If you've ever looked under the bonnet of a car, the engine can seem like a maze of metal parts, pipes and wires. In reality, its job is quite simple: it turns fuel into the power that moves your car.

Rotary engines (also known as Wankel engines and Wankel rotary engines) are quite different from piston or "reciprocating" engines. One of the distinguishing features is that they don't need valves to ...

How does a hybrid car engine work? The modern Atkinson cycle is used by cars such as the Toyota Prius, Ford C-max and Fusion ...

How boxer engines work, why they’re not just “flat” engines, and a 120-year evolution traced from the 1899 Benz to the latest Porsche and Subaru boxers. Boxer engines feature flat, opposing pistons ...

Any certified gearhead knows that diesel engines do not use spark plugs. But why not? If power in an engine is created by combustion or explosion of flammable liquids, won't a spark plug in a diesel ...