What is Inside A Car Engine and how it Works basic information about engines

HOW THE PARTS COMBINE

Most vehicles operate on three or more cylinders and for the four-stroke process to work, at least two cylinders must be used. Cylinders work in cycles so that each will be on a different, though complementary, stroke from the others. In a four cylinder engine (one of  the most common in automotive), for example, the first cylinder may be operating on the Intake Stroke as the second is under Compression, the third producing Power, and the fourth Exhausting. Thus, one cylinder is producing power while the others are going through their strokes to do the same down the line, each in turn.

Typical engine configurations are “flat” four-cylinder, an inline, and V. Each operates the same way, but has a different camshaft configuration and harmonic balance. Similarly, an engine’s output is measured in four ways: RPM, torque, horsepower, and fuel efficiency. RPM is simply rotations per minute – the number of times the crankshaft is turning a full rotation in one minute. An engine operating at 3,000 RPM, for example, is turning it’s crankshaft 50 times per second. Torque is a physical measurement of the amount of actual power turning the crankshaft. Horsepower is a power measurement used to illustrate the amount of work the engine is doing. Fuel efficiency is a measurement of the amount of fuel required to do a certain amount of work with the vehicle (such as propel it to or sustain speeds of 55 mph).