Feel Confident Behind the Wheel: Maintain Your Own Car

Sensible Sensors – Controlling Your Engine for Best Effect

24 October 2018

Craig Hicks

Are you somebody who is intimidated by new technology, or do you revel in the possibility? Do you wonder how you can take advantage of the opportunities to lead an interesting and, in many cases, easier life? One way or the other, everybody has to get used to such advances and nowhere is this pace of development more evident than in the automotive world. It wasn't that long ago when a car would be purely mechanical and rely on a series of predictable actions in order to operate, but today your vehicle is controlled by a complex series of electronics with the ubiquitous sensor at the core. What types of sensors does your car engine rely on, for example?

Computer-Controlled

As you may know, vehicle operation is controlled by a centralised computer, which receives a variety of different messages from all these sensors and will trigger certain actions as a consequence. In the engine alone there are several, all of which are crucial if the engine is to function and take you from point-to-point reliably.

Sensory Overload

For example, there is the engine speed sensor that is linked to the crankshaft and records how quickly it is rotating. This will determine how much fuel is delivered and how the engine is timed, in order to keep those revolutions at just such a level. Then there is the oxygen sensor that monitors how much oxygen is present within the exhaust pipe, to see if the combustion mixture is too lean or too rich.

What about the mass air flow sensor, that helps to regulate the amount of fuel in relation to air intake? Once again, this is a computer-controlled component that helps you to save money on your annual petrol bill. If you look closely next to the intake manifold, you will see the MAP, or manifold absolute pressure sensor. This mouthful checks on the difference between the internal and external manifold pressure, so that the fuel is injected at just the right level for optimal performance.

Talking about the fuel, it has to be delivered at the right temperature if you are to maintain maximum efficiency. If it's too cold, it will be too dense and will not burn as quickly as it should, while the opposite is also true. Enter the fuel temperature sensor. Then there is the voltage sensor, which gets to work when the engine is idling and monitors its passive speed. It has the ability to increase or decrease the speed until it reaches the perfect position.

Quality Always

As you can see, a lot of individual components are keeping a close eye on your engine. From time to time some of them will give up the ghost and will need to be swapped out, but if you're going to maintain efficiency over the long run, always make sure that you buy the best quality replacement.

For more information, contact your local Bosch authorised dealers today.

Share  

Search