that will have your back if you have a cylinder 8 failure while running their tune (which thus far has been the only major mechanical issue the coyote has faced. Apr 14, 2015  How do i tell if my car has been tuned? If this is your first visit, be sure to check out the FAQ by clicking the link above. You may have to register before you can.

Can Auto Manufacturers Tell If A Car Has Been Tuned Chords

Here’s a primer.

How a Safety Recall Works

A safety recall occurs when a manufacturer violates a federal motor vehicle safety standard — a lengthy set of requirements for safety-related car parts or related equipment (such as car seats) — or has a defect that otherwise poses an “unreasonable risk to safety,” explained Bryan Thomas, communications director for the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Since the current recall system originated in the 1960s, automakers have issued safety recalls for more than half a billion vehicles and equipment.

Not all recalls are safety-related, but most of the recalls Cars.com coversare safety-related. Automakers can issue recalls voluntarily or NHTSA can impose a recall by court order. Investigations often originate from complaints that consumers have filed with NHTSA. Tf2 auto tune mod.

Safety recalls were established in early form by the National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act in 1966. The first safety standard came a year later. Recalls piled up quickly: In fewer than four years, automakers had issued recalls for more than 10 million cars.

With a few exceptions, automakers have recalled between 10 million and 20 million cars per year despite a steady increase in the number of cars on the road. But amid recalls for faulty GM ignitions and Takata airbag inflators, the number of recalls soared in 2014 and 2015. Each year saw more than 50 million cars recalled:

How can I check to see if my car has any recalls?

Plug your car’s vehicle identification number into the government’s online recall search tool. (Go here to see where to find your VIN.) It should tell you if your car has any “open,” or unfixed, recalls. Your automaker may also have a VIN-checking tool on its website that also will alert you to unfixed service campaigns, not just recalls.

I think there’s a problem with my car. How can I get it recalled?

You can file an online vehicle safety complaint with NHTSA, but only if it relates to vehicle safety. If it’s something else — excessive oil consumption, non-structural rust, you name it — you may want to take it up with your automaker first because NHTSA has no legal jurisdiction over non-safety issues.

How many defect reports have to be submitted before NHTSA opens an investigation?

There’s no set number, the agency says. NHTSA compares the number of complaints for a given vehicle or piece of equipment against the total number manufactured. It also considers petitions that have been filed asking that an investigation be opened.

How long does it take an investigation to become a recall?

It depends. As NHTSA explains, the path from an investigation to a court-ordered recall is fairly involved:

1. Regulators start with an evaluation, a solicitation for information from the manufacturer, and a chance for the manufacturer to present its side of things.

2. If there’s enough evidence of a safety defect, investigators conduct an engineering analysis. That means more information requests plus tests, surveys and inspections.

3. Investigators then submit their conclusions to a review panel. If the panel agrees, regulators send a recall request to the manufacturer.

4. If the manufacturer refuses to issue a recall, NHTSA can convene a public meeting where the manufacturer, any interested third parties and members of the public can debate the issue.

5. If the meeting supports a defect finding, NHTSA’s chief administrator can issue a final ruling that a defect exists and order the manufacturer to conduct a recall.

6. The manufacturer can still challenge the ruling in federal court, but at this point, it may be obligated to notify consumers that investigators have ruled a safety defect exists.

The first two steps should take less than 16 months, NHTSA says, though complex defects can take longer to review. It’s unclear how long the remaining steps take, but going through the entire process isn’t usually necessary. Manufacturers can conduct the recall on their own partway through an investigation; indeed, NHTSA says that most of the time, manufacturers order a recall before investigators get involved. The agency can also spike an investigation partway through the process if it can’t identify a safety defect.

When a recall is issued, how do automakers track down owners?

Automakers merge their own records of vehicle purchasers with vehicle-registration information to track down owners and let them know of the problem, fix it, replace the vehicle or repurchase it minus a “reasonable allowance for depreciation,” NHTSA says. For certain recalls, some dealers elect to offer loaner vehicles during repairs.

What does a recall notice look like?

Manufacturers are required to send recall notices via first-class mail with this label on it:

The idea is to help owners distinguish a recall notice from junk mail. In September, NHTSA proposed a rule that would require automakers to find and notify owners through electronic means — email, text messages and such — if two conventional mailings don’t prompt enough repairs. In certain recalls, some automakers have already done that.

What should I do if I get one of those letters?

Read it immediately. If a fix is available, call your dealership’s service department, explain the situation and schedule an appointment. If a fix is not yet available, read our guide here.

What if my dealership doesn’t answer my questions?

This should be rare, but if it happens, call your manufacturer. The recall notice should provide a customer service number. If your car has a recall, the automaker may want its VIN. If that still doesn’t work, call NHTSA at 1-888-327-4236.

Is there a deadline for me to get repairs made?

Safety recalls are effective for the life of your car or vehicle equipment (a child seat, for example). The exception is recalls for tires, NHTSA says; those require you to get the work done within 180 days of notification.

Are recall repairs always free?

Not necessarily. For cars more than 15 years old when a defect is determined (e.g., a 1998 model recalled in 2015) aren’t required to have a free recall, though automakers will often provide the fix for free anyway. For tires, that window of time is five years.

What if this problem already caused damage or cost me in repairs?

Federal law does not require automakers to pay you back for previous damage caused by a defect under recall, but NHTSA says most automakers will reimburse for previous repairs for that defect if you keep your receipts. It’s a good idea to keep all of your repair receipts, as it gives future buyers a better idea of your car’s service history.

Are all recalled cars eventually fixed?

No. Historically, owners get around 80 percent of recalled cars repaired, but that figure is falling. A 2012 study by SAE International found an average of 77 percent of light-duty vehicles recalled from 2006 to 2010 had recalls completed. But a 2016 study by J.D. Power and Associates found that 73 percent of consumers got their recalls fixed, for cars from the 2013-17 model years, but only 44 percent of owners fixed cars from the 2003-07 model years. No doubt the massive Takata airbag campaign has dragged the totals down. NHTSA’s Thomas says some 64 to 69 million Takata inflators either have been recalled or will be recalled. But as of Oct. 7, 2016, only 11.4 million had been repaired.

If a manufacturer drags its feet on conducting a recall, what can NHTSA do?

Regulators monitor recall repair rates and how effectively the repair fixes the problem. If either area is unsatisfactory, NHTSA can open an investigation and force manufacturers to expand the recall or alter the fix.

If I rent or buy a car, how do I know it doesn’t have an unfixed recall?

Auto dealers are prohibited from selling a new car with an unfixed recall, and a recent law bans rental-car companies from renting an unfixed car. Dealers or private parties can sell you a used car with unfixed recalls, however. That’s a controversial issue, but consumers should always check the VIN of any used vehicle to see if it has any unfixed recalls. A seller who refuses to provide you the VIN before a sale is a red flag.

'In tune, perfect harmony.'

Our indepth guide covers car engine tuning for all popular types of engine. We also answer what exactly we mean by engine tuning.

First up we have to accept that there are many different types of engines. (from engine configuration to fuel delivery and engine design there is an almost endless array of engines.)

So that said we will provide generic theory in this article on how to tune a car which should give a good starting point with whatever engine you have.

If you need more specific advice you sign up to our car forums where our helpful and friendly members will assist you further.

For many 'a tuned car' is simply one running at peak efficiency and they would achieve this by a full service and adjustment to factory specifications.

Their aim is for smooth running and maximising fuel economy.

For others (and most of our readers) the aim is to get the car running and performing better than originally intended.

Due to the conservative settings/parts used by manufacturers and low cost production methods and techniques there are plenty of opportunities to improve your engine.

What is a tune up then?

Most of TorqueCars members are interested in maximizing the performance of their cars. But these methods can also be used to maximize economy by pushing the engine into it's most efficient range.

Your first step is to ensure that the engine is running as it was intended.

A highly tuned engine will often highlight weakspots or problems that were not evident thanks to the soft/standard factory setup.

Change the oil and filter, fit new spark plugs and perform a full service if the leads are old they will also need replacing.

Get the engine compression tested and rectify any major issues like worn piston rings and broken or worn valves. (Checking the valve clearance is also a very good idea as this can lose a fair bit of power.)

So we'll take the rest of this guide and apply it to popular engine configurations.

How to tune a Carburettor engine

These typically rely on a breaker to distribute the spark with a crude mechanical advance as the RPM rises.

By timing the spark to occur a fraction earlier you can extract a more complete burn cycle and more efficiently convert the fuel and air mix into power.

Too much advance is a bad thing as the engine will start to knock.

Generally speaking a trial and error approach can often be used, if you gradually turn up the advance until the engine starts knocking and then back it off a bit you will have a good setup.

Getting the right timing and spark duration will help improve power and economy as the engine is running more efficiently.

Using a strobe light connected to the spark plug pulse you can effectively freeze the engine and see the timing mark.

The timing mark is located at the bottom of the cambelt on the pulley, there is typically a small groove and a little notch marked on the engine.

If you mark the groove and white notch with some white paint it will show up when the strobe light hits it. This will enable you to better adjust the engine timing.

By rotating the distributor housing you can adjust the timing by advancing it or retarding it.

Adjustment should be done gradually and the engine will need to be tested under load at the full rpm range. A rolling road dynometer is the best environment for this as you can make adjustments live.

If you want to increase the fuel to match the intake air you will need to a larger jet (some wrongly refer to jets as needles!).

Carb setup can be a real art and if you have twin carbs then the job gets even harder. Most carbs come with the correct jet sizes and you should only uprate them if you want to make dramatic alterations to the engine and increase the intake air charge significantly.

The key is matching the fuel to air delivery and with modern fuel injection engines this is becoming a dying art.

Can Auto Manufacturers Tell If A Car Has Been Tuned Good

How to tune a fuel injection engine

Fuel injected engines are much more sophisticated, both the amount of fuel and the timing of the spark is delivered and is adjusted.

The old mechanical spark distribution was far from ideal and meant that most of the time the engine was not running at peak efficiency.

Spark timing needs to vary a lot more than a simple linear curve will allow. So to address this issue we now have a computer in our cars that stores a fuel and timing map across varying loads and intake conditions to provide optimum running.

Most modern engines operate on a closed loop which basically means that the parameters for the next combustion cycle are set by the previous one.

The exhaust is sniffed for oxygen to determine if the car is running rich or lean and the intake fuelling is adjusted to match.

Many popular engines learn over time the optimum settings and every 200 miles or so adjust the ideal map to keep the engine running efficiently.

This takes into account driving style, seasonal temperature adjustments and varying grades of fuel.

As the fuel delivery and timing map is stored and controlled on computer there is little a home tuner can do other than replace the chip or add a piggy back device. (See ECU tuning.)

On a naturally aspirated engine you can probably wring another 10% power out of the engine by tightening up the fuel delivery and timing maps. Manufacturers tend to set the engine conservatively.

How to tune a turbo engine.

The points about fuel delivery and timing the spark are just as essential in a turbo engine.

All of the above point apply to turbo engines but the gains are much more noticeable due to the effect of the turbo.

As the turbo is pushing more air into the engine and is making more power you have a lot more to gain.

The turbo is the heart of the engine so we also need to pay attention to this. Matching the exhaust and intake compression impellers to your air needs can make dramatic alterations to the power band.

You can hybridize the turbo using a stock OEM turbo casing and uprating the internals.

Can Auto Manufacturers Tell If A Car Has Been Tuned Bad

Another option is to fit a second turbo or just replace the existing turbo with a larger unit.

It all depends what your power requirements are. See our turbo tuning articles to get more of an idea on what is involved in a tuned turbo engine.

Pre 2000 engines are typically very hard to remap so you are stuck with piggy back devices or a risky chip change.

After 2000 most cars came with OBDII ports or similar and these allow a relatively easy way to upload and reflash the cars computer.

On a modern turbo engine the computer will typically control the boost and waste gate in addition to the fuelling and timing so you have much more scope for power gains.

A modern turbo engine can often make a power gain of 40% quite easily on stock parts with a simple remap.

Other ways to tune an engine.

Further modifications and links to more information on them.

Once you know about the characteristics of timing it is worth looking at the many other options and seeing what extra mods can be done to your cars engine.

We have mainly looked at timing so far. There are a large number of other modifications you can do to an engine to increase it's state of tune.

Balancing your engine allows an engine to run at higher RPM, adding a sports camshaft will further raise the power band and alter the timing and duration of the engines induction, compression, bang and exhaust cycles.

Moving the air through the engine faster is also a priority and a set of performance headers a sports exhaust, sport catalyst and some head work such as porting and polishing will further increase the power band.

If you have a turbo then you also have some additional options open to you. An intercooler will reduce the intake air temperature and allow bigger power gains.

You could also uprate your turbo by fitting a larger turbo, a twin scroll turbo or get your existing turbo hybridized with uprated internals. Wastegate and blow off control can also be altered to increase the power produced by the engine.

Diesel engine tuning is covered in this diesel tuning article.

There are also Rotary engines and various 2 stroke engine configurations, and how to tune these are covered in our modified car forum.

We are always adding to our sites articles and keeping them updated, so be sure to check back.

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1. I am a retired ASE mechanic and emergency vehicle fleet manager who built street rods also. Using a vacuum gauge and dwell meter when adjusting a carb is by far the best way to tune older engines. At 71 I have adjusted my share of 1, 2 and 4 barrel carbs and in multiples. Two 4’s can be a brain-drain! Don’t forget the vacuum gauge to balance everything out. Old man…old tricks!

   • I forgot, for those who never used one, vacuum gauges(test equipment type) usually come with notes explaining how to hookup and read.