There are a variety of sensors found in the modern automobile. They're built into the engine to make sure that the owner can immediately find out any issues that might come about from their vehicle.
This is in contrast to vehicles in the past wherein you can only pinpoint what's wrong with the car only after it starts exhibiting certain symptoms, and usually by then it's too late to do preventive maintenance and you'll have to pay an arm and a leg to purchase replacement parts. With that said, here are the sensors themselves.
The Sensors of the Modern Car
- Mass Air Flow Sensor: The MAF or Mass Air Flow Sensor is an important sensor for drivers found in nearly all cars because it's a computer-controlled sensor responsible for calculating the density and volume of the air taken by the motor. This ensures that the right fuel amount and ratio is used to optimize the operating conditions of your vehicle when push comes to shove.
- Engine Speed Sensor: The speed of your engine or by its crankshaft is monitored by the engine speed sensor. This car part is connected to the crankshaft. If the crankshaft's spinning speed reaches a certain rate, the sensor makes it pull back or go faster since it's responsible for the engine's timing and fuel injection. It basically prevents engines from stopping suddenly from wearing its crankshaft down.
- Oxygen Sensor: As for the oxygen sensor that's also found in gasmasks, it measures the amount of unburdened oxygen found in the exhaust pipe. From there, it indicates if the fuel is burning lean or rich. Adjustments are then done to balance out the richness or leanness of the fuel to prevent your vehicle to consume loads of fuel or idle poorly.
- Manifold Absolute Pressure Sensor: The MAP sensor is responsible for sensing the engine load. Mounted on the intake manifold, it measures the difference between outside pressure and the intake manifold pressure. This is essential for the engine to be able to alter and adjust the fuel injection rate based on the readings of the sensor when it comes ot any pressure changes.
- Spark Knock Sensor: Last but not least is the spark knock sensor. It's the sensor that makes sure that your fuel is burning smoothly instead of exploding or detonating in an erratic fashion. The internal combustion engine should go about controlling its every combustion or detonation because uncontrolled explosions can lead to rod bearing damage, failure of the head gasket, cracked pistons, and broken rings.