What you

should know
about car
engines
What is an engine?
• Any device which can convert heat energy
of fuel into mechanical energy is known as
engine or heat engine.
• Engine is widely used in automobile
industries or we can say that engine is the
heart of an automobile.
• Basically engine may be classified into two
types: External combustion engine and
Internal combustion engine.
ENGINE
 What are the Main Parts of an Automobile
Engine?
Engine is a device that produces power. It is made by various
parts bolted together and they work together to achieve power
by burning of fuel. These parts are given below:
1. Cylinder Block:

Cylinder block or Cylinder are main part of an

engine. It is a part in which combustion of fuel
takes place. All other parts like piston,
connecting rod, crankshaft, water jacket etc. are
bolted on it.

2. Piston:
Piston is placed in the cylinder and transmits
thrust to the connecting rod. It is free to move.
It compresses the air fuel mixture and convert
the fuel energy into mechanical energy. It
transmits the power to the crankshaft.
3. Cylinder Head:

Cylinder head is fitted on the top of

cylinder block and the function of the
cylinder head is to seal the working end of
cylinder and not to permit entry and exit of
gases on cover head valves of the engine.
The valves, spark plug, camshaft etc are
fitted on it.

4. Connecting Rod:
It connect piston to the crank shaft and
transmit the motion and thrust of piston to
crank shaft. The lower end of connecting
rod is connected to the piston and the
bigger is connected to the crank shaft.
5. Crank Shaft:

It is located in the bottom end of

cylinder block. It transmits the
reciprocating motion of piston into
rotary motion. This rotary motion used
to rotate wheels of the vehicle.

6. Oil Sump:

It is bolted at the lower end of the

cylinder block. All the oil for lubricating
the movable parts is placed in it.
7. Camshaft:
It is fitted either in the cylinder head or at
the bottom of the cylinder block. It is use to
open or close valves at proper timing in
multi-cylinder engine.

8. Valves:
It is fitted on the cylinder head. It regulates
the flow of air fuel mixture inside the
cylinder and exhaust gas outside the cylinder
block. When both inlet and exhaust valves
are closed no pressure can go inside or
outside of cylinder block.
9. Spark Plug:

It is used in Petrol engine (Spark Ignition

Engine). It is fitted on the cylinder head. It is
used to ignite the air fuel mixture inside the
cylinder at the end of each compression stroke.

10. Injector:

It is used in Diesel engine (Compression

Ignition Ingine). It is fitted on the cylinder head.
It is used to inject fuel in spray form inside the
cylinder at the end of compression stroke.
11. Push Rod:
It is used when the camshaft is
situated in the bottom of the cylinder
head. It regulates the timing of valves
open and close through rocker arm
and camshaft.

12. Manifold:
It is bolted on the cylinder head one
each for intake and exhaust. Its
function is to evenly distribute air-fuel
mixture for intake & collects the
exhaust gases from all cylinders.
13. Piston Rings:
It provides the good sealing fit and
less friction resistance between
piston and cylinder. It is split at one
point so it can be easily installed into
the grooves cut in the piston.

14. Gaskets:
It is used to seal the cylinder head
and cylinder so no pressure is
allowed to escape. It is placed
between the cylinder block and
cylinder head.
15. Gudgeon Pin (Piston Pin):

It is the parallel spindles fitted through the

piston boss and connecting rod small end. It
connects the piston to the connecting rod.

16. Engine Bearing:

Bearings are used to support the moving
parts. The purpose of bearings is to reduce
friction. The crankshaft is supported by
bearing. In engine two types of bearing are
used sliding bearing and rolling bearing.
 TYPES OF ENGINE
1. External combustion engine

• It is an engine in which combustion of fuel take place outside

of the engine
• In this type of engine heat, which is generated by burning of
fuel is use to convert the water or other low boiling
temperature fluid into steam. This high pressure steam used
to rotate a turbine.
• .In this engine we can use all solid, liquid and gases fuel.
• These engines are generally used in driving locomotive, ships,
generation of electric power etc.
 2. Internal Combustion Engine

• It is an engine in which combustion of fuel takes

place inside the engine.
• When the fuel burns inside the engine cylinder,
it generates a high temperature and pressure.
This high pressure force is exerted on the
piston, which used to rotate the wheels of
vehicle.
• In these engines we can use only gases and high
volatile fuel like petrol, diesel.
• These engines are generally used in automobile
industries, generation of electric power etc.
Types of Internal Combustion Engine
• The I.C. engines are classified on
the following basis:
1. According to number of strokes
a) Two stroke engine
b) Four stroke engine
1. According to number of strokes
a) Two stroke engine
In a two stroke engine a piston moves one time up
and down inside the cylinder and complete one
crankshaft revolution during single time of fuel burn.
This type of engine has high torque compare to four
stroke engine. These are generally used in scooters,
pumping sets etc.

b) Four stroke engine

In a four stroke engine piston moves two times up and
down inside the cylinder and complete two crankshaft
revolutions during single time of fuel burn. This type
of engines has high average compare to two stroke
engine. These are generally used in bikes, cars, truck
etc.
2. According to design of engine
a) Reciprocating Engine
In reciprocating engine the pressure force generate by combustion of fuel exerted
on the piston. So the piston starts reciprocating motion. This reciprocating motion
converts into rotary motion by use of crank shaft. So the crank shaft starts to
rotate and rotate the wheels of vehicle. These are generally used in all automobile.
2. According to design of engine

b) Rotary engine (Wankel engine)

In rotary engine there is a rotor which frees to rotate. The pressure force
generate by burning of fuel is exerted on this rotor so the rotor rotate and
starts to rotate the wheels of vehicle. This engine is not used in automobile in
present days.
 2. According to type of fuel used
a) Diesel engine
these engines use diesel as the fuel. These are used in trucks,
buses, cars etc. The diesel engine work on diesel cycle.
b) Petrol engine
These engines use petrol as the fuel. These are used in bikes,
sport cars, luxury cars etc.
c) Gas engine
Diesel engine
These engines use CNG and LPG as the fuel. These are used in
some light motor vehicles.
d) Electric engine
It is eco-friendly engine. It doesn’t use any fuel to burn. It uses
electric energy to rotate wheel.

Electric engine
3. According to method of ignition:
a) Spark ignition engine (S.I. engine): In spark ignition engine there is a spark
plug which is fitted at the engine head. The spark plug produces spark after
the compression of the fuel and ignites the air fuel mixture for the
combustion. The petrol engines are spark ignition engine.
b) Compression ignition engine
In Compression ignition engine there is no spark plug at the cylinder head.
The fuel is ignited by the heat of the compressed air. The diesel engines are
compression ignition engine.
 4. According to arrangement of cylinder:
a) In line engine
In this type of engines, cylinders are
positioned in a straight line one
behind the other along the length of
the crankshaft.

b) V type engine
An engine with two cylinder banks
inclined at an angle to each other and
with one crankshaft known as V-type
engine.
4. According to arrangement of cylinder:
c) Opposed cylinder engine
An engine with two cylinders banks opposite to each other on a single crankshaft (V-type
engine with 180o angle between banks).

d) W-type engine
An engine same as V-type engine
except with three banks of
cylinders on the same crankshaft
known as W-type engine.
4. According to arrangement of
cylinder:

e) Radial Engine
It is an engine with pistons positioned in
circular plane around the central crankshaft.
The connecting rods of pistons are connected
to a master rod which, in turn, connected to
the crankshaft.
 5. According to air intake process:
a) Naturally aspirated
In this types of engine intake of air into cylinder
occur by the atmospheric pressure.
b) Supercharged engine
In this type of engine air intake pressure is
increased by the compressor driven by the engine
crankshaft.
c) Turbocharged engine
In this type of engine intake air pressure is increase
by use of turbine compressor driven by the exhaust
gases of burning fuel.

Turbocharged engine
Supercharged engine