Cylinder Head Cut Away
To produce power on today’s
internal combustion engines, fuel and air must mix
at a specific ration and then burn in the engine’s combustion chamber. The
combustion chamber consist of a cylinder, piston, and
cylinder head. The
cylinder head contains several components including an
intake and exhaust valve,
valve springs, spark plugs, and in many cases, a cam shaft. Additionally, a
cylinder head contains several ports for air and fuel to enter the combustion
chamber and exhaust to exit the engine, as well as ports for engine coolant to
travel through. The cylinder head, in addition to being a major component in the
combustion chamber, it completes several functions.
Combustion Chamber Cut Away
On today’s engines, the cylinder head is bolted to the top of the engine block.
An
exhaust manifold is bolted to it and an intake manifold. The engine block
contains pistons that go up and down. The cylinder head seals the top of the
engine block using a head gasket between it and the engine block. Once the seal
is made, each piston or cylinder, has its own combustion chamber. To truly
understand how the cylinder head works, one must understand the purpose and
function of the pistons in the engine.As mentioned, each cylinder has a piston that moves up and down when you turn
the engine. When a piston moves in a downward direction, it creates a low
pressure area or a vacuum. At this point, an intake valve opens in the cylinder
head and allows the piston to suck in a set ratio of fuel and air. Before the
piston begins its upward motion, the intake valve closes causing the piston to
compress the air and fuel as it reaches the top of its cycle, top dead center
(TDC). Right before the piston reaches TDC, a spark plug that is bolted into the
cylinder head, sparks. As a result, there is an explosion which forces the
piston down. After the cylinder fires, the piston starts its way back up toward
the cylinder head at which point an exhaust valve in the cylinder head opens
allowing exhaust to exit the cylinder and the cycle starts all over again.
As mentioned, cylinder heads are bolted to the engine block with a gasket
between them. The cylinder head has an intake manifold bolted to it as well as
an exhaust manifold. Over the years and miles, gaskets between the cylinder
head, engine block, intake manifold, and exhaust manifold, can break down and
leak. One of the most common problems with the cylinder head or intake manifold
gaskets is when they go bad, they can allow coolant to leak into the combustion
chamber. When this happens, the consumption of engine coolant will occur as well
as poor performance. Additionally, most times one will see
white smoke from the
exhaust as the engine burns the coolant. Additionally, if the engine is
overheated badly, there is a chance of warping the cylinder head which will
allow air leaks, coolant leaks, and low engine compression.If further assistance is needed, our certified car repair technicians
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