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- Engine Strokes
-
- Most automobile
- engines operate in
- a continuous series
- of four piston
- strokes.
-
- The first, the
- intake stroke, is a
- downward motion of
- the piston, which
- fills the engine
- cylinder with a
- mixture of fuel and
- air.
-
- The second, or
- compression stroke,
- compresses the fuel
- and air as the
- piston moves
- upward. When the
- piston reaches the
- top of the
- cylinder, the
- ignition system
- fires the spark
- plug and ignites
- the compressed
- mixture of fuel and
- air.
-
- The piston, pushed
- downward by the
- burning gases, much
- like a bullet fired
- from a rifle,
- completes the
- series with the
- third or power
- stroke.
-
- The fourth stroke,
- upwards, expels the
- exhaust gases
- through the exhaust
- valve into the
- exhaust system.
-
- The engine then
- begins another
- four-stroke cycle.
-
- -end-
-
-