INTRODUCTION TO ENGINE

OBJECTIVE:
DISCUSS AND EXPLAIN
EFFECTIVELY
ENGINE OPERATION AND
ITS PARTS
• The design of the combustion chamber and valve
train are both
extremely important in determining the power an
engine produces.
Flathead engines, with their valves alongside the
cylinders, were the
design of choice for many decades. They were
simple and dependable. The later development of
overhead valves (OHV) increased
power immensely. .
Another means of increasing power is to spin the
engine
faster. But this could result in damage because early-
design
engines had very heavy cast iron pistons. The change to
much
lighter aluminum helped allow higher engine rpm.
Higher rpm
is also made possible by the overhead camshaft (OHC),
which
eliminates heavy pushrods and, in many cases, rocker
BASIC ENGINE
OPERATION
 The four-stroke cycle is described here
using a single-cylinder engine. Automobile
engines have
several cylinders.
A simple reciprocating engine has a cylinder, a
piston,
a connecting rod, and a crankshaft. The cylinder
can be
compared to a cannon; the piston, a round plug,
is comparable to a cannonball.
In a spark-ignited internal combustion engine, a
mixture of air and fuel is compressed in the cylinder.
The fuel
burned in a “gasoline engine” must be a liquid that
vaporizes
easily (like gasoline, methanol, or ethanol), or a
flammable
gas (like propane or natural gas). When the air-fuel
mixture
is compressed and then burned, it pushes a piston
down .
A cylinder head fastened to the top of the engine
closes off the end of each cylinder. A piston is connected
to
the crankshaft by a connecting rod using a piston pin
(also
called a wrist pin). This arrangement makes it possible
for
the piston to return to the top of the cylinder, allowing
continuous rotary motion of the crankshaft. The piston is
sealed from the crankcase by piston rings that slide
against
Powerful pulses are applied to the piston as the
fuel is
burned in the cylinder. A heavy flywheel is bolted
to the
rear of the crankshaft . Its weight helps blend
together the power pulses into one continuous
crankshaft
output.
The cylinder head has separate combustion
chambers, each having an intake valve port that
flows
air and fuel into its corresponding cylinder.
An exhaust
valve port allows the burned gases to flow out.
Each
intake and exhaust port is sealed by a poppet
valve

The cylinder head is sealed to the engine’s

cylinder block using a head gasket .The
timing of the opening of the valves is controlled
by
 Piston Travel
Piston travel in the cylinder is limited in both
directions.
The upper limit is called top dead center
(TDC), and the
lower limit is called bottom dead center
(BDC).
• Piston Stroke
A stroke is described as the movement of the piston
from
TDC to BDC, or from BDC to TDC. The four strokes
in
the engine’s four-stroke cycle are the:

• Intake stroke
Compression stroke
Power stroke
Exhaust stroke
Intake Stroke.
>GAsoline will not burn unless it is mixed in the
correct proportion with air. It tends to be very
explosive
when 1 part is mixed with about 12–15 parts of air by
weight.
>As the crankshaft turns, it pulls the connecting rod
and piston down in the cylinder. This causes a
lowpressure suction called engine vacuum.
Atmospheric
pressure pushes the lower pressure mixture of air and
>The air-fuel mixture is supplied by the fuel
system. The
ideal mixture for the combined purposes of engine
performance, emission control, and fuel economy
is
about 15 to 1 by mass. This is called a
stoichiometric
mixture.
Compression Stroke.
The compression stroke begins at BDC after the
intake stroke is completed. The intake valve
closes
during the compression stroke as the piston
moves
up in the cylinder, compressing the air-fuel
mixture

Compressing the mixture of air and fuel into a

Power Stroke.
As the piston approaches TDC on its compression
stroke,
the compressed air-fuel mixture becomes very
flammable
When the ignition system produces a
spark at the spark plug, the air-fuel mixture ignites.
As the air-fuel mixture burns, it expands, forcing
the
piston to move down in the cylinder until it reaches
The action of the piston turns the crankshaft to
power the vehicle.
Some leakage of gases past the piston rings
occurs
during the power stroke. This leakage, called
blowby,
causes pressure in the area around the
crankshaft
Exhaust Stroke.
>As the piston nears BDC on the power stroke, the
exhaust valve opens, allowing the burned gases to
escape. Because the burning gases are still
expanding, they are forced out through the open
valve.
>As the crankshaft continues to turn past BDC, the
piston moves up in the cylinder, helping to force the
remaining exhaust gases out through the open
exhaust
valve .
>A few degrees after the Piston Passes Tdc, the
Exhaust
Valve Closes.
>The entire four-stroke cycle repeats itself, starting
again as the piston moves down on the intake stroke.
>One four-stroke cycle requires two 360-degree
revolutions (720 degrees) of the crankshaft.
>While the crankshaft turns twice, every cylinder’s
intake and exhaust valve opens once.
>Ignition occurs once.
ENGINE UPPER END

Parts of the upper end of the engine

include the cylinder
head(s) and valve train.
VALVE TRAIN
The valve train includes the parts that open and close
the
valves. These parts include the camshaft, lifters,
pushrods,
rocker arms, valves, and springs. Valves are opened by
the
camshaft, commonly called the “cam,” which is
considered
to be the “heart” of the engine. The cam has eccentric
(offcenter) lobes that push against valve train parts,
causing
When the lobe turns away from the lifter, the valve spring
closes
the valve. The camshaft has one cam lobe for each intake
and exhaust valve, so a typical six-cylinder engine with two
valves per cylinder would have 12 cam lobes. Some engines
have multiple valves per cylinder for intake and exhaust.
The cam can be located either in the block or in the
cylinder head.
The cam-in-block style, with two valves
per cylinder, is called a pushrod engine .
When the cam is located on the top of the head, this
is
called an overhead cam engine .
Some
engines have dual overhead cams. These have a cam
for
the intake valves and another for the exhaust valves.
They
often have four valves per cylinder
VINTAGE ENGINES
On older engines, the camshaft usually
includes another gear that drives the
ignition distributor and oil pump. The distributor
is usually meshed to the oil pump so the one gear
operates them both. Older engines used a carburetor to supply fuel.
The camshaft on these engines
also includes another eccentric lobe to drive the
mechanical fuel pump. The fuel pump eccentric has
a rounder shape than an ordinary cam lobe. The fuel
pump rocker arm is pushed up against spring pressure by the
eccentric.
On a pushrod engine, valve lifters, sometimes
called
tappets, fit into bores above the cam lobes. The
lifters act
on pushrods and rocker arms to open the valves.
Rocker arms are mounted on top of the cylinder
head. They take the up-and-down motion of the
pushrod
and transfer it to the valve. As the rocker arm
rocks up, it
pushes the valve down in the opposite direction.
One end of the pushrod fits into a socket in the lifter,
and the other fits into one end of the rocker arm.
Pushrods
are usually hollow tubes that allow oil to flow from the
hydraulic lifters to the rocker arms. Overhead cam
engines
do not use pushrods.
Camshaft journals are machined surfaces that ride
inside of cam bearings (Figure 15.7). On pushrod
engines,
cam bearings are pressed into bores in the block.
On overhead cam engines,
CYLINDER HEAD
The cylinder head(s) bolts to the top of the engine block,
sealing off the cylinders (see Figure 15.3). The term
combustion
chamber refers to the chambers in the cylinder heads
that are
located just above the pistons (Figure 15.8). The spark
plugs
are threaded into holes in the combustion chambers.
Valve Parts
Refer to Figure 15.9 for the locations of valve parts that are
explained here. Engines can have two, three, four, or five valves
located in the combustion chamber of each cylinder. The
intake valve is the larger of the two valves (see Figure 15.8).
This is because the incoming air-fuel mixture takes up a lot
of space and is not under higher pressure. The exhaust valve,
on the other hand, opens near the end of the power stroke
to bleed off pressure so the piston can stop moving at BDC
and start moving back up in the cylinder. The high exhaust
pressure forces more flow through a smaller opening.
SCIENCE NOTE
Intake and exhaust valves are often
made of different materials. Intake valves are usually
magnetic, but exhaust valves, which are made of
stainless steel, are not. You can check an intake and
exhaust valve with a magnet to verify this. Exhaust
valves are often magnetic on the stem, but not on
the valve head, because the stem and valve head are
two different metals that have been spin welded to
each other.
The valve seats are the machined areas under the
valves. Each valve fits snugly against its seat to
provide
a tight seal.
The valve port is the passageway before the valve
seat.
The valve face is the machined area of the valve
that
seals against the valve seat.
The valve head is the part of the valve that is
exposed
The valve margin is the small, flat area between
the valve head and the valve face. If a valve face
is machined excessively, the margin of the valve
will be too thin. The valve will overheat and
burn when exposed to the high temperature of
combustion.
The valve stem is smooth and polished. It fits
into the valve guide.
Keeper grooves are at the top of the valve stem.
Keepers
are the small, half-moon pieces that keep the valve
spring attached to the top of the valve. They are
sometimes called valve locks.
The valve stem tip on an exhaust valve is usually
hardened to protect against wear.
NOTE: The exhaust valve is forced to open against
the combustion pressure so exhaust cam lobes and
related parts are more prone to failure than intake
parts.
Other Valve Parts
The valve spring is responsible for closing the
valve
after it has been opened by the cam lobe.
A valve spring retainer at the top of the spring is
held
against the stem tip by the keepers.
Valve guides are bores in the bottom of the valve
port.
The valves slide up and down in the valve
guides
A valve guide seal positioned above the valve
guide
on each valve keeps excessive oil
from entering the valve guide. Defective valve
guides
and/or valve guide seals can cause significant
oil
The valve cover encloses the valve spring area
of the
cylinder head .It is made of plastic
or sheet metal and has a valve cover gasket
sealing it to
the head. Some valve covers are sealed with
silicone
sealant instead of a gasket.
Intake and Exhaust Manifolds
The intake manifold is bolted to one side
of the cylinder head or heads and provides a passage
to
the intake valve ports in the head. A fuel injection
system
supplies fuel to join with the air that flows through
the
runners of the manifold. Older engines used
carburetors
Exhaust manifolds are also bolted to the
cylinder head
. They provide a channel to carry exhaust
gases out of the engine. Because they must
carry very hot
exhaust gases, exhaust manifolds are usually
made of cast
iron or steel tubing
ENGINE FRONT
The front of the engine is the side opposite
the transmission. It has a camshaft drive, a
timing cover or front cover,
and the crankshaft vibration damper or
pulley.
Camshaft Drive
The camshaft is driven by the crankshaft by two
timing
gears or by sprockets used with a timing chain or
timing
belt
NOTE: The crankshaft must turn twice for every one
turn of the camshaft. That is why there are half as
many
teeth on the crankshaft drive as there are on
Timing Cover
When an engine has a chain or gears, they are
lubricated
with engine oil and the timing cover must seal against
oil leakage. It will have a full-round seal that rides on
the sealing surface of the vibration damper or pulley
. When an engine has a timing belt, the
seal will be on the crankshaft, behind the belt
sprockets. A
timing cover for a belt does not need to seal lubricants
in;
it just needs to keep the elements out.
Vibration Damper or Pulley
Some engines use a vibration damper to minimize vibrations
in the crankshaft that could cause it to crack and
break. A damper has three pieces: an outer and an inner
ring separated by a thin strip of
CYLINDER BLOCK ASSEMBLY
(LOWER END)
The cylinder block is cast from iron or
aluminium
The casting has oil galleries as well
as cooling passages called water jackets.
Precision
machining of the block’s cylinder bores allows
the
pistons to slide against the cylinder walls with
very little
. The area of the block where the
crankshaft and bearings are located is called the
crankcase
Horizontal holes in the lower end of the
block, called main bearing bores, are precisely
machined
to accommodate the crankshaft.
The bottom half of each
main bearing bore includes a removable main bearing cap
that allows for installation and removal of the crankshaft.
Replaceable bearing inserts are installed in the top and
bottom halves of the inside diameters of the bearing bores
The block deck is the top surface of the block that supports
the
cylinder head. A cylinder head gasket fits between
the head and the deck.
SHORT BLOCK AND LONG
BLOCK
A complete block assembly that includes the entire
valve train (cylinder heads and related parts) is called a
long block.
A cylinder block assembly without the heads installed
is called a short block. The short block
for a pushrod engine includes the crankshaft, piston and
rod assembly, camshaft and cam drive components, and all
bearings. Short blocks are not usually available for OHC
engines.
Crankshaft
The crankshaft converts the reciprocating, up and
down
motion of the pistons to rotation. It has polished,
machined
bearing surfaces for the main and rod bearings,
called
journals .
The main bearing journals are lined up in a row
down
the center of the crankshaft.
 The front and rear crankshaft
journals and all journals in between are main journals.
One of the main bearings has sides, called flanges,
that ride on corresponding surfaces on the crankshaft to
limit crankshaft fore and aft movement, called end
Counterweights are part of the crankshaft. When
the
crankshaft is rotating, their weight offsets the
weight of the
connecting rod and piston on the opposite side.
Oil is delivered to the main bearings through oil
galleries
that run the length of the cylinder block.
The upper
main bearing inserts have oil holes so oil can enter
the
bearing and prevent metal-to-metal contact between
the
bearing and the crankshaft.
Lubrication passages are drilled from the main
bearing
journals to the rod bearing journals to provide
pressurized
lubrication to the rod bearings
Bearing clearance is the name of the space between
the bearing and the crankshaft.
The snout is the front of the crankshaft. The crankshaft
gear or sprocket and the damper or pulley are installed on
the snout.
The rear of the crankshaft has a flange to which the
flywheel or flexplate is bolted. The center of the flange has
a
precision hole that aligns the front of the transmission with
the engine. It locates the hub of an automatic transmission
torque converter or holds a pilot bushing or bearing to
align a standard transmission input shaft.
Connecting Rod
The connecting rod is shaped like an I-beam with
holes
bored in each end. The small end, at the top,
connects to
a pivot pin in the piston.
The large bore, at the bottom,
connects to the connecting rod journal on the
crankshaft
The bottom of the connecting
rod is split
into two halves. The lower half, called the rod cap, is
attached to the bottom of the connecting rod.
A replaceable bearing insert fits between
the rod journal and the big bore of the rod to provide
a
bearing surface with the
correct oil clearance.
Piston
Each piston skirt fits very close to its cylinder
bore,
where it floats on a thin layer of oil as it moves
up and down in the cylinder. During combustion, the
expanding gases create pressure against the top of the
piston,
which pushes against the connecting rod to turn the
crankshaft.Piston rings seal combustion pressure
that would otherwise leak between the
piston and the cylinder wall.
A
typical piston has three ring grooves
machined just above
the piston skirt. Ring lands separate the
rings from each
other. The two top grooves are for compression rings
and
the wider, bottom groove is for the oil control ring.
Behind
the oil ring, an opening in the piston ring groove allows
oil to flow to the inside of the piston and back into the
Pistons are made of aluminum, which has a melting
point of about 1,2258F. During combustion, temperatures
are well in excess of this. The piston must be thick
enough
Beam
Rod bolt
Rod nut
Rod cap
Small end
to withstand the intermittent higher temperature without
melting.
 Cooling system and lubrication system maintenance
helps prevent this from happening.
The amount of clearance between the piston skirt
and the cylinder wall is very small, less than the
thickness
of an average human hair. The piston expands in a
controlled manner as the engine warms up. Excess
clearance
can cause piston slap, resulting in noise
Piston Pin A piston pin, sometimes called a wrist
pin, is installed in the small end of the connecting
rod. Machined into each side of the piston are large
holes, called pin bores. They provide a pivot point
for the piston pin. The surrounding reinforced area
is called the pin boss. The piston pin moves freely
in the piston pin bore. Most piston pins are
pressedfit in the small end of the connecting rod,
but some have a bushing that allows the pin to
rotate freely in both the piston and the connecting
rod.
Piston Rings Piston rings seal between the piston ring
grooves
and cylinder wall, keeping combustion pressure from
entering
the crankcase
. Remember that leakage past the piston rings is
called blowby .Piston rings
are lightly spring-loaded to keep them in position
against the cylinder wall until combustion pressure
from the ignited fuel charge forces them more tightly
against the cylinder wall .
This pressure
combines with the sealing action of the small amount
of oil contained within the pores of the cylinder wall
to ensure a very good seal. The piston ring end gap is
the space where the ends of the piston ring come
together
when the ring is installed in the cylinder. The ring is
constructed in an arc that is larger than the cylinder
bore.
When it is compressed and installed in the cylinder, it
forms a spring-loaded circle that matches the cylinder
bore
The bottom ring groove holds the oil control ring . It
removes excess oil from between the cylinder wall and
piston skirt. If this oil were to enter the combustion
chamber, it would mix with fuel and be burned. The
face of the oil ring has small openings that allow oil to
flow to the rear of the ring groove and then through
slots or holes and back to the crankcase . Excessive
leakage past the oil ring results in oil consumption and
blue smoke from the exhaust.
Oil Seals Oil seals at the front and rear of the
crankshaft keep oil inside the crankcase. Crankshaft
seals are either one piece or two halves. The lip of the
seal rides on a smooth, machined surface on the
crankshaft. The rear main seal is the seal at the rear of
the crankshaft. The front seal is located in the timing
cover or the front of the engine block. Oil Pan The oil
pan that encloses the crankcase is made of stamped
sheet metal, cast aluminum, or plastic. It provides a
reservoir where the engine oil is cooled as air passes
across its surface.
Flywheel and Flexplate When an engine is used with a
manual transmission, it will have a flywheel mounted on
the rear of the crankshaft The flywheel does three things:
The weight of the flywheel helps in carrying the
crankshaft beyond BDC after the power stroke
and smoothes out the power impulses of multiple
cylinders. A ring gear mounted on the circumference of
the flywheel provides a gear drive for the starter motor.
Ring gears are sometimes damaged by faulty starter
motors; they can be replaced easily while the engine is
out of the vehicle.
A flywheel also provides a surface for the clutch to
work upon. When an automatic transmission is used, a
torque converter and flexplate take the place of the
flywheel and clutch . The torque converter provides
the necessary weight. The flexplate is simply a flat
piece of steel, usually with a starter ring gear on its
outside diameter.
HOPE YOU LEARN SOMETHING !!