Being female, I did not get the “automotive” gene that gives you a natural understanding of the mechanics of automobiles. I had to acquire it and I am still working on it.

I always wanted to understand how my car worked, but no one explained it in a way that I could understand. So I studied it on my own, got a reasonable grasp and now I am writing about it to explain it to other women in the same position I was in:

The way an engine works is that a disc - type piece of metal - called a piston - fits tightly into a cylinder and it moves up and down. In order to conceptually understand a word, knowing the derivation helps – so the word “piston” originally derived from the Italian word “pistare” which meant “to pound”.

Here is a picture of a piston:

Inside this cylinder there is a mixture of gasoline and air. Since the piston fits tightly in the cylinder - when it moves it “pushes” or “compresses” the fuel and air mixture, when it compresses this mixture - a spark ignites - and PRESSURE from this explosion FORCES the piston back down again. Up down Up down. Here is a picture of a “block” of cylinders. A block is called a block because it is a big “block” of metal used to hold all the parts for the engine so they can work together. Here is a picture of a Block with 8 cylinders.

Displacement: When the fuel and air mixture inside a cylinder is “moved” “pushed” or “compressed” by the piston inside a cyclinder. The fuel and air mixture is getting “displaced” and compressed by the piston. Displacement is a measure of “how much” the fuel and air was moved.

Bore and Stroke: These are two terms that basically mean “length and width” of the cylinder. Bore is the diameter of the cylinder - how big around it is, and stoke is how long it is - or how far the piston travels within the cylinder.

These figures combined - between each cylinder ( 4,6 or 8 cylinders ) -give what is then called “Engine Displacement” - and this is what people refer to when they say 289 cubic centimeters or 4.0 liters.

The cubic inches and the liters are just measurement amounts - volume.



note: the more air is pushed through the engine the more powerful it is, however this also means that there will be more gasoline used as well. Bigger engines are stronger and have more fuel consumption ( more air and fuel is being pumped through).