Scotty and others mention the Italian Tune up. I'm thinking it's to burn off carbon while driving your car on the highway? Can anyone be more specific and how often should one drive on the highway and for how long and how fast?
Try driving on the highway for over an hour at regular highway speeds, especially if you take a lot of short trips or do city driving normally.
Subjectively, it sure seems to help. Objectively, I dunno. You can start with this:
https://www.roadandtrack.com/car-culture/buying-maintenance/a23778262/italian-tune-up-explained/
Aside from carbon buildup, long term, there is another argument. Monotonous driving habits aren’t real great for an engine. It’s good to change up your driving style. (Modern cars don’t need a break in period like in the old days, but most manufacturers recommend not using cruise control the first thousand miles or so.)
The method behind the Italian tune-up is to get the engine revs up. If you don't have roads in your area where it's legal and feasible to do high-speed driving you can achieve the same effect at lower road speeds by keeping the transmission in a lower gear so the engine turns faster.
Ok, I understand Scotty's video on the Italian Tune Up. However, in my part of the state. The Parkways are old fashioned and narrow with many twistiness's. Plus, there's a heavy presence of both county and state police. The parkway runs for about 45 miles before it end to rural local roads. The speed limit is 55 mph but most can get away doing 60 or 65 mph safely and without getting pulled over for excessive speeding. Would it be fine if I do that 40 mile round trip at 65 mph every now and then?
You can achieve the same effect at lower road speeds by keeping the transmission in a lower gear so the engine turns faster? Meaning not driving it on "D", but rather driving it on 2, 3, or4?
Yes.
What’s your normal driving habits right now? How many miles a week do you drive? How fast do you get going, for how long?
If its a used car you bought, you dont know the driving habits the drivetrain may have seen so I would not recommend an italian tune-up. You could start to loosen things up. If you had the car since new and varied your driving a lot (city/highway) then an italian tune up seems OK to stretch things out a bit a clean out some carbon.
