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Re:How a Car Engine Works by semi-extrinsic on Saturday April 09, 2016 @07:52PM (#11464024)
The animations are nice, but it wouldn't hurt to step up the level of detail: there's no mention of ECU, MAF sensor, lambda sensors, injector pulse duration, throttle body, crankshaft sensor, flywheel, turbocharging, connection to accelerator pedal, etc..

But the most annoying detail is showing a distributor on a fuel injected engine. Come on, this isn't 1986, at least show us a dual coil pack wasted spark system.

Re:How a Car Engine Works by mikestew on Sunday April 10, 2016 @12:51PM (#11466980)
That's nice and all, but until one understands the four stroke cycle, the rest of what you mention is noise. Suck, squeeze, bang, blow: until you know that, knowing what a lambda sensor is just uses up space that could be used learning Rust instead.

I mean, get real, anyone capable of understanding injector dwell is probably not clicking that link. It's not for the likes of you and me. What's next, go leave comments on the "Idiot's Guide to How Computers Work" about how it's not complete if they don't explain pointers?

Re:How a Car Engine Works by semi-extrinsic on Sunday April 10, 2016 @04:47PM (#11468094)
My biggest gripe is not including the link to the accelerator pedal. If you don't know how pushing the pedal makes the engine spin faster, do you even have a basic understanding of how engines work?
Re:How a Car Engine Works by mikestew on Monday April 11, 2016 @11:29AM (#11472151)
Yeah, I'll give you that one. I think it does open a can of complexity, though, what with explaining intake vacuum and all. OTOH, it would solve the mystery for those that know what the accelerator cable attaches to, but have no idea how opening a plate makes "vroom vroom" noises.
Re:How a Car Engine Works by ElitePowered on Sunday April 10, 2016 @01:39PM (#11467247)
This.
Re:How a Car Engine Works by darkmighty on Saturday April 09, 2016 @09:26PM (#11464361)
I think understanding the principles of each system here is key. For example, if you understand how a motor works, it's easy to see you could either have a mechanical contraption with cams responsible for timing and controlling fuel injection or simply a computer-controlled system with some electrically actuated valve. The benefit of the computer controlled system is of course you have more flexibility and have the ability to integrate data from various sensors to achieve some kind of "optimal" injection volume. Most systems in a car are easy to generalize once you understand the fundamentals.

It's also a good way to work because since it's so easy to grasp those advanced concepts from the basics, you don't have to waste precious resources trying to illustrate everything. A wikipedia page, or a journal article description will be enough, which is just quick and cheap text.

Re:How a Car Engine Works by Grishnakh on Saturday April 09, 2016 @11:33PM (#11464757)
>I think understanding the principles of each system here is key. For example, if you understand how a motor works, it's easy to see you could either have a mechanical contraption with cams responsible for timing and controlling fuel injection or simply a computer-controlled system with some electrically actuated valve.

Are you trying to teach theory or real-world mechanics?

No engine in any car in the world has electrically actuated valves, except for a handful of prototype test mules such as one by Koenigsegg in Sweden. Everyone's still using "mechanical contraptions with cams", so it's pretty important to teach that, because any engine you look at will be made that way, and the design of the camshafts (and any support components, such as a variable-vale-timing mechanism) is critical to the engine performance.

>The benefit of the computer controlled system is of course you have more flexibility and have the ability to integrate data from various sensors to achieve some kind of "optimal" injection volume.

Yeah, that's great, but you might as well be talking about Moon colonies. It's sci-fi at this point. It may come in the near future, it may not; we might end up just skipping it in favor of EVs.

However, distributors by now are truly obsolete. I don't think any cars have them any more; they've all gone to coil-on-plug systems. Distributors aren't quite that old; there were still cars being made with them about 15 years ago, but those were the last holdouts. So I don't see the point in showing the distributor as is done on this site: it's simpler and easier to just show the spark plugs by themselves firing at the appropriate time, perhaps with some wires shown connected to the ECU.

It's a bit odd too, because aside from the distributor, this guy's illustrations seem to show a fairly modern engine, though he's omitted the variable-valve timing system that most modern cars have now. Notice that the fuel injector is squirting fuel directly into the cylinder: that's called "GDI", or gasoline direct injection. It's become pretty common these days (I think some Kias and Hyundais have been holding out on it), but go back just 5 years and not that many cars had it, and go back 10 years and it was pretty much none. Of course, like distributorless ignition, GDI is simpler in concept, though technically more difficult to accomplish reliably (the fuel pressure is much higher for one thing), as the old way had injectors shooting fuel into the intake plenum before it got sucked into the engine.

My only other complaint about this site is that they left out the V-12 configuration. There's still plenty of Ferraris that have those.

Re:How a Car Engine Works by darkmighty on Sunday April 10, 2016 @12:26AM (#11464894)
> No engine in any car in the world has electrically actuated valves

It was just an example, I don't actually know what I'm talking about :) But it was my understanding that electronic fuel injection involves solenoids to, well, control fuel injection (as seen here https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fuel_injection#EFI_gasoline_en... ).

The point is that conveying the operating principles should be the main goal, if you call that "theory" or "practical info", it doesn't matter -- if you don't understand the basics well the practical (or theoretical) details will escape you.

Your suggestion about getting rid of distributors sounds reasonable.

Re:How a Car Engine Works by ihartley on Sunday April 10, 2016 @01:47AM (#11465083)
I'm pretty sure he meant that no car has electrically actuated intake and exhaust valves, which is mostly true, but the Fiat/Chrysler MultiAir (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MultiAir) line of engines does have electro-hydraulic valve actuation which allows for variable duration and lift, and I think they don't even have a throttle plate.
Re:How a Car Engine Works by mcguire on Sunday April 10, 2016 @11:45AM (#11466645)
I'm having certain difficulties with the use of 'plenty' in relation to Ferraris.
Re:How a Car Engine Works by Grishnakh on Tuesday April 12, 2016 @11:04AM (#11480154)
There's probably as many Ferraris sold per year as, say, a Chevy Volt. They're not super-high-volume cars by any means, but they're not as rare as a Maybach or even a Rolls.
Re:How a Car Engine Works by calsy on Saturday April 09, 2016 @10:23PM (#11464543)
This is a basic presentation so people who have a limited understanding of what's under the bonnet can get an idea. Basic means not adding extraneous details regarding items that are considered 'secondary', for e.g turbocharging. Fuel, oil, air, exhaust, cooling.. these things have been the building blocks of car engines for the past 100 years and that wont change.

I swear some people just cant appreciate simplicity.

Re:How a Car Engine Works by semi-extrinsic on Sunday April 10, 2016 @03:56AM (#11465356)
I agree to some extent that simplicity is nice, I'm just saying I think the level of simplicity is inconsistent: including some sensors but not others, having an explanation of hybrids but nothing of turbos, etc. And that not including the link between the accelerator pedal and the engine leaves a pretty big hole in the layman's understanding.
Re:How a Car Engine Works by calsy on Sunday April 10, 2016 @06:47AM (#11465692)
But thats exactly my point, you cant include everything unless you want to turn a basic how-to into an instruction manual. Cover the fundamentals of an engine and give little interesting facts like that regarding hybrids. I think your really having a hard time grasping what basic is when you mention things like 'they covered this, but not that', yes thats cause its BASIC.
Re:How a Car Engine Works by semi-extrinsic on Sunday April 10, 2016 @04:42PM (#11468073)
Sure, but again: "how accelerator pedal tells engine to make higher vroom noise" is a very very basic part of understanding an engine.

Omitting it leads to a big hole in the reader's understanding, since the accelerator pedal is likely their only method of interacting with an engine.

Re:How a Car Engine Works by foxhop on Saturday April 09, 2016 @08:33PM (#11464164)
Read the 'about me' page before criticizing please.
Re:How a Car Engine Works by elbigbad on Saturday April 09, 2016 @09:11PM (#11464302)
Seems to support the criticism...

"I’m obsessed with solid, hiqh-quality research and design presentation. If you’re gonna do something you might as well do it RIGHT. Right?"