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I have a couple of vehicle maintenance tasks lined up, including:

  • Oil and oil filter replacement
  • Spark plug replacement
  • Basic engine tuning
    • Any additional replacement suggested by the technician

Note: plugs have been used longer than expected, oil change is due this month. Oil change and tune up will be done by two separate people.

Of course these could be done in any order but I am wondering if these should be done in a specific order. Recommendations?

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    What is the year/make/model of the vehicle in question? How many miles (KM) are on the vehicle? This is very important information as there may be things which you don't have plan which should be planned. As for the oil change and spark plug replacement, it make absolutely no difference which goes first. Aug 6 at 12:01

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I'm going to interpret a tune-up as regular maintenance, rather than adjustment of an older car's carburetor and timing.

In general it doesn't matter whether your oil and filter are changed before most other maintenance, if only spark plugs and cables/leads are going to be changed then it doesn't matter which you do first.

However, regular maintenance may require your engine's oil to be drained, depending on what work needs to be done as part of your maintenance schedule, or if a problem is found on inspection. For instance, you may need a new oil pump, oil temperature, pressure or level sensor. You may have a leaky oil seal, or a bad gasket somewhere. If you're already had your oil changed it will need to be drained and changed again to repair any of those above, which is a waste of your money.

So it would make sense to change the oil after your other maintenance is carried out unless you are pretty certain no oil related work needs to be done.

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  • Acknowledge. I'll have the car inspected first.
    – Salman A
    Aug 7 at 19:05

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