Gearhead 101: Understanding How Your Car's Engine Works
I've never been a motor vehicle guy. I just did not have any curiosity about tooling around beneath the hood to find out how my car works. Except for replacing my hvac filters or changing the oil from time to time, if I ever endured a problem with my car, I'd you need to take it in to the mechanic when he was released to explain the concepts wrong, I nodded politely and pretended like I knew what he was discussing.
But lately I've had the itch to essentially learn the basics of how cars work. I don't intend on becoming a strong grease monkey, but I aim for a basic comprehension of how all things in my car actually causes it to become go. At a minimum, this data will allow me to experience a clue in what the mechanic is speaking about the next time I take my car in. Plus it generally seems to me which a man needs to be able to understand the fundamentals with the technology he uses each day. When it comes to this site, I know about precisely how coding and SEO works; it's the perfect time for me to examine a lot more concrete things inside my world, like what's beneath the hood of my car.
I figure there are more grown men in existence who are much like me — men who aren't car guys but they are a little curious about how precisely their vehicles work. So I anticipate sharing what I'm learning inside my own study and tinkering inside an occasional series we'll call Gearhead 101. The goal is to clarify the very basics of how differing in an automobile work and offer resources on where one can learn more alone.
So without further ado, we'll begin our top notch of Gearhead 101 by explaining the ins and outs on the heart of a vehicle: the inner combustion engine.
The Internal Combustion Engine
An internal combustion engine is referred to as an internal combustion engine” because fuel and air combust inside engine to make the energy to advance the pistons, which move the automobile (we'll demonstrate how that takes place in detail below).
Contrast that with an external combustion engine, where fuel is burned beyond the engine and the power created from that burning is really what powers it. Steam engines work most effectively example of this. Coal is burned outside in the engine, which heats water to create steam, which then powers the engine.
Most folks imagine that in the world of mechanized movement, steam-powered external combustion engines came before the inner combustion variety. The reality is that the inner combustion engine came first. (Yes, the traditional Greeks messed around with steam-powered engines, but nothing practical got their start in their experiments.)
In the 16th century, inventors developed a form of internal combustion engine using gunpowder since the fuel to power the movement on the pistons. Actually, it was not the gunpowder that moved them. The way this early internal combustion engine worked was you'd stuff a piston the many way to your top of an cylinder and after that ignite gunpowder within the piston. A vacuum would form following your explosion and suck the piston on the cylinder. Because this engine trusted the changes in air pressure to advance the piston, they referred to it as the atmospheric engine. It wasn't effective. By the 17th century, steam engines were showing lots of promise, so the inner combustion engine was abandoned.
It couldn't survive until 1860 that your reliable, working internal combustion engine can be invented. A Belgian fellow named Jean Joseph Etienne Lenoir patented an electric train engine that injected propane into a cylinder, which has been subsequently ignited by the permanent flame at the cylinder. It worked similarly to your gunpowder atmospheric engine, and not too efficiently.
Building on that work well, in 1864 two German engineers named Nicolaus August Otto and Eugen Langen founded an organization that made engines just like Lenoir's model. Otto quit managing the company and started working on a motor room fire design that they had been toying with since 1861. His design resulted in what we now know because four-stroke engine, along with the basic design continues to be used in cars today.
The Anatomy of any Car Engine
A V-6 Engine
I'll explain to you how the four-stroke engine works through a bit, to start with I do, I thought it can be helpful to go through the differing of a motor room fire so you may have an idea of what's doing what inside the four-stroke process. There is terminology throughout these explanations that will depend on other terms from the list, so don't be concerned if you get confused in the beginning. Read through everything to get a comprehensive grasp, and after that read it again so you have a rudimentary understanding of every bit as it's being brought up.
Engine Block (Cylinder Block)
The engine block may be the foundation of a motor. Most engine blocks are cast from an aluminum alloy, but iron continues to be used by some manufacturers. The engine block is usually referred to as being the cylinder block because with the big hole or tubes called cylinders which can be cast into your integrated structure. The cylinder is the place the engine's pistons slide top to bottom. The more cylinders a motor has greater powerful it really is. In addition for the cylinders, other ducts and passageways are built in the block which facilitate oil and coolant to circulate to different parts in the engine.
Why is a train locomotive called a V6” or V8”?
Great question! It has to do with the design and variety of cylinders an electric train engine has. In four-cylinder engines, the cylinders can be mounted in the straight line on top of the crankshaft. This engine layout is referred to as an inline engine.
Another four-cylinder layout is known as the flat four.” Here the cylinders are laid horizontally in 2 banks, with all the crankshaft going along the middle.
When a motor has in excess of four cylinders, they can be divided into two cylinder banks — three cylinders (if not more) per side. The division of cylinders into two banks makes all the engine seem like a V.” A V-shaped engine with six cylinders = V6 engine. A V-shaped engine with eight cylinders = V8 — four in each cylinder bank.
Combustion Chamber
The combustion chamber in the engine is when the magic happens. It's where fuel, air, pressure, and electricity come together to build the small explosion that moves the automobile's pistons along, thus creating the power to advance the vehicle. The combustion chamber is made up on the cylinder, piston, and cylinder head. The cylinder acts because the wall with the combustion chamber, the top from the piston acts because floor on the combustion chamber, along with the cylinder head serves since the ceiling with the combustion chamber.
Cylinder Head
The cylinder head is usually a piece of metal that sits on the engine's cylinders. There are small, rounded indentations cast into your cylinder head in order to generate room at the top from the chamber for combustion. A head gasket seals the joint between your cylinder head and cylinder block. Intake and outtake valves, spark plugs, and fuel injectors (these parts are explained later) are mounted to your cylinder head.
Piston
Pistons progress and on the cylinder. They seem like upside down soup cans. When fuel ignites inside the combustion chamber, the force pushes the piston downward, which often moves the crankshaft (see below). The piston attaches to your crankshaft using a connecting rod, aka the con rod. It connects to your connecting rod by way of a piston pin, plus the connecting rod connects on the crankshaft by using a connecting rod bearing.
On the top with the piston, you can find three or four grooves cast in to the metal. Inside the grooves piston rings are put in. The piston rings would be the part that basically touch the walls from the cylinder. They are constructed from iron and come into two varieties: compression rings and oil rings. The compression rings are definitely the top rings plus they press outward about the walls in the cylinder to supply a strong seal for that combustion chamber. The oil ring would be the bottom ring with a piston and it also prevents oil through the crankcase from seeping to the combustion chamber. It also wipes excess oil about the cylinder walls and back into your crankcase.
Crankshaft
The crankshaft is the thing that converts the top to bottom motion from the pistons right into a rotational motion which allows the car to advance. The crankshaft typically fits lengthwise within the engine block close to the bottom. It extends from end from the engine block towards the other. At the front from the end with the engine, the crankshaft connects to rubber belts which connect to your camshaft and delivers chance to other parts from the car; in the end in the engine, the camshaft connects to your drive train, which transfers power for the wheels. At each end on the crankshaft, you will find oil seals, or -rings,” which prevent oil from leaking out on the engine.
The crankshaft resides in what is known as the crankcase on a motor room fire. The crankcase is located under the cylinder block. The crankcase protects the crankshaft and connecting rods externally objects. The area at the bottom of any crankcase is termed the oil pan and that is where your engine's oil is stored. Inside the oil pan, there are an oil pump that pumps oil by way of a filter, and after that that oil is squirted on towards the crankshaft, connecting rod bearings, and cylinder walls to produce lubrication to your movement from the piston stroke. The oil eventually drips back down into your oil pan, just to begin the task again
Along the crankshaft you can find balancing lobes that represent counterweights to balance the crankshaft preventing engine damage in the wobbling that occurs when the crankshaft spins.
Also over the crankshaft you can find the main bearings. The main bearings supply a smooth surface between your crankshaft and engine block to the crankshaft to spin.
Camshaft
The camshaft will be the brain on the engine. It works in conjunction together with the crankshaft by way of a timing belt to make certain intake and outtake valves close and open at just the best time for optimal engine performance. The camshaft uses egg-shaped lobes that extend across it to master the timing with the opening and closing with the valves.
Most camshafts extend over the top part with the engine block, directly across the crankshaft. On inline engines, one particular camshaft controls the intake and outtake valves. On V-shaped engines, two separate camshafts are employed. One controls the valves on one side on the V as well as the other controls the valves about the opposite side. Some V-shaped engines (such as one in our illustration) may also have two camshafts per cylinder bank. One camshaft controls one for reds of valves, and also the other camshaft controls sleep issues.
Timing System
As stated earlier, the camshaft and crankshaft coordinate their movement with a timing belt or chain. The timing chain supports the crankshaft and camshaft from the same relative position together at all times in the engine's operation. If the camshaft and crankshaft become from sync a celebrity (the timing chain skips a gear cog, for instance), the engine won't work.
Valvetrain
The valvetrain may be the mechanical system that's mounted towards the cylinder head that controls the operation from the valves. The valve train includes valves, rocker arms, pushrods, and lifters.
Valves
There are home equity loans valves: intake valves and outtake valves. Intake valves bring a combination of air and fuel in to the combustion chamber to build the combustion to power the engine. Outtake valves enable the exhaust that's created as soon as the combustion out with the combustion chamber.
Cars normally have one intake valve and something outtake valve per cylinder. Most high-performing cars (Jaguars, Maseratis, etc.) have four valves per cylinder (two intake, two outtake). While not considered a top performance” brand, Honda also uses four valves per cylinder on the vehicles. There are even engines with three valves per cylinder — two inlet valves, one outtake valve. Multi-valve systems allow the vehicle to breathe” better, which inturn improves engine performance.
Rocker Arms
Rocker arms are little levers that touch the lobes, or cams, about the camshaft. When a lobe lifts one end from the rocker, another end from the rocker presses down around the valve stem, opening the valve permit air in to your combustion chamber or letting exhaust out. It works form of like a see-saw.
Pushrods/Lifters
Sometimes camshaft lobes touch the rocker arm directly (while you see with overhead camshaft engines), thus buying and selling the valve. On overhead valve engines, the camshaft lobes don't be given direct contact with all the rocker arms, so pushrods or lifters are utilized.
Fuel Injectors
In order to build the combustion needed to go the pistons, we end up needing fuel inside the cylinders. Before the 1980s, cars used carburetors to provide fuel for the combustion chamber. Today, all cars use one of three fuel injection systems: direct fuel injection, ported fuel injection, or throttle body fuel injection.
With direct fuel injection, each cylinder gets its very own injector, which sprays fuel directly to the combustion chamber only the right time for you to combust.
With ported fuel injection, rather than spraying the fuel directly in to the cylinder, it sprays to the intake manifold just outside of the valve. When the valve opens, air and fuel type in the combustion chamber.
Throttle body fuel injection systems kind of work how carburetors did, but minus the carburetor. Instead of each cylinder getting its fuel injector, there's one fuel injector that travels to a throttle body. The fuel mixes with air within the throttle body after which is dispersed to your cylinders with the intake valves.
Sparkplug
Above each cylinder is usually a sparkplug. When it sparks, it ignites the compressed fuel and air, resulting in the mini-explosion that pushes the piston down.
The Four-Stroke Cycle
So seeing that we know every one of the basic parts with the engine, let's take the movement that truly makes our car move: the four-stroke cycle.
The above illustration shows the four-stroke cycle in the single cylinder. This is going on inside the other cylinders likewise. Repeat this cycle 1000 times inside a minute, and also you get an auto that moves.
Well, there you go. The basics of how a vehicle engine works. Go examine under your car's hood today and pay attention to if you can indicate the parts we discussed. If you'd like more info on how an auto works, browse the book How Cars Work It has helped me out a lot inside my research. The author does a fantastic job breaking things into language that even total beginner can understand.
I've never been a motor vehicle guy. I just did not have any curiosity about tooling around beneath the hood to find out how my car works. Except for replacing my hvac filters or changing the oil from time to time, if I ever endured a problem with my car, I'd you need to take it in to the mechanic when he was released to explain the concepts wrong, I nodded politely and pretended like I knew what he was discussing.
But lately I've had the itch to essentially learn the basics of how cars work. I don't intend on becoming a strong grease monkey, but I aim for a basic comprehension of how all things in my car actually causes it to become go. At a minimum, this data will allow me to experience a clue in what the mechanic is speaking about the next time I take my car in. Plus it generally seems to me which a man needs to be able to understand the fundamentals with the technology he uses each day. When it comes to this site, I know about precisely how coding and SEO works; it's the perfect time for me to examine a lot more concrete things inside my world, like what's beneath the hood of my car.
I figure there are more grown men in existence who are much like me — men who aren't car guys but they are a little curious about how precisely their vehicles work. So I anticipate sharing what I'm learning inside my own study and tinkering inside an occasional series we'll call Gearhead 101. The goal is to clarify the very basics of how differing in an automobile work and offer resources on where one can learn more alone.
So without further ado, we'll begin our top notch of Gearhead 101 by explaining the ins and outs on the heart of a vehicle: the inner combustion engine.
The Internal Combustion Engine
An internal combustion engine is referred to as an internal combustion engine” because fuel and air combust inside engine to make the energy to advance the pistons, which move the automobile (we'll demonstrate how that takes place in detail below).
Contrast that with an external combustion engine, where fuel is burned beyond the engine and the power created from that burning is really what powers it. Steam engines work most effectively example of this. Coal is burned outside in the engine, which heats water to create steam, which then powers the engine.
Most folks imagine that in the world of mechanized movement, steam-powered external combustion engines came before the inner combustion variety. The reality is that the inner combustion engine came first. (Yes, the traditional Greeks messed around with steam-powered engines, but nothing practical got their start in their experiments.)
In the 16th century, inventors developed a form of internal combustion engine using gunpowder since the fuel to power the movement on the pistons. Actually, it was not the gunpowder that moved them. The way this early internal combustion engine worked was you'd stuff a piston the many way to your top of an cylinder and after that ignite gunpowder within the piston. A vacuum would form following your explosion and suck the piston on the cylinder. Because this engine trusted the changes in air pressure to advance the piston, they referred to it as the atmospheric engine. It wasn't effective. By the 17th century, steam engines were showing lots of promise, so the inner combustion engine was abandoned.
It couldn't survive until 1860 that your reliable, working internal combustion engine can be invented. A Belgian fellow named Jean Joseph Etienne Lenoir patented an electric train engine that injected propane into a cylinder, which has been subsequently ignited by the permanent flame at the cylinder. It worked similarly to your gunpowder atmospheric engine, and not too efficiently.
Building on that work well, in 1864 two German engineers named Nicolaus August Otto and Eugen Langen founded an organization that made engines just like Lenoir's model. Otto quit managing the company and started working on a motor room fire design that they had been toying with since 1861. His design resulted in what we now know because four-stroke engine, along with the basic design continues to be used in cars today.
The Anatomy of any Car Engine
A V-6 Engine
I'll explain to you how the four-stroke engine works through a bit, to start with I do, I thought it can be helpful to go through the differing of a motor room fire so you may have an idea of what's doing what inside the four-stroke process. There is terminology throughout these explanations that will depend on other terms from the list, so don't be concerned if you get confused in the beginning. Read through everything to get a comprehensive grasp, and after that read it again so you have a rudimentary understanding of every bit as it's being brought up.
Engine Block (Cylinder Block)
The engine block may be the foundation of a motor. Most engine blocks are cast from an aluminum alloy, but iron continues to be used by some manufacturers. The engine block is usually referred to as being the cylinder block because with the big hole or tubes called cylinders which can be cast into your integrated structure. The cylinder is the place the engine's pistons slide top to bottom. The more cylinders a motor has greater powerful it really is. In addition for the cylinders, other ducts and passageways are built in the block which facilitate oil and coolant to circulate to different parts in the engine.
Why is a train locomotive called a V6” or V8”?
Great question! It has to do with the design and variety of cylinders an electric train engine has. In four-cylinder engines, the cylinders can be mounted in the straight line on top of the crankshaft. This engine layout is referred to as an inline engine.
Another four-cylinder layout is known as the flat four.” Here the cylinders are laid horizontally in 2 banks, with all the crankshaft going along the middle.
When a motor has in excess of four cylinders, they can be divided into two cylinder banks — three cylinders (if not more) per side. The division of cylinders into two banks makes all the engine seem like a V.” A V-shaped engine with six cylinders = V6 engine. A V-shaped engine with eight cylinders = V8 — four in each cylinder bank.
Combustion Chamber
The combustion chamber in the engine is when the magic happens. It's where fuel, air, pressure, and electricity come together to build the small explosion that moves the automobile's pistons along, thus creating the power to advance the vehicle. The combustion chamber is made up on the cylinder, piston, and cylinder head. The cylinder acts because the wall with the combustion chamber, the top from the piston acts because floor on the combustion chamber, along with the cylinder head serves since the ceiling with the combustion chamber.
Cylinder Head
The cylinder head is usually a piece of metal that sits on the engine's cylinders. There are small, rounded indentations cast into your cylinder head in order to generate room at the top from the chamber for combustion. A head gasket seals the joint between your cylinder head and cylinder block. Intake and outtake valves, spark plugs, and fuel injectors (these parts are explained later) are mounted to your cylinder head.
Piston
Pistons progress and on the cylinder. They seem like upside down soup cans. When fuel ignites inside the combustion chamber, the force pushes the piston downward, which often moves the crankshaft (see below). The piston attaches to your crankshaft using a connecting rod, aka the con rod. It connects to your connecting rod by way of a piston pin, plus the connecting rod connects on the crankshaft by using a connecting rod bearing.
On the top with the piston, you can find three or four grooves cast in to the metal. Inside the grooves piston rings are put in. The piston rings would be the part that basically touch the walls from the cylinder. They are constructed from iron and come into two varieties: compression rings and oil rings. The compression rings are definitely the top rings plus they press outward about the walls in the cylinder to supply a strong seal for that combustion chamber. The oil ring would be the bottom ring with a piston and it also prevents oil through the crankcase from seeping to the combustion chamber. It also wipes excess oil about the cylinder walls and back into your crankcase.
Crankshaft
The crankshaft is the thing that converts the top to bottom motion from the pistons right into a rotational motion which allows the car to advance. The crankshaft typically fits lengthwise within the engine block close to the bottom. It extends from end from the engine block towards the other. At the front from the end with the engine, the crankshaft connects to rubber belts which connect to your camshaft and delivers chance to other parts from the car; in the end in the engine, the camshaft connects to your drive train, which transfers power for the wheels. At each end on the crankshaft, you will find oil seals, or -rings,” which prevent oil from leaking out on the engine.
The crankshaft resides in what is known as the crankcase on a motor room fire. The crankcase is located under the cylinder block. The crankcase protects the crankshaft and connecting rods externally objects. The area at the bottom of any crankcase is termed the oil pan and that is where your engine's oil is stored. Inside the oil pan, there are an oil pump that pumps oil by way of a filter, and after that that oil is squirted on towards the crankshaft, connecting rod bearings, and cylinder walls to produce lubrication to your movement from the piston stroke. The oil eventually drips back down into your oil pan, just to begin the task again
Along the crankshaft you can find balancing lobes that represent counterweights to balance the crankshaft preventing engine damage in the wobbling that occurs when the crankshaft spins.
Also over the crankshaft you can find the main bearings. The main bearings supply a smooth surface between your crankshaft and engine block to the crankshaft to spin.
Camshaft
The camshaft will be the brain on the engine. It works in conjunction together with the crankshaft by way of a timing belt to make certain intake and outtake valves close and open at just the best time for optimal engine performance. The camshaft uses egg-shaped lobes that extend across it to master the timing with the opening and closing with the valves.
Most camshafts extend over the top part with the engine block, directly across the crankshaft. On inline engines, one particular camshaft controls the intake and outtake valves. On V-shaped engines, two separate camshafts are employed. One controls the valves on one side on the V as well as the other controls the valves about the opposite side. Some V-shaped engines (such as one in our illustration) may also have two camshafts per cylinder bank. One camshaft controls one for reds of valves, and also the other camshaft controls sleep issues.
Timing System
As stated earlier, the camshaft and crankshaft coordinate their movement with a timing belt or chain. The timing chain supports the crankshaft and camshaft from the same relative position together at all times in the engine's operation. If the camshaft and crankshaft become from sync a celebrity (the timing chain skips a gear cog, for instance), the engine won't work.
Valvetrain
The valvetrain may be the mechanical system that's mounted towards the cylinder head that controls the operation from the valves. The valve train includes valves, rocker arms, pushrods, and lifters.
Valves
There are home equity loans valves: intake valves and outtake valves. Intake valves bring a combination of air and fuel in to the combustion chamber to build the combustion to power the engine. Outtake valves enable the exhaust that's created as soon as the combustion out with the combustion chamber.
Cars normally have one intake valve and something outtake valve per cylinder. Most high-performing cars (Jaguars, Maseratis, etc.) have four valves per cylinder (two intake, two outtake). While not considered a top performance” brand, Honda also uses four valves per cylinder on the vehicles. There are even engines with three valves per cylinder — two inlet valves, one outtake valve. Multi-valve systems allow the vehicle to breathe” better, which inturn improves engine performance.
Rocker Arms
Rocker arms are little levers that touch the lobes, or cams, about the camshaft. When a lobe lifts one end from the rocker, another end from the rocker presses down around the valve stem, opening the valve permit air in to your combustion chamber or letting exhaust out. It works form of like a see-saw.
Pushrods/Lifters
Sometimes camshaft lobes touch the rocker arm directly (while you see with overhead camshaft engines), thus buying and selling the valve. On overhead valve engines, the camshaft lobes don't be given direct contact with all the rocker arms, so pushrods or lifters are utilized.
Fuel Injectors
In order to build the combustion needed to go the pistons, we end up needing fuel inside the cylinders. Before the 1980s, cars used carburetors to provide fuel for the combustion chamber. Today, all cars use one of three fuel injection systems: direct fuel injection, ported fuel injection, or throttle body fuel injection.
With direct fuel injection, each cylinder gets its very own injector, which sprays fuel directly to the combustion chamber only the right time for you to combust.
With ported fuel injection, rather than spraying the fuel directly in to the cylinder, it sprays to the intake manifold just outside of the valve. When the valve opens, air and fuel type in the combustion chamber.
Throttle body fuel injection systems kind of work how carburetors did, but minus the carburetor. Instead of each cylinder getting its fuel injector, there's one fuel injector that travels to a throttle body. The fuel mixes with air within the throttle body after which is dispersed to your cylinders with the intake valves.
Sparkplug
Above each cylinder is usually a sparkplug. When it sparks, it ignites the compressed fuel and air, resulting in the mini-explosion that pushes the piston down.
The Four-Stroke Cycle
So seeing that we know every one of the basic parts with the engine, let's take the movement that truly makes our car move: the four-stroke cycle.
The above illustration shows the four-stroke cycle in the single cylinder. This is going on inside the other cylinders likewise. Repeat this cycle 1000 times inside a minute, and also you get an auto that moves.
Well, there you go. The basics of how a vehicle engine works. Go examine under your car's hood today and pay attention to if you can indicate the parts we discussed. If you'd like more info on how an auto works, browse the book How Cars Work It has helped me out a lot inside my research. The author does a fantastic job breaking things into language that even total beginner can understand.