How does an engine work? Check this!

[jEnzi]

Wondering how does a piston engine, found in 99% of cars, work?

I found a few amazing gif-animated pictures which makes it look very simple, and decided to show it to you guys!

Heres one of them:


Check out the site for more simple gif's about engine in action!
http://www.carthrottle.com/this-one-gif-...an-engine/


Any questions regarding cars, or their engines? Feel free to ask!

[JohnC]

Nice GIF, Jenzi !!! I know very well how an engine work (I'm studying Mechanical Engineearing )
This is a "strange" engine that was used in aeronautics called "radial engine":


And this is what I think one of best engine: the Diesel Engine:

[Lime]

That Radial engine is known in an automotive world as a Wankel or Rotary engine if I'm not mistaken. Still on that first gif there should be a camshaft or two of them as well on the top of the valve springs, would be even more clear to understand what's going on there. But still, a great topic and a good place for petrolheads to talk a bit more about engines and be passionate about their hobbies.

[jEnzi]

I'm still pretty new with the diesel & rotary engine and don't exactly know how do they work, even though i own a Diesel car myself. (Audi A3 1.9TDI with 1.7bar turbo pressure, 160hp/370nm)

Anyone has any clear animations, or knows how to explain the function of rotary & diesel engines? What are the main differences between a diesel and a petrol engine?

[JohnC]

That Radial engine is known in an automotive world as a Wankel or Rotary engine if I'm not mistaken. Still on that first gif there should be a camshaft or two of them as well on the top of the valve springs, would be even more clear to understand what's going on there. But still, a great topic and a good place for petrolheads to talk a bit more about engines and be passionate about their hobbies.

This is the Wankel Engine, that's different from the radial engine, very fascinating :

Recently, Mazda used the wankel engine in its 2003 Mazda RX-8.

I'm still pretty new with the diesel & rotary engine and don't exactly know how do they work, even though i own a Diesel car myself. (Audi A3 1.9TDI with 1.7bar turbo pressure, 160hp/370nm)

Anyone has any clear animations, or knows how to explain the function of rotary & diesel engines? What are the main differences between a diesel and a petrol engine?

About the Diesel Engine, was created as an alternative to petrol engine (because the gasoil, called also Diesel Fuel, costs less) and its working is totally different from the Petrol Engine; I summarize this:
1) air is being introduced into the cylinder
2) the piston compresses the air and the injector sprays a quantity of Diesel Fuel at high pressure (in the modern Diesel Common-Rail Multijet, about 1600 bar), it should be noted that the gasoil-air mixture explodes spontaneously by compression, without the use of the spark plug, that in the Diesel Engine is lacks.
I hope that have been exhaustive.

[jEnzi]

Ahh, that wankel engine is really facinating I somehow can't imagine that piston to be as durable as the radial engines though...

So basically, Diesel is mainly the same, except the ignition is a bit different and greater amount of air is sucked in to a Diesel engine, am I right? Are there any well known diesel additives to decrease the black smoke coming from the exhaust?

[JohnC]

Ahh, that wankel engine is really facinating I somehow can't imagine that piston to be as durable as the radial engines though...

So basically, Diesel is mainly the same, except the ignition is a bit different and greater amount of air is sucked in to a Diesel engine, am I right? Are there any well known diesel additives to decrease the black smoke coming from the exhaust?

You're right, Diesel Engines operate with a great amount of air, in fact work better with turbochangers and we often talk about "TurboDiesel". Diesel Engines works even better with turbocharges + intercooler.
For the black smoke there are two possibilities:
1) the Injectors are dirty
2) Check the EGR valve, which is the main cause.

[jEnzi]

Oh I had totally forgotten about this thread

I think the increased amount of black smoke is just because of the "power box" in my car, bringing an extra 50hp/110nm, and of course the race 520 -nozzles that i also have installed.

Do you know how to explain a difference between a "tuning chip" and a "power box" in a car? I think they are basically the same thing with some small differences, chip being a bit more simple and effecting less parts in the car, but not sure at all, this is basically just me guessing

And I have disabled the useless fault maker, A.K.A. EGR as the first thing after buying the car

[JohnC]

Oh I had totally forgotten about this thread

I think the increased amount of black smoke is just because of the "power box" in my car, bringing an extra 50hp/110nm, and of course the race 520 -nozzles that i also have installed.

Do you know how to explain a difference between a "tuning chip" and a "power box" in a car? I think they are basically the same thing with some small differences, chip being a bit more simple and effecting less parts in the car, but not sure at all, this is basically just me guessing

And I have disabled the useless fault maker, A.K.A. EGR as the first thing after buying the car

idk if the tuning chip and the power box are the same, but the black smoke can be caused by an incomplete combustion (black smoke is diesel-fuel unburned).
Are you sure that we are talking about the same thing, the Exhaust Gas Recycle Valve, because I knew that disable this valve in modern engines, wasn't good, rather...

[jEnzi]

Ah, well I've already got used to the black cloud behind me when accelerating at least people keep a fair distance rather than driving just a few feet away...

Yeah we're talking about the same thing My engine was running pretty badly since all the sh*t in the valve edges were blocking the air intake almost completely...
I also remapped the ECU (Electronic Control Unit) after this was done with VCDS (Volkswagen/VAG Code Diagnostics System) so it would be just optimal.

Boring EGR-valve talk ahead... Think twice before reading


I think the main problem it could do, is that in 2003-> cars usually they have so sensitive engine management system that it puts on the engine check light and gives you some kind of fault code. But this can also be fixed with the ECU remapping.
Of course it might raise emissions a little bit, but the change is so small that it would cause a lot more harm driving with a dirty, oily air intake system. If we all would really care about pollution that much, we would drive a Prius.

Some people take off the whole valve system rather than blocking the air intake hose, which is not good for the engine since the anti shudder system is in the same valve.

The good sides in the blocked EGR compared to dirty, old functioning EGR valve are slightly improved performance, thermal efficiency and lower fuel consumption. Blocking the valve eliminates tar and sediment build up inside inlet manifold, which in turn reduces air flow. Blocking improves thermal efficiency by reducing heat build up in the inlet manifold, which is caused by hot exhaust air.
Some people say that the EGR Valve cleaning & blocking improved their cars performance by many HP.


Blah blah blah... You should have enough to do reading this jibberish


EGR-valve in VAG cars, such as my Audi: