Since the diesel engine only compresses air, its compression ratio is much higher than gasoline engines, which leads to better efficiency. The piston forces the combusted fuel out of the cylinder as exhaust.The piston draws down again, with intake and exhaust valves closed.Before it reaches top-dead-center, diesel fuel is injected into the cylinder for combustion. The piston moves up to compress the air in the fuel cylinder.The combustion cycle is a four-step process that repeats: The heat of the compressed air ignites the fuel without the need of a spark plug, as in a gasoline engine. However, as the engine developed, the answer to “how does a diesel engine work?” has remained the same.Ī diesel engine is an internal combustion engine that takes air, compresses it, and then injects fuel into the compressed air. German engineer Robert Bosch’s 1927 improvements to the fuel injection pumps helped too. Credit also goes to Swiss engineer Alfred Büchi. In 1925 Büchi turbocharged the engine to improve its efficiency substantially, creating the modern diesel engine.

Rudolf Diesel developed the diesel engine prototype in 1893, and the first engine in production in 1897. Over its years of evolution, proper diesel maintenance is has remained essential to keep the engine working in top form. Today, the diesel engine is the top source of power for the commercial trucking industry. They were so much more efficient than steam-powered engines. Diesel engines were revolutionary when first introduced around the turn of the 20th century.

Scheduled car maintenance checklist