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An Investigation: How Car Engines Work If you summarize car engines, they operate very simply. There are four main functions of operation: intake, compression, combustion, and exhaust. These four factors are the most critical parts to a car engine, as they make the engine run, and allow the car to move. Gasoline links these four functions together, but is used only in combustion. A flammable liquid like gasoline produces an enormous force when ignited, and gives the car engine the power to propel itself. Compression makes the explosion all the more powerful, creating more pressure in the area of combustion. The four stages of an internal combustion engine are all tied together, because if one of the four stages are left out, combustion will be unsuccessful. The first of the four strokes is the intake stroke. This occurs whenever the piston draws fresh air into the combustion area from the open valves. As the crankshaft turns the connecting rod to push the piston up and down, the camshaft spins and pushes the valves into the combustion area, allowing fresh air in. As the fresh air enters, a tiny squirt of gasoline is sprayed into the cavity by means of fuel injection. The valves then close, and the piston starts i