Please Tell Us Your City

location icon
    location iconClose
      Sorry!! No Matching Results found. Try Again.
      Close

      How Car Engine Works?

      CarTrade Editorial Team

      CarTrade Editorial Team

      There are a considerable number of people in India who own a single or multiple cars. Most of the new-generation groups desire to purchase new cars or used models for the sole purpose of convenience. Few of these make a decision depending upon the looks of a vehicle while others are more inclined towards the specifications, which include performance and mileage scale. Interestingly, most of the vehicle owners in India lack the information about how exactly the car engine works. The same info might be known to auto connoisseurs and mechanics but apart from them, no one else goes into the details. However, the possession of this knowledge might be beneficial to people in determining as to how efficiently their car engine is working. Furthermore, people planning to buy used cars can also implement this knowledge while selecting an old model and finding out its engine performance.

      Car engine
      Car engine

      The engine of the car is its power source, which delivers all the mechanical and electrical energy needed to run the vehicle. It works as follows:   

      • When the car is put on ignition mode, the battery sends the power to the starter motor, which in turn moves the crankshaft.

      • The movement of crankshaft makes the pistons move and then the engine is fired up.

      • The air filter helps the fan draw air to the engine after removing all the dirt components from the air-stream.

      • The clean air in turn is drawn to the combustion chamber where fuel is added later on.

      • As soon as the driver accelerates the car, the throttle valve gets opened and the air-fuel mixture is sent to the cylinders via intake valves. The camshafts provided on the cylinders regulate the opening and closing of the intake valves.

      • With the moving piston, the spark plug is ignited and creates a spark, which then helps burning the fuel-air mixture. This explosion forces the movement of piston after which the crankshaft gets rotated.

      Most of the cars in India use a standard 4-stroke engine, which continues its combustion cycle thousands of times per minute to accelerate the car. This process is generally called the rev system or more commonly Revolutions per Minute (RPM). Recently, a number of new cars had also featured a V6 engine, which basically has 6 cylinder units. The working of this car engine is also the same as compared to the conventional 4-stroke type. The only difference being that former has more number of cylinders so combustion cycle takes place more time; thus, resulting in more power output.

      While planning to buy used cars, people should take along a mechanic who could properly check if its engine is working properly or not. Notably, people should always tend to buy certified used cars, which are sold by authorised second-hand car dealers. This is due to the fact that there is an assurance while purchasing used cars from the authentic dealers and they also offer future maintenance of the car engine. People can also compare cars online before buying to make the selection process easy and opt for the best among the lot.