engine

Engines & Components

The heart of any automobile or motorcycle is the internal combustion engine that drives virtually everything else in the car. Car engine technology has grown and changed significantly in the last 50 years or so, but the basic principle of internal combustion has not changed at all. The basic way that an engine works is the same whether your car is a 1978 Pinto or a 2009 Lamborghini. Obviously there are differences in the parts that are used and their effectiveness, but what those parts are doing all boils down to the same thing: converting gasoline into motion to get you from point A to point B.
How Engines Work

At the most basic level, an engine takes gasoline, mixes it with a little air and then forces it into an otherwise airtight chamber and sets the whole thing on fire. The gasoline and oxygen both explode - POOF - and push little pistons away with great force. That force then pushes something else, which turns something else, which pushes something else, so on and so forth until we get to the wheels of your car which turn - all as a result of the little explosion in your engine. The earliest, simplest engines worked by allowing the gasoline and air to seep or be dropped into the piston chamber for explosion. While it worked it wasn’t extremely efficient and could sometimes cause other problems such as an explosion if the chambers didn’t re-seal properly. Today, car engines use fuel injection technology, which means that the oxygen/fuel mixture are squirted into the piston chamber under pressure and in very precise amounts. This level of control, coupled with computer technology means that cars can more closely control their gas usage and affect acceleration as needed.
Engine Parts

Any modern car built today uses what is known as a “four-stroke combustion cycle.” This cycle, also known as an “Otto Cycle” was invented by Nikolaus Otto in 1867. The four strokes of the combustion cycle are the :

* Internal Stroke
* Compression Stroke
* Combustion Stroke
* Exhaust Stroke

All of these four processes serve to get the gas into the chamber, explode it, and then release the residue (exhaust) out of another chamber while preparing for a new cycle. The explosion of gas and oxygen are created by the spark plug - a small, simple device that does exactly what its name implies: generating a spark of electricity at the right moment.
Problems with the Car Engine

Car Engine problems come in three major category of problem: the lack of compression, a bad fuel mix, or lack of a spark. As complex as many engines are, two of these three issues are fairly easy to fix while the third may cost a pretty penny and take a good deal of time to repair. A bad fuel mix means that you are not getting enough gas, you are not getting enough air, or you are getting too much of either. Also, getting water or another impurity in your gas tank will cause the mixture to not combust properly. These problems (except water in your tank) are usually fairly easy to track down and correct. A problem with compression is the most serious of the three because it often indicates wear in your piston rings, a problem with the seals or a hole in your cylinder(s). These problems require more work to repair or replace the damaged parts. A problem with your spark plugs may simply be timing (the spark plugs are not firing at precisely the right point in the combustion cycle), or that your spark plugs are too weak and need to be replaced.