|
Yes, I'm afraid its time for an "Italian tuneup" on your car. Driving exclusively short stop-and-go distances cause extra wear on your suspension system, brakes and chassis. It also contributes to carbon buildup in your engine, in the long run leading to poor performance and premature wear. I refer to the "Italian tuneup" because Italians seem to instinctively know this and they frequently take their cars out for longer, high speed drives. This brings the water and oil temps up to spec, it lubricates everything properly, it loosens and blows out much of the carbon buildup in the cylinders, it heats the cat converters and burns the moisture out of the exhaust system. Overall, a good 15 minute high speed run (within the limits of the law) will do wonders for your car. It will even help to clean the spark plugs, which may be part of your current hard-start problem. Do this, run down the current tank of gas to almost empty and disconnect the negative cable from your battery over-night. Next morning, reconnect your battery cable, then go by your local auto parts store and buy two things, a can of injector cleaner and a can of octane booster. Go to a major brand gasoline station that does a high volume of business (fresher gas) and fill your tank, adding both the injector cleaner and octane booster. Make sure your oil, coolant, brake fluid and ATF levels are full and that your tires are properly inflated, then go drive your car and drive it HARD. Make quick starts (but ease into stops, saving your brakes), and do some hard acceleration from different speeds; vary your speed but keep your revs up. Do this for 15-20 minutes, then later in the same day, do it again. After the second session you should begin to see a major difference in the way your car starts and performs. Best wishes.
Preston
|