5 Main Parts of a Car Engine
What do these parts do? How does an engine actually work? Under that (sometimes) beautiful engine cover lies some amazing technology. Modern car engines are capable of some amazing feats. Let’s take a peek behind the scenes and look at some of the most common parts found in the engine bay of today’s vehicles.
1) Engine Block
The engine block is the backbone of your car’s engine. It provides the housing that houses the pistons, crankshaft, and sometimes camshafts.
Most vehicles on the road today have either 4, 6, or 8 cylinders. Inline engines, as you might expect, have the cylinders arranged in a row. Other engine configurations include in-line or in-line engines, boxer engines, boxer engines, W engines, and even the Wankel engine (a rotary engine) made famous by Mazda.
2) Pistons
Pistons transfer the energy generated during the combustion cycle to the crankshaft. Simply put, this energy transfer effectively powers your vehicle. Pistons contain piston rings that provide proper sealing and oil control. This means that in an engine running at 2500 rpm, the pistons go up and down 5000 times per minute.
3) Crankshaft
The crankshaft passes through the underside of the engine block, the so-called crankshaft journal. It is connected to the pistons by so-called connecting rods, which are precisely manufactured and balanced components.
The crankshaft absorbs the up and down movement of the pistons and converts it into rotational and back and forth movement. The crankshaft rotates at engine speed.
4) Camshaft
Depending on the type of engine, the camshaft is located in the block or in the cylinder head. If the camshaft is in the engine block, it is a block-mounted engine. but in most modern engines, the camshaft is located in the cylinder head.Â
These modern engines are called DOHC (dual overhead camshaft) or SOHC (single overhead camshaft). The main role of the camshaft is to absorb the rotational motion of the engine and convert it into up and down motion. This up and down motion controls the movement of the lifters, which in turn move the pushrods, rocker arms, and valves.
5) Cylinder Head
While the above components are among the high-performance parts of a car engine, the cylinder head is even more precise. It contains many parts such as valve springs, valves, lifters, pushrods, rocker arms, and sometimes camshafts.
The cylinder head is attached to the engine by so-called cylinder head screws and the gap between them is sealed by a head gasket. Head gaskets can be a common cause of engine problems.
