Last month's "How It Works" story gave you the basics of the four-stroke cycle, describing the motion of the intake and exhaust valves in relation to the piston moving up and down in the cylinder.

In the first two installments of this series on engine fundamentals, we've covered the subject from its absolute beginning. An internal combustion engine is a machine that converts the energy of a ...

The jargon goes well beyond just names. Car specs are full of abbreviations that may or may not have any meaning at first glance. And sometimes we get so used to seeing those abbreviations that we may ...

Do you know what a timing belt or a timing chain is and what they do? Could you find them on your vehicle's engine if you had to? If you answered no, don't sweat it. Both are buried behind a lot of ...

An engine's health depends on several key measures and functions. For example, air and fuel need to be present in the correct quantities, coolant is required to keep the engine operating at a safe ...