Give Older Cars an `Italian Tune-Up'

Rather than switching to a higher-octane fuel to satisfy an oldercar with an engine carbon deposit buildup, American Honda's Rameysays to give the auto "what is sometimes called the `Italiantune-up.' That is, operate the car at wide-open throttle to burndeposits from the engine combustion chambers.

"You needn't break speed limits. Just put the car in, say,second gear with a manual transmission, or in `D2' with an automatic,and accelerate from 20 m.p.h. to 65 m.p.h. with your foot to thefloor. Then do the same thing in high gear, or `D' with anautomatic, from 45 to 65."

Acceleration times will vary, depending on what type of car youdrive. A Corvette takes just seconds for a 20 to 65 m.p.h. run. Nomatter what you drive, give it plenty of room ahead.

"Don't exceed speeds listed for various gears in the owner'smanual. The point is to use lots of wide-open throttle to raise thetemperature of the combustion chambers to burn off the deposits,"Ramey says.