Car engine science: Ignition timing, emissions, mixture

[@KeithCassidy]

Great video as usual, but you can't just flash a pic of your DeLorean and carry on like nothing happened..

[@MrCarlsonsLab]

Hi Ben, Great explanation...... I'm surprised you failed to mention the function of the "Air Pump" and the EGR valve. These both play a huge roll in reducing emissions. The Air Pump injects air directly into the exhaust system, engine side of the catalytic converter. The test results you displayed, tests for a stuck solenoid keeping the pump on after engine warm up. The EGR valve lets burned gasses back into the combustion chamber to lower cylinder temp. This lowers the oxides of nitrogen "NOx" This is a real problem with certain cam grinds. I built a modified EGR system to get my car through emissions... I made a video about it a while back. Always enjoy your videos Ben! Keep'em coming!

[@amramjose]

The last time I saw an air pump was in my 1985 RX7, also in a 1985 Subaru (instead of a pump it used a flap valve, similar to a 2 stroke intake flap valve) operated by piston vacuum). I think those have been eliminated years ago.

[@AddisonPhilips]

I've always enjoyed cars, worked as a mechanic for a few years a while back and I learned an awful lot of useful knowledge from your video here today. Very nicely done. I never thought of how much applied chemistry was going on right in the exhaust and fuel systems of my vehicle. Thank you.

[@Robonza]

Great explanation. The main reason for the vacuum advance at idle is so you can run the fuel as lean as possible (less emissions, less consumption). With a lean mixture the fuel burns slower so you simply need to ignite it a little earlier. Like you said "smoother idle" which is the result.

[@AddictedtoProjects]

Thank you *SO* much for taking the time to make, edit and upload the video. Even though I have been wrenching on cars for close on 20 years, and 'knew' about most of these systems, putting them all together into this easily understandable format really drove everything home. Thank you *VERY* much! :)

[@capq57]

Great explanation as always, but you forgot to mention the flux capacitor.

[@RimstarOrg]

Thanks for another very informative video. I once helped a friend experiment with putting an electrolyser in a car to insert HHO in the air intake. The oxygen sensors defeated this since when they'd see the extra oxygen they'd tell the computer to increase the fuel intake, the opposite of what we wanted. So we had circuit boards which we were going to splice into the wires going from each oxygen sensor back to the computer to tell it there was less oxygen than there actually was (the signal was 0 to 5 volts or something like that so the circuit simply provided a lower voltage based on some scale.) My friend ran out of money for the project so while we built and tested electrolysers, we didn't get to inserting the circuits.

[@rushianokun]

Dude... seriously thank you, you are very very clear on your explaination and I always feel like im being treated as an intelligent human being. True learning going on.

[@gimpdoctor8362]

this video was great! I really like how you started off very simply - explaining the basics of how an engine works. I knew very little about engines before this but I was still able to follow most of it! You're very considerate when explaining things!

[@patrickoppenlander9023]

Hi Ben, Best and most concise description of a catalyst I've ever heard. Your description of knock isn't quite correct though. What actually happens is that the flame front from the spark plug progresses through the cylinder normally. This causes the remaining fuel/air mixture to compress and increase in temperature. This temperature increase actually causes some of the more volatile molecules in the fuel to begin to break down. There's a certain threshold point where this volatile stuff will spontaneously explode, usually all at once, and usually in the vicinity of a hot-spot in the cylinder. That is obviously very violent. The sound you hear is the engine block resonating. Imagine the explosion hitting it like a hammer. An interesting point about knock is that it causes the boundary layer of gas along the cylinder walls, cylinder head and piston to be blown away. This means that you get much more heat transfer from the burning gas to the engine. This is the primary cause for the engine damage caused by knock. Also, the amount of combustion heat absorbed by the engine is (roughly) 30%. Another ~30% or so escapes out the exhaust pipe, the remaining ~30% or so is used to produce useful work. Many engines actually make use of less than 20% of the available energy. Another nasty thing which can happen in engines (especially modern, down-sized turbo engines) is pre-ignition. This is where the mixture in the cylinder spontaneously explodes as the piston is on its way up, well before the spark is going to ignite. Pre-ignition usually causes extensive engine damage as an enormous amount of heat from the combustion must be absorbed by the engine. Also, your diagram of spark advance blew my mind. I'm used to 'Advance' on the left hand side of the x-axis.. :) Patrick

[@zaprodk]

Ben, your explanation on this principle is the best one i've ever heard. Thanks!

[@Tooheyspew]

Ben - best explanation of this process I have ever seen. In the past I have read about this, ask mechanics and so forth, 10 minutes later it all becomes clear. Keep these videos up, I love how you expand upon things in direct and simple yet technically accurate fashion. Thanks for educating and advancing.

[@MyWillyboi]

A friggin De Lorean

[@mattlarosa5737]

But of course he drives a De Lorean...

[@MrEazyE357]

Ave! Good to see ya bud. I came here to say, "Of course he has a DeLorean". I picture you as more of a rusty pickup guy but you are from The Great White North so that throws me off a little.

[@ShainAndrews]

@@MrEazyE357 You need to pay closer attention.

[@markdoyle9642]

BOLTR

[@WeAreGRID]

As the son of a mechanic, an aspiring EE and mechanic, and an avid motorcycle rider/fixer these types of videos are like cocaine! i enjoy learning everything i possibly can about the controlled explosions between my legs, to know what is safe, and, if possible, to know how to make it run just a little bit faster, a little bit stronger :D Keep up the good work my friend, and maybe do more like this in the future? i know at least myself would love to see more :D

[@wolfy9005]

Do a search for jafromobile, he has some great vids which will definitely interest you if you're into this sort of stuff

[@Nehmo]

The coke analogy doesn't grab me the right way. I tried coke (once upon a time), and it isn't all it's cracked up to be. Sure, you want more - while you're on the binge. But it sure leaves you with an unpleasant crash and you feel like you're frying your brain. Because of that experience, a couple of them actually, I stayed away from coke and crack my whole adult life. Of course, lots of people don't share my attitude, and they go way out of their way to get the stuff. It often leads to ruining their lives - losing money, shirking responsibility, hurting friends, you know. So it's totally ill-considered of you to use "cocaine" as analogous to learning vids. Heroin would have been a much better choice.

[@WeAreGRID]

Nehmo Sergheyev i know, but i was making an analogous reference to an addictive substance, and didnt think of heroin fast enough, so i used cocaine. My father was addicted to heroin, (35 years ago, been clean since) so i know the relative addictiveness, but i wasnt thinking about what would be the most efficient way of becoming hooked on learning, i was enthusiastically attempting to find a close enough analogy while my brain was enjoying being fed with mechanical data. I myself have never done illegal drugs, and dont ever plan on it, i value my basic brain chemistry too much to start messing around with dumb ideas, and as such, any references to cocaine are merely analogous, and humorously referential. In other words, relax dude its just a joke! Besides, what i wrote in a sleep addled state at 4 in the morning isnt exactly my proudest work of literature, we all make dumb statements when we dont filter our unbridled personality and enthusiasm.

[@WeAreGRID]

Nehmo Sergheyev Besides, meth is more addictive anyway, and really does fry your brain!

[@omfgbobsaget]

One of the best channels on youtube for sure. If you were a professor I would love to learn from you (though I already do through your channel). I also think you would be good at it because you are very good at explaining things and always seem to have interesting topics to talk about. Love your car, your channel, and the video.

[@Wiresgalore]

I wish this was longer, I could watch this sort of video for hours :) Still greatly informative, Always look forward to your vids!

[@w2aew]

Great stuff as always, Ben. It's a shame that modern mechanics will eventually lose the knowledge of these things like the centrifical and vacuum advance systems, etc. Most probably wouldn't know how to use a dwell meter to set a point gap anymore, or how to use a timing light (and what you do with the vacuum advance when you do this). Older cars (older than your DeLorean) also used to have a vacuum delay valve in series with the vacuum advance line - a sintered disk that was almost like a vacuum "low pass filter", smoothing the response of vacuum changes to the advance mechanism.

[@arfink]

It's true, most modern mechanics will eventually forget, but that's OK because very few people will be using vehicles this old.

[@spokehedz]

I disagree. I think that we should fully 'electrify' an engine. No more timing belts. No more camshafts. No more mechanical things at all. Use a solenoid to open and close the valves. Use a signal to do the timing belt stuff. Engines would get simpler mechanically, but it would be much easier to tune them. Less rotating parts, less mechanical wear, less friction, more efficiency.

[@Viaexplore]

***** Totally agree

[@theLuigiFan0007Productions]

ViaExplore If implemented with the bare minimum electronics, and optimized for simplicity and efficacy, I agree too. If done using overly complicated circuitry that overdoes the calculation required, and "connects" it to the outside world, never in a million years. It would increase lifetime of the engine without service (less moving parts) and increase reliability if done correctly. A little microcontroller that stands on its own reading sensors and feedback loop is all that is needed. It can report back to other computer systems if necessary, just dont have them do the work. This way it is less prone to bugs or race conditions present from relaying messages multiple times. The main computer can tell it what ratios/values to use as a baseline at current acceleration, and what current acceleration is. Also, failsafes should be designed in so if the main computer has trouble, looses communication or tells it something WAY out of the normal pattern it would enter a self regulation mode without fine adjustments and throw up some sort of critical warning. I believe this is important for all current vehicles though, as bluetooth equipped cars running java hardware for a UI (not in a JVM) should have isolated control circuitry that is not connected to the CAN bus, incase of soem ill intention person with a exploit in mind. Especially the ones that have accident avoidance features, which can be manipulated by tapping the CAN bus and telling it to steer or accelerate/brake. Never happened yet, but I GUARENTEE you if the current automotive electronic over complication continues, a virus will cause accidents in the future. In conclusion, it would be great, but only if it was designed in a way it could not be interfered with by the main electronics in major ways, better yet not at all. You know, some planes run Windows embedded, which means some at one point had Vista Embedded (THE HORRORS!!! I would never ride in one). A virus could take out a plane if someone inconspiciously installed something formthe cockpit if nobody was watching, cars are no different. Make it simple like the older mechanical models, and fail-proof (not interconnected to a large extent), maybe even include a backup board that would automatically be switched to in major malfunction. Keep entertainment disconnected from the main stuff. Need I say more?

[@spokehedz]

theLuigiFan0007 While your fears are mostly within the realm of logic and reason, there are things you can do to mechanical cars to 'hack' them and cause damage to the cars/passengers as well. All that is happening in your scenarios is you are replacing "weaken the brake lines" with "program some code to make the brakes not function after a little while." The end result being the same, and therefore we don't need to go nuts and not move forward with a technology just because it fails in a similar manner to what we have now, when there are so many more positive benefits to doing so. If you can re-program your own car, then the hackers can as well. That is the risk that you take when you allow code to be re uploaded to the microcontroller. If they made the code write protected, meaning nobody could change it then you would be safe from hackers--but people would rabblerabble up a storm saying they are being locked out of their cars and this is an atrocity bla bla bla. And I would bet money that you don't check the source code of every single vehicle out on the road that you come in contact with. What if someone is running an outdated bit of code that when the temperature goes to exactly 32F it tries to divide by zero and it crashes the MCU which makes your breaks not function. It's not your fault, but because they were not able to push that update out to the car... well.. now you are dead. And dozens of other people because of it.

[@ACA332]

Love the video, I've always found the early emissions systems on cars to be fascinating. I kept all the equipment when I swapped the motor out, just for the sake of having it. We have no required emissions testing here.

[@KsNewSpace]

Wow, this is exactly the overview I've always wanted to have. Thanks!

[@SebastianGrans]

Every time I watch one of your videos get amazed and I would love to see you as a host for a TV show! I hope that you will keep producing videos.

[@built2last31]

i wish i had a teacher like you in the theory part of my automotive service technology class when i was in school you explain it very well

[@mute8s]

It's funny that you posted this video on the same day we failed our smog check. While I knew quite a bit about what causes poor emissions this video confirmed what I suspect the issue is. Great timing! (pun intended) I'll try to update this in a couple days after we get re-checked. Thanks Ben!

[@didgitalpunk]

Thanks a lot! getting my grandpa's old Opel as my first car soon, and it still relies on everything you just explained! and I just learned something today :D you're probably my best teacher this year again ^^

[@joshrobison1125]

i like how you just casually showed that pic of your car. like "i have the coolest car ever-- no big deal-- now back to science"

[@iamjimgroth]

Thanks! This is just what someone like me needs to learn these kinds of things. My mechanically gifted friends have not been able to explain this in a way I can understand but you did in just a few minutes. :)

[@taylandag2891]

Sir, i wish to be like you. And i will do my best. Keep up the good work -An engineer freshman

[@johnstarkey9327]

would you do a video on the cdi for a 2 stroke motor? Your videos are completely entertaining and enjoyable to watch.

[@the_eternal_student]

Thank you for giving us the history! A land-based celibacy policy would do wonders for emission reduction, but the true science is always important.

[@Moonblade042194]

Could you explain how this would apply to turbo charged engines where they have higher air intake?

[@GlennHamblin]

Excellent analysis Ben. Thanks.

[@Ender_Wiggin]

nice. love the Delorean.

[@MarkRose1337]

I've never seen that so clearly explained before.

[@Lorecastapendragon]

loved this video mostly because its about cars and I like learning about combustion engines, could you pretty please do a video about fuel from a gas station and how to improve it using your knowledge of chemicals and science, fingers crossed!

[@INSTALEARN]

best and obvious way to improve the use is to not use it at all and go electric.

[@BrowserError]

You own a DeLorean? You do crazy interesting experiments simply out of curiosity? You have a shop that is covered in... well... stuff? You are the future me that past pre-teen me always wished to become! haha I graduate with my BS in mechanical engineering in 2 weeks... I'm looking forward to doing curiosity experiments like you on my own sometime soon!

[@filipsky3248]

I love the graphs!

[@raydemarco427]

I came across this video because I was curious how sensitive timing was for nitrogen oxide emissions. My 1988 Fiero GT has a slightly incorrect harmonic balancer timing mark. This was throwing off my emissions. I just got it fixed this week. Yes over here in California. my nitric oxide was just slightly over at 15 mph. I became stumped and a mechanic said hey. I think your timing Mark is actually off on your harmonic balancer

[@The_R-n-I_Guy]

Would love to see more automotive related videos

[@stevecreasey3737]

Excellent as always! Would love to see more of the DeLorean :)

[@Borednesss]

Hey, this actually makes sense.. I recently replaced all the spark plugs and wires in my truck, but the wires were kinda shitty and one wasn't staying on right. I crimped it onto the plug but the contact is still not quite right, I think the spark may first be jumping from the wire to the plug. At idle, under a lot of torque and especially when reversing (torque thing), the engine occasionally shakes sort of like a misfire. Sounds like the firing advancement/retarding obviously can't calculate the crappy contact between that one wire and plug, so that cylinder is just not firing at the right time

[@benjaminmileslevine]

perhaps you could do a video along these lines but talking about the VW emissions scandal?

[@420Rabbits]

Have you ever looked into rod/stroke ratio, or cam overlap for wave (reversion) tuning?

[@Dtheater512]

So I live in a part of the US that gets cold/snow during the winter. When I start my car on a very very cold day I notice that the exhaust fumes/vapors are more visible coming out of my tailpipes when the engine is cold and trying to warm up. Then as the car warms up and I start driving, they are not as visible. This always puzzled me. Is this because the engine is running much hotter (when the engine is initially stared and when it is cold) to warm up the catalytic converter so it operates more efficiently?

[@ChrisB257]

Nice refresher Ben. :)

[@MotherlodeMotors]

So if you've removed your catalytic converter does the O2 sensor produce any useful information?

[@michaelhawthorne8696]

Well that was informative, thank you for this.

[@latata381]

Fist of all I really love the videos you make and I enjoy then very much so thank you for making then. Second can u please please please make a video about electrolysing water into pure hydrogen not hho gas. The anode and cathode the are best for this application. And the input to output return that you get from using the hydrogen as fuel for a fuel cell or burning it on a ice. And I know I'm already asking for a lot but if u can also make a video about storing the hydrogen under high pressure like the container you made for the co2 gas at about 3000 psi I would really really really appreciate it. thx again for what u do and if there's any way to financially help whit your projects please let me and all others know

[@Quintinohthree]

HHO-gas, properly called a 2:1 molar mixture of hydrogen and oxygen is all you're gonna get out of electrolysing water. That is unless you separate the electrodes in which case you can catch the pure hydrogen at the cathode. Probably a cheaper method of making hydrogen though is dissolving a common metal like zinc, iron or aluminium in an acid of choice.

[@mbainrot]

Quintinohthree Magnesium also works iirc, works with acids as weak as vinager if my memory serves me correctly. Although not as cheap/readily available as ally. There are also other chemical reactions that will release hydrongen but are much more dangerous, such as Lye (Sodium Hydroxide) + Aluminum which is cheap and can be obtained from household materials, BUT it gets very hot and can cause the solution to splatter as the water boils (yes it does get THAT hot) Reaction is Al + NaOH + H2O -> NaAlO2 + H2 + Fuck tonn of heat To get "pure" oxygen/hydrogen from electrolsis you will need to use PVC? fittings in such a way that the "air pocket" above each electrode is isolated, in highschool they use to use graphite electrodes (because my high school was too cheap/our class where too much of a bunch of anarchists for them to give us titianium electrodes) and we used a very very very weak sodium hydroxide electrolite solution to help along our shitty town water (great clean taste, shitty conductivity) in conducting electricity I think the reason graphite is used alot is because its cheap and inert? and thus does not start electroplating the cathode? (I am a bit rusty on my science sorry) Alternatives would be Sodium Bicarbonate (NaHCO3). Do not use common table salt NaCl as the electrolysis bi-products include Chlorine in both solution and gas (been there done that, didn't like the house smelling like a pool) Also do not use rectified mains to do electrolysis, that wild bubbling you see is NOT HHO gas... its H2O gas aka STEAM from the water BOILING rofl, shoudln't need more than about 24 volts MAX though 12 volts works perfectly fine

[@UberAlphaSirus]

If this is about over unity, it's doesn't work.

[@RonakDhakan]

Hey, its the same car from the 1985 movie "Back to the future". I just watched it 2-3 days back. Now, why would you have such an old car? I would love to see more on this topic.

[@gus473]

Wonder why one would drive an old car, and whether that is his "daily driver" now....? 🤔

[@NinjaOnANinja]

Guy is like a sponge for learning. Reminds me of my self. But i do what he does but with video games.

[@3800S1]

That's an odd looking 6 distributor cap. Is it off your De Lorean? I can't only think of that this cap is off a v6 with shared journal crank.

[@humberto1972m]

broo sabes comom prender este motor una vez que se le cambian las cadenas de tiempo.. como ponerlo en punto.. sincronizado

[@slamdvw]

Good explanation, thanks!

[@xoblyxanier]

Great video!

[@2391jessie]

What are the emissions when detonation occurs

[@TheFlacker99]

Have you ever thought of modifying your Delorean?

[@mrfancypanzer549]

The Delorean does make a good platform for a time machine.

[@zhuzzir]

G, is that a DeLorean!? 😍😍😍

[@Chrissy4605]

Robert Murray Smith is a very interesting person!!!

[@MarkRose1337]

Speaking of high temperature reactions in the exhaust, I had an interesting experience a two winters ago. I had been driving hard, and pulled into a rest area to take a break. Unbeknownst to me, they hadn't plowed the rest area. I got high centered on about 9 or 10 inches of snow. I could rock the car a bit, but I wasn't getting anywhere. Then I saw it: bright fluorescent chartreuse yellow snow. I thought I had broke something, so I called a tow truck. After getting pulled out, I drove gingerly to a service station, but none of the fluids were close to that colour. After some research, it turns out that stainless steel exhaust systems use zinc as a rust inhibitor, and with a lot of heat, a bit of water, and road salt as a catalyst, the zinc and iron will react and form yellow crystals.

[@maximilianlindner]

Nice story ;)

[@theLuigiFan0007Productions]

I would have thought the same thing as you. Mustof been like aw crap what just happened LOL. I never knew that would happen though, very interesting.

[@lejink]

you...are...awesome

[@chemistryscuriosities]

I can't believe you have a DeLorean

[@dylancclemons]

Where we're going we don't need roads

[@kisielthe1st]

so fucking jelly of your car mate. great video.

[@kittadyne]

I'm glad I saw your video about how you scoped the engine RPM out of the cigarette lighter ( kzbin.info/www/bejne/qmG3oIyen76Jb6s ) it made the uneven distributor cap in this video make sense.

[@Megabean]

You gotta do a car video.....!

[@Astro_Spud]

For a channel about applied science, your audio is really messed up. The left channel is louder than the right channel.

[@00Skyfox]

Based on the camera angle and where his hands are coming from as he interacts with the paper diagrams and distributor, it's apparent he's standing on the left side of the camera and therefore the left mic will pick up a lot more sound than the right.

[@Astro_Spud]

I feel like he should at least make an effort to balance the right and left channels, not so its mono, but so his voice is coming from the middle.

[@3D_Printing]

What no Flux Capacitors :)

[@anaraug]

Please tell me that that is actually your car. I want one so so so badly. :)

[@EdwinNoorlander]

Jou need a flux capacitor for that car. 👍

[@caldera99]

ypure drivin a delorean nice

[@GhaziSarhan]

Why you stopped saying "I hope this was helpful"? ;)

[@topline2554]

Ghazi Sarhan because now he is sure that his videos are helpful.

[@georgianbents]

SOOO appropriate that your car is a DeLorean. LOL

[@rarerubber]

NICE AWES0ME C00L_🍨 VIEW

[@mqe73M]

First I think

[@zippy3711]

Knock is too "soon"

[@russellmoore8187]

OF COURSE he has a Delorean 😂

[@sundhararajanganesan9396]

Deloooooorian !!!!

[@DanFrederiksen]

Time to go electric

[@mobhuiyan3724]

You don't have a y axis on the graphs how is anyone supposed to understand them.

[@MadocComadrin]

The axis is there, but as he's showing us relatively general behavior over the x axis, the y axis doesn't need exact labeling to covey his point--especially considering there are some irreconcilable units in there: amount, prevents, torque, etc.