A car is a mechanical machine which fills with petrol, diesel or gas and moves from place to another. An internal combustion engine is a heat engine because it converts the heat of combustion from gasoline into mechanical work or torque. This torque is applied to the wheels in order to move the car. Unless you’re driving an old two-stroke (sounds like an old chainsaw and smoke is coming out of the exhaust), the engine works on the same basic principles whether you’re driving a Ford or a Ferrari.

The maximum cars have 4-stroke engine while some cars also have 2-stroke engine. The engine piston moves up and down in a metal tube called a cylinder. Imagine you are riding a bicycle. Move your foot up and down to rotate the pedals. The pistons are connected to the crankshaft by rods (like calves) that move up and down to turn the engine’s crankshaft like a foot turns a bicycle. This enables the drive wheels of a bicycle or a car.

Where Engine Power Comes From

The pistons are propelled up and down by thousands of tiny, controlled explosions that occur every minute. These explosions are created by mixing fuel and oxygen and igniting the mixture. Every fuel ignition is called a combustion or work stroke. The heat of this small explosion and the expanding gas push the piston into the cylinder.

Almost all internal combustion engines today (for the sake of simplicity, we’ll focus on gasoline engines here) are four-stroke engines. In addition to the combustion stroke, which pushes the piston down from the top of the cylinder, there are three strokes: intake, compression, and exhaust.

The engine needs air (i.e., O₂) to burn fuel. During the intake stroke, the valve opens and when the piston moves down, the piston acts like a syringe and draws ambient air from the engine’s intake system. When the piston reaches the lower end of the stroke, the intake valve closes, effectively sealing the cylinder for a compression stroke in the opposite direction to the intake stroke. When the piston moves up, the intake air is compressed. 

Components of the Car

The car has the below given major parts

1) Radiator

A radiator is a heat exchanger that is used to extract heat from the coolant in a cooling system to prevent the vehicle engine from overheating. The hot coolant flows through the radiator and can exchange heat with the air flowing past.

Check the coolant level twice a year for general cooler maintenance. Replacing the radiator can take most of the day, but it’s a viable home improvement.

2) AC Compressors

The air conditioning compressor pumps refrigerant through the system and is responsible for starting the car’s cooling process. Without it, the air conditioning will not work. High temperatures in summer show that air conditioning in your car is important.

3) Batteries 

Batteries store energy in the form of chemicals that can be released in the form of electrical energy to power the vehicle’s electrical components.

4) Alternator 

It is a most important component of the car. It is an electricity generator that converts mechanical energy into electrical energy in the form of alternating current. The alternator is used with batteries to power the vehicle’s electrical system. The alternator also uses mechanical energy generated by the movement of vehicle components to charge the battery.

If the battery is not working and appears swollen, there may be a voltage problem with the alternator and the battery may be overcharged.

5) Axle 

The front and rear axles are carriers that support vehicles with built-in wheel hubs. The axle is also part of the suspension system and is responsible for driving the wheels from the engine via the gearbox and differential. They connect the wheels to the vehicle and carry the weight of each wheel.