How It Works

For some time now, Jason from Engineering Explained has been teaching us about all areas of our shared passion—and now we get to share in something a little more personal. His method of clearly explaining seemingly complex mechanical and technical parts of a car is both enjoyable and...

You know what variable valve timing is. You're quite familiar with Honda's VTEC system. Now Infiniti has something new for you dive into, and it's all about changing an engine's compression ratio. The Infiniti VC-T engine can change its compression ratio from a low of 8:1 to a high of 14:1. How...

Your car's brakes are pretty darn important. If you have lousy pedal feel, you should do something about that, right? Stopping is at least as important as going. So when you're looking to fix or upgrade your brake system, should you go with rubber lines or jump up to steel brake lines? Engineering...

After Tesla's announcement Tuesday that its new Model S P100D (when equipped with the optional Ludicrous Speed mode) is the fastest-accelerating car you can buy, it sure seems like everyone wants to talk about racing down a drag strip. Luckily, our pal Jason Fenske with Engineering Explained is...

The world is expensive. It's something your parents might have told you growing up, but as a child, it means little. Once you become an adult with real bills, you suddenly realize your parents weren't kidding. One of the most expensive purchases you'll likely face? A vehicle. That brings us to...

We love horsepower. We love torque. We also need to embrace fuel economy, and that's a tricky line to toe for producers of automobiles with large engines that make loud noises for enthusiastic customers. We currently live in an era of tremendous horsepower availability, yet our vehicles have also...

Jason, the host of Engineering Explained, gets the first point that we were going to make right out of the way. His latest video tackles things you should or should not be doing in a vehicle equipped with a CVT. We'd say that step one is to avoid these vehicles, but as Jason points out, that is the...

All-wheel-drive systems are numerous, and some of them work in different ways. A Subaru, an Audi, and a pickup truck all have different needs to meet in powering all their wheels. They use systems that employ various different technologies, and once more our friend at Engineering Explained is here...

Audi recently conducted its 100th durability test, known as an "INKA" test, on a 2016 A4. INKA is the acronym for Ingolstadt Korrosion und Altern (corrosion and aging). The testing replicates 12 years of vehicle life in 19 weeks. This corrosion and aging test is conducted in five phases. First, the...

It's a generally held rule: Let your car warm up a bit before heading off to tackle the day. But is it really necessary? In a word? No. Our friend Jason Fenske from Engineering Explained is here to explain why today's cars don't really need to be warmed up before driving. Basically, it comes down...

Your engine is a violent place. It's filled with moving metal, hot oil and fuel, and a mass of moving air. All of that combines to create combustion, which is basically a series of continual explosions—and it's all happening right in front of you. During the combustion process, some of the...

You're an under-hood expert by now, aren't you? We've been sharing a whole lot of information thanks to Engineering Explained and that means you should be fluent now in "gearhead." Still, there's always more to learn and today we're taking on a subject that's a bit more complicated, which must mean...

Your engine likes to breathe. There are ways to make it breathe easier, and one of them is by cramming air into the engine's "throat." You're forcing the induction. To do that, you'll need either a supercharger or a turbocharger. It's the boost-loving snail of a turbocharger that seems to be the...

Turbochargers are regularly exposed to very high temperatures. A turbo uses the hot exhaust gases to spin its turbine blades and in turn forces more air into your engine. Just how hot can this area get, though, and can a turbocharger blanket help? Rob Dahm decided to find out. The goal of a turbo...

Turbochargers are—literally—spooling up, with every major automaker now offering at least one boosted model in their lineups (and one with four turbos). Today, our friend Jason Fenske over at Engineering Explained takes a look at the most cutting edge variation: the variable twin-scroll...

Our pal Jason Fenske at Engineering Explained addresses one of the most commonly-asked questions about car maintenance: should you use synthetic motor oil or conventional motor oil in your car? The safe answer, of course, is to read your car's owner's manual and follow the automaker's directions...

Don't be frightened by all of the calculations on our friend Jason Fenske's famous white board: Launching a rear-wheel drive car properly is an exact science that is actually easily repeatable once you get the basics down. Jason, the brains behind popular YouTube series Engineering Explained, takes...

Dual-clutch gearboxes are becoming increasingly common, and today's versions of these fast-shifting automatic gearboxes are far better than they were just a few years ago when they first hit the consumer market. Our friend Jason Fenske at Engineering Explained takes a look at these transmissions in...

There are few cars more complex and sophisticated than Godzilla, also known as the Nissan GT-R. Our friend at Engineering Explained, Jason Fenske, has a knack for making the most complicated topics far easier to understand, and his latest project is dissecting just how the GT-R puts its 565...

Yes, there's a lot more to car maintenance than simply changing the oil. One of the most overlooked aspects is an engine's cooling system, which is as crucial to car owners in Arizona as it is to those in Alaska. Here, our friend Jason Fenske, the host of the ever-popular Engineering Explained...