How can a car splutter a few times and then suddenly come on?
In: Engineering
I can explain a lawnmower easier. Cars are similar but they have high pressure fuel systems and everything is computer controlled.
For a lawnmower you have a gas tank, carburetor, spark plug, flywheel and magneto.
When you prime the engine you squirt a little bit of gas into the engine. Then when you pull the string your spinning the engine. The magneto generates a spark that lights the fuel on fire to create an explosion. This pushes the piston down which makes the engine turn. The flywheel stores some of the energy so the engine can cycle back around to get fuel from the carburetor and ignite it from the sparkplug and magneto.
The first few revolutions of the engine are slower until the motor builds up speed and can continue. There is a governor on the motor that controls the speed so the engine doesn’t race away.
It’s similar to a car but instead of pulling a string you have an electric starter motor that engages the flywheel to spin the engine. And instead of 1 cylinder like a lawnmower you have 4- 12 cylinders all timed so the engine rotates smoothly.
Gas in the fuel lines may not be flowing enough, so you get a little bit and it ignites but it’s more of a dud, and then a little bit, and then it slowly starts to loosen up until you have enough coming through. The longer the car sits the more trouble you could have.
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